Hours before His arrest, Jesus gathers His twelve disciples to share in a final meal together:

“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13: 1

Knowing full well the agony that awaits Him, Jesus is focused on the needs of His disciples, preparing them for their ministry and demonstrating once more His deep love for them. This is beautiful to contemplate.

In the midst of supper, Jesus quietly rises from the table and does the unthinkable:

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside His garments, and tied a towel around Himself. Then He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around Him.” John 13: 3-5

This act causes quite a stir among the disciples. During Jesus’ time, roads in the Roman Empire, ranged from well-engineered stone highways (like the Via Maris) to rough, local dirt roads that were always dusty — and often muddy! A large basin of water was kept at the entrance to every Jewish home, so that feet could be washed before entering the home.

Normally, foot washing was delegated to the lowest ranking servant. Somehow, the disciples enter the home without having their feet washed. During the Last Supper, it is Jesus Himself who washes the feet of His friends. The disciples have come to recognize Jesus as the Messiah; and Simon Peter objects vehemently to Jesus washing his feet. But Jesus says to Peter:

“If I do not wash you, you have no part in Me.” John 13: 8

These words must have stirred Peter’s heart. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus has been telling the disciples and everyone else who will listen that our lives will be defined by the depth of our love for God and for each other. When a Pharisee asks Jesus which is the greatest commandment in God’s law, Jesus replies as follows:  

“And Jesus said to them, ‘You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, depend all the law and the prophets.’” Matthew 22: 37-40

Everything — everything — depends on Love, Jesus tells us.

As Peter acquiesces and allows the Lord to wash his feet, he receives yet another profound lesson from Jesus about Love — the greatest virtue of Love is humility. Jesus shows Peter that only absolute humility enables absolute and perfect love of God and of others.

Do we fully grasp this?

St. Paul, in his first letter to the Church of Corinth, also underscores the virtue of humility as Love’s guiding force. The real power of Love lies not in our feelings or words. Rather, St. Paul describes that the power of Love is ultimately revealed in how we live and behave:

“Love is patient, and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

By washing His disciples’ feet, Jesus shows us that only when we are willing to make ourselves very small and little … only when we are willing to humble ourselves and allow someone else to be the master … can we love in the way that God intends for us to love.

Only God’s kind of Love — fueled by humility — has the power to transform souls. And as Jesus shows us, transformation occurs one soul at a time, through Love.

Our humility releases the power of God’s Love in our lives and in the lives of everyone we touch. St. Therese of Lisieux describes it this way:

“I am only a child, powerless and weak, and yet it is my weakness that gives me the boldness of offering myself as VICTIM [and channel] of Your Love, O Jesus! … In order that Love be fully satisfied, it is necessary that It lower Itself, and that It lower Itself to nothingness and transform nothingness into fire.1“

After Supper, and after Judas Iscariot has left to betray the Son of God, Jesus says this to His disciples:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13: 34-35

The hearts of Jesus’ disciples are no doubt burning so brightly. They have just witnessed Jesus wash their feet and institute the mysterious Eucharist. They have observed the betrayal of Judas and now fear what lies ahead for Jesus. The disciples’ hearts must be bursting with an indescribable love for their Friend and Teacher. In that moment, when the disciples’ hearts are most vulnerable, Jesus tenderly asks only that they love one another as He has loved them.

O, Precious Redeemer and Friend. ♥️

During these final two weeks of Lent, may we all reflect on the transformative power of loving the way that Jesus loves.

Jesus loves you so much. ♥️

“Above all things, have fervent and unfailing love for one another.” 1 Peter 4: 8

1 John Clarke, O.C.D., Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, Third Edition (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996), 195.