Meditation - Maundy Thursday 2010

Thursday Apr 01, 2010

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another

John 13:34 (NRSV)

Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come before you;*

    Hide not your face from me in the day of my trouble.

Incline your ear to me;*

    when I call, make hast to answer me

Psalm 102:1-3 (BCP)

If I take Jesus' call to love one another just as He loved me I do need to pray, and trust that God hears me. I am far from being able to love the other just as God loved all the others while here on earth.

Love one another? Easy when it is my neighbor or family and they treat me well. Not so easy when I don't them. Or when I disagree with them. Do I love them when they make a mess, or when they haven't had a bath or shower in days (or weeks) and need my help?

Jesus showed love for others in many ways during his last night with us on earth. He knew Judas would betray him. He knew Peter would deny him. He washed their feet knowing all this. He prayed knowing they would fall asleep as he was praying. And Jesus loved all of them. We find out how much he loved all of them, and us tomorrow.

But today, come, sit and pray with Jesus. Pray that we may love one another, both those we know and those we don't. And pray that most of all we keep loving all the others, even the others we recoil from, or simply forget...

Reading Can Be Prayer...

Prayer can take the form of reading and reflecting. I include two passages for your reading and reflection, should you wish.

John 13:1-17, 31b-35 (NRSV)

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’

 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

The New Commandment

 When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Psalm 102 (BCP)

 

1       Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come before you; *

     hide not your face from me in the day of my trouble.

 

2       Incline your ear to me; *

     when I call, make haste to answer me,

 

3       For my days drift away like smoke, *

     and my bones are hot as burning coals.

 

4       My heart is smitten like grass and withered, *

     so that I forget to eat my bread.

 

5       Because of the voice of my groaning *

     I am but skin and bones.

 

6       I have become like a vulture in the wilderness, *

     like an owl among the ruins.

 

7       I lie awake and groan; *

     I am like a sparrow, lonely on a house‑top.

 

8       My enemies revile me all day long, *

     and those who scoff at me have taken an oath against me.

 

9       For I have eaten ashes for bread *

     and mingled my drink with weeping.

 

10     Because of your indignation and wrath *

     you have lifted me up and thrown me away.

 

11     My days pass away like a shadow, *

     and I wither like the grass.

 

12     But you, O Lord, endure for ever, *

     and your Name from age to age.

13     You will arise and have compassion on Zion,

         for it is time to have mercy upon her; *

     indeed, the appointed time has come.

 

14     For your servants love her very rubble, *

     and are moved to pity even for her dust.

 

15     The nations shall fear your Name, O Lord, *

     and all the kings of the earth your glory.

 

16     For the Lord will build up Zion, *

     and his glory will appear.

 

17     He will look with favor on the prayer of the homeless; *

     he will not despise their plea.

 

18     Let this be written for a future generation, *

     so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord.

 

19     For the Lord looked down from his holy place on high; *

     from the heavens he beheld the earth;

 

20     That he might hear the groan of the captive *

     and set free those condemned to die;

 

21     That they may declare in Zion the Name of the Lord, *

     and his praise in Jerusalem;

 

22     When the peoples are gathered together, *

     and the kingdoms also, to serve the Lord.

 

23     He has brought down my strength before my time; *

     he has shortened the number of my days;

 

24     And I said, “O my God,

        do not take me away in the midst of my days; *

     your years endure throughout all generations.

 

25     In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations

         of the earth, *

     and the heavens are the work of your hands;

26     They shall perish, but you will endure;

         they all shall wear out like a garment; *

     as clothing you will change them,

     and they shall be changed;

 

27     But you are always the same, *

     and your years will never end.

 

28     The children of your servants shall continue, *

     and their offspring shall stand fast in your sight.”