Holy Thursday is the day that Christians remember Jesus’ Last Supper where he gathered his disciples for a meal, often understood as a Passover Meal carrying the deep symbolism of liberation. 

“The Last Supper” by Carl Heinrich Bloch. Wikimedia Commons.

We are told that the evening began with Jesus going about and washing the feet of his disciples and “showed how perfect his love was.”  (Jn 13. 1-20)

John’s Gospel displays a poetic and at times elegant recital of some essential teachings of Jesus in chapters 13 to 18 including this one:

I give you a new commandment: Love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another.  By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.
(Jn. 13.34f)   

The special and down-to-earth washing of feet is a sacramental event of real earthiness and genuine “humility” since the Latin word humus means “earth.”  The blessing of the feet is an honoring of the first chakra, which is how we connect to the Earth.  Feet walk on the earth after all and in Jesus’s day, in sandy Palestine, walking in sandals sans socks, feet got plenty dusty and dirty.  It was a great relief to get one’s feet cleaned and even massaged in those circumstances. 

To wash one’s feet you have to bend down, that too is an exercise in humility; one can’t wash another’s feet by standing over one or even from sitting in a chair oneself.  Abraham cleaned the feet of special visitors who approached him in Gen 18.4. 

“My paten and my chalice are the depths of a soul laid widely open to all the forces which in a moment will rise up from every corner of the earth and converge upon the Spirit.” ~ Teilhard de Chardin, Mass on the World. Photo by Christine McIntosh on Flickr.

The high point of Holy Thursday is the Supper itself where the story goes that Jesus took bread and shared it with his disciples with words like these: “Take and eat, this is my body.  Do this in memory of me.”  And so too with the cup of wine.

These actions gave birth to the foundational Christian sacrament of the bread and wine, the food for the ages that reminds us of the intimacy to be had by eating the Cosmic Christ that permeates all of creation from the seeds to the sun, rain, soil and the entire universe that birthed earth, plants, animals, and ourselves. 

The re-sacralizing of our every day habits of eating is at stake.  All is sacred.  Gratitude reigns, thus the practice is called “Eucharist,” which means to give thanks.  How aware are we that food is sacred and communing together is also?  And that the real meaning of religion is “supreme thankfulness or gratitude” (Aquinas)?


See Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 41-44.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.

Banner Image: Jesus Washes the Feet of the Apostles. Mural, Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar, Portugal. Photo © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

Queries for Contemplation

How is humanity doing, how has it done, in responding to Jesus’s “new commandment” to “love one another”?  Have we made any progress at it?  What holds us back?


Recommended Reading

The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times

A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book!  Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit


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22 thoughts on “Holy Thursday, 2022”

  1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
    Richard Reich-Kuykendall

    Matthew, You write today about Holy Thursday and how, “We are told that the evening began with Jesus going about and washing the feet of his disciples and “showed how perfect his love was.” (Jn 13. 1-20). It was perfect because is was humble (“humus” of the earth) rather than a thing of pride. The disciples who were waiting for there thrones next to Jesus in the Kingdom and Queendom of God, were not about to lower themselves to wash anyone’s feet–that was a thing for the servants to do, not them! And then you say in regards to the Eucharist, that it is “the foundational Christian sacrament of the bread and wine, the food for the ages that reminds us of the intimacy to be had by eating the Cosmic Christ that permeates all of creation from the seeds to the sun, rain, soil and the entire universe that birthed earth, plants, animals, and ourselves.” The way you explain the Eucharist makes sense to me more than any other way of understanding the Eucharist. The body of Christ now is the body of the Cosmic Christ. Then you ask us this in our Queries for Contemplation: “How is humanity doing, how has it done, in responding to Jesus’s ‘new commandment’ to ‘love one another’?” Not so good–it never really has been, except in the matriarchal times before the Bronze Age.
    “Have we made any progress at it?” It seemed like we had to a certain degree with the establishment of the United Nations, and various world councils–this since WWII, but now Russia is rising again and making war.
    “What holds us back?” What has always held us back–ultimately selfishness that expresses itself in greed, hatred, violence, domination of the “anawim”–the voiceless ones. As the Beatles said, “All You Need is Love”–it seems so simple, but it is actually the hardest thing.

