My aunt and uncle from Washington State were in town last weekend, and on Sunday, we were sitting outside in the sun after church, and my aunt brought up an interesting thought: It didn’t seem like we placed as great an emphasis on Holy Week in our younger years as we do now.

Both of my parents and their families (including my aunt, who is my mom’s sister) grew up in Southern Baptist churches where the emphasis was on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, and my parents brought my siblings and me up in the Christian Church, which didn’t give much thought beyond those two Sundays and Good Friday. In our current non-denominational church, we’ve really only started to look at the entirety of Holy Week in the past decade or so.

I bring all that up to say that many Christians probably don’t give much thought to the days in between Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter. But I’m writing and publishing this column on Maundy Thursday, the day Jesus ate the Last Supper with His disciples and gave them His last bit of important teaching before Judas betrayed Him and had Him arrested.

“Maundy” is a strange word. It’s one we don’t use in modern English, so many people have no idea what it means. It sounds like a sad word, and since it’s part of the parlance of Holy Week, that connotation kind of makes sense. But it’s not what “maundy” means.

A public relations rep who sends me press releases regularly sent me an email on Thursday morning:

I just learned that Maundy comes from the Latin word for mandate, and is a reference to Jesus' words, "A new command (or mandate) I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34). And he adds right after, this love will be the ultimate apologetic - people will know your my disciples because of it.

His reference point for the command is his washing of their feet, which he promises will be the source of blessing for them if they live in it. Blessing as in 'makarios' from the Greek, meaning joy, purpose, satisfaction, fulfillment.

For my whole life, I thought 'maundy' had to do with being somber or sad. How about that?

Here's praying that you receive the 'makarios' of God today on this Maundy Thursday as you live out Jesus' mandate to love as He has loved. And Happy Easter too! 

We take Communion every Sunday at church, and I often lead the congregation through taking the elements on the weeks when I lead worship. It always sticks in my mind that Jesus led His disciples through that Passover meal just hours before He went to the cross.

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Matthew 26:26-29 (ESV)

The Apostle John’s gospel records the extensive teaching Jesus gave the disciples in those last moments before His arrest. He taught them so many things, but the most important thing He told them may well have been, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35, ESV).

Maundy Thursday was one of the greatest examples of Jesus’ selfless ministry: washing the disciples’ feet, the Last Supper, His teaching, and His prayer for the church. All of those things help us prepare for the cross and the empty tomb.

“Tomorrow is Good Friday,” said John Stonestreet on the Colson Center’s Breakpoint podcast on Thursday. “While it is tempting to rush through this dark day that reminds us of our sin and rush forward to Easter, it is important to stay here a while. The only way to Sunday is through the rejection of this night and the pain and suffering of tomorrow. Every day this week, as well as the words Jesus spoke on these days before His death, are worthy of our reflection.”

Even if your Holy Week isn’t full of programmed services or specific commemorations, it’s worthwhile to reflect on the fateful events of the week and fix your mind on what Jesus did on the cross and what He did when He emerged triumphant from the grave.

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