Walk With Jesus During Holy Week: Maundy Thursday Morning
We have been walking with Jesus this week. Up to this point it has been a leisurely stroll. But today, that stroll begins to get more hurried, the intensity picks up. Passion Week is about to come to a crescendo. It is my prayer that by “participating in” the life of Jesus this week your heart is being renewed by the Holy Spirit.
Today is Maundy (Latin: mandatum, which means command. Thursday, the day that Jesus sits down with His guys for one final meal together, the Last Supper, at which He introduces a new covenant, a new commandment, and also shows great humility by washing his disciples feet. The gospels tell us that Jesus wanted to find a place away from the hustle and bustle of busy Jerusalem, full of people for the Passover, to have dinner with His twelve, soon to be eleven, closest buddies. According to Luke (22:7-13), the location of this meal was in the upper room of a guest house (Greek: kataluma). Today’s midday post will look at the significance of this Greek word.
Where do you go, away from the busyness of life, to spend one-on-one time with Jesus? Today, in His final hours, Jesus invites you to share a quiet moment with Him? Will you accept His offer?
After finishing up dinner, Jesus and His guys begin singing (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26) and then go to the Garden of Gethsemane (literally, “oil press”), near the foot of the Mount of Olives, where Jesus agonizes over what He knows will occur over the next 12-18 hours. The text tells us that Jesus is sorrowful and troubled (Matthew 26:37-38) and that He cries out in prayer to His Father (Matthew 26:39, 42). We are told that during this time, it is getting close to midnight, Jesus’s disciples are falling asleep. What would you be doing? Right now, imagine yourself walking over to Jesus, it is just the two of you, in this quiet and peaceful garden, telling each other how much love you have for one another! Wow, what a tender moment, one to cherish forever.
It is in the garden that that Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus by bringing the Temple guards of the Sanhedrin to Jesus, where He is away from the crowd, just as he had promised to do. (See yesterday’s post.) Jesus allows Himself to be arrested and taken to the house of the high priest. The ever-impulsive Peter cuts off the ear of a soldier and is rebuked by Jesus. To read the gospel accounts of the betrayal – Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-50, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:1-11.
Will you agonize with Jesus today? Are you living your life in such a fashion that Jesus knows that what He is about to suffer is all worth it?
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