HOLY THURSDAY: What's the Big Deal!

Thursday of the Holy Week is a BIG DEAL! 

It is called Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday in some traditions and is considered the day we commemorate the institution of Communion (in some denominations they refer to this as the Eucharist), and for some, it is about the ceremony of the washing of the feet!

Manudy is simple a carry over from the Latin mandatum, which is where we get the English word, mandate!

Mandate is found embedded in the word command and essentially means the same thing. The reason this is called "MAUNDY (command) Thursday" is because this is when Jesus give the "New Command" to His disciples in the upper room.

DID YOU KNOW that 5 chapters of John's gospel is dedicated just to this FINAL teaching of Jesus while He was with His disciples in the upper room.    It's true - Chapters 13,14,15,16, and 17!

It is in this "Upper Room Discourse" where Jesus gives this "New comMAND" i.e. the Mandate - to LOVE ANOTHER!

 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13:34-35).

BUT DID YOU ALSO KNOW that right here in the Upper Room Discourse it sums up the Gospel of John and explicitly tells us about the four words in the banner above...(with the picture of the sailboat).

Without any equivocation this tells us our VISION, our PURPOSE, our CALLING and our MISSION.

We have WAY over complicated it, but it's really very simple!  Chapter 17 is the part where Jesus specifically prays to His Heavenly Father on your behalf!    That's right!   He prays for you! 

Chapter 17 is considered His "High Priestly Prayer."  He prays for Himself. He prays specifically for the 11 disciples (after he sent Judas out of the room to do what Judas had in his heart to do) and then in verses 20 through 26, JESUS says a PRAYER for YOU!

HE PRAYS FOR OUR UNITY-  just as He and the Father are one!  In verse 23, Jesus says that this UNITY has evangelistic purposes!  It is "so that the world will know" that the Father has sent Jesus and come know the LOVE OF GOD!

In verse 26, Jesus says His MISSION is to MAKE GOD KNOWN, and though He is leaving and will be physically absent when He ascends into heaven, He will continue that MISSION to MAKE GOD KNOWN - through YOU, because His SPIRIT live in you.

Do we have a VISION - like Christ's: to make God known.  It is the PURPOSE for which we are CALLED and are supernaturally equipped by His Holy Presence (Jn 17:26; Acts 1:8) which enables us to carry the MISSION He sent us to... "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (Jn 17:18).  

I know it is a cute cliche of our Christian faith to say, "We are in this world, but not of this world." Which makes it sound like we have to unfortunately bide our time while stuck here until we pass into glory. But what Jesus is really saying, "This is not your home - you have been born from above - and like Him - we have been SENT INTO THE WORLD - we are to make the most of it as ambassadors while we are here as People on a Mission -  
                                    Missio Dei   (The mission of God). 

This evangelism begins in the LOVE we have for each other - that is witnessed by those on the outside and flows - not in our doctrinal differences, but rather in the UNITY we have in exalting the Name of Jesus and making God Known through the precious blood of His One and Only Son, Jesus CHRIST! It is the UNITY of the GOSPEL that binds us.. moves us... empowers us...sends us that allows the world to come to know His relentless LOVE expressed in the cross!



STEP OUT IN FAITH. Invite someone to church this Sunday for EASTER - so they can see the LOVE you have for each other in your community of faith that celebrates the UNITY which  represents the RESURRECTION power of God that is evidence and at work in YOU!