Jesus’ Inn
Scripture
Exodus 12:1-8,
Exodus 12:11-14,
1 Corinthians 11:23-26,
John 13:1-15.
Reflection
Dear sisters and brothers,
Life is difficult for everyone including Jesus who lived in Palestine.
We long for someone to massage our feet and relax us taking away our travel fatigue.
There are also many viable ways too in the modern world.
But, those days of Jesus were not the same.
The popular means of transport was their feet.
People walked long distances on rough, dusty roads to go from one place to another.
Travellers often arrived at their destination with sore and aching feet.
As a sign of hospitality, the host would see to it that his/her guests were given a warm foot massage as a way of relieving their aches and pains by washing their feet.
This was usually done by the house servants or slaves in those days.
The same cultural or traditional practice is very much prevalent in many tribal cultures in India too.
I have personally witnessed it.
This service of soothing the tired feet was also provided by the rest houses or inns found at strategic locations along the major roads and highways.
Nowadays, we notice the evolution of this practice of soothing the tired feet into feet massage parlours in rest houses or inns and there are also foot massage machines, where we can get a massage and relax our feet while relishing the food.
Travellers worn out along the way can refresh themselves.
Their energy thus restored they would then be able to continue and complete their long journey.
That is how such rest houses or inns along the way got the name “restaurants.”
They restored strength to tired and exhausted travellers on the way.
In light of this cultural background, Jesus washed their feet conveying the message.
Massage leads to the Message.
The message can be understood when we link the meaning of the Eucharist and the washing of the feet in a simpler manner.
The Vatican II says that we are a pilgrim people.
Each one of us is a pilgrim in the world.
This pilgrimage comprises of a long and hard journey.
It is not an easy journey.
Along the way, we get tired and worn out.
Many times, we are tempted to give up and turn back from the Kingdom of love in our lives.
But Jesus has provided us with the Eucharist as a place where we can go in to soothe our aching feet and to be refreshed in body and soul for the journey that is still ahead to reach eternal life.
Yes, the Eucharist is a place of restoration for the pilgrim people on the way to eternal life.
We derive strength to continue our upward journey toward the Triune God in the Eucharist, as we read in the book of Exodus (Exodus 12:14): “This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”
The Eucharist is Jesus’ Inn for us.
Jesus washes our feet in every Eucharist by breaking his body and shedding his blood for the aches of our life.
If the Eucharist is the place where the Lord washes our feet, how do we eat his flesh and drink his blood?
The book of Exodus says: “You shall eat like those who are in flight.”
In other words, it says that eat hurriedly as if you have no time.
Because the food that we consume is the flesh and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
It does not make us to rest and enjoy.
It is an experience of love shown in a concrete way in the Eucharist.
And this experience of love does not allow us to relax.
It pushes us to share our love experience with people.
This urge is important, for the mission of Jesus Christ, to reach out to many more people, to proclaim the message of love that we receive from our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
The experience of the Eucharist does not make us to sit down and relax.
The Eucharist becomes our life.
The Eucharist becomes our daily practice in word and deed.
Jesus did not stop just breaking the bread of the Eucharist but also washed the feet of his disciples.
The Eucharist is our place where we ought to learn to wash the feet of others.
The Eucharist that we experience, leads us to live the Eucharist in our daily lives.
The participation in the Eucharist must lead us to serve others.
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives.
The broken body within us impulses us to give the Eucharistic Lord to others as we receive in the Eucharist.
We must follow his example both at the altar of the Eucharist and at the altar of life, drawing a source from the Eucharist and living it out in our personal, community, and social lives as it is said: “Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:16)
It is not easy.
It calls us to break ourselves from our selfishness, ego, pride, and jealousy.
It brings us even to shedding of our blood and at times leading to death too.
The disciples were the first ones to give up their lives for Christ in serving the Kingdom of love with all aches and difficulties.
For example: we witnessed Father Stan Swamy in our times concretely living out the Eucharist in the selfish and capitalist world washing feet of the tribal people, soothing their life’s from aches, pain, and suffering.
Our life is roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
It means that the flesh of our spirit, soul and mind becomes bitter with pain and suffering of everyday life.
But…but…dear sisters and brothers,
We need to remember and do what Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Master gave us: “This is my body that is for you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”
As Saint Paul writes: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” with his majesty.
By this, Jesus establishes a close link between the Eucharist and the washing of the feet and the disciples washing the feet of others by saying: “I have given you a model to follow so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
Jesus’ inn provides us strength to lead our lives with all pains, aches, difficulties, and sorrows by soothing us with his body and blood and calling us to go forth to live out the Eucharist by our authentic Christian life and witnessing and proclaiming the Kingdom of love by bringing many more people to Jesus’ inn.
May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
