Daily Devotion

17 April – Maundy Thursday

Audio

Today is Maundy Thursday, 17th of April.

Maundy is derived from the Latin word for “command,” and refers to Jesus’ commandment to the disciples to “Love one another as I have loved you.” The events during the last Supper, including the washing of feet is meditated on and sometimes reenacted. Jesus’s agony at the Garden of Gethsamane which ended with the disciples fleeing into the darkness of the night is also remembered. This is captured in the Tenebrae Service, which means “darkness” in Latin.

Preparation

Our Lord Jesus Christ says:
‘If you love me, keep my commandments.’
‘Unless I wash you, you have no part in me.’
‘Let us confess to almighty God our sins against his love,
and ask him to cleanse us.

(pause)

Amen.

Psalm

We read Psalm 116, verses 10 to 15.

¹⁰ I trusted in the Lord when I said,
    “I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ in my alarm I said, “Everyone is a liar.”

¹² What shall I return to the Lord
    for all his goodness to me?

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
    in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the Lord
    is the death of his faithful servants.

Scripture Reading

We will read the passage from John 13:3-17:

 ³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴ rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share 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, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, 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 also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 

Reflection

We have in this one incident a description of the entire mission of Jesus. 

He came to serve. 
He will save, through serving. 
He will be glorified, through dying. 

This was an extraordinary display of exemplary leadership. Jesus said, “If I am then your Teacher and Lord…you ought to do likewise.” I will show you how, for I am your Teacher. This is why you should follow my example, for I am your Lord.

The washing of feet during Jesus’ time was the most menial of tasks, reserved for lowly servants or slaves. This was a master lesson of humility shown through serving others. While the act of washing another’s feet is not common in our culture here, the act symbolises servanthood in some rich ways.

One has to kneel and bend down. Facing downwards, he has to get close to a pair of dirty feet. He sees it. He smells it. He feels it as he touches the feet of the one he is serving. The act of servanthood and posture of subservience are unmistakable. Not only is the act itself a lowly one. One also makes himself lower than the one served.

This act has the echoes of Christ’s emptying movement and humiliation on our behalf as described in the poem in Philippians 2:6-11.

Culturally, it was wrong. Jesus has broken a cultural taboo. It was simply unacceptable. It wasn’t right or dignified for a master of the house to do duties reserved for servants. No wonder Peter pulled his feet back in revulsion. “No! No! No! Master, you cannot do that.” I would have pulled back my feet too. And so will you.

Yet this is what our Teacher and Lord is calling us to emulate. He will go on to show us the supreme act of adopting this posture on Good Friday. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He serves. He forgives. He loves.

Is someone lording over you or use his position of power to humiliate you? Or imagine if you are in a position to help someone but the cost is the need to disadvantage yourself. Will you be willing to lower yourself to serve someone? It may be a context in your office classroom or home. It can be very difficult to bend down and wash the feet of another.

Remember, Jesus washed the feet of Judas too.

Questions for further reflection

1. Are there persons in your life where whose feet you will be struggling to wash? Think of it as a metaphor of being a “bended servant” towards another. 

2. It will not be easy. But will you pray and ask for His grace to help you to walk in His footsteps? 

Collect

We pray this collect:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us
that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters
we do also for you:
give us the will to be the servant of others
as you were the servant of all,
and gave up your life and died for us,
but are alive and reign, now and for ever.
Amen.

We leave you with this song, The Washing, by Ernest and Mingli.

THE WASHING

An  evening supper 
With Paschal lamb
Twelve brothers gathered for the breaking of bread 

A drying towel
A basin filled
Hands wiping soles of each friend You well knew

And then You washed the feet of Judas too
And You washed the feet of Judas too
It was the cold, cold feet who would soon walk away 

Yet You washed the feet of Judas too
You chose to wash the feet of Judas too
It was the cold, cold feet that would soon walk away 
Yet You washed the feet of Judas too

Link to today’s Morning Office