Today is Maundy Thursday. You may have never heard of the term Maundy Thursday before. It kinda sounds like Cyber Monday or Giving Tuesday -- or some other random, made-up holiday to sell more Hallmark cards during Holy Week.
The church I now go to has a Maundy Thursday service tonight. And I've never been to one before. I hear it's a somber service involving communion and a remembrance of the last intimate moments Jesus has with his disciples prior to his execution.
So what does Maundy mean? That's kind of a weird word.
Maundy is a shortened form of the Latin word mandatum (man-da-tum), which means "command".
After implementing the sacrament of communion ("do this in remembrance of Me" - Luke 22:19 ESV), Jesus proceeds to wash his disciples' feet and give them a new commandment.
"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)
Now this is significant. To the Jewish people, God's law was held in great esteem. The Pharisees prided themselves on how well they kept God's law -- and even made up some new laws themselves. So when God incarnate issues a new law -- a new command, that's a big deal.
So what is this new commandment, and how does it differ from God's existing commandments?
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, and He answered:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39 ESV)
Also recall during Jesus' sermon on the mount, He said:
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ... And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." (Luke 6:27-28, 31 ESV)
So loving your neighbor as yourself, doing unto others as I would have them do to me… These commandments already existed. Love, love, love… So how is this a new command? Let's look at the new one again…
"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)
The difference is, the bar has been set higher. Jesus is not commanding us to love others as we want to be loved. He's commanding us to love others as He has loved us. There's a difference there. The way I prefer others to act toward me may not be how Christ acts toward me.
For instance, I might prefer that nobody gets into my personal business and confronts me about my sin. I don't do it to others, because I don't want them to do it to me. Live and let live. But that's not how Christ loves me. The Golden Rule isn't good enough anymore. Our standard of love is no longer set by our preferences, but by Christ's example. God's standard for how I should treat other people is now set by the way Christ has treated me.
Jesus tells the disciples, look at Me. Look at my example. Here's how you love others…
"When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, 'Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.'" (John 13:12-16 ESV)
So the next time you hear someone pull out the Golden Rule -- that you should treat others the way you would want to be treated -- you can pull out this new… Platinum Rule, or whatever you want to call it. That, actually, Jesus wants us to treat others the way He treats me -- which is far and away better (and harder) than I would selfishly like to be treated.
And how does Christ treat us?
He set aside his glory…
He humbled himself…
He gave up his place at the Father's right hand…
To serve us…
To teach us…
To heal us…
To comfort us…
To wash our feet…
To die for us…
To save us…
That's how we are to love others.
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)
Christ is our example of how to love our neighbors -- not ourselves. This is the new command He gives us on Maundy Thursday.
I hope you have a chance to attend a Maundy Thursday service and partake in the Lord's Supper with other believers. It'll be my first Maundy Thursday service, and I can't wait.
Have any of you attended a Maundy Thursday service before? What was it like? Let me know in the comments.