MAUNDY THURSDAY
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John13:1-17
For, I gave you an example, that as I did to you, you also should do. John 13:15
Maundy Thursday is traditionally remembered for the institution of the Holy Eucharist. It is also a day on which Jesus turned the servant concept on its head, a concept which very often has become a mere symbol. To the Jews the Passover was an important festival, the day on which they remembered their bondage in Egypt and their liberation from it. It is at such a time that Jesus has a meal with his disciples.
At a Jewish feast people reclined on couches which would be arranged around the table, with the upper part of each person’s body facing the food and their feet away from the table. And in this portion of scripture we find Jesus getting up from his position, removing his outer garment, tying a towel around his waist and going around washing and cleaning the feet of his disciples. One of the basic aspects of hospitality in bible times was the washing of a guest’s feet. To wash the feet is associated with going home and being unlikely to go out again that day. He was performing the act of a menial servant. Till now the Feet of Jesus was washed with tears and with oil, now he was in turn carrying out the obligation of the host.
Finishing this he reclines back in the table and tells the disciples, For, I gave you an example, that, as I did to you, you also should do. The example Jesus gives the disciples is him washing their feet (13:12–20). It is a pattern of sacrificial and costly service. This service was not a symbolic one; it involved a low-status task - washing the feet of his disciples (Jn 13:1–17) eventually leading to his death.
The root and key word for this costly service is love - agape, given in the command that disciples should “love one another” (13:34–35), it is a love that comes from above and thereby witness to the world. The word agape in Greek is a feminine word and this helps us to understand the love of a mother. How she would make sacrifices for her children, a mother who would do any thing for the betterment of her children, if it means she gets less. It is similar to the love of Jesus. This was seen throughout Jesus’ ministry. This love is action oriented for St. John in his 1st letter 3:18 says Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.ar children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
And it makes one humble, for The Lord through his action too shows that his love made him humble and brought him to serve even the least. He instituted the servant leadership. That’s why in Math 20:28 he says the son of man did not come to be served but to serve.
Because God’s love moves us from the position, status and class we posses, from the circle of people we are with to move out of that circle. From a position of being served to serve. To serve means one has to bend down, it means we ought to be willing to make our hands murky.
Agape moves us to violate cultural, community and status boundaries and norms – to break the status quo, just as Jesus did. One cannot serve without sacrifice. And sacrifice calls to giving up everything that holds us in our positions and places. It means to forget who we are. Again the example we have is Jesus. This we see in Philippians 2:6, 7 which says ...Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
We cannot show God’s love from our positions. We can only show God to others through our service – the action of love. This act of washing the disciple’s feet summarized the ministry of Jesus which he had performed for the last 3 years, telling his disciples who seldom understood what he was doing to wash one another’s feet and to follow his example so that they will have a part with him. Not to literally wash one another’s feet but figuratively.
The example of Jesus is an example that makes us suffer, it is an example which brings humiliation and it is an example that will break us, that will push us away from the circle of people we are with. And this can be seen in the ministry of Jesus. The example of Jesus’ life had its climax on the cross, where his body was broken and his bloodshed, fulfilling the purpose of God sharing his love with this earth.
To the disciples who were competitive, selfish and proud the action of Jesus gave them an unforgettable lesson in humility. His actions rebuked them. They ought to serve one another and never take advantage of their condition or mission to place themselves above the other.
We too, who proudly call ourselves Christians need to learn this humility. For in us also is pride, competitiveness, selfishness, greed, power and false show. We speak of others, seldom forgetting who we are.
The example of Christ is for all times and every area in life. We are called to live, love, care, serve, speak and watch as Christ did.
We are called to live a life of a servant. To perform the service of the servant not for the rich, not for those in our inner circles and our own, but to come out to those on the fringes, to those on the peripheries that the love of God maybe seen in us, that our acts may become a witness to whom we believe and follow, that we may make the invisible Christ visible in this world which is in need of true love and care.
