Today is Maundy Thursday, the day on which we remember Jesus’ final night with his disciples prior to his betrayal and arrest. The name Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means mandate, or command. This is the Thursday of the mandatum nova -‐-‐ the new command:
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. (John 13:34-‐35 NRSV)
Jesus gives this command during the ‘Lord’s Supper’, just after washing the disciples’ feet and declaring to them that they are to follow his example in serving one another.
For nearly two thousand years, the church has remembered this day on the liturgical calendar by gathering for Maundy Thursday services, which center on the Lord’s Supper and recalling these words of Jesus.
This Maundy Thursday, my emphasis in prayer has become more focused, more clear. I don’t want to simply consider Jesus’ command; I also want to consider his prayer. Jesus’ command is that we love one another in the same way that he has loved us. Obedience to this command will result in the world knowing that we are his disciples.
Yes, our love for one another in the body of Christ is missional in nature.
While the church gathers annually to remember Jesus’ command, she lives daily with little regard for his prayer. What prayer? The prayer he prayed shortly after giving this command:
I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-‐23 NRSV)
Jesus prays for the Church to fulfill his command to love one another. What will this fulfillment look like? Unity!
Slowly, prayerfully, read this prayer of Jesus again:
I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-‐23 NRSV)
The prayer of Jesus is regarding the fulfillment of the command of Jesus. Jesus commands that we love one another in the same way that he has loved us and he prays that we will fulfill this command by being one. Once again we see that this command, this prayer, is missional in nature. How will the world know that the Father sent the Son? Through the unity of the body of Christ. How will the world know of the Father’s love for the church? Through the unity of the body of Christ.
On this day, this Maundy Thursday, how unified is the body of Christ throughout the world? Throughout your country? Throughout your state? Throughout your city? Throughout your neighborhood?
I’m guessing that Maundy Thursday continues to be a painful day for Jesus!
Once a year, on this day, we gather in our churches and go through the motions of remembering the command Jesus gave us-‐-‐love one another. Then we get in our cars and drive home passing numerous “church buildings” that often serve as an indictment-‐-‐we don’t love one another. We are not unified. We are splintered into a million little pieces.
We host conferences for the people in our tribe, in our denominations, in our coalition. We pat each other on the back and rejoice over the fact that we have correctly understood the gospel and all manners of dogma. We appoint ourselves as guardians, sentries charged with the defense of “our correct” interpretation of justification. Not once do we stop to ask ourselves about the implications of our tribalism in the One Kingdom of God. Not once do we consider the prayer of our King, much less the command of our King. Why? Because we conveniently redefine “love one another” and “be one” and “unity” according to those who are in our tribe.
I don’t get to change the command of Maundy Thursday. I don’t get to change the prayer of Maundy Thursday.
I get to obey. I get to pray.
Maundy Thursday should be a day of deep sorrow throughout the body of Christ. We have become Judas and betrayed our Lord. We didn’t like his command and we didn’t like his prayer, so we have conspired against him. We’ve built a cross that is made not of wood, but of tribes and coalitions. We’ve hung the body of Christ and failed to see it bleeding in agony and pain, and yet continued to wonder why it has lost its power. Can we be serious? The body of Christ has lost its power because it’s hung on the tree of disunity.
We can only hope for Easter!
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