Thursday, April 1, 2010

Maundy Thrusday

I always thought that the term “Maundy Thursday” sounded strange. It comes from the Latin term mandatum novum for the foot washing ceremony.

On this day Christians celebrate two very special ceremonies that Jesus instituted during his last Passover meal with his disciples.

The first was the washing of feet. Now this was the job of the lowest servant or person in the house. No one had undertaken the task as they had just argued about who was the greatest among them. Jesus, their Rabbi and leader, used this opportunity to teach them about being servant leaders.

The second was the sacred meal Christians call Eucharist, Communion, and Lord’s Supper. It was a simple act of blessing bread, breaking it and sharing it with the command, “This is my body broken for you take and eat.” Jesus then took a cup of wine blessed it and said, “This is my blood shed for you, take and drink of it all of you and do this in remembrance of me.”

This is also the night that we remember that Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of sliver and the Passion of Jesus began.

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