Readings: EX 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 COR 11:23-26; JN 13:1-15
(Note: Today’s final guest blog is, yet again, written by the incomparable Rev. Celie Katovitch who just knows how to weave together a great sermon or reflection. Thank you, Rev. Celie!)
When Emily Dickinson died, she left instructions regarding her funeral. Although she was from a prominent family in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, and is known to us as a writer of poetry that seems to come from another world— her last wishes reveal a lot about her heart’s deepest allegiances. For her pallbearers, she designated not members of Amherst’s elite, but six Irish farmhands who worked for the Dickinson family, whom she counted among her dearest friends. Her coffin not to be carried out of the house in a grand funeral procession, but out through the servants’ door.
That’s a pretty striking statement about who she cast her lot with! She might have had an other-worldly quality about her, a dreaminess— but she truly wanted to be in solidarity with working people and the poor.
On the night before he died, Jesus made a similarly radical statement. Whenever I sit with it and take in what it means, it takes my breath away. He “takes off his outer garments,” and tying a towel around his waist, begins to wash his disciples’ feet.
The tenderness and other-centeredness of this gesture are worth many blog posts in and of themselves. Additionally, though, it is almost impossible for us to appreciate today the radicalness of this act on a social level. Washing guests’ feet was the job of people who “didn’t count” in that society. It was a task that would typically have been done by either servants, or women. Which is to say, not by anyone with power; not by anyone who was anyone. So Jesus—this wise rabbi and teacher, the one greeted as royalty when he entered Jerusalem in his parade—casts his lot with the people at the bottom of the status pyramid, by doing what was considered a humble (and some would have said rather thankless) task. Imagine if, today, a CEO took off his tie, or undid her hair, and took a shift on the assembly line. Imagine if a doctor took off his or her white coat, and took a turn waiting on customers in the hospital cafeteria. Imagine if a bishop changed out of his robes, and knelt down to scrub floors with the cleaning crew of the basilica. No wonder Peter flips his lid a bit, seeing this— this is a shocking, some would say scandalous action!
In this country, “service” jobs are still done disproportionately by women. Many are still paid a wage of less than $15 an hour. Low-wage workers are often made to feel invisible— as we see by the efforts from big companies like Amazon and Starbucks to hinder the formation of unions.
The pandemic has brought into light how much our entire society owes to people like child care workers and elder care workers, grocery clerks, mail carriers, janitorial staff, waiters, farmworkers, classroom assistants, adjunct professors, delivery drivers, factory workers, and home health aides. These types of work have value and deep dignity. God recognizes this; and our society should too, and reflect that fact through livable wages and safe working conditions. Jesus has also given us “a model to follow” with our inner attitudes. Jesus himself came among us as one who serves; as a friend of the poor who takes his place with those on the lower rungs of the ladder of power. Underneath any outer garments that symbolize status, we are all the same. And how we treat others is how we treat Him.
Today I just want to leave you with this question: How can I follow Jesus in showing respect, honor, kindness, and appreciation, to those whose work and personhood is so often undervalued in society? What am I willing to risk to take my place beside them as an ally?
15 Comments
Patricia Hart
First. thank you, Mike for the blog throughout the past weeks. Rev.Celie, I am so moved by your message today and your final questions give me pause…how can I honor those who serve us? And perhaps you can talk Elon Musk into spending one day on the factory floor building cars with the experts!! When I was working in the schools we had “ turn around day” and we switched jobs…it was an amazing lesson in empathy and respect for all who , in my mind, do the real work! Thanks
Mike Boucher Author
Thanks for posting, Pat, and thanks for sharing that story of “turn around day.” Empathy and respect are things we could use more of.
Monica
The image of the doctor serving in the cafeteria really depicts I’ve never realized how shocking and humbling Jesus’s washing the feet of others was.
Mike Boucher Author
Thanks for highlighting that, Monica. Rev. celie does have a way of giving images that last…
Barb Simmons
This morning’s reflection is one I will carry with me as a reminder to think about what it means to be unnoticed and under-valued. It reminded me of an interview I heard on NPR with poet, Ocean Vuong. I recall telling you, Rev. Celie, how what he said about his mother touched me. His mother was uneducated (couldn’t even read), and worked in a nail salon doing pedicures all day long. She was bent over rarely making eye contact with the clients she served. Ocean himself had become an acclaimed poet who often received applause after one of his readings or lectures. He mused that his mother never received applause for her work. He said, “No one ever clapped for her.” That brought tears to my eyes because it reminded me of my mother who had only a seventh grade education and worked two jobs after my dad died when I was 14. Her main job was as a seamstress sewing winter jackets at a knitting mill. By the time retired her hands were painful and swollen with arthritis. But, her work was needed and honorable. No one applauds the many people whose work or status is not revered. Jesus reminds us that everyone’s work has value and dignity. Thank you, Rev. Celie for bringing this message to us this morning. We need to always appreciate those on the lower rungs of power.
Mike Boucher Author
Barb, I always appreciate your reflections and words. Thanks for being so active on here during Lent. May we all clap more often for those who get no applause!
Mike Bleeg
Mike,
thanks for all these blogs. They have been everyday prayers.
Mike Boucher Author
Thanks, Mike, it’s a true blessing to write and to have so many like you who respond.
Karen Keenan
Thank you for turning my thinking upside down again and again with these thoughtful blogs. They always touch my heart and open me to new possibilities.
Mike Boucher Author
Thanks for being along with us, Karen. I have often heard it said that if the gospels do not turn our thinking upside down, then maybe we’re not reading them right!
Francene C McCarthy
Thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough! These blogs have touched my heart and soul and helped me to deepen my faith and understanding. Holy Thursday is a mass that always makes me weep knowing what Jesus did and what will come next for Him. I want to reflect today on simple things that I can continue to do everyday to recognize the unnoticed – smile and thank a clerk by name, smile and make eye contact with those who fill the grocery shelves and say thank you, send a note to someone who lives alone and tell them how wonderful they are. My list is small but my thoughts and prayers are there. Have a blessed Holy Thursday.
Mike Boucher Author
Francene, I have so appreciated the many ways that you made this Lenten journey a good one with your reflections.
Anne Virginia Garbarino
My father taught me this lesson many years ago. I became a teacher and always made friends with the custodians and clerks. They made it possible for the school to function.
Mike Boucher Author
Anne (Virginia), thank you for this. Befriending those that make it possible for everything to function (and yet rarely if ever get acknowledged) is such an important reminder. Your father’s wisdom remains.
Christine McEntee
It really is the small things. How we touch this world one person at a time. Our daily patience and gratitude, said or acted upon needn’t be big statements just sincere and honest.
That old catch phrase which became a million wrist bands(bad for the planet) WWJD “What would Jesus do? Is never the wrong question to ask.
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