Holy Week: Maundy Thursday
A Perfect Love
It is now Thursday. Jesus knows His time to “depart out of this world to the Father” (see John 13:1) has arrived. Though Christ’s love for us is displayed on the cross, He also exhibited it for His disciples and for us that night before His arrest. Though all four Gospels share the story of that Thursday, I will focus on John’s telling of the story. Please read John 13 – 17 for the full story.
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
Before sitting down for the Passover feast, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Normally, a servant or the wife of the host would wash the guest’s feet, but at this dinner, Jesus would be the one washing their feet. At this point, Jesus knew His arrest and death were imminent. He also knew which one of His disciples was about to betray Him. This act of serving His followers reflects His words in Mark 10, which says “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many,” (Mark 10:43-45). Take note that Jesus still washed Judas’ feet despite the fact he was about to betray Jesus. What kind of love is this where Jesus still serves the person who is about to betray Him? Perfect love. In fact, we must remember that we were enemies of God before the death of Christ, yet, He still died for us to give us the opportunity at redemption and forgiveness (see Romans 5:8).
A Betrayer in Their Midst
As they started their meal, Jesus announced there was a betrayer among them. The disciples asked who it was and Jesus replied it was the person He was giving the morsel of bread to. This is interesting because according to Jewish tradition, when a host gave a guest a morsel of bread, it represented friendship.[1] Again, Jesus showed perfect love towards his betrayer. It was as if He were giving Judas another chance to change his mind, though He knew he wouldn’t. As Edwin Blum wrote in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, it was Jesus’ “final extension of grace to Judas.”[2]
A New Commandment?
Once Judas left, Jesus began teaching His disciples. He gave them a new commandment which was “…love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another,” (see John 13:34). At first glance, it appears He’s repeating part of the great commandment to love others as yourself. But, as David H. Stern writes in the Jewish New Testament Commentary, Jesus told them to love each other as He had loved them, “which presupposes that God’s way of loving can be ours. Humanly this is impossible. But Yeshua gives us a new nature, a new spirit in fulfillment of the Tanakh promises, God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit. This is how we can love as God loves; God makes it possible,” (pg. 196, Stern).3 Before Christ’s new commandment, we were commanded to love others as we love ourselves. The best we could do was to love others through our own imperfect way. Now, because of the Holy Spirit, it’s possible to love others the way Christ loved us. Again, what kind of love is this?
Jesus continues speaking with His disciples. He tells them He is “the way, the truth, and the life and that no one can get to the Father except through Him,” (John 14:6) He promises the Holy Spirit, who will be sent by the Father and will teach them all things and remind them of Jesus’s teachings. He tells them that He is the vine and they are the branches that should bear fruit and remain in Him. He tells them more than once that if they truly love Him, then they will obey His commands, just as He obeyed His Heavenly Father. He warns them how the world will hate them because it hated Him first. He again explains what the Holy Spirit will do when He comes. He also tells them to take heart because He has overcome the world.
The Prayer
After speaking these things, Jesus left to pray in the Garden. John 17 contains the “High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus – the prayer He prayed to God before His arrest. In this prayer, Jesus shows the closeness He has to God. He refers to Him as “Father” throughout the prayer (as opposed to “God” or “Lord”). He prays for His disciples (the remaining 11, that is) and asks Him to “keep them in His name” and that they may be one as they (Jesus and God) are one. He also asks for them to be protected from the evil one. Finally, He asks God to sanctify them in His truth. Sanctify means “to separate for holiness, to set apart for God,” (pg. 204, Stern). Jesus wanted His disciples to be set apart and made holy in the truth of God.
Jesus prayed not only for His disciples, but for future followers as well. This means He prayed for you and for me and for everyone else who follows Him. He has a similar request for us: He wants us to be one as He and our Heavenly Father are one. Stern writes, “Thus Yeshua prays that the unity between believers and Himself, between believers and the Father and between believers and other believers will have the same character as the unity between Himself and the Father,” (pg. 204, Stern). In John 14, Jesus says to His disciples, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works,” (John 14:10). Jesus submitted to the will of His Father because He is one with Him. Through obedience to His Heavenly Father, He showed his love for Him. Jesus closes His prayer with, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them,” (emphasis mine, John 17:26).
Final Thoughts
Looking at Jesus’s words and actions that night, even before His arrest, His love for His disciples and for us was vividly displayed. Through His example and the work of the Holy Spirit, we know how to serve others and love our enemies, even if they are about to betray us. We can offer grace to others though they may hate us. He modeled for us what it looks like to be obedient to God and that obedience comes from a place of love for God, not forced submission. Because of Jesus, we too can have a close, personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, rather than a distant acquaintance with Him. How can we not treasure Christ more when reading through these last hours of His life? What kind of love is this? It’s a perfect love.
[1] Edwin A. Blum, “John,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 321.
2 Edwin A. Blum, “John,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 321.
3 David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1992), 196