  2. Avatar

    Dear Matthew, I was disappointed that all your images of the “Last Supper” seem to show only men present. In 1998 I commissioned a “Last Supper” painting from the Polish artist Bohdan Piasecki which includes 6 women and 2 children, all in Jewish clothing and reclining around a table. You are welcome to use this image in a future post. Let me know if you need a higher resolution image. Here is a link to our website: https://www.wearechurchireland.ie/store/Last-Supper-Postcards-Pack-of-12-21-x-10cm-8-x-4-p217349755
    Colm Holmes
    Spokesperson and Joint Convenor
    We Are Church Ireland

    1. Avatar

      Lovely. I read and appreciate the explanation of the Piasecki painting which you linked us to. Thank you, Colm, Though I wouldn’t fault Matthew’s image searcher for posting artwork that does show our traditional view of The Last Supper–it is after all the way we typically view that sacred seder–it’s helpful to see a possibly more authentic depiction. Personally, I have a problem with the simplistic image of Judas Iscariot in the Carl Heinrich Bloch painting. Things may be more complicated than that image of Judas proclaims, as I question in my play, “Discovery: The Lost Gospel of Judas. https://www.mickishelton.com/full-length-plays

    2. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Colm, I checked out the picture and it truly is probably a more accurate rendition of the times. At least some of the disciples were married and probably had children–yours looks like a more traditional seder back in Jesus’
      time. Thank you for sharing !

  3. Avatar
    Jeanette Metler

    The words in todays DM, ” The Eucharist is the deep liberation of Love”, resonates within me. One must be broken open for this deep liberation of love… to be seen… to unfold… to evolve…. to emerge. The blood of the Cosmic Christ… contains the same DNA within the all and the everything of creation… arranged in an infinite number of patterns… same substance yet diverse forms. All is One glorious flowing manifestation of liberated love.

    Do we surrender to being broken open for this deep liberation of love… to be seen… to unfold… to evolve… and emerge from within?
    Sometimes.
    Do we love freely, flowing with the rhythms of its movements? Sometimes.
    Do we Love imperfectly… in our brokenness?
    Always.
    Will Love truly liberate us from all that hinders its movements?
    Always.

    The bread and the wine is always there for the tasting… sometimes bitter … at other times sweet.

  4. Avatar

    Matthew asks how humanity is doing re love and engagement with the earth/cosmos?
    It seems we are still in the desert, where many have joined ‘Midas’ worshipping the Golden Calf while enlightened others continue pointing to the ‘manna’ of the cosmos, the natural/sacred bread. We are currently facing the dark trauma of a war that must end all wars if we are ever to make it to ‘The Promised Land.’
    Thank you Colm Holmes for Polish artist Bohdan Piasecki’s inclusive ‘Last Supper’. It reminds me of the Russian artist Marc Chagall’s painting ‘White Crucifixion’ showing a Jewish Jesus on the cross while Russian/European Jews scramble to escape the pogroms of ‘Christian’ executioners. It has been a long dark story since the Jesus’ last supper with his followers.

    1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Gwen, … and thank you for bringing up Marc Chagall’s painting the “White Crucifixion”–and I would add the painting that is described in the book, MY NAME IS ASHER LEV by Chaim Potok…

  5. Avatar

    Richard Rohr recently had a similar daily meditation of Christ’s message to love one another as I have loved you, and this included ‘loving oneself.’ He said it’s hard for most people to recognize our own divine nature, the Cosmic Christ~Divine Love within as well as all around us in the Universe~Cosmos… The saints and mystics tell us that this growing and transformative awareness~consciousness of this Loving Eternal Presence~Oneness is the ongoing evolution of our Eternal Souls as co~Creators with-in our Loving Divine Source~Creator….
    ?❤️?

  6. Avatar

    Do you see any perverse relationship between our belief in one God and the continued drive toward authoritarianism rather than democracy in our world.?

    1. Avatar

      Interesting idea, but it occurs to me that a belief in one God might be just that—a superficial “belief” — or maybe wishful thinking. People want simplicity. They want a single Authority that settles Everything. And that implies the reluctance or absolute refusal to think for themselves; to cooperate with others in finding solutions to problems. They want a Daddy who will adjudicate every dispute and who knows and understands and invariably makes the right decisions; and it appears they’re willing to accept anyone who volunteers for the task regardless of character, learning, empathetic understanding, or qualification—anyone, just so long as *he* (because it will always have to be a male person) leaves them alone to play with their toys and watch their tvs and immerse themselves in celebrity conundrums.
      Unrealistic, of course, but infinitely attractive to immature and lazy minds.
      And this addresses the question of the day: The lack of progress towards an idealistic goal of loving one another—the quest for eternal dependency, for Someone who will take care of us so we remain forever Peter Pan and never grow up, never have to make decisions or do any work to solve the horrors that have evolved.
      Humanity isn’t doing too well on the Loving Front.

      1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
        Richard Reich-Kuykendall

        Olive, The God you describe is certainly not the God I identify with–I don’t say, “worship” for even that seems to me patriarchal–as to bow down before a King. My God is beyond gender, not a cosmic Daddy who makes everything all right, or a Santa Clause who gives us what’s on our list “if we are good.” God is a panentheistic God who permeates all things–God is in all things, and all things are in God.

