Thursday, April 17, 2025
Maundy Thursday

This you must do

The Rev. Mark D. Wilkinson Rector

Mandatum: This you must do; I give you a new commandment, just as I have loved you, you should have love for one another. While it may not be obvious, the Holy Week story is a love story. It is a story of the love of God for the people of God. That’s not just the disciples, the apostles or special people, that all of us!

Each of the three readings for Maundy Thursday tell us to remember God’s love for us. The first is institution of the Passover, when God brought the Israelites up out of bondage in Egypt. This is the central story of the Hebrew Scriptures and that is our heritage. The second is the institution of what we now celebrate as Communion. Do this in remembrance of me, in remembrance that Jesus died on the cross to show us the love God has for us, to change our minds about God and see God as love. Finally, the foot washing which is about showing the love of God to each other. This culminates in the final statement, that we will be known as disciples by the love we show for each other and all of humanity.

A major part of that showing of love is being aware of and sharing the presence of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit in our lives with others. I said on Palm Sunday that holy week is about experiencing in deep ways the love God has for all of us.

Our service tonight focuses on three symbols, experiences of that presence and the love they show. They are however only symbols of the new mandate that Christ lays before us tonight. They are ways of living into the message and command that Christ lays before us tonight. It is from this command that we get the name of tonight’s service.

This service was formally named Maundy Thursday in the 7^th century.  It comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means command or commandment. Some think that this is based on the institution of the last supper, which is our Corinthians passage or the foot-washing from John. The mandatum is from our gospel, however it is from the end of the gospel which concludes with “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you.” For the writer of John, the foot washing comes as a concrete symbol of the love that Jesus had for his disciples.

Three times tonight we have the order to do something. This is no mere, if you feel like it suggestion, this is a mandate, an order. This you must do.

First, we have the Passover meal. The Exodus story is probably the best-known story from the bible when you look at people around the world. Jews, Christians and Moslems all know the story. Even those of no faith have a good chance of at least hearing about the parting of the Red Sea, even if all that conjures up is pictures of Charlton Heston. The Passover meal is commanded as a reminder of God’s love and care for the Hebrews. The Exodus is at the heart of the Jewish world’s story.

Second, The Eucharist where Jesus says do this in remembrance of me. We take the presence of Christ at the Eucharist very seriously. While there are many ways to understand Christ’s being present at the table, we all acknowledge that somehow, someway, something happens. The light of the presence represents that Christ is present in the reserved bread and wine along with the blessed oils that we keep in the tabernacle. This light will be extinguished tonight and taken out of the church along with everything else. This is symbolic of the night in the garden when he was betrayed, crucified and laid in the tomb.

Finally, tonight we have the foot-washing as we are to do for each other as Christ has done and ultimately the new commandment about love, love each other as I have loved you. Washing feet was something the lowest slave or servant in the house would do. It is the ultimate symbol of servant leadership of being a disciple of Christ.

This last is the mandatum from the Gospel of John: this you must do: love each other as I have loved you. The others represent that love, but the mandate is to love each other as Christ loves us. This requires us to interact with others. The first two are passive. Showing God’s love requires us to take risks and to act.

This is ultimately not about an act, but a relationship that Jesus wants us to understand and to which he calls us to respond. Failure to fulfill this mandate is sin. Fulfilling this is what discipleship is all about.

Do not confuse this with romantic, Valentines day love. This is the hard messy work of agape love. A love that challenges us to think not of ourselves but of others and of all humanity.

This is all about the ministry of presence. Jesus was always present to the disciples and to the people. Peter misunderstands at the foot washing because he is not present to the moment, not really listening to what Jesus is telling him. Peter is too busy being worried about Peter. When we are too full of ourselves we do not have room for Christ. Jesus then gives us the example of how to be present in the foot-washing as he takes on the role of servant.

Tonight I will use an invitation to communion after I break the bread that brings this into focus. Listen to what this invitation says about being present to and in relationship with Christ.*

He was always the guest. In the homes of Peter and Jairus, Martha and Mary, Joanna and Susanna, he was always the guest. At the meal tables of the wealthy where he pled the case of the poor, he was always the guest. Upsetting polite company, befriending isolated people, welcoming the stranger, he was always the guest.

This is all about being present to the people who most need him and I am not just talking about the poor. Encouraging those who have much, to be present and aware of those who have little, was an important part of Christ’s ministry of presence.

But here, at this table, he is the host. Those who wish to serve him must first be served by him, those who want to follow him must first be fed by him. For this is the table where God intends us to be nourished; this is the time when Christ can make us new.

This is all about his being present to us and a call for us to be present to him. This is about allowing Christ to minister to us so we can minister to others. This is the essence of the teaching in the foot washing!

So come, you who hunger and thirst for a deeper faith, for a better life, for a fairer world. Jesus Christ, who has sat at our tables, now invites us to be guests at his.

In both the Corinthians institution of the last supper and John’s foot washing and final discourse it is about Jesus being present with us, then and now. This is also about our being willing to allow Jesus to be present to us. As this invitation says, we cannot give what we do not have. We must first experience his presence in order to share that presence. It is also about the assurance of his presence and our being willing to accept that gift. Then we are called to share that presence with others.

The challenge especially this year with the divisions and fighting on political and religious fronts is to love one another as God as Jesus loves us. Jesus’ final words though pronounce a profound judgement. By this everyone will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another. What we lack today is love for one another. What we need is love for one another. What we must do is show that love for one another. That is the final commandment that Jesus gave his disciples and one we too must follow. This we must do. AMEN

* I do not remember where I found this invitation to communion. I do not claim credit for writing this.