The Divine Gift
Holy Thursday. Fr Richard Conrad preaches on the Last Supper.
It’s 2nd April – not 2026 AD, but 33 AD. Jesus and his disciples are having pre-dinner drinks and nibbles. The sun sets; by Jewish reckoning, a new day begins. It’s also time for the meal to begin; Jesus is meant to wash his hands before the ritual Blessing over bread. Instead, he washes his disciples’ feet. For he knows his Hour has come; it’s the Day on which he must perform his most eloquent gesture. Human gestures sometimes say what words cannot, so it makes sense for God to express the depth of his love by a gesture.
God the Father timelessly expresses himself in his Word, his Son; expresses himself, and his project for the world. In their delight in each other, Father and Son timelessly breathe forth the Spirit who is Love, and in the Spirit they delight in all that is made. On Saturday night, we will hear how God’s Word called the world into being, while the Spirit cherished it. The Jewish Blessing acknowledges creation as God’s gift: ‘Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the cosmos, who bring forth bread from the earth.’ In creative love, God gives things their own selves, gives each of us his or her own self.
That gift is a gesture far too small for God to rest content with it.
We do not only give gifts to each other; in marriage, in parenthood, in mentoring, in friendship, we give our own selves. Each of Father, Son and Spirit wills to give us his own self, to be known, loved and enjoyed, for ever. The Creator becomes Friend. So, during the meal, the Word-become-flesh says, ‘I call you friends.’ And his first gesture was to wash his disciples’ feet, to express his self-sacrificing cherishing.
Then, saying the Blessing, he adds: ‘This is my Body, which is for you.’ In the beginning, the Word gave being to the cosmos. On 2nd April 33 AD, and today, 2nd April 2026 AD, through his words, the whole being of the bread becomes the whole being of his Body. To express his friendship, Jesus insists on being with us as fully as possible while time lasts. While we cannot bear to see his risen glory, he must show himself to us – show himself as the new Manna, the Food to sustain our journey.
That night, Judas would hand Jesus over to the soldiers; they to Annas; he to Caiaphas. Next morning, Caiaphas would hand Jesus over to Pilate; he to execution. Before, beneath all that, Jesus handed himself over: to us in the Eucharist, then, in the Garden, to sinners. He laid down his life for his friends – even for his enemies, that they may become friends. His Sacrifice is the ultimate gesture of God’s fierce loyalty, the most eloquent gesture of God’s Covenant-Love; as such, it is the great outlet for the Spirit who is Love to pour into the world. So, during the meal, Jesus promised to pray the Father to send the Spirit as the Friend to stand beside and mentor us, a promise he fulfilled when he lifted up his hands on the Cross as a prayer for sinners’ forgiveness; that prayer had strength to win the Gift of the Spirit who alone can create love in the depths of hearts that have lost it.
Jesus began fulfilling that promise while at table. He said, ‘Let us give thanks to the Lord,’ took the Cup of Blessing, and spoke the word that made the wine his Blood. The Jewish Blessing over the cup thanks God for planting his People as a choice vine, then prays for their unity. Jesus prayed not only for us to be one, but for us to share his own communion with his Father, within the Spirit’s eternal radiance. At the same time, he consecrated himself, dedicated himself as Sacrifice. His great Gesture of Covenant-Love began in the Upper Room. He continues to make that Gesture towards us at Mass, giving himself to us and for us.
Our Eucharistic Prayer is Jesus’ Eucharistic Prayer: he draws us into the prayer he made at the Supper and on the Cross, and still makes in heaven, that through his Sacrifice the Spirit may pour into us to make us more perfectly his Body. So may Jesus’ self-giving love take flesh in our words and gestures towards those he gives us to cherish. So may we do eternally what we begin to do now: render glory to the Father through, with and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Readings: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14 | 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 | John 13:1-15
Image: detail from a fresco of Christ washing the disciples’ feet at Santa Maria Novella, Florence, photograped by Fr Lawrence Lew OP
