A New Command

Today is known in the Christian calendar as “Maundy Thursday.”  It is the day on which many Christians around the world remember the Passover meal which Jesus shared with his friends shortly before he was arrested, tried and crucified.  That meal has become known as “The Last Supper.”

‘Maundy’ is a rather strange word, thought to derive from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ('A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.')  The gospel writer John includes those words of Jesus in the passage in which John describes the events surrounding the last supper.

John also tells us about a quite remarkable incident which occurred at the last supper.  It was customary in that society for a servant to wash the feet of guests; this was a role reserved only for someone on the very lowest rung of the social ladder.  Apparently on this occasion no-one had come forward to perform the duty.  The disciples were shocked when Jesus himself began to wash their feet.  In doing so he was setting them an example, and reminding them that to be a follower of Jesus is to be ready to serve others.

The apostle Paul puts it like this: ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  In your relationships with one another, have the same mind-set as Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 2:3-5).

And that’s the challenge for all who claim to follow Jesus Christ: we are called to be like him!  Jesus reminded his disciples that their love should be the same as the love they had experienced in him.  And not long after he had spoken those words, he gave his life as he died on a cross to pay the price for our sin.  He laid down his life for this desperately broken world, for each and every human being.

As we mourn this week with the victims of terror, not only in Brussels but around the world, and as weep at the inhumanity of human beings to one another, how can we even think that the life and words of Jesus are no longer relevant to today’s society?  If only we would heed Jesus’ words, ‘love one another as I have loved you.’