A few days ago, on Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem acclaimed by a crowd, our reflection showed us that his close friends simply did not understand why he was doing this.
They could not figure out what led Jesus to accept this demonstration by the people when he had refused before.
(* See below Palm Sunday).
Today, as we remember the Last Supper he had with his twelve friends (Jn.13:1-15), we see him asking them:
“Do you understand what I have done to you?”
Overcoming Peter’s initial reluctance, Jesus has just been washing the feet of all of them.
A very unusual task which would normally have been performed by a slave or a servant.
Jesus expects that his apostles will be puzzled by his gesture and he wants them to understand the meaning of what he is doing.
An attitude of service,
an attitude, a service, that they themselves are to imitate in the future.
In the past, Jesus had tried a number of times to show them this way of being his disciples (Mt.20:25-28) (Lk.22:27).
But it was a hard lesson, one they needed to be reminded of.
And, it became obvious that putting it into practice was… the task of a lifetime.
It seems the same is true for us as well…
Understanding is one thing, living according to what we understand is another…
Would Jesus need to ask us tonight: “Do you understand?”
Source: Images: LDS.org vemsercristao.com
* See https://image-i-nations.com/palm-sunday-year-b/
Note: Another reflection is available in French on a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/jeudi-saint-annee-b/
Some of them may have remembered… or perhaps they had not, overcome as they were by the solemn and sad atmosphere they could feel at that moment in the Upper Room.