Lent Day 35

John 13:34

“A new command I give you: Love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Today is referred to as Maundy Thursday.  The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin word for commandment (mandatum).  We remember today as the last time Jesus dined with His disciples at The Last Supper.  During the meal Jesus rose and began to wash the feet of the disciples, a humbling example to the disciples of the Master serving others, doing the chore of a servant. He was still teaching and preparing those He would soon leave behind to spread His word and continue His mission. He was teaching the disciples that to be a leader, they must also be a servant.  They must never think of themselves as above others, but as a servant of Christ.  Christ washed their feet as a symbol of washing away their sin, something they could never do on their own.  They were to take the message of salvation out to the world, but with a humble attitude always remembering by whom and how they were saved. 

He tells them what to do, then gives them a new command to show them how to do it, how to humbly go out into the world to teach and serve.  He gives them the command to love one another as He has loved them.   To love one another was not a new command.   In Leviticus 19:18 the Lord instructed to love your neighbor as yourself, for love of yourself was the example of love they had to share.  But Christ gives a new command to love as He has loved. His sacrifice gave us an entirely different example of what love means.  His love means to honor one another, respect, cherish, consider each other with the highest regard and be completely devoted to one another.  Jesus was saying to the disciples and to us that He is a living example of love.  Everything He did while on earth and continues to do is because of His love for us. And as followers of Christ we are to adopt the same attitude and give to others as He gave to us.  

He gave us the understanding that love is not simply a good feeling but rather an attitude we adopt and reveal to others through action.   By reaching out to others doing the unexpected or going beyond what is expected, spending time with others, or taking care of the needs of others, we are sharing Christ’s love and others notice it as something different and want to have that for themselves.   Love through action is the most effective form of communication and of course it is.  That’s how Jesus taught us to do it. 

Peace and Love,

LeAnn