At the Holy Thursday liturgy I attended there were only two men.   The congregation was

 made up of religious sisters from a variety of 

communities.   Some of the women refused the footwashing but the priest

was kept busy!

Holy Thursday   April 2026

We have very limited knowledge of the kingdom of God to come.  We have an image of that kingdom taken perhaps from imaginative pictures of Eden before the fall of Adam and Eve.   Or we craft an image taken from our favorite experiences.  But Jesus provides us with his leading image of heaven.   He frequently mentions in the gospels, the image of wedding feasts and other meals of celebration.   And this evening we commemorate how Jesus put his own stamp on feasts by the way he acts at the Passover meal that celebrates freedom, a memorial of the Exodus of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt.    

 

Adopting Jesus’ image of the meal in general as the experience of heaven might lead us to imagine ourselves sitting in heavenly luxury at an elaborately set table surrounded by our favorite foods and wines and our best friends and family.   And a gospel story or two surely does confirm that God reserves some such places in the heavenly kingdom.   But it is clear that such places are especially for the poor, like Lazarus and for others who are poor and hungry.  Moreover, Jesus takes a variety of actions in such settings.   Sometimes they are celebrations of reconciliation or of healing.  But today, of course, he provides us with a striking model for our participation in such meals, the model of the servant.  

 

In this evening’s ideal setting for a heavenly banquet, Jesus, as he celebrates Passover, provides us with the image of how he himself will always behave.   It is so humbling to watch him.  He takes the role of a trusted household servant and bathes the feet of his friends, that is, of course, our feet.   This action appears at a moment in time but it is a gesture that informs all of human existence.  It is the gesture that defines for Jesus his love for us and the deepest desire of the Trinity in God to be of service to us.  It is, also, the gesture that defines how we ourselves are to live.

 

So in our own images of God’s banquet in God’s new kingdom, we must consider the whole picture.   It appears that Jesus encourages us at banquets rather to wait on table or prepare the meal in the kitchen or be the rancher presenting the choicest meat or the farmer the choicest fruits or vegetables.   Images of waiting on table or remote and immediate preparation of the meal can take the place of the usual ones we make up for ourselves in the next life: prideful head-of-the-table images or maybe lead singer in the heavenly choir.  But what a pleasure it will be to take some of these service duties at the heavenly banquet  without the danger of running out of joy and energy and with perfection of service and of food and drink always within reach.

 

I had an experience that gives us a pale image of such transformation in roles that Jesus suggests. Years ago I officiated at the wedding of a black couple, a lovely couple, the bride an elementary school teacher and the groom a bank official.   After the wedding at the Gesu Church in North Philly, I was among those invited to the reception at a suburban country club. 

 

At the reception I could not find another guest who was white and, surprisingly, I could not find a person on the service staff at the club who was not white.   Like all wedding banquets it was an expensive transaction.   And, in fact, it symbolized our segregated society in a striking way.    The venue hired only whites.    And at the same time whites were denied by the overall culture from coming to know the lovely couple and their families.    The role reversals at that country club represented no ideal at all.   But I am convinced that those in heaven will experience transformational joy whether sometimes seated at table or sometimes preparing and serving the meal.

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