For, I gave you an example, that as I did to you, you also should do. John 13:15
Maundy Thursday is traditionally remembered for the institution of the Holy Eucharist. It is also a day on which Jesus turned the servant concept on its head, a concept which very often has become a mere symbol. To the Jews the Passover was an important festival, the day on which they remembered their bondage in Egypt and their liberation from it. It is at such a time that Jesus has a meal with his disciples.
At a Jewish feast people reclined on couches which would be arranged around the table, with the upper part of each person’s body facing the food and their feet away from the table. And in this portion of scripture we find Jesus getting up from his position, removing his outer garment, tying a towel around his waist and going around washing and cleaning the feet of his disciples. One of the basic aspects of hospitality in bible times was the washing of a guest’s feet. To wash the feet is associated with going home and being unlikely to go out again that day. He was performing the act of a menial servant. Till now the Feet of Jesus was washed with tears and with oil, now he was in turn carrying out the obligation of the host.
Finishing this he reclines back in the table and tells the disciples, For, I gave you an example, that, as I did to you, you also should do. The example Jesus gives the disciples is him washing their feet (13:12–20). It is a pattern of sacrificial and costly service. This service was not a symbolic one; it involved a low-status task - washing the feet of his disciples (Jn 13:1–17) eventually leading to his death.
The root and key word for this costly service is love - agape, given in the command that disciples should “love one another” (13:34–35), it is a love that comes from above and thereby witness to the world. The word agape in Greek is a feminine word and this helps us to understand the love of a mother. How she would make sacrifices for her children, a mother who would do any thing for the betterment of her children, if it means she gets less. It is similar to the love of Jesus. This was seen throughout Jesus’ ministry. This love is action oriented for St. John in his 1st letter 3:18 says Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.ar children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
And it makes one humble, for The Lord through his action too shows that his love made him humble and brought him to serve even the least. He instituted the servant leadership. That’s why in Math 20:28 he says the son of man did not come to be served but to serve.
Because God’s love moves us from the position, status and class we posses, from the circle of people we are with to move out of that circle. From a position of being served to serve. To serve means one has to bend down, it means we ought to be willing to make our hands murky.
Agape moves us to violate cultural, community and status boundaries and norms – to break the status quo, just as Jesus did. One cannot serve without sacrifice. And sacrifice calls to giving up everything that holds us in our positions and places. It means to forget who we are. Again the example we have is Jesus. This we see in Philippians 2:6, 7 which says ...Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
We cannot show God’s love from our positions. We can only show God to others through our service – the action of love. This act of washing the disciple’s feet summarized the ministry of Jesus which he had performed for the last 3 years, telling his disciples who seldom understood what he was doing to wash one another’s feet and to follow his example so that they will have a part with him. Not to literally wash one another’s feet but figuratively.
The example of Jesus is an example that makes us suffer, it is an example which brings humiliation and it is an example that will break us, that will push us away from the circle of people we are with. And this can be seen in the ministry of Jesus. The example of Jesus’ life had its climax on the cross, where his body was broken and his bloodshed, fulfilling the purpose of God sharing his love with this earth.
To the disciples who were competitive, selfish and proud the action of Jesus gave them an unforgettable lesson in humility. His actions rebuked them. They ought to serve one another and never take advantage of their condition or mission to place themselves above the other.
We too, who proudly call ourselves Christians need to learn this humility. For in us also is pride, competitiveness, selfishness, greed, power and false show. We speak of others, seldom forgetting who we are.
The example of Christ is for all times and every area in life. We are called to live, love, care, serve, speak and watch as Christ did.
We are called to live a life of a servant. To perform the service of the servant not for the rich, not for those in our inner circles and our own, but to come out to those on the fringes, to those on the peripheries that the love of God maybe seen in us, that our acts may become a witness to whom we believe and follow, that we may make the invisible Christ visible in this world which is in need of true love and care.
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