Maundy Thursday: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Let us pray.
Ever-loving God, no one wants to have burdens, afflictions, and temptations, yet they come into our lives and weigh us down. We can learn from you how to shoulder our troubles, and we find our greatest strength in you. Help us to deny ourselves when it is required. Open our hearts and minds this day, and give us a discerning spirit to acknowledge your blessings and mercies as we complete our journey during this Lenten season. Remove all obstacles and temptations which may lead us astray, and give us the courage and determination to follow in the way of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Maundy Thursday brings us to the beginning of the Tridium, and for some believers a sense of relief from our adopted discipline, a perception and tension which tend to accompany the Lenten season. The church programs acknowledging the forty days of Lent have most likely highlighted Jesus’ ministry, and the anticipation of the Easter experience.
Our church selected and chose excerpts from a book that viewed the several qualities of the life of Jesus with scriptural references. While not the intent of the exercise, the discussions led to comparisons with what participants considered as the qualities of contemporary Christian life. It was an enlightened experience.
The gathering of Jesus with the disciples is the occasion of a meal (supper) in the celebration of the Jewish Passover. Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and the inevitability of the cross is imminent, and the time he has journeyed with his disciples is also coming to a close. What final act or teaching will cement the relationships they have shared in his short ministry, one that will have the lasting effect, and further prepare them for the tasks of proclaiming the kingdom of God?
Throughout his ministry, Jesus was constant in his challenge to long held social norms and mores. His choice to wash the feet of his disciples certainly challenged the perceptions concerning power and authority. It is the duty of the servant or slave to wash the feet of the master. Kneeling there and washing each of the disciple’s feet, Jesus acknowledged in a very personal way how each of them had walked with him, and the path that each was being asked to walk in the days, months, and years to come.
As we gather for the observance of Maundy Thursday and engage in the act of foot washing following the example of Jesus, this event is meant to open our awareness to the call of the Christian life to service. We are called to tender acts, acts of servanthood, acts during which we may focus on one person at a time and give that person our full attention.
If the disciples were surprised by Jesus’ action, they may have been further surprised by his question – “Do you know what I have done for you?” (v. 12b). In this moment of instruction, Jesus asserted his authority as their teacher and Lord – “So if I, your Lord and teacher , have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.” (vv. 14-15). Not a literal call, however a general call to service in the Christian life.
Jesus continued his ongoing preparation of the disciples for his departure and needed to impress upon them that his absence would not mean abandonment, rather that Jesus was glorified and was returning to the Father. His intimacy and love for his disciples would not end with his departure, and this deep relationship is now given in a new commandment – “…that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another” (vv. 34-35).
The rejoicing of Palm Sunday and our Holy Week observance bring us to Maundy Thursday where we are reminded of our call to service of others and we become more deeply aware of who we are, and what we are called to do as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us write the new commandment (for which our Maundy Thursday is named), in our hearts and minds, that our church too will be a true reflection of that reciprocal love God shares with us in the gift of the cross.
This Lenten season has again opened for us the ongoing challenge to identify ourselves with Jesus in our individual lives. I encourage you to journey to the cross, and to invite the Holy Spirit to walk alongside you to guide and protect you in receiving all the rewards laid up for you through the glory of the cross.
Let us pray. Gracious and loving God accept our confessions of complicity in the injustice displayed on the cross of Christ, and our thankfulness for his sacrifices which has opened for us the door of salvation. Amen!
Meditation by the Reverend Canon Clive Sang
Priest-in-Charge, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Red Bank
Missioner for Black Ministry
Diocese of New Jersey