Tonight we celebrate the arrival of something new, something revolutionary, literally revolutionary: On this night, and on this weekend, the usual order is turned upside-down. God, acting through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, turned what is still regarded as the established order of things upon its head — even if we haven’t, yet, quite caught on to the implications of all of it. Tonight, we once again acknowledge, celebrate and begin to appreciate a new way of life, a new creation — something new that began with a reversal of roles, that continues tomorrow night with a horror story and that culminates Sunday in a miracle story of death’s defeat that still beckons us forward. The story of God’s work in the world, which began with the creation of heaven and earth, took a miraculous turn on this night. That turning began at the Last Supper. It continued and will continue with the Resurrection we’ll celebrate on Easter Sunday.
The hour has come
Tonight, the road to Easter begins in a very graphic and physical way: with 12 pairs of dirty feet. The night will end with a new commandment, which is where we get the name, “Maundy Thursday” which is used for this day in some denominations. “Maundy” takes us back to the earliest days of the church, when Latin was the official language. “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word Mandatum, which means command. It refers to what Jesus said at the Last Supper, immediately after the betrayer departed to do his treacherous work. “I give you a new commandment,” Jesus says, “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”1
This night is about that. A new
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