Today is Maundy Thursday. I didn't know what that meant until we moved into a Presbyterian town 20 years ago. I was raised Southern Baptist. That is a a flavor of evangelical Christianity that is liturgical in its lack of liturgy. There were only three important events on our church calendar: Christmas, Easter, and Communion. "Mandatum novum do vobis" (a new commandment I give you) is considered the origin of the word "maundy". These are the words Jesus spoke as he washed the disciples' feet in that upper room. They were some of His final words to them, that command to love each other.
England's King Edward I began a Maundy Thursday tradition of giving coins to a representative number of his poorest subjects, one coin for each year of the monarch's age, and washing their feet.
A king, stooping and bending to wash the feet of his poor.
Too many years later, in the affluent United States, there are churches inviting families and children to celebrate Easter by reserving tickets and participating in helicopter candy drops.
Helicopter candy drops.
What we need are drops of human mercy for the mother grieving the loss of her daughter. . . the elderly man living out his remaining hours alone in a nursing home. . . the hungry child struggling to stay alert in school. What we need are not lavishly staged acts of Hollywood hype but small, quiet acts of love toward each other.
Because His image burns inside us all, and honoring each other is the truest way to honor Him.
I am not a king. Far from it. But there is a desire in me, today, to honor that simple act of the King of Glory by making a feeble attempt to stoop, to bend, to wash the feet. . .
of the least of these. . .
for Him.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
