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Maundy Thursday | Holy Week Day 5
8 Plays5 minutes ago
Most people have heard of the Last Supper — but do you know why it's called Maundy Thursday? In this episode, I walk through the foot washing, the new commandment Jesus gave his disciples, and how the Last Supper fulfilled the Passover. The theme for today: watch and pray.
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview of Maundy Thursday
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello friends, welcome to Verity Podcast's Holy Week series. Today is Maundy Thursday, and we're going to talk about what that means, where that name comes from, and what happened on this day of Holy Week.
Symbolism of Foot Washing
00:00:17
Speaker
Have you ever been to a wedding where the bride and the groom washed each other's feet as a part of the ceremony? If you have, you're seeing a depiction of something that happened on Maundy Thursday or Thursday of
Jesus' Teachings on Humility and Love
00:00:32
Speaker
Holy Week. And we can read about it in John 13.
00:00:36
Speaker
So in John 13, it says that, verse 5, "...then he poured water into a basin and began washing the disciples' feet and wiping them with a towel which he tied around himself. So he came to Simon Peter, and he said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet?
00:00:50
Speaker
Jesus answered and said, What I am doing you do not realize right now, but you will understand later." Peter said to him, never shall you wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no place with me. And then Simon said, Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and head. Jesus said to him, he who has bathed needs only to wash his feet. Otherwise he is completely clean, but you are clean, but not all of you.
00:01:15
Speaker
For he knew the one who was betraying him. It was for this reason. He said, not all of you are clean. He goes on to say later on that he has given them an example of the kind of service that he wishes for them to do. And he says that a slave is not greater than the master, but that they are to emulate him because he set an example of humble service, which is true leadership.
00:01:38
Speaker
And so on Maundy Thursday, we remember this service, this example of humility in Jesus, And we look to John 13, 34, which is where Jesus says to his disciples, I am giving you a new commandment that you love one another just as I have a lovely loved you that you also love one another.
00:02:05
Speaker
So the reason Maundy Thursday is called Maundy Thursday is taken from the Latin word mandatum, which means command. So on this day, Jesus gave a new command to his disciples to love one another.
00:02:21
Speaker
to serve one another, to bend low in humility towards one another. And so we call it Maundy Thursday, taken from Mandatum Thursday, command or new command
Significance of Maundy Thursday in the Triduum
00:02:35
Speaker
Thursday. And that's one way that you can remember this, is that this is a day that we remember the new command he gave to all Christians to serve one another selflessly.
00:02:50
Speaker
This is the first day in what is called the Triduum. So the Triduum is a series of days leading up to Resurrection Day. It Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and then Resurrection Day. So these three days in early church history were how Easter began, how Holy Week and Lent all began. So with a three-day fast and vigil leading up to Resurrection Day.
The Last Supper and Passover Traditions
00:03:16
Speaker
And so this would be the very first day of that.
00:03:20
Speaker
In John 13, we see that the disciples are gathered together in this upper room to celebrate Passover. And this is when Jesus washes their feet, but it's also when they take the bread and the cup. And Jesus says that this is my body and this is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.
00:03:41
Speaker
This is often called the Last Supper because it's the final supper before Jesus' crucifixion. And this is very important because the Last Supper fulfilled the Passover.
00:03:55
Speaker
What this means is that Christians who celebrate the Last Supper every Sunday or every fifth Sunday or however often your church does it, are fulfilling the the heart and the spirit of Passover every time they take communion or they participate in the Eucharist.
00:04:15
Speaker
It has taken the message from of Passover, which was God's saving grace to Israel to free them from slavery and to bring them to a promised land. And it's reiterating it through the body and blood of Jesus, who freed us from slavery and delivered us to the promised land of relationship with God and eternity with him.
00:04:39
Speaker
So every time we take communion, every time we participate in the supper of the lamb, we are participating in the whole story of redemption and this great fulfillment of what happened in Exodus and is being seen again in John 13.
00:04:56
Speaker
So on Maundy Thursday, yes, we remember the new command to love one another, but we also remember the the the fulfillment of Passover and the beauty of Jesus Christ, the Passover lamb, laying himself down for us.
Liturgical Practices and Reflection
00:05:13
Speaker
Typically on Maundy Thursday, liturgical churches would strip the altar of any decoration and they would read the story of the Garden of Gethsemane and people would leave silently as they go into Good Friday.
00:05:29
Speaker
So if there's a service on Maundy Thursday, it's often very sober as they're moving into Good Friday. I've given you a theme for each day of Holy Week, and on this particular day, we've learned several things. We've learned about the Passover and its fulfillment in communion. We've learned about the command to love one another and serve one another And this whole chapter ends where they they end up going to the garden. and the accounts that you'll see and in different um depictions of the crucifixion, they go to the garden to pray and wait. um And Jesus is praying and he asks his disciples to watch and pray with them, but they fall asleep over and over again.
00:06:19
Speaker
What I would encourage you today as a theme is to watch and pray. Watch
Themes of Cleansing, Prophecy, and Hope
00:06:27
Speaker
and pray. Well, what does that, what would that mean? Well, it means stay awake, stay alert.
00:06:32
Speaker
Think about what does God want you attentive to today? Maybe God wants you to attend to that servant-heartedness that Jesus has commanded us to participate in. Maybe he wants you to attend to the significance of communion, of Eucharist, of of what's happening in the bread and the wine and what that represents.
00:06:54
Speaker
Watch and pray. On Monday, we talked about cleansing our heart. On Tuesday, we talked about recognizing whether we genuinely worship the Lord or we're just living in hypocrisy. On Wednesday, we focused on the fulfilled prophecies of Jesus and how there's always hope for us no matter how far we've gone. But today, we can take all of that and we can sit with it for a moment and we can stay alert to what God's trying to tell us and what he's trying to teach us. And we can pray into Good Friday, which is coming next.
00:07:30
Speaker
Good Friday is a very sober day. um And you might think, you know, Holy Week is starting to feel really heavy. And that's true. It is. And it should. But there's hope coming.
00:07:41
Speaker
It's coming on Sunday. And we'll be there so soon. Thank you for following along with our Holy Week series. As a reminder, be sure that you're also doing the devotion in your free Holy Week guide at FeliciaMasonHammer.com. We've got discussion questions and readings on there, and I'll see you tomorrow as we move into Good Friday.
00:07:59
Speaker
Good