Maundy Thursday
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
John 13:34
Today is Maundy Thursday. The term "maundy" comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means "command" or “mandate.” We refer to the Thursday before Good Friday as Maundy Thursday because on this day Jesus gave His disciples a new command. And the command was all about love. Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” John 13:34
But before Jesus told His disciples to love each other, He first showed them how to do it. Earlier in John 13, we read that “Jesus got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.” John 13:4-5. This was a shocking scene. So much so that the disciples were clearly uncomfortable about it. This led Peter to go so far as saying to Jesus, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus’ use of a towel on Maundy Thursday is representative of Jesus’ entire life and ministry. A ministry that was marked by love and devotion to His people. It reminds one of the New Testament hymns recounted by Paul in Philippians, “… who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…” Philippians 2:6-7
As we continue our journey through Holy Week, remember that everything that transpires, and especially the gruesome episodes on Good Friday, are motivated by the same thing. That is Jesus’ love for us. It was love that led Him to wash His disciples’ feet; and it was love that drove Him to suffer on the Cross for our sake. So, I invite you to take a moment and picture yourself alongside the disciples on that Maundy Thursday 2,000 years ago as He washed their feet. As you do this, what feelings come to mind? If you feel uneasy, you are not alone. But one feeling is sure to be universally experienced — Jesus’ never ending, relentless, and self-less love. And this is what Holy Week is all about.
