Maundy Thursday Ponderings

Maundy Thursday Ponderings

Word to Live By: John 13:1-15

There’s much in the Gospel story or words of Jesus that we can’t immediately understand. He says little about the meaning of the washing of the feet except that it is about service, that we should do it too. By doing something in the example or name of Jesus, we often find its meaning.

For the first time on Holy Thursday evening, Jesus offered his Body and Blood, the same body that would be horribly torn apart at Calvary, the blood that would soak the dust beneath the cross. A great mystery unites the two events. The words of consecration at the last supper cannot be separated from the sacrificial surrender of Jesus in the crucifixion. In every mass we attend, we are present as Jesus speaks his words, “Do you realize what I have done for you?” Or Jesus might ask, “Do you realize what I have given to you?” Only those who love will understand this gift is known only through love.

Jesus is facing his ‘hour’. He has no illusion about what lies ahead, of what would be involved in ‘departing from this world’. But all his thought is for his disciples; he wants to give them an example of how they should live – in loving service. Jesus loved his own ‘to the end’, without limits.

Where do I put limits to my love of others?

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