A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
John 13:34
Maundy Thursday
Maundy ~ from the Latin, mandatum ~ mandate, commandment. This day of Holy Week emphasizes Jesus’ relationship with his disciples at the last supper, his high priestly prayer, the agony of the garden, and his arrest.
According to the Synoptic Gospels, (Matthew, Mark and Luke) the last supper was a Passover meal. John’s Gospel, chapters 13-18, gives us the most intimate picture of the events on this day and those relationships. The intensity of the upper room discourse reveals His heart in preparing these men for the coming days. Be mindful, Jesus has already told them ‘his departure is at hand.’
Those of us who have parented and released children into adulthood understand the desire to make sure that you have equipped them with everything they need to know. Jesus’ desire was both natural and spiritual holding the understanding of events yet to take place; Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial, the disciples returning to fishing, prays in John 17 his great intercessory prayer for them.
Jesus lived fulfilling the greatest commandment to love God with all his heart, all his soul, all his strength and with all of his mind, and then his neighbor as himself. We understand that this love is still the most important dynamic we as followers of Jesus are to possess and live out.
No greater fulfilment of love can be seen than that of a man who will lay down his life for his friend, John 15:13. Jesus was the manifestation of the love of God.
As we focus on the events of this day we see servant leadership displayed as Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, the sharing of communion (his body and blood), the betrayal of Judas, the great teaching about the Holy Spirit, his agony in the garden, and ultimately, the arrest; let us then remember that all of this was driven by an all consuming love for mankind, and let us follow that example, diligently holding love as our greatest pursuit.