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Maundy Thursday
April 24, 2011
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Denver, Colorado
Pastor Dena Williams

The Holy Gospel according to the Community of St. John in

the 13th Chapter

Glory to you, O Lord

Now before the festival of the Passover,

Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world
and go to the Father.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them
to the end.

The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of
Simon Iscariot to betray him.

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,
Jesus 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!"
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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, though not all of you."

For he knew who was to betray him;

for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe,
and had returned to the table, he said to them,

"Do you know what I have done to you?

You call me Teacher and Lord — and you are right, for that is
what I am.
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have set you an example,
that you also should do as I have done to you.”
...

Now Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I

tell you, one of you will betray me."
The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he
was speaking.
One of his disciples — the one whom Jesus loved — was
reclining next to him;
Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom
he was speaking.
So while reclining next to Jesus, the disciple asked him,
"Lord, who is it?"
Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of
bread when I have dipped it in the dish."
So when he had dipped the piece of bread,
he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.
After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him.
Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do."
Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.
Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse,
Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival";
or, that he should give something to the poor.
So, after receiving the piece of bread,
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Judas immediately went out. And it was night.

When Judas had gone out, Jesus said,

"Now the Son of Man has been glorified,
and God has been glorified in him . . .
Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look
for me; and as I said to the crowd so now I say to you,
'Where I am going, you cannot come.'
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another."

The Gospel of the Lord

Why do we do this?

Why do we do this?
Why do we come to church on a Thursday night
in the midst of a busy week?
It is Maundy Thursday.
What does this mean?
Maundy Thursday is the most ancient of the Holy Week
celebrations of the Christian Church.
For nearly 2000 years,
Christians have assembled for worship on the Thursday
before Easter.
Why do we do this?

The focus seems to be on Holy Communion.

There must be a reason.
Is that what Maundy Thursday is all about?
Holy Communion?

According to the story in three Gospels, it is at the

Jewish Passover meal,
that Jesus institutes the Last Supper,
what we call Holy Communion.
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In Matthew, Mark, and Luke,

Jesus and his disciples are celebrating Passover
in Jerusalem.
Jesus takes bread and then wine
and gives it to his disciples,
saying “Take, eat this as my body,
drink this as my blood shed for you.
Do this to remember me.”

Our gospel story for this night, however,

the night of Maundy Thursday is different.
We might expect to hear a Gospel story of Jesus’ last supper
as told in Matthew, Mark, or Luke.
Tonight, however, we read instead from the Gospel of John,
the last of the four gospels to be written.
We read from the Gospel of John,
and the story is quite different.
Although it is the story of a dinner
shared by Jesus and his disciples,
it is not the story of a Passover meal.
Rather this dinner, recorded in John, occurred on a night
before Passover.

Not only that,

but there is no giving of bread and wine
as body and blood,
no “Do this to remember me.”
in the Gospel of John.
This writer,
whose favorite currency is symbol and sign and metaphor,
fails, for some reason,
to mention the bread and wine as body and blood.

Instead, this Gospel writer of John

tells of a foot washing—
how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples,
how we ought to wash one another’s feet.
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So, is that what Maundy Thursday is all about?

Washing one another’s feet?
Why is the Thursday of Holy Week called Maundy Thursday?
Why do we do this?

A clue comes from the how we name this day.

The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum,
which means “commandment,”
the source of our English word “mandate.”

Commandment . . .
What is the commandment, the mandate that brings us to
worship this Maundy Thursday evening?

John’s Jesus tells us.

After washing feet and identifying Judas,
Jesus tells us why we have come to worship
on this Thursday.
John’s Jesus gives us the mandate, the commandment.

Jesus speaks:
“I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another."

Why do we do this?

There it is,
the heart of the matter.
Yes, we gather on the Thursday before Easter because
Christians have gathered this night for 2000 years.
Yes, we gather because there are words spoken and the
physical elements of bread and wine are present—
we receive Holy Communion.
We even gather, sometimes, to wash one another’s feet.
But most of all we gather for worship this Thursday night
to hear Christ’s final mandate,
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Christ’s final commandment to us:

“Love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another."

We come together because we are called to be people who

love one another with the perfect love of Christ . . .

Do we?
Do we love one another with the perfect love of Christ?
In our families,
our neighborhoods,
in our congregation,
do we,
as we are commanded to do,
do we love one another with the perfect love of Christ?

Well, we could spend some more time there,

but it is late,
the hour has come,
it is nearly time for us to sing a hymn and go out . . .

Before we leave,
we come to the table,
to acknowledge our sin,
to seek God’s forgiveness
for our failure to perfectly love one another.
As we leave the table,
we are called by our repentance,
to live so that everyone will know we are disciples of Christ,
because of our love for one another.

Amen
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