What Happened on Maundy Thursday?
On Holy, or Maundy, Thursday, in an upper room, Jesus and His disciples shared the Last Supper. (This last supper together was actually a celebration of the traditional Passover meal when the Jewish people remembered how God spared them with the blood of a lamb in Egypt. Did the disciples know that they were sharing Passover with THE LAMB whose blood was going to take away the sins of the world? There is so much significance in how Jesus ate this meal with them. You can read about it more here. This is also a great guide if you want to hold your own Seder dinner at home.)
On this day, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and broke bread with them for the last time. Still celebrated today, the bread broken and the wine shared represented the body and blood of Christ, to be broken and shed for the disciples, and all of us. During the meal, Jesus predicted His betrayal by one of them, and Peter’s denial.
After the meal, the disciples accompanied Jesus to the Garden at Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed in agony. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel came to strengthen Jesus in the garden. There, He taught His disciples, and us, what to do when we come to the end of our own strength and need God to help us press on.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.” –John 13:34
No one knew love like the sacrificial and selfless love of Jesus before the cross. Thus, a new commandment to love sacrificially and selflessly.
