Maundy Thursday
Posted on April 6, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. John 13:1-15 (NKJV)
13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
Devotion
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God…” What a wonderful thing such knowledge and confidence is; what an essential element of true freedom!
Jesus tells Peter that he will understand later what Jesus is doing to His disciples, but his lack of such knowledge caused him to keep on objecting and not taking Jesus at His word. Jesus displays the pattern of deference, of setting others before self, that His faithful people are to follow. They are to do this not just as a matter of politeness, but of confessing Him: He put the whole world’s needs before His own and sacrificed Himself for all. His disciples—and especially those in the Office of the Holy Ministry!—should show they understand this, and what it accomplished, by also loving their brethren as their Lord and Teacher has: suffering for others’ good and God’s glory (Col. 1:24, Rom. 12).
Jesus uses Peter’s panicked reaction to teach us about the relationship of the Christian to the world, and of Absolution to Baptism. You have been washed, so you are fully clean before God. Yet, as you walk through this world’s dirt, your own sweat of the flesh making it cling, you will need Absolution’s frequent cleansing to remind you of being truly clean according to your Baptism.
Prayer: O Lord God, Who hast left unto us in a wonderful Sacrament a memorial of Thy Passion: Grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so use this Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood, that the fruits of Thy redemption may continually be manifest in us; Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
