Thursday, April 05, 2012

Maundy Thursday

Holy Week continued...



Today is called Maundy Thursday.  I did not grow up in a church that used that term and it took me awhile to figure out that people weren't saying, "Monday Thursday", which sounded ridiculous.  I learned that it was  a name for the day when we commemorated Jesus' last meal with his disciples.  You've likely all seen artwork of Jesus at a big banquet table with them all seated on the same side of the table just as if they were on a sit-com.  When I went to Bing Images and Google Images I found a LOT of paintings of the Last Supper.  This one is by Da Vinci and likely the most famous...

The Last Supper, 1498 (post-restoration)
Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519)
Scala/Art Resource, NY
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan


As I continued browsing through the images I found a lot of renditions of Da Vinci's painting.  Some had the apostles as dogs, I'm not sure why.  Another was an impressive recreation by Laura Bell.  What's so impressive about it was that she did it with laundry lint!  Now that's an art form I'd not considered before!

  (by Laura Bell...made with laundry lint)

At that Last Supper, Jesus taught his apostles about communion.  He taught them to eat the bread and drink the wine together when he was gone, remembering him, taking him into themselves.  This was a big deal.  The apostles don't seem to quite get it yet, then.  They weren't catching on that Jesus was soon to die.  Jesus knew, though.  Jesus loved these followers and he knew they would soon be hurting.  He wanted them to know that he would always be with them.  I think much of what began that night was not understood until after his death.  I don't know, maybe we still don't quite understand it as well as we should.  What I understand, though, is that when I take communion, Jesus is with me.  What more could I ask?

What I learned from Wikipedia about the word, Maundy, kind of surprised me.  I expected it to have something to do with communion.  Nope.  It refers to washing, specifically Jesus' washing the feet of the disciples.  Well, what do you know?  We had yet more to learn from that night.

Yes, Jesus washed the disciples feet.  These weren't feet that had already soaked in a tub.  These were feet that had probably been walking dusty roads for miles in sandals.  This was not a pretty job.  Washing someone else's feet is a pretty humbling thing to do.  It is a true act of service.  

Jesus demonstrated humility as he showed his apostles how much he cared for them.  Humility is not something we talk about much these days.  I think we should.  I don't think being humble means we should have a low self-esteem.   As a Christian, I think it means we need to recognize that any goodness within ourselves comes from God.  Knowing that makes us want to share that goodness by serving others. It seems simple but humility is often a challenge to accomplish.  

Other names for this day include Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday and Thursday of Mysteries.  Not every Christian Church even names this day but they all talk about the lessons Jesus was teaching.  The first lesson that stands out to me is that we need to commune with one another as we take Jesus into our own beings.  The second lesson is that we need to be people of humility.  There are more lessons here, such as the lesson of obedience, as Jesus was obediently following God's plan for him.  What else?  What do you take from all this?  Do you do anything special on this day? 

9 comments:

affectioknit said...

I love Maundy Thursday in the Church...we'll have a Christian Seder meal at Church tonight...mine will be vegan...

Have a lovely day!

Onlythemanager said...

It's been a long time since I went to a Seder meal. I only remember the "bitter herbs". We've more often had the foot-washing service. I have mixed feeling about that, of course.

Emily said...

I have only heard the term "Maundy Thursday" a few times, but never knew what it meant! So thank you for your explanation. It makes sense! Last week I taught Sunday School and the lesson was on Jesus washing his disciples feet. So I washed all the kids' feet, and they thought that was pretty fun. At the end, they asked if they could wash my feet! I was stunned! But I let them do it. It turned out to be a pretty sweet experience.

Michelle said...

Sue, you saved me some research. I got to thinking about the word "Maundy" and wondering what it really meant. Knowing it refers to the day before Good Friday, had been enough for me. But recently it struck me as a very strange word, and, like so many "religious" or "church" words I knew it had to have a relevant meaning in the language it came from. Now I don't have to look "maundy" up, but I have another question: "Sheer Thursday"?

Onlythemanager said...

Emily, I did the same thing with my little kids. Cordy was there with tights on so I just washed her shoes. I expected the kids would think it was funny or weird but they just plopped off their shoes and acted as if I did that every Sunday.

Onlythemanager said...

Michelle, I haven't studied the Sheer Thursday question yet. I had not heard of it until recently. Last night Mike told me he'd always been told that Maundy meant "command". Well, hmmmm.... So, everything now is clear as mud.

momto8 said...

Holy Week is the holiest week in the Catholic church...and filled with so much!!! We can always learn more and more about Jesus..
Happy Easter!!!

Janet, said...

Well, I learned a little today. I had never heard of Maundy Thursday. A late 'Happy Easter' to you and your family.

Sweet Carolina Grace said...

That lint artwork is really amazing!

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