There are so many powerful lessons and images associated with Maundy Thursday. On this day was the Last Supper, Jesus suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas’s betrayal of Jesus, and Peter’s denial of Jesus in the midst of the abuses of the chief priests and Herod. Throughout all these poignant and somber events, there is a kind of pattern regarding the interactions between Jesus and his apostles.
First, during the Last Supper itself, from pondering especially on the account in John, I think it must have been a time where Jesus taught the apostles in a very moving way about how to love. Of course, we get His ‘new commandment’, that ‘ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another’ (John 13:34-35). But that commandment is given after Jesus washes the feet of the apostles, an act of profound service which perhaps might be a metaphor for Jesus’s willingness to go ‘below all things’. And He tells them plainly that He is setting a ‘pattern’ for them: ‘If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another’s feet.’ And, just in case the apostles thought that they didn’t really have to do lowly acts of service in order to follow Jesus, He then points out the irony that they are not greater than Him – ‘the servant is not greater than his lord’. And, just in case they had their doubts about the whole thing, He tells them that this lowering of oneself, this ‘losing’ of one’s life, is actually the way to be happy: ‘If ye know these things, happy are ye if you do them.’
Of course, Jesus had showed them how to serve throughout His ministry, but I think this act of service must have hit home in a special way, if we look at Peter’s reaction when Jesus comes to wash his feet: ‘Thou shalt never wash my feet’. The thing I find so touching about this whole evening and nighttime is the way in which Jesus continued to teach his apostles about love, and in particular Peter. When Peter tells Jesus that he will never let Jesus wash his feet, Jesus responds that that would be awful indeed, since if Jesus does not wash Peter, ‘thou hast no part with me’. When Peter insists that he will go with Jesus anywhere, and lay down his life for Jesus, Jesus gently responds with a warning about Peter’s weaknesses. Peter tries to stay awake and ‘watch’ while Jesus prays and suffers unspeakable agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but in his weakness he cannot do it, and falls asleep. And finally, when Peter cuts off the ear of a servant of one of the chief priests when Judas comes to betray Jesus, Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away, and to essentially ‘let it be’ – that is, let Jesus’s suffering happen.
In all these cases, Peter has not understood something. Either he has not understood himself – his limits, his weaknesses – or he has not understood how to let Jesus serve him. To say it another way, maybe he has not understood the kind of service, the kind of ultimate sacrifice, that is at the core of Jesus’s mission. An essential part of that service seems to be something like submission, or surrender, and Peter didn’t understand that submission – he wouldn’t submit to letting Jesus wash his feet, and he wouldn’t submit to Jesus giving Himself over to the chief priests. At every turn he thinks he is loving and helping Jesus, and yet, he gets it wrong each time. An integral part of loving Jesus is submitting ourselves to His sacrifice – letting Him cleanse and heal us. Part of that is trusting in His will, part of that is coming to understand the significance of the Atonement, which are both life-long processes.
The Light of Christ in the Darkness 