HELLO FAITHFUL READERS! Thank you for sticking with my blog! I have missed y’all! I will be writing about my experiences with my mom soon. For now, I want to focus on these most holy of special days beginning with Maundy Thursday and the first day of Passover. Hey, shoot me an email so I know you are back! donna_liples@yahoo,com
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me”.
It’s ‘Maundy Thursday’. This is not a description that we use to describe the Thursday before Resurrection Day very much anymore. ‘Holy Thursday’ has become more popular. But, Maundy describes what our Savior did on that day, as we will see.
Let’s backup a minute. As the Passover was approaching Jesus told his disciples to find a venue for their feast; Matthew 26:18 ‘Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, “The teacher says : ‘My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.'”
When everything was prepared and Jesus was ready with his disciples to recline and eat the meal, Jesus knew this would be the last meal with these people. He had spent most of the last three years pouring into their lives-Was it enough? Did he get through? He wanted to show them the full extent of his love for them before the cross. He took off his outer garment and wrapped a towel around his waist. He poured water into a basin and began washing the disciples feet and dried them with the towel he had wrapped around him. Hence the term ‘Maundy’, it means ‘foot washing’.
This was an extremely significant act of servant-hood, humility and love. The roads were parched from no rain, and dusty. The dust that settled on their feet would be very uncomfortable, and since they reclined when they ate, their feet would be in close proximity to the next person. A servant in a home usually greeted guests with a basin of cool water and a towel so they could refresh their feet. Jesus humbled himself and became a ‘servant’ showing them what they should be doing as his followers.
As the meal began, he predicted that one of them would betray him. Of course, they all denied it, but, he was already aware of who the traitor was. Even Judas denied it by saying; “Surely, not I Rabbi?’ Jesus responded. ‘Yes, it is you.’
They continued with their very meaningful Seder dinner. This is where he instituted the ‘Lord’s Supper’, or Communion. It was another beautiful presentation to them of what he was about to do for them-and us. ‘ Eat this bread and drink this cup, it is a covenant of forgiveness of sins’. He told them he would not eat or drink with them again until they were in his Father’s Kingdom. Did they understand? Probably not. Like talking to someone who already knows the end of a movie you have not seen, they sat in the dark, befuddled by his words. He, was grieving already for their spirit’s. He knew he would be leaving them behind. Were they ready? Yet, can you every really know if you are ready to deal with a life changing event, before it occurs? Nothing can really prepare you for marriage, or a baby, or even a new job, no matter how much you learn. All the talks they had about this one event, did not prepare them for what they would do…even that night.
But Jesus knew what they would do! He told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
Again they denied it. But the Bible tells us, the heart of man is wicked, who can know it? We don’t even know what we ourselves will do in these most stressful of times. Of course, we know Peter denied him later that evening, after Jesus was arrested. We also know many of the disciples dispersed, some even turned away. But, those that remained, or returned, evangelized pretty much all of the known world at that time. On foot or donkey, by ships. No hotels, no phones, no bath rooms or showers. NO social media! They knew they had a message-‘to die for’. And most of them did.
Maundy Thursday is Love humbled and personified in a simple carpenter who, with his twelve rag-tag followers turned the world upside down. In the death of ONE every-ONE is offered eternal life!
I ask you, knowing the end of this story, how do you imagine you would have responded? Can you really know for sure?
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