Maundy Thursday

The more Holy Weeks and Easters I live through and participate in, the more I’m aware of how these holy days test our willingness, even perhaps our ability, to believe all that we claim to believe about Jesus the Christ and what that means for our own discipleship.  Worshipping the risen Christ is relatively easy; following Jesus of Nazareth, getting our hands dirty, getting down on our knees as servants to others, dealing with the world’s filth, taking on the world’s nastiness so that others might be cleansed and free, not so easy.  What’s even harder, perhaps, in a culture that promotes independence and self-reliance, is to allow another to serve us that way.  That makes us dependent and vulnerable, and a willing vulnerability just might be one of the most difficult of all of Jesus’ virtues to emulate.

“Do you know what I have done to you?” Jesus asks the twelve.  Not what I’ve done for you, but what I’ve done to you.  Do we know what he has done to us?  He has ‘set us an example’ – an example of humility and service, of vulnerability and love.  And we are invited to follow his example.