Love Without Limits

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐌𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘 (𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐬)

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐄𝐱𝐨 𝟏𝟐:𝟏-𝟖, 𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟏𝟔: 𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟑, 𝟏𝟓-𝟏𝟖 “𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐜𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭.”

𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟏 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟏:𝟐𝟑-𝟐𝟔

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟏𝟑:𝟏-𝟏𝟓

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒐.” (𝒗.15)

People normally are on panic mode when they find themselves with lots of things to do with so little time left. This can happen when you are preparing for your birthday party, a surprise graduation party perhaps, the golden wedding anniversary of your parents and or, when you are tasked to handle any festive arrangements for a loved one.

But what if it was your own funeral that you are preparing for. This was the scenario that Jesus found himself in. And as we look back to the last days of Jesus, we could say that the Passover Feast was the point of no return.

There was no turning back from this moment on and Jesus knew that he was stepping not into an unknown but to become the sacrificial lamb that would reverse the tide of sin that swept the world from Adam, and he knew that this offering was the hour of glory that would reconcile men to God.

This consciousness of the enormity and significance of what he was about to suffer would have filled Jesus with pride and yet even with this knowledge that his death will bring victory Jesus was the picture of utter humility and this is reflective of what true love is.

Some of you may have experienced what you can do for love but there are times we look at our standing and balked at doing menial tasks. But this was not so for Jesus. He knew that he came from God and within a few days would be going back to God. He could have felt contempt for those who rejected him but there was just one thing that he needed to do and that was to show his disciples how to be a servant to lead.

Leadership enamors a lot of people and today there are numerous publications that offer ideas of how to become a good leader in a corporate setup, social and civic organizations and even in the church or religious and spiritual communities there are modules to follow on how leaders are to conduct themselves.

But this was not so for Jesus who gave his disciples a different picture of leadership that is founded on the towel and this brand of leadership is what we must keep in mind especially today when sitting at the head table appears to have replaced the apron.

As he was about to wrap up his earthly ministry, Jesus dined on the Feast of the Passover with those closest to him – the 12 Apostles whom he chose from among the disciples who formed his evangelical ministry that went to every village, town and city to bring the Good News to the people Jews and Gentiles alike.

We read in 𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟑:𝟏-𝟏𝟓 that as they were eating and to everyone’s surprise, Jesus stood up from the head table where he was seated and took a basin of water and a towel that he wrapped around his waist. He then proceeded to wash the feet of every person gathered around the table including that of Judas who would betray him in a few moments.

Foot-washing was usually performed by household servants as an act of hospitality to guests whose feet gathered dust from the roads of Jerusalem. Masters of the household would not stoop to do such a menial task, but Jesus did.

After washing everyone’s feet Jesus returned to his seat and gave his disciples the parameters of what servant leadership is: “𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒐, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒎. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗𝒗.12-15)

What Jesus did gives us an idea of the correlation between greatness and service because too often the world is full of people who out of their self-esteem would prefer to stand instead of kneeling down at the feet of their brethren. In other words, when we are tempted to defer to our dignity, prestige, the reputation we have built up, let us see again the picture of the Son of God with a towel wrapped on his waist and kneeling at his disciples’ feet.

When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples (𝐯𝐯.𝟑-𝟓) he was demonstrating the fundamental principle that he has been drumming up to his disciples that to lead others, one must serve others. This is as true in public life, in the business world and more so in the political realm as no amount of memoranda, speeches, exhortation, circulars or self-serving rhetoric can inspire our people unless our people see their nation’s leaders leading by example and clothed with the humility of Christ.

What would impact men to rise to their feet and act is a picture of a leader before them who has the attitude of a servant, placing the needs of others before his own and, committing himself to do concrete things to meet those needs and, looking neither for favors nor reciprocity from the people that he serves.

Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one of them and that the rest would abandon him yet as the hour of humiliation drew near Jesus showed his disciples the supreme humility that shaped the love, he had for them. The knowledge he would be betrayed by someone he loves could have easily led to bitterness or hatred, but Jesus met the specter of betrayal and disloyalty with the greatest humility and supreme love. Jesus loved his disciples to the very end even when they failed him and forsook him.

This is the same kind of love that Jesus has for us – unconditional love, a love that rises above our unfaithfulness, a love that does not seek favors and it is this kind of love that has the power to set us free to serve others with Christ-like compassion and humility.

There is also no doubting the fact that the Philippines is in its sorry state right now because of the wrong choices that we made. Corruption and immorality have become norms, but we too are partly responsible for this because we allowed these things to happen when we put the wrong people in positions of authority that allows them to dip their hands into the treasury as Judas did.

On May 12, 2025 we are obliged to cast our vote but this time let us make sure that we elect leaders who will lay down their lives in defense of our Christian values. The need to elect leaders who will defend our people from the onslaught of the so-called “death bills” such as abortion, divorce and same-sex marriage and from the unbridled corruption in the corridors of power have become primordial if we want to save the Philippines from the imminent corruption of its soul.

Saint Augustine in his sermon for this day, wrote: “𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦; 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭. 𝘏𝘦, 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧; 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩…. 𝘏𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴; 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴; 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.” (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 17, 2025)