Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday. In some churches, it is known as Holy Thursday. But Maundy is the oldest (as far as I can tell) term for the day before Good Friday. But what exactly is MAUNDY?
Well, naturally, it stems from a Latin root. Here is what Dictionary.com has to say:
Recorded around 1250β1300, the word maundy comes from the Old French mande, in turn from the Latin mandΔtum, which means βmandate or command.β As you may have guessed, this Latin word is the source of the English mandate.
The specific mandate or command at hand refers to the words Jesus is believed to have spoken after washing the feet of his disciples during the Last Supper. In the New King James Version of the Gospel of John, chapter 13, verse 34, Jesus said: βA new commandment I give you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.β New commandment, in the Latin of the Vulgate, is novum mandΔtum.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/what-does-maundy-thursday-mean/
So, a command, a mandate, a rule to live by. But what an earth-changing, earth-shattering rule! LOVE one another. Not like, not tolerate: Love. And in a very specific way: The way Jesus loved.
So, how did Jesus love us? Dear readers, he loves you so much that HE paid the death penalty for every lie you told, every law you broke, every person you spoke ill about. And not just what you did but what I did, and Joe next door did, and so on and so on. Jesus loved US so much that he paid for our sins with his death. And he told us to love in the same way: sacrificially. We are not called to a life of self indulgence, but of service to others, to a life that will show them how much God loves them.
Simple? Yes. Easy? No.
But as we move into Good Friday, Saturday, and ultimately Easter, I ask you to consider ways that you can begin to love the way Jesus mandated. Happy Maundy Thursday and a very blessed Easter!
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