Maundy is from the Latin mandatum, meaning mandate, command, commandment. Jesus places before his disciples and all of us, three mandates.
- He instituted the Eucharist and mandated them to do it in remembrance of Him. When at the table, Jesus took bread and wine, blessed it gave thanks, broke bread and shared it along with wine to eat and drink; and told them, whenever you come together celebrate this in my memory. And it would also mean whenever you celebrate it must bring you together as a family, community, and society. Let this be the bond between you; let this be the identifying factor among you. At Emmaus, while Jesus broke the bread, the disciples recognised him.
- Jesus loved them, and loved them to the very end. And commanded them, as I have loved you, you must love one another. For Christians love is not a choice, Jesus commands it here as a mandate.
- Jesus washed his disciples’ feet; and commanded them, if I who you call as your master and lord, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another’s feet.
John 13: 1-15 is the succinct edit or cut of the 46 Old Testament, and 27 New Testament, 73 chapters of the Bible. It is short form of four millennia of salvation history. It is the summary of the 33 years of Jesus life on earth; he puts it all together before his impending death. Eucharist, love, and washing one another’s feet are the constituting element of every Christian life.
Eucharist is happy thanksgiving; it is happy remembering with gratitude. It is remembering with gratitude the Passover; it is remembering of every passover where the Lord took us beyond our failures and weakness. In brief, Eucharist is remembering an event or it is an event of remembering. The intensity and quality of a Christian life depends on the quality of one’s remembering. The opposite of forgetting in this context is entitlement; meaning, I am here, the rest I don't care, please serve me.
The people of Israel marked their journey with profound and sacred moments of remembrance. The Exodus from Egypt stands as perhaps the most formative remembrance in Israel's collective memory. Through the annual Passover celebration, which is commemorated today, Israelites recalled how Yahweh delivered them from bondage with "a mighty hand and an outstretched arm" (Deuteronomy 5:15). Whenever Israel felt a deficit of faith and devotion, they remembered the Lord. In remembering who Yahweh had been, they discovered anew who they were called to be. David sinned, in remembering Yahweh he repented. The prodigal son, living a wayward life in a far off country, remembered his home, his father, and the love of his father; thus gathered courage to return back. Tonight we will witness Judas, after betraying Jesus, and Peter, after denying Jesus, remembering Jesus and crying bitterly and moving to strong decisions. The daily Eucharist, or the weekly Eucharist that we celebrate is an event of remembrance of what Jesus has done; thus it is a celebration of strengthening our faith.
God’s love is unconditional; and he calls us to love one another as he loves us. The scriptures tell us that he loved us, and loved us to the very end. Khalil Gibran reminds us that ‘love is a painful exodus’. If it does not pain, it isn’t yet love. Mother Teresa tells us to ‘love until it hurts’.
Why did God die on the cross? is a question that generations have asked. There may be many perspectives. There is the possibility of a blame game: historically finding someone responsible for his death. But in truth, I find no greater answer than LOVE. He died because of his love for us. It is because he loved us that he emptied himself and was born among us as one of us. It is because he loved us he sat with us, dined with us, and washed our feet. The passion and death of Jesus taught us a further fact. He loved us, and he loved us to the very end. He will love us to the very end. Come what may: emptying, unjustly being condemned, arrested, crucifixion, death. We look at Jesus on the cross and ask ourselves what an agonising way to express his love. And Jesus looks back at us and says, sometimes love is like this. We who are so limited and engrossed with romantic and dreamy ideas of love may find it difficult to fathom it.
A man, his wife and three children lived together. The man was so arrogant, stubborn and full of himself. One fine day, children, not able to stand their father’s cruelty and attitude left home. But his wife held on… She, as scriptures say, was slow to anger and abounding in kindness. She even made futile attempts to call the children back. Finally, the man became old, and became ill; so ill that he needed help with everything. Wife showed no anger of the past. She cared for him. The man continued his ways stubbornness as though he was entitled to be taken care. One day their sons came back home. Nothing had changed with their mother, though her husband was in bed, she continued to take care of him. See the discomfort and disagreement on the face of her children, she told them, sometimes love is like this. Human reasons often cannot fathom it.
When Jesus rose from the table to wash his disciples' feet, he shattered conventions and transformed human understanding of power forever. It was a radical reimagining of privilege, power, and leadership. It was indeed a new and radical commandment; look at the sequence of events:
He broke the feast. It was a defiant violation of Jewish custom for the head to break the meal; it signaled either conclusion or crisis. I believe that Jesus was sick of seeing a group of people forced into service and slavery while another group is placed in seats of privilege and continued feasting; and normalising it by quoting the law.
He got up from his seat. History and greatness hitherto was about who sat in which throne and when; but history and greatness hereafter would be about people who got up from their seats of privilege. This singular act redefined greatness through service rather than dominance.
He took off his garment. By taking off his garments to be in a servant's cloth, Christ embodied the ultimate perspective shift. He didn't merely speak of understanding others—he literally adopted their position, demonstrating how profoundly our perception changes when we assume another's rank and work.
The Great Indian Kitchen (2021), a Malayalam film by director Jeo Baby offers a stark portrayal of the above social situation. The film follows a newlywed woman as she enters her husband's household and assumes her prescribed role. What begins as willing participation gradually transforms into a suffocating routine, shown through lingering shots of endless food preparation, serving, washing, and cleaning tasks that occupy her days and nights.
From a traditional patriarchal perspective, the film depicts a natural order—men going about their ‘important’ work in the world while women maintain the domestic sphere. The husband and father-in-law embody this worldview perfectly, accepting service as their birthright with barely a word of acknowledgment. They move through spaces freshly cleaned by female hands, consume meals meticulously prepared for them, and leave dishes behind without a second thought. The men's lives follow a structured rhythm of newspaper reading, yoga, and social engagements while the women's lives revolve entirely around men’s needs. This arrangement is presented not as exploitation but simply as the way things are—an unquestioned tradition passed from mother to daughter, reinforced through religious customs and social expectations. There are no villainous abusers here, just ordinary men who have never been taught to question their privilege. They aren't cruel; they simply don't see—the endless labour, the physical toll, and the surrender of personal ambition.
Though Jesus washed the feet of his disciples Jesus did not become less than them. Though Judas betrayed Jesus he did not become greater than the master. Though Pilate handed over the god of the universe to be crucified he did not become greater than him. The event of washing of the feet powerfully states that there are no menial works, only menial attitudes.
An Italian bishop Tony Mello, in a pastoral letter from his deathbed at the age of 58, on the occasion of the Maundy Thursday wrote, today is the feast of the stole, representing priesthood and Eucharist, and towel representing servant and washing of the feet. This comfortable seamless movement is Christian life. Let nobody be placed first or last perpetually. In Matthew 20: 25-26 Jesus reminds us, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” Early stories talk about Jesus overhearing conversations happening among the apostles regarding who would wash the feet during the passover feast, for they have no slaves among them to do that. Jesus answered that question by he himself washing their feet.
Today, it is not about washing feet, washing of feet is a glorified act already; it is about breaking from a privilege that we have been enjoying unquestionably, it may range from washing our plates after eating to cleaning our own toilets when it is dirty.
Comments
Post a Comment