Maundy Thursday

"Jesus calls us to continue his mission of revealing the perfect love of God in this world. He calls us to total self-giving. He does not want us to keep anything for ourselves. Rather, he wants our love to be as full, as radical, and as complete as his own. He wants us to bend ourselves to the ground and touch the places in each other that most need washing. He also wants us to say to each other, "Eat of me and drink of me." By this complete mutual nurturing, he wants us to become one body and one spirit, united by the love of God." Henri Nouwen

I sit here and look out the window. It is an amazingly beautiful day. It truly feels like the day the Lord has made and I hope many of us will get to Rejoice and be very glad. There are many things one can learn from being sick and really having to step out of all the daily responsibilities, roles, or interactions. One of the things that always surprises me is the gratitude and joy I feel for my health. Over the years I have come to believe one of the most important spiritual disciplines we can practice for ourselves and the world is one of gratitude. Each day I give thanks for my health, for the physical body that carries me through this life. But it can be a daily struggle to take care of it the way I believe it deserves. With all that said I do without doubt know that I am blessed with health and a body that serves me very well. Today, I left the house with a bounce in my step. After a week of dragging and 4 days of real illness, today I finally felt like myself. I felt like myself.

"Jesus calls us to continue his mission of revealing the perfect love of God in this world."

Maundy Thursday is the day in the Christian faith that we remember Jesus last meal with his friends or disciples. On this night he knew that he was about to be betrayed. He knew that his time with those around him as well as those he had met and come to love and care for was about to end. The mission of love and labor that God had entrusted to him on earth was about to come to a close. The task ahead of him this night was to give them ways to ritualize this time. But, more importantly, give them ways to remember and come to embody the love that he felt for them. So often we think how impossible it is to express how much we love this person, place or situation. Yet, it is often through the acts of the familiar that we are brought back.

Jesus uses the symbols of bread and wine to guide us. In some traditions the Eucharist or Communion is very much like a memorial meal. By that I mean, there are prayers said and a person may take some grape juice or wine as well as bread. They may do this with the intention of remembering Jesus. For others of us, the Eucharist is a sacrament. We believe that within the context of prayers and worship, we are not only remembering Jesus and his suffering, death and resurrection, but we are actually, taking him in to ourselves in a spiritual way. We are being filled with his grace and love.

On this night Jesus sits a table with his friends. He thinks to himself, how is it that they are going to not only deal with what is about to happen, but how is it that they are going to be able to live this work out in the world? How can I tell them how very much I love them, and how much I know they can and must carry this on? Jesus chose one of those familiar acts of love and fellowship, one of those places in our lives that we can all connect with. Jesus tells us that he will not be with us always, but that in fact he is always with us.

Over the years I have known many very faithful people. People that I have loved and respected, people's whose faith have been a beacon to me in the midst of life's challenges. The people that are flashing through my head are people that would do most anything for anyone and are incredibly generous. Each year at the service of the washing of the feet I have watched many of these same people unable to come forward. The taking off of one's shoes and socks, letting someone else touch and see your feet. I have been told repeatedly that this is just to intimate an act. Much to scary.

Jesus rises from the table and takes off this fancy robes and tied a towel around his waist.  He then told his friends and disciples that he was going to wash their feet.  This was a role that even slaves were spared of in that time.  A person washed their own feet when they entered a home.  Jesus entered into another place that each person could identify with.  Jesus entered into another one of those common places that remind us of our humanity, of our vulnerability, and our call to serve the other.  Jesus also already knew that Judas was to betray him and he knew that Simon Peter would deny him three times.  We are all important elements to the greater story. 

For me the service of Maundy Thursday and the washing of the feet is the most intimate liturgy of the year.  We are called to strip down to the core of who we are.  We are called to simplify the message of the Gospel, the message of Jesus, and that of all of scripture.  We are called to a new commandment. 

Jesus looks to his friends and disciples from bended knee.  He is bare chested and covered only with a towel.  He is vulnerable and open.  I imagine him looking at them with loving eyes, with longing eyes.  I can hear him thanking them for the time they have had together, thanking them for the good times, the laughter, and the struggles.  But it is so important that this be more.  That this be a part of the story that changes them, changes those around them, and continues to change the world.

He looks to them with loving eyes, with strength and grace.  Please, love one another, do it just as I have tried to love you.  If you act with love and generosity, the world will know that you are my disciples, the world will know that God's grace is alive and working through each of you.  They will know this only if you have love for one another. 

What is our lesson today?  With a bounce in my step today, I am so grateful for the message of love and compassion that has been passed on to me.  I am grateful for Jesus example of vulnerability and simplicity.  I am grateful for the lesson of love.

How will you be changed?  How is the love of Jesus contining to change you?  How is Jesus example of love leading you to live in the world?