Maundy Thursday | Thursday 14 April 2022

Today is Maundy Thursday, the 14th of April.
Madison Cunningham, with the Porter’s Gate sings ‘Little Things With Great Love’. Today we will hear of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. Can you begin to picture the scene now as you listen to the words being sung?
In the garden of our Savior, no flower grows unseen
His kindness rains like water on every humble seed
No simple act of mercy escapes His watchful eye
For there is One who loves me
His hand is over mine
In the kingdom of the heavens, no suff'ring is unknown
Each tear that falls is holy, each breaking heart a throne
There is a song of beauty on ev'ry weeping eye
For there is One who loves me
His heart, it breaks with mine
Oh, the deeds forgotten; oh, the works unseen
Every drink of water flowing graciously
Every tender mercy, You're making glorious
This You have asked us
Do little things with great love
Little things with great love
At the table of our Savior, no mouth will go unfed
His children in the shadows stream in and raise their heads
Oh give us ears to hear them and give us eyes that see
For there is One who loves them
I am His hands and feet
For there is One who loves them
I am His hands and feet

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John.
John 13:1-15
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

Jesus chooses to perform a service that was normally only undertaken by a man’s wife or his slave. No wonder Peter is reluctant for his Master to touch him like this! The details are domestic, almost banal: a towel, a basin, the dusty feet and hairy toes of his disciples. Can you get a sense of how each of them feels at this moment?
The conversation between Master and disciple is intimate yet challenging. Peter struggles to see beneath the surface, but he so wants to understand. Jesus wants his disciples to understand and re-enact the sign he is giving. Do you sometimes struggle to understand the significance of Jesus’ words and gestures? How do you feel like responding to what you are witnessing here?

Let the words and images come home to you as we listen to the reading a second time. What aspect of this scene strikes you most? Do you have a sense of why?
This is one of several encounters between Jesus and Peter during the Passion. How do you think the memory of it spoke to Peter in later years? How does it speak to you now? Can you talk to Peter or to Jesus about what is in your heart? Do you have any questions for either of them? Feel free to ask them.


We adore you O Christ and we bless you
because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.