"The washing of the disciples' feet is a mystery, like so many of Jesus' acts. We enter into this mystery gradually, through events in which we suffer loss and are stripped more and more of allwe possess. When Jesus tells Peter that he will understand 'later', Jesus is telling all of his disciples that it is only after a dark night of not knowing, and only through a new gift of the Holy Spirit, thatwe can penetrate this mystery and live it." The Scandal of Service is a meditation on what Jesus did at the Last Supper when he laid his other clothing aside and washed and dried his disciples' feet - a task ordinarily performed by the lowly household slave.
Jean Vanier pursues the connection of this gesfure of humility and service of Jesus' actions at the Supper with the bread and wine, to the beatitudes and the rule of God in Jesus' ministry, and also to the actions of Judas and Peter atthe end of Jesus' life. In calling us to follow Jesus' example, the author invites us to break down the barriers which separate human beings and to put ourselves at the service of the weakest among us. This book will speak to all of us who want the teaching of Jesus to be sewn into the fabric of our daily lives.