Passion Week: Maundy Thursday
Walking with Jesus through Passion Week
March 28, 2024 — Joshua Spence
Maundy: Mandatum - (Latin). Mandate - (English).
Usually defined as “order” or “mandate,” but also defined as the act of ceremonially washing someone's feet.
What would you say to your friends if you knew that your time with them was drawing to a close and that soon you would be separated from them for the foreseeable future? If you knew that the hours were fleeting and that every word had eternal weight? Would you expound on all of the things that were important to you? Would you paint a picture of yourself and your values, so that your friends would carry with them an idealized memory of you? Would you give instructions? Would you reminisce? When presented with the same question, Jesus had but one thing to say:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35-36)
Maundy Thursday is the day in Passion week which occurs before Good Friday. Famously in the church, it is the day that centers around commemorating the washing of the disciples feet and the establishing of the Eucharist: Communion. It is also the day where we see Jesus and the disciples go to the Mount of Olives to pray before Jesus is handed over to the authorities and betrayed by Judas. A lot is happening; a lot takes place on this day. But at the center of this day, we find a sermon given by Jesus from which the day derives its name. “A new command/mandate I give you…” And out of all the things that Jesus could choose to leave with his disciples before he is taken from them, what is it that he says?
Love one another. Love those in your midst. Love those who least deserve it. Go low and in humility, love those who would betray you, slander you, and would seem like the least of all. Why? Because your love is the fruit by which the world will see and judge you. The world will see Jesus through how you choose to love and serve one another. What is the evidence of belonging to Jesus? Baptism? A sinner's prayer? An emotional salvation experience?
It is communal love made manifest amongst Jesus’ friends.
This is no small command! How are we supposed to love like Jesus loves us?
“It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him…” (John 13:1-5)
Jesus puts on display the type of love he is talking about. Jesus is the first to love with the kind of love he is inviting us into. Jesus, the Son of God, seated in glory, existing from eternity past, fully God and the very Word that created all things, scrubs the very feet he created of broken, sinful men who in just hours will abandon him, deny him, and betray him. Jesus loves by serving and washing those who least deserve it.
“...For while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
There was nothing innate within ourselves which made us deserving of love. We were still sinners! We were still God’s enemies. There was nothing we had done in order to garner the sympathy and mercy of God.
So what does God do in order to cross the chasm and come after us? The God of the universe becomes a man. Not only does he become that which he created, but at the height of his earthly ministry, he removes glory in order to wash the dust from our feet so that we can be with him. God goes low where we could not and washes those who should be unclean in order that they would receive his unmeasurable love to the fullest measure.
We are not so holy and righteous that we can’t afford to get near that which is “unclean” or that which is “dirty.” God himself became a man and came to us in our most wretched and shameful place so that we could be cleansed. If Jesus did it, we can too. If Jesus has loved us with a radical, humble, servant-like love, then that is what we are called to do. And we are empowered because Christ has done it first!
As we look forward to the cross, what ultimately does this love look like? What does it look like when fully made manifest? After Jesus has washed his disciples feet and as he is preparing to go and die, he makes one more statement in order to turn our gaze towards the cross.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)
Prepare your heart for the crucifixion. What is coming cannot be undone for it was done once and for all, for all people, for all history. There is a love and sacrifice that is about to be put on display that the world has no grid for. It is in that place where we are beckoned to come and die, so that we might live and receive love, in order to love a world who can’t receive it.
This is the summit; this is the climax of love put on display. This is love’s most sacred moment.
