It had to have been deliberate. St. John wrote his gospel after living as a Christian for fifty or more years. He had gathered with his fellow believers every Lord’s Day during all that time and broken the bread and shared the cup. They had recited the Lord’s word and recalled that he said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” When St. John writes his own gospel, that his account of the Last Supper differs from the previous three had to have been deliberate. Where you would expect a retelling of the Jesus instituting the Eucharist we find instead the story of him washing the feet of the disciples. But there is an echo of the command to remember: “As I have done, you also should do.” St. John is telling us that the only way to heed the command of Jesus and remember him as the Eucharistic Body of Christ is by remembering him by serving the needs of the Body of Christ who are his beloved people.
