“[Jesus] loved them to the end.” (Jn 13:1)
John begins his story of the Last Supper with these poignant and powerful words which tell us that, from this point on in the Gospel, Jesus is rushing to the end. John calls Jesus’ Passion or Cross, his “departure from this world,” his “Hour.”
We all know how quickly an hour can pass and how slowly sometimes when it is full of pain.
The next eight chapters of John’s Gospel tell of Jesus’ Hour which – John says tonight – is nothing other than Jesus loving us to the end. Even if Jesus has been loving us from the beginning, as God from God, John wants to make it clear that the rest of the Gospel is showing us Jesus as the Word made flesh descending to the farthest point of love.
The Supper is already Jesus’ Hour. We know that from the other Gospels where Jesus declares bread and wine to be His Body and His Blood “of the Covenant” (Mt 26:28) – a Body offered in sacrifice, His Blood poured out. John begins with that homelier gesture of Jesus bending down to wash His apostles’ feet as already a powerful sign of loving them to the end.
This humble gesture of service on Jesus’ part provokes a very strong reaction from the apostle Peter (which is always a little unsettling when we read it). Aren’t the apostles used to seeing Jesus doing things that risk his status and acceptance in polite society? But remember Peter’s exchange with Jesus on the road from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem. When Jesus foretells his crucifixion, Peter tries to discourage Jesus but Jesus rebukes him: “Get behind me, Satan.” (Mt 16:23; Mk 8:33)
Now in Jerusalem, on the night before the Passover, on the eve of the Cross, Peter tries to dissuade Jesus from making this humble act of love. Can Peter read into the meaning of this easier foot-washing, and see in it the implication of the Cross?
However, once Jesus calls Peter back to his love, as usual, Peter gets over his fear and objections, wakes up to himself, and surrenders to his Saviour’s love and friendship. Peter surrenders to a foot-washing by his Master and to the meaning of that self-emptying gesture of Jesus.
Jesus can give all that He is in the simplest gesture. Perhaps this foot-washing helped to open up Peter and the others to the even greater gesture of the Supper itself? Something like Baptism preparing us for the Holy Eucharist.
As the Hour races on, and the Twelve join Jesus for this festal meal, Paul tells us in our second reading, that the Lord Jesus indeed gives all that He is under the mysterious appearances of Bread and Wine. Saint Paul quotes the Lord Jesus himself: “This is my Body that is for you. […] This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” (I Cor 11: 24-25) From elements of the festive and Passover meal, Jesus institutes a memorial for his apostles and disciples to celebrate.
In the Church’s constant Tradition, Jesus gave himself, His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, to the apostles under the appearances of bread and wine at the Last Supper. His Hour was upon Him and He love them [already] to the end. In this simple gesture of worship, so familiar to the Jewish People, Jesus created a new way of worship for His New Covenant, so that all generations of his disciples, once washed in Baptism, could share in the mystery of His Body and Blood again and again.
Peter doesn’t baulk at the Eucharist as he baulked initially at the washing of feet. He is just concerned now that he not betray Jesus’ love and gift.
On Good Friday, we will see and re-live how Jesus “loved [us] to the end.” Tonight, already the apostles and we receive the gift of the Cross, Christ in His fulness, descending in love to the end.
Simple fishermen, a tax collector, some zealots become Priests of the New Covenant as Jesus commands them to celebrate the Eucharist in memory of Him. They surrender to this other gift from the Cross, their vocation to shepherd God’s People in Word and Sacrament that flows from the Heart of Christ.
Tonight, brothers and sisters, as we begin the Sacred Triduum, these three most Holy Days of the Church’s year, we recognize our Saviour in the simplest gestures of love that express the most profound mysteries of his Heart: the Eucharist and His Priesthood. If these great Sacraments evade our explanation at times, we can look to Jesus’ other gesture tonight where he washes the feet of the apostles. It is sometimes supremely difficult to humble our self before another and to reach out to help, to assist, to listen, to follow God’s teaching and plan – especially when we are rebuffed, as Peter at first rebuffs Jesus.
The Real Presence of the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist – his loving us to the end – is the food that gives us strength to be like Christ. The Eucharist is the “medicine of immortality” (cf. St. Ignatius of Antioch), the fire of our love’s transformation, and the infinite fuel of every good work. As we enter Jesus’ Hour and keep watch with Him tonight, may we thank the Lord for the great gift of the Eucharist and the Priesthood which are indispensable to our life, the life of the Church, and the life and future of the world. Jesus is loving us to the end in this twofold gift of His Heart and making our own gift of love always possible.
Most Rev. Stephen A. Hero
Archbishop of Edmonton
St. Joseph’s Basilica
April 2, 2026
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