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The Great Mandates of Maundy Thursday



          
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"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)


The Thursday before Easter we call Maundy Thursday, a day that commemorates the events known as the Washing of the Feet and the Last Supper.  (Matthew 26:17–29; Mark 14:12–25; Luke 22:7–38; and I Corinthians 11:23–25   John 13)


Maundy is derived from the Latin word "mandatum" which is translated into English as mandate or command.  Maundy Thursday is celebrated to remind the commandment of Jesus to "Love one another" as He has loved."


The last supper was served was mandated by Jesus to do until He comes again. It is a sign of sharing of God's love. In Luke, chapter 22. At the Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus breaks bread, saying, "This is my body," and pours wine, saying, "This is my blood." He then asks the disciples to "Do this in remembrance of me."


The Last Supper is derived from Jesus' Jewish heritage of a Jewish holiday. The Last Supper was a Passover Seder, the feast of unleavened bread. Passover is the Jewish festival commemorating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt to freedom.  They left so quickly there was no time for the bread to rise. In the last supper Jesus was preparing the meal  and mandated us to do this in remembrance of Him until He comes. 


Just like Moses prepared the meal of unleavened bread, which the Jews do every week as passover. Moses was the mediator of God and People.  He was the mediator of People and Pharaoh. Moses went to Pharaoh and conveyed God's Word to pharaoh to free God’s people God told Moses “My people” (They are Not the people of Moses, They are people of God).


Unlike Moses, Jesus is giving up Himself by letting others free.  "Take me, and Let these men go."  Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.” (Ref: John 6:39) "He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house" (Hebrews 3:2)


It is a mandate of faithfulness. The writer of Hebrews is calling our attention to the covenants. He is drawing a parallel between the faithfulness of Jesus compared to the faithfulness of Moses. Both men ushered in God's covenants, Moses with the Law, Jesus with abundant grace. 


Moses was the mediator of the law, Jesus is the mediator of grace.The book of John tells us, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). Both were faithful to God with what He had entrusted to them. “Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything” (Hebrews 3:3-4)


The New Covenant, which Jesus ushered in is in the same fashion as the covenant made with Abraham. It is not based on anything we can do, it is based on what God did. Ratification of this promise was made by Jesus' blood. Now Jesus is the guarantor of this covenant. Moses died and God took him away, But  Jesus rose from the dead and still lives, this promise offered to us can never be broken or revoked and God will not change His mind about it. Even though the world gets increasingly worse, with more evil and sin, God will never renege (back off)  on this covenant of grace offered to us through Jesus.


John 1 tells us, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1;16-18). The Law was meant to accuse us and show us our guilt before God (Romans 5:20, II Corinthians 3:6, Galatians 3:24-25) but the grace and truth that Jesus offers us shows us the love and forgiving nature of God. “For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. “ 1 Tim 2:5


And just as Moses led the people out of the land of Egypt the way that God instructed, so also God commands us to lead others out of the land of their bondage by the way He mandates us.  


In his prayer in chapter 17  Jesus asks the Father, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one . . . As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:15, 19).


"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."  —John 15:13. 






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