Maundy Thursday

COMMANDMENTS OF CHRIST

          SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON MAUNDY THURSDAY 2009

                                                  

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.”

 

In tonight’s Gospel reading we have St John’s account of the Last Supper. It begins with a reference to love. St John says: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end”. It then goes on to say: “Now he showed how great was his love”.  Then we have the extraordinary account of the washing of the feet.

 

Two days ago, Mary of Bethany came to Jesus and anointed his feet with oil and tears, and then wiped them with her hair. And Jesus said that it was a sign of her love. Now two days later, Jesus does almost the same thing – with water. In a ritual act, he washes the feet of his Apostles gathered for this Passover supper.

 

The account of the washing of the feet is an integral part of the Last Supper we celebrate on this Maundy Thursday night.   After the Gospel passage finishes at verse 15, it goes on to  describe the betrayal of Judas Iscariot. When Judas leaves the room to go to the authorities, Jesus says: “Now is the Son of Man glorified”.  So we come to verse 34, which gives the meaning of the foot washing: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another”.

 

The Latin word for commandment is Maundate – from which we get the English word Maundy.  This Mass of the Lord’s Supper on the night of Maundy Thursday leads us to reflect on the commandments that Jesus gave us.   For if the commandment to love was a new commandment, there must have been others before it.

 

Jesus was referring to the commandments of the Old Covenant, now replaced by this essential commandment of love.   But when you look in the Scriptures you will see there are actually just four commandments that Jesus gave us, who are his followers.

 

The first one – “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength”.   The second – “To love your neighbour as yourself”.   The third one we hear tonight – “To love one another as I have loved you”.   And, of course, the final one – “Do this in remembrance of me…..As often as you drink this cup, do this in remembrance of me”.

 

These later two – the commandment to love, and the commandment of the Eucharist – were both given to us on this night.  Whatever Jesus was going to say this night was going to be the most important thing he would say – not just to the disciples, but to those of us who continue as disciples of Jesus.

 

Therefore we can understand that these would be of supreme importance in the life of Christian people forever.   It would be the same for any of us if this was the last night we knew we would spend on earth – what we would say to our friends and our families would be of great importance.  Thus down through the ages, what was said about Christians was that they loved one another, and they met weekly to celebrate the Eucharist.

 

Even though those are the two commandments we hear tonight, all four of these commandments that Jesus gave us are expressed in this Liturgy.  Firstly, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  

 

This commandment is expressed most perfectly by us whenever we come to celebrate the Eucharist. Sunday by Sunday, and on special occasions, and during the week – when we celebrate the Eucharist we are following the Lord’s commandment to love God.   And this is what we have especially come to do tonight – to love God, to offer the Eucharist with all the glory, all the praise, all the honour due to Almighty God, our heavenly Father.

 

This Mass of the Last Supper begins what is called the “Sacred Triduum” – the three holy days which are really one continuous Liturgy from tonight through to Saturday night, culminating in the joy of the Resurrection.  Tonight we have come at the beginning of this “Triduum”  to love God in our worship, as we always do.

 

We also come as Christians who seek to love our neighbour. It is something that we try to do as Christians. The washing of feet is a symbol of the service bound up in what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

 

The moving ceremony which follows, not only reminds us of what Jesus did on that night with the twelve – it reminds us that service is one of the commands of Jesus.   It expresses symbolically what Jesus called the new commandment – the commandment to love one another.

 

Sometimes it’s hard to love other people isn’t it – even our fellow Christians? Sometimes we are frustrated in our loving. Sometimes we are not very good at it – but we know that we must keep on trying, because it is a command of the Lord.

 

Ultimately tonight we have come to obey and fulfill that commandment that is central to this night: “Do this in remembrance of me”.   In doing this tonight, of all nights – the night that begins in glory, and ends in Gethsemane – can we see ourselves gathered around that table with the twelve in that Upper Room?

 

As we gather here to offer this Eucharist, Jesus’ words, “This is my Body which will be given up for you”, remind us that tomorrow our Blessed Lord will suffer and die on Calvary in his Body.   And so we understand the supper of the Lord to be both communion and sacrifice – and tied up intrinsically with tomorrow, so that finally it will be tied up intrinsically with the Resurrection.

 

St John tells us in his Gospel, that tonight this meal of Jesus and his Apostles is the night when the Passover Lambs will be slain. As Jesus celebrates this supper and institutes for all time the Holy Communion, the slaying of the Passover Lambs in the background reminds us that this meal will be a continual memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus.  

 

At the end we go with candles and incense, and singing to the Garden of Gethsemane. Then as we watch with Jesus in his night of agonized prayer, we are taken to the very human heart of Jesus.   He who lives in complete union with the Father shows his true humanity and prays for something to which the answer is “NO”.   “Nevertheless”, he says, “not my will, but thine be done”.   He prays for “yes”, but nevertheless the answer is “no”.

 

Was ever the word nevertheless so full of meaning, so pointed?   On his nevertheless hangs both realization and obedience. And as we gaze on this – our Christ, our Saviour, the Son of God, saying “Not my will, but thine be done” – so his night of prayer concludes with action.

 

“It is enough”, He says, “the hour has come…..Rise, let us be going”.