Maundy Thursday: Thursday, April 14, 2022
Maundy Thursday
The joy of Easter comes through the darkness of Good Friday. But neither can be fully appreciated without Maundy Thursday. The love demonstrated on the cross and the love that burst forth from the tomb is commanded by his followers on Thursday.
Maundy is Latin, meaning “command.” It comes from John 13:34 when Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Jesus says this in the context of the Last Supper, which takes place the Thursday before Good Friday and Easter.
He doesn’t just command it. Instead, he demonstrates what he means when he “got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him” (John 13: 4 -5).
We are told he does all this during supper (John 13: 2). So he got up in the middle of dinner and started washing the disciples' dirty feet? Indeed his mama raised him better than this!
Jesus moved from one dirty foot after another.
One day I was visiting an elderly parishioner, and due to the lack of blood circulation in his legs, his feet became infected, well, rotten. He shoved his feet from under the bedsheet in his hospital room and asked me to pray for them. He wanted me to lay hands on his feet and pray over them.
I have an aversion to feet, a visceral repulsiveness to feet, if you don't know.
On this occasion, I wish Jesus would have simply said, “Believe in me, hear my words, but don’t worry about following me.” Nope! Jesus says, “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13: 15).
There are other occasions where I wish Jesus didn’t define love by action. Like when I am being asked to love someone I have deemed unlovable or where I am being asked to go the extra mile for a person I know would not do the same in return.
Jesus teaches that love is demonstrated by action. The feet of Judas the betrayer and Simon the denier could not have been easy for Jesus to wash. However, he does it with self-giving love.
And on this Maundy Thursday, he is asking the same from us.
In the hospital room, I swallowed my pride and placed my hands on the feet of the man on hospice and prayed the Lord’s healing presence would course through his body. I did this because I have come to understand that Jesus has placed his hands on my dirty heart and made me clean.
Jamey
Happening at Gainesville First United Methodist Church
Thursday, April 14 / 7pm / Sanctuary & livestreaming
Believed to be the day of the Last Supper, we remember Jesus’ final address to his closest friends before his crucifixion. Join us in Classic Worship for this special service and communion.
At 9 a.m. on April 15, First Baptist Church of Gainesville becomes a host site for its own congregation as well as St. Paul United Methodist Churches on Washington and Summit streets, Gainesville First United Methodist Church, Grace Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, St. Michael Roman Catholic Church and St. Luke on the Square for an ecumenical Good Friday Service.
Make plans to join us!