He Loved Them To The End – Holy Thursday – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church, Burns, Oregon; April 17, 2025

Everything Jesus did at the Last Supper was most intentional and deliberate, done with the fullness of knowledge. Nothing is accidental.

He knows that after he leaves with his disciples and goes to the garden, he will be arrested, tried, condemned, and crucified. Like the betrayal of Judas, that casts a shadow in the background of the Last Supper itself, all of this is intended by Jesus, though very differently from the different malefactors, Judas, the High Priests, and Pontius Pilate. Judas freely betrays Jesus; Jesus will freely hand himself over into the power of the High Priests, to whom he was betrayed. No one has any power over him, except that he freely hands himself over, according to the will of the Father. (cf. Jn 10:17-18)

God does not will the evil actions of men, but permitting them, he then orders those evil actions, beyond human intention, to the good of his own design. Jesus, the Son of God made man, does not will the evil actions of men, but permitting them, as he allows the betrayal of Judas to go forward, he orders those evil actions, beyond the intentions of their agents, to the good of his own design.

He knows that he came from God and is returning to God; he knows that it is now the hour of the Father’s choosing, for him to return to God by way of the Cross and Resurrection. He follows this path for the glory of his Father and for our salvation. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end – to the last drop of his Blood; to every age, in which his sacrifice would be renewed in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to the end of the world.

Everything he does at the Last Supper he does in light of the whole history of the Old Testament that has prepared this moment, and in light of all the prophecies that he has come to fulfill. Everything he does at the Last Supper he does in view of his coming death on the Cross and in view of the Church that will be born from his wounded side on the Cross.  

He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. He loved not only the Twelve, including Judas, who rejected his love, who were gathered with him in the intimacy of the Upper Room, he loved all those whom he saw, in the light of his divinity, down through the ages. He loved all those who through the ages would gather every year on Holy Thursday in commemoration of his love. When he sat at table with the Twelve on the original Holy Thursday, he saw, in the light of his divinity, all those gathered here in this commemoration, on this Holy Thursday.

Everything he did was most deliberate and intentional, a gift of his love imprinted on the minds and hearts of his disciples, a gift of his love that would abide to the end of the world.

This includes the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and Blood; the institution of the priesthood, to whom the Holy Eucharist is entrusted; his new commandment, Love one another, even as I have loved you (Jn 13:34); and the foot washing, which I would suggest alludes both to the sacrament of penance and to the new commandment.  

Washing the feet of his disciples certainly suggests a symbol of the forgiveness of sins, yet Jesus’ little exchange with Peter shows that it is not a symbol of baptism, for when Peter wants to be washed entirely Jesus tells him, Whoever has bathed – this suggests baptism – has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over. This speaks then of a washing of sins committed after baptism, a washing that takes place through the sacrament of penance.

He then tells his Apostles, You ought to wash one another’s feet. This message is also meant for his priests: Confess your sins one to another. Priests too, must go to confession and of necessity to another priest. Even the Pope goes to confession, and of necessity, to another priest. Yet, through confession, whether one priest to another, or layman to priest, it is always Christ himself who washes the feet of his disciples. This washing is necessary because even after baptism we continue to fall into sin, if only “light” sins, venial sins.  St. John writes, to the faithful, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 Jn 1:8)

St. John recounts for us the foot washing, but does not recount the institution of the Eucharist. We can guess that the foot washing came first; it was a preparation for the Eucharist. Just as only those who, through baptism, have had their sins forgiven and have been united to Christ, are capable of receiving his Body and Blood in Holy Communion, so the continual cleansing from sin is necessary to partake of the Table of the Lord. We are reminded of this even as we draw near to communion, when we call upon the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world to have mercy upon us.

The priests are to wash each other’s feet through mutual confession, but we are all to wash each other’s feet through mutual forgiveness. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Reconciliation prepares the way for communion.

Jesus says, If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come offer your gift. (Mt 5:23-24) This must be done at least in our heart.

This is also the meaning of the sign of peace. The sign of peace is not a social exchange, a moment to greet and fraternize, but a sacred symbol, in which we recognize Christ in our brother, not just in the one next to us, but in all our brethren, represented by the one next to us, and our desire to be reconciled and be at peace, not just with the brother next to us, but with all our brethren.

The Body of Christ in Holy Communion is given to us as the gift of the greatest intimacy with Christ himself, our God and Savior. So he says, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. (Jn 6:56)

At the same time, the very Body and Blood of Christ, which is signified by and contained with the appearances of bread and wine, is itself a sacrament, a sign that brings about not only our intimate communion with God, but also a sign that binds us together in the unity of his Body, the Church. St. Paul writes, The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. (1 Cor 10:16-17)

Love one another, even as I have loved you. (Jn 13:34) The love that we receive from Christ in holy communion is the source and origin of our mutual love in Christ; to love one another in Christ means to love those to whom we have been bound together in the Body of Christ, those who receive the same gift, the Body of Christ, in holy communion.

Mutual forgiveness lies at the heart of that mutual love.

This requirement of mutual forgiveness is bound up very tangibly in the way in which Christ gives himself to us, in the Holy Eucharist, and in the way in which Christ forgives us, in the confessional. You see, the sacraments require the priesthood, and the priesthood is very personal and human, with all its weaknesses of flesh and blood. Priests are ordinary human beings, chosen by Christ and used by him as his ministers. Christ requires us to deal with his priests. One might say that every time a Catholic goes to Mass, every time a Catholic goes to confession, he must, in the first place, forgive the priest, and then, with the eyes of faith, look beyond his weakness and sin, and see the High Priest, Jesus Christ, who makes use of his service to communicate his grace.

Each time a Catholic goes to Mass, he must not only forgive the priest, he must also forgive his brothers and sisters in Christ – at least those who attend the same Mass. How many people stay away from Mass because of the priest? How many people stay away from Mass because of someone in the congregation? We might say that they have missed the whole point. Christ demands that if we are to draw near to him we must accept and forgive those with whom we are bound together in his Body. We cannot draw near to him alone. It can never be just, “Me and Jesus”, any more than we can pray, “My Father”, instead of “Our Father”.

St. Paul writes, Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:2) A burden has no solution; all we can do is carry it. It is not a matter of fixing people – we cannot change anyone, though God can – but of bearing their burdens, as Christ carried his Cross, in which we were all embraced. Judas was part of Jesus’ burden. When we come to Mass, when we receive communion, together with the Body of Christ, we receive in our heart, the burdens of our brothers and sisters in Christ, including the Judases. We pledge ourselves to bearing their burdens, like Christ, who loved us to the end.