“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. – John 13:34
To love others was not a new commandment (Lev. 19-18), but to love others as much as Christ loved others was revolutionary. Now Jesus is telling us to “up our game.” Don’t just love others the way we love ourselves, but love them according to Jesus’ sacrificial love for us.
On this day Jesus would meet his disciples in the Upper Room for the Last Supper. There he would break bread with them and share wine; a ceremonial tradition that is still formally recognized in most Christian churches today. Then he would tell his men that one of them would betray him, and one of them would deny him. Then he wrapped a towel around his waste and in the overwhelming spirit of love and humility, he would wash each of his disciples’ feet with a bowl of clean water.
O, how much love and devotion he poured out to these men in that moment who had become his closest friends. An awesome example that is forever etched into our memories; Jesus assuming his role of servant, washing their feet at the table of the last meal he would share with them before his death.
From there, Jesus and his disciples would make their way to the Garden in Gethsemane, a place that they knew well; a place where they’d come numerous times in the past for rest, respite, and quiet. There, the disciples would struggle to stay awake while Jesus began spiritually preparing himself for what was to come. This man who had healed the sick, who had raised the dead, who calmed the wind and the waves of the sea, who walked on the water of that very sea; overcome with anguish and despair, with sweat from his forehead falling to the ground like drops of blood, praying to his Father in heaven to take away his cup of suffering, if it be His will. “Is there no other way, Father? Must I go through with this? Lead me, Father, according to Your will, not mine.”
God sent an angel to help His Son in that moment to strengthen him.
Just a few days earlier he and his disciples had entered Jerusalem to a warm welcome and such promise. But now the hardest part was to come. Jesus the man was about to be subjected to unspeakable acts of humiliation, torture, and death by crucifixion.
Today’s Thought
Let us take time today, on Maundy Thursday, to reflect on Jesus’ new command to love one another other in the sacrificial way He loved us. In what ways can we show sacrificial love to others? Maybe it begins with a towel, a bowl of water, and humility to serve.
Former Blackout Artist 