April 14, 2022

Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15

I should have given everyone fair warning on this, but I didn’t, so we are about to find out who was paying attention to my homily last weekend. For those of you who don’t remember, I’ll recap. It was Palm Sunday, and we had just finished the great passion reading, this one from Luke. We’ll hear it again tomorrow at Good Friday’s service, but that one will be from John’s Gospel. And as I said at the time, they both narrate the historical events of the death and burial of Jesus of Nazareth; in other words, what happened. I asked everyone to focus also on the second reading, the great Philippian Hymn that is contained at the start of the second chapter of that epistle. Saint Paul put that hymn, which he didn’t write, into his letter since it gives, with a masterly summary, the how and the why of the events of the passion. And the key word in that hymn was the verb “emptying,” or in the Greek, “kenosis.” I give the Greek word, since biblical scholars and theologians have spent a lot of time writing and thinking about this, and they use the Greek term to refer to this incredibly important concept.

Another act of kenosis, the emptying of self, is demonstrated today. John's Gospel does not contain a description of the Last Supper itself, but instead describes the actions and discussions after the supper was over. And while some of the teachings of Jesus were only fully understood later after other events had unfolded, here he is crystal clear: I am acting as a servant, even though I am the master – you too must follow my example. How simple is that? And yet how hard it is for us. Jesus empties himself in a small way today – by washing feet – and empties himself in the largest way possible tomorrow – laying down his life for all of us.

Now let me introduce one more Greek term, and I promise I'm done. The term is the counterpart to kenosis: it is theōsis. This term means to become like God. The two terms are tied together in the Philippian hymn: since Christ emptied himself on the cross, God highly exalted him – his human nature now is brought to the level of his divine nature – and in so doing purchased for us redemption for our sins. Christ is therefore our teacher and our example. Kenosis, real and genuine emptying of ourselves, will bring theōsis, our being like God. This is what God wants, for he made us in his own image, to be like God. Many feel that theōsis is what heaven is – being in perfect alignment with God in his presence.

So how do we follow this example? What does it mean to empty ourselves? The washing of the apostle’s feet is only another example of what Christ had been preaching throughout his ministry. The last shall be first, blessed are the meek and those who are persecuted, turn the other cheek, love your enemies – we could go on for a while. They are all aspects of emptying ourselves. Getting rid of the pride which puffs us up, getting rid of the ego which alienates us from those around us, getting rid of a need to have every desire gratified in a quest for superficial happiness.

As we end Lent, let us also remember that we began Lent with these same themes. Ash Wednesday's Gospel was the teachings of Christ to fast and give alms in secret, so as not be boastful. And the first Sunday of Lent was the temptation of Christ by Satan, where Jesus turned down every opportunity to make himself powerful with earthly importance. He reminds us that it is only the word of God that can truly fill us. It is only when we empty ourselves of all of these worldly sins that we can make room for God in our lives. It is only through this kenosis that we can achieve theōsis: being like God. There is not room in our soul for both our vanities and for God – that is the trade-off.

So today, on Holy Thursday, this important commemoration of the Last supper, we also see the kenosis-theōsis connection in another way. The Eucharist was Christ’s gift that he left us, a tangible way to encounter him sacramentally, in his memory, as we just heard in the second reading. The Church as always asked us to empty ourselves in preparation for receiving this blessed sacrament – going to confession to remove the stain of mortal sin as well as the absolution of the taint of venial sins at the beginning of Mass. We thereby empty ourselves of our sins and then listen to the Word of God to prepare ourselves to worthily receive him. And if we have emptied ourselves, we will then have the room inside our soul to receive the graces that he wishes to bestow upon us. The Eucharist is a sacrament, and not some magic potion. The graces that are conferred by this and all of the other sacraments are not automatic – the Church has always taught that they are always capable of being effective, but that there must be cooperation from the recipient to make them truly effective in our lives. We do this by following the teachings of Christ. We do this by following his example of emptying ourselves of all those things that fill us with ourselves and not God. There is no theōsis without kenosis.

As we continue with our special celebration of the Eucharist, we obey the command to “do this in memory of me.” We celebrate it on an altar, that place where the Jewish people offered sacrifice to God for their deliverance from slavery, and a priest, acting in the place of Christ, in persona Christ, offers up the sacrifice of the Mass to God for our deliverance from sin and separation from our God. Let us approach this altar worthily, that is to say empty of our worldly sins, and be ready to receive the fullness of God’s many graces that he lovingly wants to bestow upon us. Let us approach the altar in sure confidence that we are saved by our Christian discipleship. Let us remember the psalm that we just sang: “I am your servant, the son of your handmaid; you have loosed my bonds. To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD” [Psalm 116:16bc, 17 NAB].