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| Image by Giuseppe Milo |
Maundy Thursday
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A Greeting
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry;
do not hold your peace at my tears.
(Psalm 39:12)
A Reading
And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean.’
(John 13:3-10)
Music
Meditative Verses
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’
(Matthew 26:36-38)
A Poem
Before we get to Easter, we need to linger:
in the vulnerability of the basin and the towel
at the remembrance and promise of the table
in the struggle and betrayal of the garden
in the shadows and shouts of injustice
at the bloody brutal beautiful cross
in the silence of linen and spices and death
For without these, the empty tomb is empty
- "We Need to Linger" by Rev. Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
found on her website revlisad.com
Verse for the Day
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
(Psalm 27:14)
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The word ‘Maundy’ comes from the latin word ‘mandatum’ or ‘command’, and derives from Jesus’ command to us to love one another. This first day of the “Great Three Days” is packed with meaning, from the foot washing and passover supper to the Garden of Gethsemane and the arrest of Jesus. Each of these would normally be a part of our focus at different moments of a traditional Maundy Thursday worship service and indeed may be still, within the live-streamed and pre-recorded services on offer from parishes across the country. (Go here to find a list of these on the ELCIC.ca website.) In some ways, the moment of Jesus praying in the garden while his friends sleep, unable to stay awake and keep watch with him, expresses the dramatic heart of Holy Week. Throughout his Galilean ministry we hear that Jesus has gone up a mountain to pray by himself, usually after he has been surrounded by crowds or in long periods of conversation and travel with the disciples. Now he is actually deeply craving company in his hour of need and is desperate for his friends to keep watch with him, to stay awake and help him. In his anguish, and in contrast to all the other times he has gone away to pray, his loneliness is crushing. This aspect of Jesus’ experience may especially resonate with us this year, on this day when in normal times we would be meeting up in our church buildings. We too crave company. We may be starting to weary of skype calls with family as it only increases our longing to be in the physical presence of them. It’s hard not to mark the days of the week for which we had plans: “by now I would have arrived to stay with her”; “by now he would be here to help me manage.” While we await a time in hope of reunion, we can remember the meal in the Upper Room during which Jesus prepares his friends for his absence. One of the ways that he demonstrates his love for them is by washing their feet. It is an action of servant leadership, an expression of humility that subverts what is expected and establishes new rules. Peter challenges him in a way that allows Jesus to distinguish between the symbolic act of washing feet and the activity of bathing. We bathe ourselves to be clean, Jesus says, but he washes the feet of others to express his love and commitment to serving their needs in the world. As we ourselves cope with ‘new rules’, we too find ourselves constantly washing — our hands. We always did wash our hands but now we do so more often and with greater attention, not just to protect ourselves but as an act of caring for others. In this way, our hand washing blends the 'bathing' of cleanliness and the desire to serve the wellbeing of others. Although we cannot gather in community to wash each other's feet, as a gesture of servanthood and discipleship how might we be challenged today to think of someone else’s hands every time we wash our own? How might we bless them with this simple act of faith?
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LC† Reimagining Justice is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto,
supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
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