It's ironic that Fr. Rush chose a painting of the washing of the feet from John's Gospel for the cover of his book. The way that passage has been misinterpreted by the institutional Church is an example of a skewed hermeneutic if ever there was one.

John presents a simple, beautiful story of humility and charity. Only those willing to touch the dirt of another, to kneel before them in loving service, are worthy of discipleship. It's the heart of his version of the Last Supper.

But what has the institutional Church done with it? Turned it into a pompous lesson on clericalism. Only the ordained get to do the washing. And only men get to be washed, lest the intimacy of an act of tender service become something lewd. And that this self-indulgence is incorporated into the Holy Thursday liturgy is enough to make one gag.

This is what happens when exegesis isn't free of self-interest. You just end up circling the wagons around your own preconceptions and privileges.