Sunday Dive

Episode 027: The Ordination of the Twelve (Mass Readings for Holy Thursday, Apr. 9, 2020)

Episode Summary

In our Gospel for Holy Thursday, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. Is this scene merely an emphatic gesture on Jesus’ part to motivate the disciples to charity or do his intentions go deeper? Exploring the Old Testament background of washing we discover that the old covenant priests were ordained by washing and that what Jesus was actually doing at the Last Supper was instituting a new priesthood, one that is both ministerial and universal.

Episode Notes

Bibliography/Resources

• The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Series)
• The Temple: Its Ministry and Services by Alfred Edersheim
• Verbum Bible Software - www.verbum.com

References

• Exodus 29:4, 9 - "You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water [...] Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons."
• Exodus 30:18-20 - “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base of bronze, for washing. And you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, 19 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering by fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water, lest they die."
• Exodus 19:6 - "You shall be to me a kingdom of priests"
• Deuteronomy 10:9 - "Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance"
• Jeremiah 31:31-33 - "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
• Exodus 24:8 - "And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you"