"And He came the third time and said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."
Maundy Thursday. It is Thursday of Holy Week, and finally, the hour has come. As David Mathis writes in his magnificent book, Rich Wounds, "All history hinges on this hour...His dying began long before this hour, but now in Gethsemane, He must face the death to self that comes before the death at Calvary. Never has a soul been in such anguish. Never has a human been so undeserving of death. Never has anyone else faced such horror: to be made sin on behalf of others--to put Himself forward in our place."
Think of all the times Jesus has said, "My hour has not yet come"--because He awaited God's appointed time and plan for our salvation. A plan that would demand not just painful betrayal and abandonment, horrific suffering and death, but surely infinitely worse--that He, the perfect, sinless Lord would bear all sin, for all mankind, for all time. And He would, for the first time ever in uncreated time and history, be separated from perfect, loving, glorious fellowship with His Father. Instead, Jesus would bear God's full righteous wrath against all sin, all evil. Jesus bore that unbearable punishment for you, for me...for His hour had come.
The hour of His ultimate suffering. Our hour of utterly undeserved salvation. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You for choosing to bear the unbearable in order to give us the unimaginably glorious gift of redemption and eternal life.
There is so much to see on this day, this Maundy Thursday, that should make us fall to our knees and worship in stunned adoration. Might we all spend time today pondering all that happened on this day and then immediately lift it up to God in praise and worship. But as a tiny place to begin, here are just two--
First, one of the most stunning statements to me in Scripture occurs on the evening of this very day. We're told that after Jesus has revealed that one of his disciples will betray Him, after washing His disciples dirty feet, after sharing the last supper with them and giving them the bread and wine that symbolized His body and blood which He would shed for them (and us), we're told in Mark 14:26, "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."
Oh please don't miss this--in the midst of facing imminent horror and suffering beyond anything any of us ever have or ever will be able to imagine, Jesus joined His disciples in singing a hymn. How could He sing?
Such defiant joy. Such trust in His Heavenly Father and His Father's plan. Such beauty in the midst of overwhelming ugliness. Singing because He saw the joy set before Him--completing His work of our redemption and bringing us to glory. He sang, because He loved us so much that He rejoiced in what His suffering, death and resurrection would accomplish--our presence with Him forever and ever.
It's possible Jesus and the disciples were singing Psalm 118 as it is part of the Hallel (Pslams 113 through 118 which are sung or recited on every Jewish holy day). And just as a reminder, here are a few of the verses they may have been singing from that climatic psalm in the Hallel: "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice, and be glad in it." (118:22-24)
Jesus is the Stone rejected by the builders. Jesus is the capstone of creation and salvation. And what Jesus has done for us is indeed, marvelous, glorious, wondrous beyond all imagining in our eyes! Praise You, Lord Jesus!
But consider that "this is the day the Lord has made" refers to that very day, that very hour when Jesus would suffer and die for our sins to bring His beloved children to glory. Jesus was singing and rejoicing over that day--that horrific, terrible day that He was facing. Again, He was singing for our salvation. How can we not sing? No matter what suffering we might be enduring right now, how can we not sing?
Yes, Lord, no matter what, we praise You and thank You for this day we are living right now. This day today, with all its challenges and victories, sorrows and joys, disappointments and blessings. But we also rejoice and praise You for that day over two thousand years ago on Calvary. Thank You is woefully inadequate, but praise You, praise You, praise You.
And secondly, a brief thought about the meaning of the word Maundy. It's Latin for "command." Specifically this relates to Jesus' command to His disciples to love one another. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that You are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)
I've always thought of this solely in terms of our love--how we're commanded to love one another. And, of course, that is absolutely true. But at a deeper level, notice Whose love this is all based upon--"just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." This is about the stunning, infinite, beautiful love of Jesus. What can possibly compare to His love? He would love to the uttermost by bearing our sins, by dying for us on the cross, and by being raised to new life so that we could enjoy abundant eternal life. We're commanded to love, but it's all, all, all about Jesus' love.
Again, David Mathis' words, "Having been loved like this, how can we not love one another? How can we not, as the beneficiaries of Christ's irreplaceable sacrifice, ache to empty our own selves for another's good? Having tasted such fullness from Him, how can we not gladly pour ourselves our to meet the needs of others?
Yes, we will love as He commanded. But Maundy Thursday does not turn on our love. This is a night to marvel at what Jesus embraced for us. To be astounded at the uniqueness of His sacrificial love. To wonder that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom.5:8)."
Please don't let this day pass without worshiping the wonderful Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. Praise Him for His infinite love and His terrible, beautiful sacrifice. Praise Him for providing The Way for our salvation but also the way for us to love others--not in our own paltry, puny strength, but in His. We can love others only because He--the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah--first loved us. And for such love, we simply fall to our knees and worship.
To Jesus--the Lion and the Lamb--be all the glory.