    2. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Julie, I wish you would say more about the “perverse relationship between our belief in one God and the continued drive toward authoritarianism”–is the problem our belief in one God ???

  7. Avatar

    Thank you, Matthew, for this beautiful reflection on Eucharist for Holy Thursday, particularly the powerful quote from Thich Nhat Hanh.
    One comment about the art work: you have been so conscious of putting women in the picture, that I was sorely disappointed to have us “disappeared” once again. AND I realize that we have created some problems with our situating the Last Supper in a Seder meal. In studying within the Jewish community I understand that our Palm Sunday procession, (wrong season); the depictions of the supper (Seder includes the women and children); and the “trial” during Passover are problematic. (the priests would never meet during Passover). Obviously, you cannot address all these issues in your meditation; however the beautiful rendering of the Last Supper (by a Polish artist commissioned by an Irish publishing house–sorry I cannot remember the names), including women and children, could make a significant visual impact. (a Jewish supplier of my religious bookstore was deeply moved by this piece, saying he had never before seen Jesus pictured as a Jew). With “Jew hatred” on the rise again, it is increasingly important to remind all Christians that Jesus was never NOT a Jew. Thanks for listening–and thank you for all the profound ways you have affected my journey, starting with ORIGINAL BLESSING.

    1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Marcy, You are right, Jesus was a Jew and so were his disciples and always were., and some of the disciples were married and had children–Jesus is said to have even healed Peter’s mother-in-law. And a seder would be shared with families not just the men. So you are very right in saying, “With “Jew hatred” on the rise again, it is increasingly important to remind all Christians that Jesus was never NOT a Jew.”

  8. Avatar

    An unanswered question about Jesus’s Jewishness remains: Whatever happened to the mixed blood offspring of the women raped under the Roman occupation? Scholar Jane Schaberg pursued this question in her fully researched book THE ILLEGITIMACY OF JESUS. She doesn’t mention Luke’s account of Elizabeth’s pregnancy which points to a major anomaly. Why was the whole community scandalized when the supposed infertile Elizabeth named her son John? Why was John then raised in the wilderness?. Maybe Elizabeth had been forced into a brothel? Maybe Zechariah was the one that was infertile? The law was that only a legitimate son of a Temple priest could follow in his father’s footsteps. Schaberg ultimately paid a huge price for offering insight to the situation of the females of Judaea under Roman occupation.

    1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Gwen, A very interesting point you make, however it would be hard to prove with what we have in the writings from the time of Jesus…

      1. Avatar

        There is research on the Jus Prima Noctis of Jesus’ time. Families had to stop announcing publicly the upcoming wedding of their daughters because of the Roman claim to have the first night with the virgin bride.
        There are pointers in biblical record [Matthew’s genealogy] and the Talmud. If you want to have a historical Jesus you have to pay attention to the facts on the ground. Schaberg’s book does just that.

  9. Avatar
    Jeanette Metler

    Unless we hold and break open the light of Love… as the bread and body of the Cosmic Christ… and drink from and pour out the Passion of this new wine offered each generation… all our attempts at knowledge, meditation or discovering the truth of this LOVE and Passion, that we already carry within… become nothing more than a lantern that gives off no illumination, no warmth… a fire within, remaining hidden. We must choose again and again, returning daily… to become the unfolding, evolving and emerging reflection, expression and manifestation of this light… this Love and Passion revealed to us, through the sacred archetypal image of the Cosmic Christ… which is the greatest measure of our true selves.

    1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Jeanette, Thank you so much for your comment. I especially liked what you said in these words: “We must choose again and again, returning daily… to become the unfolding, evolving and emerging reflection, expression and manifestation of this light… this Love and Passion revealed to us, through the sacred archetypal image of the Cosmic Christ… which is the greatest measure of our true selves.”

  10. Avatar

    Matthew, I am a great follower of your messages and have been deeply enriched by them. Furthermore seldom am I disappointed, but I felt very disappointed this morning that both of your images suggested ‘disciples’ were all male. It is common scholarship that Jesus traveled with a mixed company of followers. The closest of the women would most certainly have been present. Furthermore the round dance custom at Passover would have been a circle of men and a circle of women. I am tired of these exclusive images.

    Sue

    1. Phila Hoopes

      Hello Sue,
      A number of other readers have also raised this concern for the Holy Thursday DM, and another reader has offered a more inclusive image of the Seder, which we gratefully used in Good Friday’s DM.
      Appreciation,
      Phila Hoopes
      Blog Coordinator

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