Today is Maundy Thursday, a strange name arising from the Latin word ‘mandatum’, referring to the new commandment that Jesus gave His disciples to love one another. (John 13:34-35) It’s a day when, in countless church services over the world, we remember how Jesus washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:1-17) and shared the Last Supper with them. (Luke 22:7-38) It’s also the day traditionally when the Queen gives money to ‘deserving senior citizens’ in a ceremony dating back to Edward I. (I’m giving you all a history lesson here for the children!)

As we journey through Holy Week, reading the Gospel accounts of this last week of Jesus’ life (told in far more detail than all the preceding years!), I’m struck by the chaos and confusion all around, and yet how Jesus walks through this with sorrow but also with serenity. The story of the washing of the disciples’ feet begins with the words, ‘Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.‘ (John 13:1) The ‘leaving’ part would involve anguish, suffering and sorrow, but He would endure the shame of the cross because of the joy set before Him (Heb 12:2), knowing all that His death would accomplish and knowing also the joy of going to His Father. Jesus’ love for others was shown in His very mundane and humble task of washing dirty feet. We are told that we are blessed if we do such things. (John 13:17) We might not be able to wash people’s feet today, but this passage is a challenge to us to find creative ways of serving and helping other people at times like these.

So… how can we wash feet today? A phone call? An e-card or literal card posted to someone? A picture sent to a lonely person, brightening their day and reminding them they are loved? A bunch of flowers delivered to someone? Delivering shopping to an isolated person? Let’s find ways to serve others and receive God’s blessing as we do so for we are then being obedient to this new commandment.

Below is a blog from Rend Collective that’s worth pondering.

“We’ve been thinking a lot about choices.

Hey Friends,

It can feel like we don’t actually have a lot of power to make decisions right now.

We can’t choose to go out for a bite to eat. Or go to the gym. Or get a haircut(how’s that working out for you?). If you’re in the U.K. you can’t even choose to go out for 2 walks in the same day!

We don’t get to pick our circumstances: but we do get to choose our response.

I love this verse in Joshua:

“Choose this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

THIS DAY. THIS MOMENT. THIS BREATH.

It’s right here that we have a decision to make. We can build our altar right here on this seemingly barren ground. Not in some theoretical future when things are “normal”(whatever that is!) but right here in the conflict and confusion, the mess of real life. We have never followed Jesus in some perfect vacuum or a Christian Disneyland – we follow Him in a broken/beautiful world.

There’s always a “virus”. There’s always suffering. There’s always hurt.

And the real people of God have always chosen to proclaim Him as good and worthy in spite and above all of that.

Faith isn’t all inspiration on the mountaintops – a lot of it is perspiration in the valleys, “working out our salvation in fear and trembling”.

There are a lot of details that we have to surrender right now.

But let’s control what we can control.

No one is forcing us to be socially distant from Jesus.

We have some agency and authority over our lives even now.

We can choose to press into Him in this season, to worship Him passionately, to soak in His word.

This isn’t just a time of waiting : this is a time of choosing.

Who are we going to decide to be when the chips are down, the shadows fall and the pain surrounds?

What are we going to do with this admittedly less-than-perfect portion of our “one wild and precious life” as Mary Oliver put it so well?

As for me and for my house, we will serve the Lord.

Love,
Rend Co.”

Jesus summed up all the commandments with the command to love God and to love our neighbour. When we embrace love, we embrace the very nature of God, for God is love. (1 John 4:8) We often have a very romanticised view of love in the Western world, immediately focussing on the erotic love between a couple, but love – as the Greek language makes plain – has many different facets. There is the love of a parent for a child, the love of a child for a parent, the love between friends, the love between family members, the regard and affection we may have for colleagues or acquaintances and so on. Love involves patience, kindness, gentleness, encouragement, tolerance, hope, challenge and faithfulness (see 1 Cor 13:4-8). True love must be selfless and care more for the beloved than for oneself.

penguins holding hands at sunset

When we look at the cross, we see love personified. We see the selfless sacrifice of the Saviour, His desire to save others greater than His need for self-preservation. We see the anguished love of the Father, caring for humanity so much that He gave His only Son to save us from our sins. (John 3:16) We see how love goes not only the extra step, but the extra mile; we see love vast as the ocean, as the hymn says.

That love melts our hearts and gives us the ability to embrace love in our own lives. The love we are called to show is that same ‘agape’ love: not the love simply for our own kind or our own families, but a love that embraces everyone. This kind of love is divine, all loves excelling. It’s this kind of love we need to embrace, made possible as we embrace the One who loved us and gave Himself for us and as we are embraced in return by Him.

In the book of Deuteronomy, we have Moses’s sermon before he died and his reminders to the Israelites of all God’s commands. In Deut 7:17-18, he says, ‘You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.”‘ In these verses, we have both a negative and a positive which give us clues on how to handle life at all times.

We need to watch our inner monologues, the things we say to ourselves, because it’s these things which ultimately determine our actions. Often, our inner monologues are so subconscious we are not really aware of them. Moses warned the people not to be led by these conversations. They may well be founded on truth (the nations certainly were stronger than the Israelites) and it’s not wrong to ask questions. But so often, the place these inner monologues lead us to is one of fear, anxiety and defeat. The ten spies who returned from the Promised Land saw giants and their hearts trembled; the conclusion they reached was false (that God could not deliver them and therefore they should not enter that land, despite His promises.) We need to beware what we say to ourselves, because we may well end up believing erroneous conclusions as a result (God doesn’t care; He’s not there; He’s not powerful.)

The way out of this, Moses says, is to remember well what God has done. Focus on God. Think about all the things He has already done for us. Remind yourselves of His love, care, interventions and miracles. Remembering what God has done is the only real antidote to anxiety and fear. Because God acts in a consistent, unchanging way, the things He has done in the past give us hope for how He will act in our current uncertain present and future. When we focus on God, our attitudes and actions are changed: ‘Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.‘ (Deut 7:21) When we focus on our great and awesome God, we can face the tragedies of life with hope and confidence.

Easter reminds us of the price of forgiveness. For us to be forgiven meant Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins. Yet as we see the injustice, scheming and hatred which led to His death, His response reminds us that God’s way involves the narrow path of forgiveness. Even as He hung on the cross, He spoke of forgiveness. (Luke 23:24) Peter tells us, ‘When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.’ (1 Pet 2:23)

When we embrace forgiveness, we reflect the heart of God. In the prayer Jesus taught His disciples, we are taught to pray, ‘forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’ (Matt 6:12) We are also reminded that ‘if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’ (Matt 6:14) There really is no way to progress in the Christian life if we don’t embrace forgiveness, but Easter is our ultimate reason for forgiving. When we understand how much we have been forgiven, forgiving is the natural response.