Yesterday I was telling some of my co-workers about our church’s upcoming Maundy Thursday service. Typically, our church celebrates the Passion Week with a Maundy Thursday fellowship dinner and communion service; a Good Friday service of confession; and then regular Easter Sunday services (of which most are familiar). As one of the few Presbyterians around the office, all of my Baptist & Pentecostal friends had no clue about Maundy Thursday — in fact, one person even commented that it sounded rather cultish. Hopefully, this ensuing explanation removed all doubt about the Christian relevance of the celebration.

“Maundy Thursday” refers to the Thursday follwing Jesus’ regal entry into Jerusalem on which he gathered with his twelve disciples to celebrate the Passover with them. The Passover was traditionally a time for those gathered to recount to one another and celebrate the great stories of God’s mighty acts of Salvation.

The term Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum (from which we get the English word mandate), from a verb that meants ‘to give,’ or ‘to order.’ The term is usually translated ‘commandment,’ from John’s account of this Thursday night Passover meal during which, according to John, Jesus rose and washed the disciples’ feet to illustrate the unique, upside-down sort of leadership by servanthood that was to characterize citizens in the Kingdom of God. As they walked to Gethsemane after the meal and this surprising illustration, Jesus said:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, you also ought to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. — John 13:34-35

Just as we did in our fellowship around the Maundy Thursday dinner table, I encourage you to recount to one another the great stories of God’s mighty acts of salvation: Who IS this Jesus? When all is said and done, what DID he do — really? And WHY was it necessary for us? We say he is still physically living and working today — tell stories of his continuing work today!