Sermon
Thursday, April 2, 2026
Maundy Thursday
Many years ago, I remember reading a very simple, popular book about the life of Jesus. And because it was simple, I remember it to this day. The book was organized in three sections explaining three different movements in the life of Jesus. 30 years, 3 years and 3 days.
30 years of the private life of Jesus growing up. Three years of public life of Jesus, his ministry, his teaching and then three days which we celebrate today. The three days that changed everything.
The three days we celebrate known also as the triduum for the number three recalls the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday or leading up to Easter Sunday. Three days where the fulfillment of God’s holy will through the obedience of Jesus his beloved son washed away the sin of humanity.
Maundy Thursday as is known in the Anglican church is very interesting because it focuses us on the word Maundy which is a shorter version for a Latin word man datum which means so you could say it’s called commandment Thursday because on this day as we hear from the gospel of John Jesus gives a new commandment. Now for us to appreciate what this meant is to put ourselves in the in the mindset of the Jewish people of the day of Jesus. Up until that point, Jesus was seen as simply the fulfillment of the Jewish faith. The commandments given by Moses were the commandments that Jesus preached and by which Jesus was tested over and over again. The Pharisees and Sadducees would ask him by comparing him to Moses. They would say, “Well, Moses taught us to do such and such. What about you?
And there’s a reason for that. The reason is that the Messiah who was supposed to come was to be the new Moses. And so they were always looking for lings. That as God spoke through Moses and saved the chosen people from slavery in Egypt and brought them into the freedom of the promised land. The new Moses would do the same on a grander scale. And so over and over again, Jesus is compared to Moses. And so it’s no coincidence that this new commandment that Jesus gives is in the context of something that connects him to Moses. After all, we heard in today’s first reading from Exodus, the story of the Passover meal, the Passover meal, which was the ultimate sign of God’s power over the enemies of the chosen people, God’s victory and leading them into freedom.
And even in the time of Jesus, the chosen people, the Jewish people were celebrating the Passover meal.
Passover meal was not just a memory of something that happened many, many centuries ago.
If you asked a Jewish person in the time of Jesus, what are you doing when you’re celebrating this meal, this Passover meal, they would have told you that yes, we are remembering what happened during the time of Moses, how God freed us from slavery. But they also would have told you that we also believe that God is present every time we celebrate this Passover meal. Even here and now as they would gather to celebrate the Passover meal. It wasn’t only about remembering what God did back then, but it was about rem being convinced that God is still freeing them. That God is still present in the moment whenever they celebrate that Passover meal. On Maundy Thursday, when Jesus gathers with his disciples, he is celebrating a Passover meal in a very real way. But he’s also putting something new in front of them. It’s not just the Passover meal of the old Moses. It’s the new Passover meal with the new Moses and with a new commandment. Jesus says so. Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment. Do this in memory of me.”
Now, very often as Christians, as followers of Jesus, we can go in circles thinking to ourselves, well, what am I supposed to do as a Christian? As a follower of Jesus, there are so many teachings that Jesus offers. Well, there are very few things that Jesus tells us to do explicitly and this is one of them. Jesus tells us to celebrate the new Passover. Jesus tells us to do this.
The Eucharist from the earliest times of the Christian church. This was the peace that existed and continued through the centuries. So much so that the early Christians would risk their lives to do what? to do this to gather to celebrate the new Passover. They took the words of Jesus seriously and literally when Jesus said, as we heard in today’s second reading of St. Paul to the Corinthians, first letter to the Corinthians, I pass on to you what has been passed on to me. that when Jesus took the bread, he said, “This is my body.” He took the wine, said, “This is my blood.” And then he said, “Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.” As often as you drink it, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Maundy Thursday invites us to focus ultimately on the most simple things that make us who we
are as followers of Jesus. And what is that? We are simply witnesses to what Jesus did for us.
We are witnesses to the Lord’s death and resurrection. And how do we witness to that? By celebrating the Eucharist, the new Passover. Every time we gather in the context of the Eucharist, we are doing what Jesus explicitly asked us to do. Now we know what to do. Jesus says,
“Take this bread, take this wine, and do this.” And so the church, the Christian church evolved and continued surrounded by the Eucharist and the celebration of this new Passover to be faithful to the words of Jesus. And that’s what today is really focused on. But notice that Maundy Thursday not only speaks of the importance of the Eucharist as a faithful act based on what Jesus taught. It not only tells us what to do to celebrate the Eucharist. It also this liturgy tells us how to do it.
And that’s why I believe the church offers us a reflection on the Eucharist from the Gospel of John.
And notice that John is the only gospel writer who doesn’t go into great details as the synoptic gospel writers do about taking the cup and taking the bread and doing the Eucharistic signs. But John focuses on the act of washing of the feet. And so you could say that John completes this whole vision of Jesus for the church, for his followers, not only by telling us to celebrate the Eucharist, but also showing us through John how we are to do it. lest we fall into some kind of new ideal institutional reality that can lead to a new kind of suppression of people.
Many years ago, I heard that without priests, you can’t have the Eucharist. And it is true. That’s part of our belief. But I also experienced in my own life that when priests become proud of what has been given to them in celebrating the Eucharist, they can do more damage than good. We call it clericalism. Clericalism which over and over again in the church um has a way of destroying the faith of the people. That’s why Jesus teaches us and his disciples how they are to lead as priests as people of God by focusing on the servant leadership style. The style of leadership that begins by being the servant of all. Jesus not only preaches the how of we are to be as a church with his example of his own life but also shows it to the disciples by the humble act of washing their feet and telling them explicitly that this new commandment must be how you will be recognized. And I have to tell you, for me personally, whenever I celebrate Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday, it challenges me in a new way to remember that as a Christian and as a priest, I have failed in many ways.
I have failed because sometimes I am not the kind of humble servant that God calls me to be.
And maybe that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be. Maybe every time we celebrate these great mysteries of God, we are not only supposed to celebrate them to rejoice at what God has done for us, but also by looking at the purity, humility, and love of God. In some way we are called to be humbled by acknowledging our own imperfections to renew our own call which we have received that I have received. I remember that whenever I would go to retreats for priests or for religious,
they would often tell us to go back to those first moments when we fell in love with God, when we first had the sense of faith in our life and to always remember those first moments because often what happens in our life as we get on with life and we get busy and we become focused on keeping the busy business going, if you will, we forget about the essentials. I forget about the essentials. This is true in marriage, in relationships, in all kinds of vocations in life and professions, and getting busy and becoming successful, we can forget our first love.
And I think holy triduum in a very real way for me is a reminder to go back to those first moments when as a young boy and as a teenager I would kneel before the altar with all the old ladies who seemed to be the only ones who went to church along with me on Wednesday mornings before high school. I would kneel and I would feel such great love from God and such desire to serve him. And to go back to that and remember for me is a real gift, the gift of holy triduum. As we go through these liturgies, as we celebrate and remember, I hope that we will also seek to renew that initial love and desire and purity that we once had when it comes to God, relationships with each other, optimism and hope about the future. in God, we can restore, we can be restored in our own life of faith. And ultimately, at the end of the day, isn’t that what’s most important?
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.