Rebekah's Insights

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As a child I grew up attending a Baptist church and though I heard the term "Maundy Thursday" each Easter season, my church held no service for that day. Consequently, I was entirely unaware of what that word meant. As a matter of fact, I always thought adults were saying "MaunDAY Thursday" and since THAT made no sense to me, I thought they must be intending to say "MONDAY Thursday." Don't ask what I thought was meant by THAT either, but these are the humorous thoughts of a ten-year-old girl who mildly wondered about the talk of adults, but obviously didn't wonder enough to ask anyone. :)

Nearly twenty years later I would desire to attend any and all services offered during the week preceding the celebration of the Resurrection. This meant actually attending one of those Maundy Thursday services! But still, I wondered, "What does Maundy mean?" While there was no indication given at that particular service, a few year later would find the Lord leading my family to a church home which annually observed Maundy Thursday. At last--an answer to the question, "What does Maundy mean?" :)

Just on the off-chance that you, dear reader, may be wondering as I did, I refer you to the explanation provided by Wikipedia. Wikipedia explains that the Thursday before Easter Sunday has been referred to either as "Holy Thursday" or "Maundy Thursday." I quote:

The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé,
from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do
vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give
unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement
by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the
Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. (Wikipedia)

So, whether you call it Maundy Thursday, Holy Thursday, or just 'the Thursday before Easter,' I encourage you to take a moment to remember...read the Scripture for yourself and reflect. This is what our family will be doing this evening. :)
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Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me." John 13:1-8

When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13:12-17

"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