Upside Down

During a Thursday evening Mass, Pope Francis washed the feet of twelve young detainees at a juvenile facility in Rome. The Mass was a commemoration of the meal Jesus and his Disciples shared the night before the Crucifixion. The Washing of The Feet is a representation of the act that Jesus performed during that meal.

The Pope washed black feet, white feet, Muslim feet, Orthodox feet, male feet, and female feet. The fact that he washed the feet of two young women was a strong message in itself as the Roman Catholic Church has traditionally viewed this act to include only males because, presumably, Jesus' Disciples were all male. To break with that tradition sends a strong message about the inclusiveness of the Church.

Pope Francis told the detainees, "This is a symbol, it is a sign — washing your feet means I am at your service," Francis told the youngsters. "Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service." ("Pope Francis Washes Feet of Young Detainees In Ritual" by Nicole Winfield, AP, USA Today, 29 March 2013: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/28/pope-frances-washes-feet/2028595/,  29 March 2013).

The act of washing feet is indeed an act of service, of spiritual humility. The feet are the basest of human extremities. In Jesus' day feet got dirty constantly as people wore sandals. The act of washing feet was largely a task performed by a servant. That was the message of Jesus to His Disciples
Love one another as I have loved you. In other words, put others before yourselves, be servants one to another.

This act of servanthood was no mere act of humility, however. It was nothing short of revolution. Jesus overturned commonly held beliefs about the structure of society. The Pharisees and Sadducees and Pilate all represented power, wealth and status. Even the Teacher was honored. They all were "first".

The act of washing the feet of the Disciples was the culmination of Jesus' teachings. Throughout his ministry he taught that love of God meant love of neighbor and that the neighbor included those traditionally frowned upon, the poor, the widowed, the prisoner, the sick. These are the people who would be FIRST in God's Kingdom. The last, he said, would be first and the first, last. Everything, Jesus implied, would be upside down in the Kingdom of God.

It is no accident that Jesus overturned the tables in the Temple. Sitting there were merchants and bankers, trading and profiting off the misery of the poor. Jesus called the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, teaching the Prophets but ignoring their teachings and worse. Overturning the tables was another parable in itself, showing the spiritual truth of what would happen to the world in the Kingdom of God.

It is interesting and probably no accident that the overturning of the tables in the Temple and the washing of the Disciples feet happened right before the Crucifixion. For in the Crucifixion we see the universe upside down - the sacrifice of God for humanity. When we come to Good Friday we see the initiation of the Kingdom of God. Once again, everything is upside down.

The Pope got it right when he said that he was, first, a servant. If only the Church would get the rest of Jesus' teaching correct. The Pope, for all his declaration of servanthood still holds the trappings of earthly power. He is still the head of State and the Head of one of the wealthiest institutions in the world.

Jesus once told a rich young man who wanted to know how to save his soul that he must sell all he had and to follow him. The young man went away sorrowfully because he was quite wealthy. The truth remains:.wealth and earthly power are pretty much disqualifying characteristics for the Kingdom of God.

So is self-serving false piety. Those who are SURE they will inherit the Kingdom, probably won't. The lack of humility is probably a dead giveaway. Sanctimonious and exclusionary teachings about who God is for and against is another. Once again, Pope Francis got it partly correct - the true Church, the Kingdom of God, is inclusive. The fist shall be last and the last, first. The tables of power will all be overturned. The powerful will wash the feet of the servant. That is the Word of God and that is, my friends, revolution.