The focus lands on service. We are accustomed to preachings about Christ’s humble service as a model for us. After all, He bent low to wash the feet of His disciples. But is the humility of Christ’s service as King still a selling point for us?
To be fair, humility flies in the face of a culture built on consumption. How so? To keep up with consumption, companies depend on branding and marketing. If people do not know a brand or a product, how to consume, right? Even humans are considered “brands” or “products”. For example, priests also need to “market” themselves by rubbing shoulders with the Nuncio or the powers that be if they ever aspire to higher office. Given such an aggressive self-promoting philosophy, humility or self-effacement will surely struggle to survive in a market-driven environment. In fact, humility could often be regarded as weakness.
Beyond marketing or hard-selling a brand there stands a more profound challenge. When you think of online shopping like Lazada or Shopee or any of the platforms, they seem to be more our “saviours” than Christ can ever be. Why? Almost everything of what we want can be purchased online nowadays. Whatever material cravings we have can be satisfied because these platforms pander to our desires. But the satisfaction usually lasts until the next desire grips us. When we swing from one satisfaction to the next, it can also lose sight of eternal salvation or it ranks rather low on our list of priority needs. These momentary excitements top our agenda and not really salvation.
Hence, a “humble” King saving us is not really a saleable idea since society does not seem to care that much for salvation. I am not referring to this particular Mass because there is only one today and it is bilingual which means it is a bit more packed. But have you noticed that every Sunday the Cathedral is never full? It is sad that post-pandemic, salvation seems to be even less needed. So, when Christ bent down to wash the feet of His disciples, He may have modelled for us a way to be humble and to serve. Yet today, service is almost entirely based on money and as a general rule, we do not really trust free service. Somehow, written into our calculation, what is more expensive should be better. For many, the first thought of a hospital is never Sultanah Aminah or Sultan Ismail.
The care for salvation is central to what Jesus did for the Disciples. We need to know what salvation truly is so that we may understand why we need it. Here, our shopping experience can be instructive. Nothing can fully satisfy us. Is it not true that when we have acquired something our happiness is always short lived. The reason Rosmah and Najib or any of those kleptocrats like Marcos and Imelda are considered greedy and grasping is because after an acquisition or conquest, it is never enough. For those of us who do not breathe that kind of air, we are surrounded by things which we want but do not really need and the thrill for many of us is possibly in the buying or the unwrapping but never in the possessing. How much can we consume? How much can we enjoy? And most importantly, will we ever reach a point where we say enough and are satisfied and want no more?
Chasing after the temporary highs is like breathing but not living. A person can be breathing but not alive. Likewise, to have everything in the world but still dissatisfied proves that we have an existential hunger that cannot be fulfilled in this world. We hunger for the completion which only Jesus Christ can give and that is the meaning of salvation. Remember the multiplication of loaves where Jesus fed the thousands. He told the crowd who was still looking for tangible bread to satisfy their physical hunger, “I will give you the Bread which you will eat and never be hungry again”.
Tonight, the Institution of the Eucharist was meant for salvation. The focus on service is important because there is a link between Christ as the Bread of eternal life and Christ as the humble servant. In washing the feet of His disciples Jesus makes the link between grace and action. Through His action, Jesus lives out the great commandment which marries His Word with His action.
To love one another is to reach out and serve but we must always remember that when Jesus bent low to wash the feet of His disciples it was because He wanted to save each one of them. He was and still is prepared to go to the ends of the earth to save each one of us. In the face of His salvation, the question is this: Do you need Him? If yes, then you are in the right place. Why? When Jesus fed the 5000, the crowd wanted to make Him the bread King. He was not interested in that because He is the King of Bread who gives us His Body, the Bread that saves and leads to eternal life.
