During the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we focus on the Gospel passage (John 13:1-15), specifically the washing of the feet. What did Jesus want to tell us with that singular and unprecedented gesture? And why did he wash the feet of his disciples, leaving them and us an example to imitate?
Many human myths highlight a painful fact: man’s feet are wounded. Oedipus, for example, which etymologically means “swollen, wounded foot,” will, as we know, kill his father and marry his mother. As punishment, he will be hung from a tree by his heels. Greek literature also presents us with Achilles, a great hero, whose foot is his most vulnerable point. During the siege of Troy, he will be struck in the heel by Paris. If we open the Scriptures, we find the same images. Eve, for example, is threatened by the serpent in her heel (Gen 3:15). What significance does the foot have then? The foot allows man to have contact with the earth; it is the starting point for his verticalization.
The vertical posture thus becomes an image of human dignity. But humanity, as we were saying, has wounded feet, is threatened by evil that always tries to undermine its stability and…throw it to the ground. The prophet Isaiah sees his people, who have succumbed to idolatry, covered with a terrifying wound: “From the sole of the foot to the head / there is no soundness, / but wounds and bruises / and open sores / that have not been cleaned or bandaged / or soothed with oil” (1:6). Hence the heartfelt invitation to conversion so that the Lord can cure and heal his people (Is 30:26). And God intervenes with the promise of the righteous Branch (Zech 3:8), under whose feet everything will flourish again (Zech 6:12, see TOB note). Matthew, who knew these prophecies well, concludes the episode of the Holy Family from Egypt by affirming that Jesus, according to the prophecy, was to be called a Nazarene (Mt 2:22-23). ​​Nazarene is derived from nezer, which means “branch.” Everything is clarified and fulfilled: Jesus is the prophesied Branch, who in his passing will renew everything, as Peter also attests: “Jesus of Nazareth, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). From this historical-salvific background, briefly outlined, the washing of the feet comes to be placed as the final and definitive act with which God restores man to his lost dignity. In the Son, He himself re-establishes, purifies and heals the mortal wound of sin. John, in the Apocalypse, will present a humanity finally healed in the figure of the woman, who, not coincidentally, places her feet on the moon (Rev 12:1, cf. Ps 8:7). If Isaiah had mourned his people (an image of humanity) compromised from head to toe, now John, prophetically, rejoices because in Christ humanity has rediscovered itself and God. We must not forget, however, that to heal this wound, God had to pay a very high price, which I would summarize with a phrase from Isaiah: “By his wounds we are healed” (53:5). Without a doubt, and we conclude, washing is a gesture to be imitated; but first it must be understood as a revelatory gesture, according to the words of Jesus: “The Son can do nothing of himself, but only what he sees the Father do; for whatever he does, the Son also does likewise” (Jn 5:19).

Grant us, Lord,
to recognize your day
and to leave behind
the tears of our sadness
to enter with you into the song of your joy.
But first, grant us
the courage to enter with you
into “your hour,”
to walk the paths of faith
in the darkness of the night,
but with the star of hope
burning in our hearts
as one who knows he is walking, confidently,
toward the dawn.

Amen.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey