"In the Gospel of the washing of the feet went on Benedict XVI , the conversation between Jesus and Peter contains another detail of the Christian way of life, which we would like to draw attention to". At first, explains the Pope, "Peter had not wanted to let the Lord wash his feet", because that would have meant a "reversal of order" and a reversal of his idea of "the relationship between the master and the disciple". "His concept of a Messiah involved an image of majesty, of divine greatness. He had to learn over and over again that God’s greatness is different from our idea of greatness, that it actually consists in descending, in the humbleness of our service, into the radical nature of love, down to complete self-dispossession". And we too, warns Benedict XVI, "must learn it over and over again, because we systematically wish for a God of success and not a God of Passion; because we are unable to realise that the Shepherd comes as a Lamb that gives itself up and thus leads us to the right pasture". (continued)
