Isaiah 52:13-15, Isaiah 53:1-12
Ps 31:2,6,12-13,15-17,25
Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 5:7-9
John 18-19

—I told you that I AM.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go.—

Lord for us your wounds were suffered.
Oh Christ Jesus, have mercy on us

Words we’d like to hear

I am going to suppose that in a pinch, in a tight or dangerous spot, those are words we would love to hear. —Let these men go.—

We like escape

Part of our natural human reaction is self-preservation. The dark side of our broken humanity is a tendency to avoid what is difficult. Calls to witness might go against our natural self-preservation. Given a choice we prefer to hear: —Let these men go.—

The disciples were relieved

Now, I also imagine that the disciples were relieved. They got to escape. They ran away from the soldiers, swords, clubs, and the very same dangers brought home to the high priest’s servant when he had his ear cut off. The dogs were at their heels and they had to run full speed to get out of sight. They were thankful that the power of God, standing in that garden, gave them the chance when Jesus said: —Let these men go.—

Where is our example?

When I was in seminary we conducted an interesting experiment. We had to identify with a disciple. Were we Peter or John? That’s something to think about today. Which character in the Passion do you identify with? Did you argue at the Last Supper? Did you fall asleep in the garden? Did you pick up the sword and strike the high priest’s servant, trying to protect Jesus? Did you follow along like Peter, and stand in the courtyard of the high priest? Did you run? Did you deny Him? Did you betray Him? Did you slap and mock Him? Were you a false witness or did you stand silent? Were you in the crowd, jeering at Him? Did you wipe His face with a towel? Did you bewail Him on the road to crucifixion? Did you stand under the cross and witness to Him? Were you the good or bad thief? Did you take Him down from the cross and bury Him? Did you prepare spices for His entombment? Would you have appreciated hearing: —Let these men go?—

We find affinity but we need to look elsewhere

At any point in our lives we might find affinity with one or more of these characters. That is who we are as we follow the path to heaven. We fall because of that kind of affinity and God raises us back up. We are heroes at times but many times prefer to hear: —Let these men go.— We need to change our affinity.

Our affinity is in Jesus Christ

The real question, the real issue we need to reflect on this evening is: are we Jesus? Are we Jesus who did not run, who did the Father’s will. Do we have the courage of Jesus, to be fully human and humane?

Whomever we might find affinity with, that connection is solely a connection in our broken humanity. We must judge that broken connection as something to be overcome, replacing it with our affinity with Jesus. We must make Jesus our only example and our model. Jesus’ perfect humanity is not a symbol or something esoteric. It is a call to reality, to being who He is.

Let us ask that Jesus not say for us: —Let these men go,— but rather —Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.— We will get there by living our lives courageously, modeled on the one who died so that we might have life —“- eternal life. Amen.

First reading: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14
Psalm: Ps 116:12-13,15-18
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel: John 13:1-15

“This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.—

Lord for us your wounds were suffered.
Oh Christ Jesus, have mercy on us

What does —reality— mean?

Wikipedia provides a definition for reality. Their website states that:

Reality, in everyday usage, means “the state of things as they actually exist.” Literally, the term denotes what is real; in its widest sense, this includes everything that is, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible.

The term reality first appeared in the English language in 1550, originally a legal term in the sense of “fixed property.”

The definition goes on to discuss different senses of the word reality, for instance truth and fact. They then talk about phenomenological reality. Phenomenology comes from the Greek, meaning the study of that which appears. If we take that literally, we can say that our faith is an exercise in the phenomenology of God —“ the study of God’s appearance to us in historical fact and in our personal experience.

Reality of Christ among us

Our phenomenology, our study of that which appeared, is more than an academic process. It is a path of discovery and of change. Our entire relationship with reality must move from a view centered on the world, on money, power, property, personal desires, the grievous sinfulness found in the world’s disregard for the commandments of God, to a reality centered on Jesus and His Gospel.

This is certainly a difficult path because it is so natural to be imitators of Jesus. Did I just say that being natural is difficult? Of course! Our entire humanness is directed toward God and a desire for closeness and likeness with Him. Unfortunately, by the allure of sin we fight our humanness every day. We fall.

Thankfully we have committed, by our presence in this community of faith, and in the larger Church, to be phenomenological. We have committed ourselves to humanness, to being defined by lives centered in the reality of God.

God’s desire to remain with us as real presence

Our commitment to being defined by lives centered in the reality of God would be sad if it were a one way street. If we had to rely on shadows and personal experience we would be subject to valid criticism. Thankfully, God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The historical facts surrounding His life, death, and resurrection as well as the testimony of many witnesses centers our phenomenology, our study of God’s reality in observable and documented experience.

God desired to come among us, to live, and to interact. He made it so that we might live in the reality of who we really are; the naturalness of our humanity. He did this by teaching us what we are to do.

God’s reality remains present with us today. As we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, we recall the phenomenology, the reality of God living among us, really present so that He might work within us to bring us back to our humanity; to make our reality real.

The sacramental nature of Church is grounded in reality

Our Holy Polish National Catholic Church is the full reality of God due to its sacramental nature. God remains real and present among us, working in us, affecting change, bringing us back to the easy road —“ to the road that calls us to live the reality we were intended to live.

Sacraments are all about reality. We are fed. We are washed. We are anointed. The food of the Holy Eucharist, the washing in Penance, the anointing in Holy Orders, Confirmation, and the sacrament of the Sick are a full on experience of God’s reality.

Catholicism is the full-on reality of God’s relationship

Our Catholicism is then the full-on reality of God’s relationship with us. This reality centers us and makes God’s touch real and present.

It is real in its components and in its totality

Our reality isn’t merely a study of cause and effect, or a theological tome on the nature of God, but a compressive encounter with God. This encounter, in both its historical fact, the testimony of witnesses, and in our experience tells us that every component of who we are is found in God’s reality. From Baptism to Viaticum —“ the last Communion someone receives before death —“ a lifelong encounter emerges. It is not just one reception of Penance, one anointing, one Communion, but a lifetime marked by these encounters with God’s reality.

Real food and Real drink —“ it is real responsibility

—If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.—

That is reality. Our phenomenological encounter with God, our experience of Him is real food and real drink. It is real anointing and real washing.

Because of our unfortunate choices, the paths we choose over the path we should choose, we often fail to do as Jesus asked this night, —as I have done for you, you should also do.—

We must couple the reality of God with our real responsibility, to become human in all our interactions. If we touch someone’s life, but cheat them out of the real food of our presence, if we shut them out of our charity and fail to anoint them for strength and healing, if we fail to wash away enmity, we fall short of God’s reality. We become inhumane, we lose reality.

Let us rather do this. Let us take this holy night and choose to reconnect to the reality of God, present here. Let us choose to change our reality from a fight against what we should do, to a choice for God’s natural reality. By faith we know the phenomenological reality of God among us. Let us be in God’s reality by our presence here and in the world. Amen.