The night Jesus was betrayed it was dark, indeed. Judas scampered off into the night to betray Jesus. The other eleven disciples were clueless as to what was going on around the table. Jesus shared one more time, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately” (vss. 31-32).
Let’s not be drawn away from the truth. Thursday night before His crucifixion on Friday, was a God thing through and through. None of it caught God off guard. None of it was beyond the control of God. All of it was working itself out in the Sovereign hands of God. Truly, Thursday night in Jerusalem was carried out on God’s ground, holy ground, if you would. Earlier, Jesus had said, "The Son of Man must be lifted up” (John 12:34). Now, the hour had come.
The word, "Maundy" comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning "commandment." In the Season of Lent, Maundy refers to the commands Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper, to humbly love by serving one another, and to remember his sacrifice. On this Thursday evening of Holy Week Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
Even as Jesus faces rejection and the cross, He speaks into the hearts of his disciples and says to them, “love one another.” That night He modeled love as He washed the feet of the disciples, and shared the bread and the cup with them. While Judas is off selling Jesus into the hands of His enemies, Jesus has gathered his little band of men around Himself, and shared profound words about what it means to be his disciple – love one another.
A life shaped and formed by “the Teacher and Lord,” is life lived in the words, thoughts, and deeds of love. The world doesn’t need our dogmas and denominations and theologies. The world needs love, Jesus kind of love, unselfish love that reaches out to the other, and embraces them from within the embrace of God. We live in a world filled with words and worldviews and ideologies and philosophies. Jesus is calling His Church to get down on its knees and serve the people affected by all these ways of being. What the world needs more than anything else is a Savior, and the only way the world will ever know it has one is if the people of the Savior live faithfully to His love, grace, mercy, and truth. This is how the world will know that we are disciples of Jesus.
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