I have gathered much information and compiled it to try to answer this question. At the end is the instruction and timing for tonight’s Maundy Thursday service at Church .. I hope to see you there!
What is Maundy Thursday??
Maundy Thursday – Stealing the Concept
Thursday (today) of Holy Week is called “Maundy Thursday.” The name “Maundy” comes from the Latin “mandatum,” or “command,” and is the first word of the phrase “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” – in English, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.” Jesus, speaking to his disciples, continues, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34).
Jesus said these words during his final meal with his disciples. For this reason, worship on Maundy Thursday is almost always a communion service and is, indeed, often used as an occasional on which to reflect on the nature and importance of the Lord’s Supper.
In the other three Gospel accounts, at Jesus’ final meal with his disciples – which is actually the Passover meal – He offers them instructions about how to commemorate this occasion by instituting a NEW meal, an even BETTER Passover meal. But in John’s Gospel, Jesus instead washes the feet of His disciples in an unusual display of service and servitude (which is why Peter objects). He THEN “commands them” (Maundy) to…”DO THE SAME!!!! Discipleship, in other words, is about service, about caring for others. Then having set this example for them, he adds the new commandment to the Ten with which they were most familiar: to LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!
This command raises an interesting question. Can you command someone to love another person? Isn’t love beyond commands, discipline, the human will, or even logic? Not according to Jesus. For when he commands his disciples to love one another, he does not use the Greek word eros that captures passionate love (from whence our word “erotic” stems) or the Greek phileo of familial endearment and loyalty (the root of Philadelphia, the city of “brotherly love”). Rather, when Jesus commands his disciples to love another, he chooses the Greek work ‘agape,’ the self-sacrificing love of a parent, the promise of an ongoing and permanent acceptance. This kind of love – because it is more about behavior than emotion – Jesus CAN command.
Here, in the Gospel writings, is where our worship practice of Maundy Thursday settles. We come together to remember Jesus’ sacrificial love for us – and, indeed, God’s enormous sacrifice to witness the death of His ONE FAVORITE child – to save all the other children of God! It is perhaps best captured, in the pouring out of His life, that we be encouraged and inspired to love Him, AND one another.
Maundy Thursday was filled with other significant events. Not only did Jesus share the Passover meal and communion, but is also the day he retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane. While Judas left to go to the Jewish leaders to betray Him, Jesus knelt in agony, prayer, and surrender. Maundy Thursday marks the time when “the hour had come.” Before this time, the Bible often records Jesus saying His hour had not yet come (John 2:4), but on Maundy Thursday, he knew that the beginning of the fulfillment of His greatest mission on Earth had come.
It is on this evening of the Last Supper that all of HIS-STORY hinges! And for the Son of God, this time is utterly terrifying. Jesus must decide: Will he protect his own skin, and soul, or will he embrace his Father’s perfect and painful will?” It is upon moving to the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus agonizes over what He is about to face on the cross. Praying “more fervently, he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood” (Luke 22:44).
It’s an important night and worship service in the church year, as it draws us deeply into the heart of Christ’s story. And YOU have a chance to celebrate it at YOUR Church tonight. For it is THIS night that we received the “New Commandment” Jesus gave on Maundy Thursday.
Now to fully appreciate this command, we have to remember that at this supper Jesus and the disciples were obeying God’s original command to the Jews to remember the Passover. The Passover meal celebrated God rescuing His people from Egypt, as described in the book of Exodus. For Jesus to have the audacity to offer a “new” command when the old one was such an important part of Israel’s history, is astounding enough. But Jesus went even further. Rather than remembering the redemption of their forefathers from Egyptian tyranny and the way the angel of death “passed over” the homes with lamb’s blood on their doorposts, they were now to remember ‘His’ sacrificial body and ‘His’ shed blood. In Christ’s death, death itself is not just avoided; Death, and it’s power, were finally defeated.
The new commandment to love others is only capable through the sacrifice of Jesus. We CAN know and experience the forgiveness of sins and the full love of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But to love people, especially our enemies, is ONLY possible through allowing Christ to live His life THROUGH US! We are called to show the same level of love to everyone. God loved us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8) and the gift of salvation calls us forward to do likewise.
By Friday of this week (if you don’t know the way the story ends) it looks like the wrath of God has eclipsed the God of Love. But it isn’t so. Mercy triumphs over Judgment at Easter: love triumphs over wrath. Love is the new commandment given on this night by Jesus after he has washed the disciples’ feet …. “Love one another as I have loved you.” This is the “mandatum novum” from which the name “Maundy Thursday” comes.
As Jesus washed the disciples’ feet on Maundy Thursday, he set into motion what would be completed on Easter Sunday. His sacrificial example calls for us to love – as He has loved us.
But the disciples didn’t fully comprehend how deeply Jesus had loved them. After all they had been through, it took a king on his knees with a towel around his waist to prove to them the loving, servant heart of God. But even couldn’t fully understand why Jesus would defile himself in this way.
If Peter finds it hard to accept that Jesus his king would humiliate himself by washing his followers’ feet, he will be even more confused tomorrow. For there will be another demonstration of how God loves on Good Friday, when the perfect love of God in Jesus faces the wrath of God against evil, and triumphs in the end. All for, and because of, the love He and His father have for you and me!
The triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The cleansing of the temple. The teaching and the miracles. All displayed their leader’s power and the faith of the disciples soared. But now, on this fifth day of the week, came the most intimate moment of all, the Passover meal, that high holy feast, just the twelve and Jesus. Over and over, at the table, He reiterated His love for them, finally kneeling before them to wash their travel-weary feat.
If they had ever doubted, they could no longer do so. What if, as Jesus cautioned, testings and trials lay just ahead for them? Could THEY face anything? “Lord,” Peter assured Him, “I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” (Luke 22:33) In a growing hostile world toward those who are disciples of Jesus, can YOU answer it?
Thursday symbolizes the most perilous day of our pilgrimage, because when testing comes, we so often fail. It was before daybreak on Friday, that Peter was swearing he’d never heard of Jesus. Yet Maundy Thursday represents OUR failures too—the ones which swiftly follow our moments of high commitment. The times when, having made great promises, we fall on our faces. When we let God down and let ourselves down and are left with only the certainty of our own weakness.
Yet strangely, Thursday also ushers in the most hopeful stage of our journey. Because at last we are truly on the road to Easter. We have learned better than to place our trust in ourselves. “I tell you, Peter,” Jesus replied to Peter’s confident boast, “the cock will not crow this day, until you three times deny that you know me.” (Luke 22:34) And I cringe!
But Jesus didn’t cringe!! He said those words to Peter without condemnation, without rejection. Jesus knew that HIS way leads through loss. Loss of self-satisfaction and self-sufficiency. He knew that on the other side of Easter, Peter would find His power that never fails. Now the question remains….have YOU?
Jesus main purpose, after individually saving those who would become His Body – “The Church,” was to demonstrate just how far He expected THEM to go in His love. It is this ‘total concept’ of loving and serving one another, AND the world, that He invites, and encourages us to steal! This Maundy Thursday He is asking…will YOU Love Him, and others, the way He loves YOU??
Tonight, between 7 and 8pm, the Congregational Church will be open for silent communion. Please come quietly and sit, listen to the music from the Passion, pray, meditate and send some personal time with Jesus Himself. Then, when you are ready, go forward and take communion. Remembering just what this night REALLY means. And be thankful… After all, Redeeming YOU was EXPENSIVE!
