Passion Week: Thursday

Thursday  (Mark 14:12-52; John 13-18:11)

Today is what is traditionally known as “Maundy” or Holy Thursday. The word “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word meaning “commandment” and refers to the “command” that Jesus gave His followers to love and serve one another. Indeed we get the word from John 13:34,

“A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this all people will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

There is much that happened on this night. Indeed the activity is so much that the night never ends, it just goes on with action until the morning when Jesus is being tried. This Thursday night was the last night Jesus would have with His people pre-resurrection, and though He had 40 days after His resurrection in which He instructed His followers, not much of that is recorded for us. Much of what happened on this night, however (Thanks to John’s Gospel), is recorded for our instruction.

On this night Jesus instituted the New Covenant with the Supper. It is on this night that we have Jesus’ “Upper Room Discourse” in which significant truths are communicated to the disciples. The Truths are almost too many to mention (it is perhaps better to just read John 13-18 today). Truths like: Jesus is the Way, Truth, and Life; Jesus is coming back to receive us to Himself; Jesus is One with the Father; The Holy Spirit will be given to aid Jesus’s followers; Jesus’ disciples are to have the kind of relationship with Him that a branch does to a vine; and much more!

So with so much to occupy the fires of our meditation today, I ask myself “what do I want swimming in my mind as I make a drive to Selma and back?” I think I want to think about this:

Jesus makes all things new!

It is what the Lord’s Supper signifies. Jesus is establishing the NEW Covenant that had been promised for so long. A covenant in which God’s people will have His laws written on their hearts and minds. A covenant in which God comes and makes His abode within each member of the covenant. Indeed, a covenant in which God is not ashamed to call those in the covenant “My People” and those people can joyfully, and confidently address Him as, “MY GOD!”

And this covenant is characterized by its members reflecting the way of its founder. It is seen and felt as they, like Him, pick up the towel and basin and serve each other. They, thus, fulfill the very “New” commandment of the Master, namely, to love like Him.

I want to have the towel and basin firmly in my hands today!