Fellowship with friends
Gospel: Jn 13:1-15
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032824-Supper.cfm
Today’s gospel tells a beautiful story about a man and his love for his friends. The writer of John tells the story of a man who knows his time is limited. He knows that he will be returning to the Father and will be away from his friends corporally. Here is where you see the deeper humanity of Jesus – his love and his compassion. It’s not just a universal love, but a specific love. He loved his friends. They journeyed with him for years.
In these last moments, he doesn’t give them a detailed exposition of what to do when he is gone. He doesn’t seek to get his message out to as many people as possible running door to door to share the good news. He doesn’t give his disciples a set of rules or clear direction on what to do next. There are no action plans or performance reviews. Instead, he wants to savor these last moments of his fully human experience by spending time with his friends. They were his direct followers who were going to carry on his mission after him, but he didn’t approach them as an authority. Instead, he approaches them as a caring and loving friend. He shows them his appreciation by washing their feet and bonding with them in communion.
The breaking of the bread and sharing of the wine at the end of his last meal shows his deep desire for friendship and fellowship. He is not concerned about the work that they need to do, he’s focused on spending time with them. He knows what he is about to face and he just wants some time with his friends.
Jesus isn’t seeking dominion over us but fellowship. Jesus isn’t seeking our subservience. Jesus isn’t just seeking our partnership in his mission, he seeks our friendship. In such a friendship, we become fellow stewards of creation and each other. Our God washes our feet and breaks bread with us.
For in God’s last moments of freedom as a human being within the boundary of time, God chose fellowship with friends. God is not just the alpha and omega, but everything in between. God’s truest sacrament is fellowship. Our time together is sacramental when we approach each other in selfless love. It is how our God encountered us and we must seek to encounter each other with the same. We are called to love.
