Thursday, April 6: He Suffered Death and was Buried

Maundy Thursday—we remember Jesus’ last meal with his friends, the loved ones who betrayed and denied knowing him, and the cries he made to God in the garden. Each year, I anticipate Holy Week with an open heart and mind hoping to discover new miracles in the sacrifice and death of Jesus. I have always felt convicted to offer the gift of hospitality with others. I think that is why Maundy Thursday is particularly important to me. By the time he gathered with his disciples he knew that he would be departing this world and go to his father. He loved the worldly people he had known and met throughout his life yet he wanted to spend this time with those closest to him. Even those that he knew would betray him. Jesus loved.

Hospitality can look like sharing a glass of tea and a cookie with a friend, offering water to a construction worker on a blistering day, filling a bowl of water for a stray dog or spending a day working in a soup kitchen. We become the face of God. However, radical hospitality is more than hosting a backyard barbeque or holiday party. It is about opening your heart to someone even when you feel at your most vulnerable or unequipped. On Maundy Thursday, Jesus knew he would die, but Jesus still offered himself to others. We are made new in the waters of baptism and the Spirit. This same spirit sanctified the bread and the wine that Jesus offered, even as he was being betrayed. Everyone is welcome to God’s table.

After supper, Jesus kneeled before his friends and offered to wash their feet. The disciples were bewildered. Kneeling before them was their Lord and teacher, surely they should have been washing his feet. However, Jesus challenges them that they should approach all people and offer to do the same. For Jesus, it was the display of His humility and servanthood in forgiving sinners. For the disciples, the washing of their feet displayed a mindset in direct contrast to their heart attitude at that time. For us, washing feet is symbolic of our role in the body of Christ. It is awkward and humiliating for some to participate in such an act. Personally, there is nothing more meaningful for me as a Children’s Christian Formation person to be approached by one of the youngest members of our church family, take their hand and follow them to the basin where they will wash my feet. We must offer ourselves in service to others, for the sake of Jesus’ love – a love that is the way to abundant life and reconciliation.

I have very vivid memories of spending time with Maddie or Hugh in the St. Thomas Chapel after midnight, filling a shift that represented Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane. Giving up that time that we would have normally been fast asleep to sit with Jesus. We wanted to be asleep and not leave our warm beds to drive from Phenix City to Columbus in the middle of the night to pray. I feel very vulnerable in darkness and especially in silence. My normally chaotic life is intentionally put to the side. I want to be there for Jesus. I want to experience his sadness as he cries out to his Father. I want to hold his hand as he hears the soldiers approaching to take him to certain death. I want him to tell him thank you and that I love him.

Ultimately, Maundy Thursday reminds me to open myself to our community. We must further the invitation to grow in our faith and love of God. We need a new vision of forming faith that welcomes people from all walks of life to gather at our tables and break bread. Together we can engage in lifelong learning, for diverse people of all ages and from all backgrounds – infancy to mature adulthood.

Holy Week meets us where we are: in our deep grief, in our anxious unknowing, in our quiet hope of the Resurrection. We must hold fast to our knowing that we are Easter people and have Jesus’ promise that all who believe in him will have everlasting life because of his sacrifice and undying love.

I want you to reflect on one of my favorite hymns, performed by the Voices of the Valley under the direction of my friend, Dr. Michelle Folta (https://youtu.be/BMAwhwVTLsM) and then ask yourself…Who do you seek to serve?