Praise the Lord for this Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday is an alternate name for Holy Thursday, the first of the three days of solemn remembrance of the events leading up to and immediately following the crucifixion of Jesus. The English word "Maundy" comes from the Latin mandatum, which means "commandment." As recorded in John's gospel, on his last night before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then gave them a new commandment to love one another as he had loved them (John 13:34). This is why services on this night generally include the washing of feet or other acts of physical care as an integral part of the celebration
Jesus our Lord had planned to eat the last supper with His disciples. The
Lord had gathered His beloved disciples in the upper Room for
celebration and obsevation..The Disciples like all us were earth bound and
focusing on themselves. The talk had set their imaginations on fire
with dreams of thrones and power and glory. Luke's account tells us that
the disciples were engaged in a dispute as to which of them would be the
greatest in the kingdom Jesus was inaugurating. No one dared assume the
role of servant and carry out the courtesy of washing feet.
It is written in John 13:1-17 that just before the Passover Feast Jesus
knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the
Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them
the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the
devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had
come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off
his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he
poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them
with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who
said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus
replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will
understand."
Jesus
is the king. He was in charge. He was lord of that night. In
fact, he is the King of kings. In spite of this, Jesus washed the dirty
feet of his disciples and dried them with a towel. Jesus demonstrated and
displayed an amazing grace and everlasting covenant. Jesus personifies in
Himself meekness and Majesty. Jesus laid aside his garments, just as
he had laid aside his glory in heaven, just as he had chosen to lay aside his privileges
as the Son of God. Jesus wrapped a towel around himself, just as he
wrapped around himself our humanity. Jesus then washed his disciples'
feet, performing the most menial act of service, just as the next day he died
the degrading death of a common criminal. When Jesus had finished washing
their feet, according to John Jesus took up his garments and returned to his
place of honor. In the same way, just after his degrading
crucifixion he cried from the cross, "It is finished," and
was taken up from the grave and seated again with God the Father.
Philippians
2:5ff, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness". In the upper room that
night, the eternal Son of God, the king of all creation, stripped off his
garments and got on his knees to wash the dirt from the feet of men who should
have been serving him. That act was nothing new, as it symbolizes the
whole of his ministry and mission.
From our human perspective, the washing of feet is beneath the dignity of the King of kings. Peter was horrified by Jesus' actions, as expressed when he said, "You shall never wash my feet." The words have the same tone as Peter's protests at Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus declared, "I must go to Jerusalem and die", and Peter exclaimed, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you." What did Jesus say? "Get behind me Satan, for you do not have in mind the things of God." In the upper room, Peter still had in his mind the things of men and not of God, and he wanted Jesus to fit into human ideas of royalty and divinity. For the living God, being God means coming down from that throne and giving himself to serve.
Peter
would have been perfectly comfortable washing Jesus' feet. That would be
normal, according to human ideas, but to see Jesus, the great I AM, stoop
before Peter and begin to reach for his dirty feet is not normal. Jesus
was teaching Peter and us that such a posture and spirit are normal for the
true and living God. Jesus told his disciples before coming into
Jerusalem, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and
give his life a ransom for many." In that one line he turned
everything upside down.
In the vision the prophet Daniel was given of the Son of Man, all the
nations of the world serve him, but Jesus is telling us by both words and
actions that the eternal King above all kings serves us, and we will never be
able to outserve him. When the Lord of lords and the King of kings kneels
before us in self-emptying love we cannot help but be preoccupied with
him. Such love knocks us off our personal throne and out of our
centers. He becomes the center. Jesus was helping Peter understand
that we can only meet the living God at the bottom rung of the ladder.
Jesus was revealing the King's own idea about what it means to be king,
for this King finds his royal dignity in being a foot-washer.
Mother
Teresa was one of the faithful servants of Jesus our Lord. Her feet
were washed by the Lord Jesus. She grasped the realty of the Jesus our
Lord who came not be served but to serve. Mother Teresa gave her life in
washing the feet of countless men and women, boys and girls who were destitute,
desperate, and deplorable. Praise the Lord for the countless millions
today who have given their lives to Jesus, the "suffering Servant",
and have abandoned themselves in "washing the feet" of countless
millions around the corner and around the globe. His Truth is marching
on.
Saint
Augustine once said, "Proud man would have died had not a lowly God found
him." Peter seems to understand this, and the thought of missing out
on life with the Master makes him exclaim, "If you must wash my feet, then
not my feet only but my hands and my head also!" Jesus needed to
clarify the point by saying, "A person who has had a bath needs only
to wash his feet, and his whole body is clean."
By Jesus'
death we are cleansed, we are washed, and we are welcomed, to enter the
banquet of the King, so the towel points to the fundamental act of the King on
behalf of his subjects. We worship and follow a King whose symbol of
authority and sovereignty is the common towel. The towel
dramatizes his whole career. The towel reveals the true nature of
royalty. The towel points to his foundational act on behalf of his
subjects. The towel now distinguishes those who have allowed him to
serve them. When I am unable or unwilling to take up the towel, it means
it is time to let the King wash my feet again. It's time once again to
stop and let the King love me with his self-emptying love.
"Lift
up your gates, your ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord—girded with a towel—he is the King of
Glory. Hosanna to that King! Amen.
In
His Power,
Brown.
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