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Meditation for Maundy Thursday
April 2nd, 2026
Reading: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
“Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Meditation by Jeremy O’Neill
Each of the liturgies of Holy Week has its own charism, but very few can match the “moving parts” of the Maundy Thursday service as practiced in many Episcopal Churches. A few aspects are usually highlighted, the first of which is the eucharist. Maundy Thursday serves as a special remembrance of the Last Supper, the event from which our current practice of communion gets its start. There is also the foot washing, a practice done in some churches that takes plenty of logistical coordination. Ensuring there are enough towels, bowls, volunteers, and no spills is quite the challenge. Finally, there is the stripping of the altar, an elaborate dance that entails the removal of almost everything portable from the church sanctuary. So, please pray for altar guilds, vergers, sacristans, sextons, and everyone else who works behind the scenes to make these liturgies click. Though we won’t have foot washing at Redeemer, there is still plenty of work going into planning a memorable service.
All of this effort is interesting because for some, Maundy Thursday is kind of a niche service. It doesn’t have the directness of Good Friday or the broad recognition of Easter Sunday. It requires people to take time out of their week at an hour that is, for many, more difficult than a Sunday Morning. And yet, it is in this service that we get the institution of the eucharist, a central element of our Sunday practices.
The gospel for today focuses on the foot washing element, and in some ways it is the most dramatic in the context of the story. For the disciples did not remove expensive dress shoes and fancy socks before getting their feet washed. They would have been wearing sandals and would have been walking on roads full of dust, animal waste, and other debris. In a world without running water or modern podiatry, washing someone’s feet was a profound act of hospitality. It is not just a nice thing to do, but a balm. A relief from the pains of this world.
This is the last act Jesus does before they betray him. An act of profound selflessness and love. An act that is potentially unpleasant. And what did they do to thank him? They betrayed him.
This injustice is familiar to us. We live in a world where some of the hardest, dirtiest tasks are not compensated for with a living wage. But what is unfamiliar to us is Jesus’s capacity to love in the midst of all of this. And he passes on this commandment to his disciples, and in turn on to us: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
To love (which is different from being nice, or quietist, or even making people happy) is the principle commandment of the Christian faith. To paraphrase Paul, none of our accomplishments or talents matter if we do not choose love. Maundy Thursday, in its complexity, reminds us of this simple imperative. We are called to love in a way that changes the world. We are called to treat each other with unrecognizable charity. And we are called to pass on the greatest love there is: the love our Creator has for us.
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