Before the ResurrectionSample

This Maundy Thursday is only the second I can remember I have not been in a Maundy Thursday church service. This year, it is because of a current ban on gatherings over 10 people due to the global pandemic, COVID-19. In 2016, I was unable to attend a service on Maundy Thursday because I was in a funeral home. My Aunt Mae had just died. She lived 92 years on this Earth and is now with Jesus. The funeral was on Good Friday, and it was a good Friday.

My Aunt Mae helped me understand Maundy Thursday a little better. The term “Maundy” comes from a Latin phrase meaning “commandment.” We are reminded of the new commandment Jesus gives His disciples as He shares the Passover and institutes the Lord’s Supper with them. He tells them a new commandment to, “love one another as I have loved you.” As we receive the bread of His broken body and the cup of His shed blood, we are reminded of just how much our Savior, Jesus, loved. In these elements we see and understand the high cost of love. They remind us that the greatest love is sacrificial love, to “lay down one’s life for a friend.”

My Aunt Mae reminds me of that, too. She had five small children when her husband died suddenly of a heart attack. She went to work, raised her children, and managed to be a delight to everyone who knew her. She was devoted to her church, served others in many ways, and was a whole lot of fun. She embodied Maundy Thursday in many ways. She lived sacrificial love, laying down her life every day. The new commandment of Maundy Thursday was given by and lived out perfectly by Jesus. My Aunt Mae, and many others, are also examples of sacrificial love. Today, Maundy Thursday, is a good day to consider the extent in which our lives express that same sacrificial love.