Maundy Thursday

It's Passion week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, all culminating in celebration on Easter Morning, and today is Maundy Thursday in the church calendar.

As a young girl, I pronounced it "Monday-Thursday", which was a mystery beyond my abilities of reason. Why would "Monday-Thursday" have any significance? What were they getting at? (Other words, like "half-fast" as a descriptor of how I cleaned my room, were easier to figure out. Obviously it meant that I had cleaned at a quick-to-middling pace and therefore wasn't thorough. It still makes more sense to me than half-assed... rabbit trail...).

Maundy Thursday is probably the most underrepresented of these days. Maundy isn't really part of our vernacular, but it comes from the latin mandatum, which means authoritative instruction. This is the night of Jesus' last teaching to His disciples before He faced the agony of the cross.

Maundy Thursday offers a privileged seat at their Passover table, lets us listen in to the intimate conversation between Jesus and His closest friends, allows us into private struggle before the public shame.

On this eve, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples like a lowly servant, and told them, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done." He gave them a new commandment: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."  He told them He would be betrayed and killed; that He would leave them. He told them the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, would come to guide them.  They would never be alone.

On this night, Jesus spoke of heaven, the house of many mansions. He told them He was the life giver, the vine who fed their branches. He admonished them to stay connected to Him so that they would truly live, and indeed, do greater things than He had done.

He warned them of hardship, of how the world would hate them because of Him. They would weep and grieve, but their grief would turn to joy."In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

He prayed for them: protection, calling, knowledge of the truth. He prayed for us, and all who would believe His message, that we would be united to God and know His great love.

On this night, He prayed in Gethsemane with such anguish that He sweat drops of blood. He battled internally against the darkness, and accepted His Father's will of the cross. This is the night He was betrayed by a friend and wrongfully tried before the temple courts.

This is the night of bread and wine, body broken and blood shed, of "do this in remembrance of me," love as I have loved, served as I have served, follow as I have followed, and die as I die.

Jesus Christ, our Word made Flesh, our Passover Lamb, our God. If only we followed His mandatum: "By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another."