Washing Feet

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. 

The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

“This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.

“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.” (Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14)

Protection.  That’s what we all need on this Holy Thursday.  Many people already have been “slaughtered” this Lent but not by the LORD as claimed by the writer of Exodus to have happened to the Egyptians.  A simple acellular, mind-less beast subjugating and taking over our cells for its own use, is the culprit – the coronavirus.

According to one reference: “Like our idea of Napoleon, viruses are very small – 100 times smaller than the average bacterium, so small that they can't be seen with an ordinary microscope. Viruses can only exert influence by invading a cell because they're not cellular structures. They lack the ability to replicate on their own, so viruses are merely tiny packets of DNA or RNA genes enfolded in a protein coating, on the hunt for a cell they can dominate.”  Seems like the script for a horror movie, and for many of us and our Nation – never mind the entire world – it is an ongoing horror!

If only it was a simple manner of applying lamb’s blood to our doors to ward off infection – mild or life-threatening.  The virus would pass over us.   All we can apply is Purell.  Still, the virus spreads and panic sets in – especially panic buying and for toilet paper in particular.  Never have so many people been so dramatically concerned about their rear ends.   What did our ancestors use for hundreds of years?   Apparently, people used leaves, grass, ferns, corn cobs, maize, fruit skins, seashells, stone, sand, moss, snow and water.  I guess we all have options, especially all of us beachcombers.  Ouch!

Our Gospel reading (John 13:1-15) tells us of Jesus washing feet.  There will be no washing of feet in our churches this Holy Thursday.    Nevertheless, this gesture is best copied by our helping those who are suffering from unemployment and/or sickness.   This Holy Week gives all of us the opportunity to act like Jesus through charity and compassion – especially love of our neighbors.

Deacon David Pierce