The Lord's Passover
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
In those days: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
"This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.
The Scriptures explained in detail how God instructed the people through his prophets that the congregation of Israel shall have a passover feast on the tenth day of the month; they shall take every man a lamb according to their Fathers' houses, a lamb for a household...It is the Lord's Passover. Before this, The instruction to the people of Israel to take the lamb which shall be without blemish, a male a year old; taken from sheep or from the goats; and they shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, all Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening:
Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house in which they eat them...
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Paul the Apostle reiterated to the people of Corinthians that he received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said,
*"This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me..."
"This chalice is the new covenant in my blood... For as often you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."
The Washing of His Disciples' Feet
John 13:1-15
John gave account that Before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already entered the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and tied a towel around himself.
**Then he poured water into a basin, and he began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.
The Demonstrative Servanthood
On the eve of his passion and death, Jesus did two things that he had hinted at earlier in his ministry. He washed their feet. That was a task that was reserved for slaves. That explains Peter's initial resistance. Jesus went on to say that he had given them an example of humble service, and they were to copy it. During the Supper itself, he gave his disciples something he had promised earlier in his ministry. He gave his body as food and his blood as drink. In that way he instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood, which makes the Eucharist possible. The message is that those who partake of the Body and Blood of Christ must be prepared always to render humble service to one another. None of them should feel too big to go down on her/his knees to wash the feet of others.