Love one another

Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. In Nomine +

Today is Maundy Thursday, the least understood, probably least attended, and surely the most intimate of the Sacred Triduum.

It was the time of Passover, when all Jews commemorated their escape from the Angel of Death while captives in Egypt. The Passover meal from the Jewish tradition is yet another link from the Old Covenant to The New, and we hear about the institution of the Mass today almost as if it were what the PCC meeting agenda would call Any Other Business.

Jesus was aware that His path would be to the cross, and he tried, once again, to get the disciples to understand what would be happening.

The disciples were a rag-tag collection of men who gave up everything – their families, their jobs and in some cases their longterm financial security- to follow this man from Nazareth. There had to have been intense love and respect for Jesus. He had spent almost three years with these men , preaching and teaching. Yet, the disciples really don’t understand and were in serious denial that He would be going away.

One last time, Jesus provided an example of how the disciples, and WE, are to live in relationship with God.

Much like in mediaeval Wales, also a country where people frequently went by foot, the opportunity to wash your feet was frequently given as part of normal hospitality in the Holy Land in Our Lord’s time too. However, the person responsible for it was usually a slave, or maybe a young disciple travelling alongside a revered Master.

After the meal, Jesus humbled himself, as a servant, to wash the feet of the disciples – a custom that was relegated to the lowest of the low in the Jewish community. He instructed the disciples to follow his example:

For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them (John 13:15)

This is to remind us that by following His example of humbling himself, we can be more Christ-like and live a more godly life.

Today is called Maundy Thursday from the Latin ‘mandatum’, meaning commandment or order, because of the command that Jesus gave to ALL of us.

Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)

That is our charge, not only on this Maundy Thursday, but now and for the rest of our lives.

After Jesus had shared a meal with his disciples, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. We are told, that for Jesus the Garden of Gethsemane frequently served as a place of quite reflection, and especially for prayers with his heavenly father. He took with him Peter, James and John, to keep him company and possibly protect him. (and note that, what we do every Sunday, is NOT the main story here, but rather love)

Jesus prayed that this burden - the happenings over the next few days - should be lifted from him, but he understood that he must do this alone – there is no one who could bear the cross or share his pain and death. He alone was the Chosen One – and he accepted that.

Tomorrow we will hear the story about Judas coming with the Roman soldiers and Jewish temple authorities, betraying our Lord and taking him to his death.

Tonight, after the foot washing, the Blessed Sacrament is moved to the Altar of Repose, and the church will be cleared of all decorations and fabric, becoming bare and stark in preparation for the death of Our Lord tomorrow. Earlier in the service, we heard the organ and the bells for the last time until the Easter Vigil on Saturday night, preparing us for the solemnity of tomorrow, when we encounter our Lord on the Cross and Saturday, when the Aumbry will be empty, the church empty, Jesus in His tomb and we - will grieve.

Tonight, we watch, and wait, remembering that Jesus truly loves all of us, and that, the night before his death, he modelled Christian life for us.

Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. In Nomine +