Maundy Thursday
Today I am turning over the blog to a guest post - Tristan has written an excellent devotional in regard to what happened on this day.
“Maundy” is derived from the Latin word mandatum, translated “commandment.” It refers to Jesus’ words in John 13:34: 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” Jesus said this on the day he instituted the Lord’s Supper, prayed in Gethsemane, and was given over to be crucified. But with so much action, why do we define the Thursday of Holy Week simply by Jesus’ words to his followers in the hours before his death? I think it is because these words serve two functions.
First, they summarize what has come before. When Jesus spoke to his disciples in John 13, it’s not as though he was springing something entirely foreign on them. The Old Testament had clearly commanded love of neighbor (Lev. 19:18). So why did Jesus call his commandment “new”? Well, in all of Israel’s history, no one had seen obedience to this commandment modeled perfectly. The Israelites had a sense of what it required, based on all of the other commandments that God gave them, but they’d never seen this neighbor-love on full display. Now, Jesus tells his disciples that they are to love one another “just as I have loved you.” In other words, Jesus’ life and ministry are intended to give us a picture of what obedience to the law looks like. On Maundy Thursday, we remember that Jesus didn’t just fulfill the law; he perfected our understanding of it.
Second, Jesus’ words also foretell what would come to pass in the next 24 hours. In John 15, Jesus says, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you (v. 12). Notice that Jesus repeats what he said just a few chapters earlier. But then he offers an even more radical notion of love. He continues, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (v. 13). Self-sacrifice, Jesus says, is love on display. In the past, Jesus had instructed crowds of followers to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Mt. 5:44). He had told a parable about a Samaritan who was a neighbor to a Jew (Lk. 10:25–37). And just that night, he had knelt down in the presence of his disciples and washed their feet, setting an example of humility and servitude (Jn. 13:1–20). All along, Jesus had shown in his life and ministry what love for one another looked like in the day-to-day, but it is in his death that he offers the greatest example of love. On Maundy Thursday, we anticipate the lengths to which our Savior went to show his love for us.
Maundy Thursday invites us to reflect on the life of Christ, to learn to imitate him, to obey him. But it also invites us to marvel. No one had ever seen love like this. No one had ever known love like this. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God (I Jn. 3:1a).
And for your listening pleasure: O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus