John 13:1-35; 2 Corinthians 1:23–2:11
April 17, 2025; Maundy Thursday
In our Christian calendar, today is Maundy Thursday (from the Latin for command.) We remember this as the day Jesus does two especially important things. First, he washes his disciples’ feet. Washing the feet of a dinner guest would have been standard practice in Jesus’ day, but it was a job normally reserved for a slave or the lowest member of a household. By himself washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus is making a powerful statement about hospitality, hierarchy, and service.
Also, on this day Jesus gives his disciples a very specific command. He commands them to “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Between the time Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and the time he gave them the new commandment, Judas committed himself to betraying Jesus and left to go do so. It was this act of betrayal that allowed the authorities to capture Jesus and, very soon afterwards, crucify him. Within a few days, Judas will have felt such remorse that he will die by suicide.
I often wonder what would have happened if the disciples had found Judas before he ended his own life. Would they have attacked him? Would they have beaten him severely, maybe even doing to him what he caused to happen to Jesus?
Or would they have followed Jesus’ commandment to love one another? Love one another as Jesus loves us? It would have been a hard decision, either way.
I like to think that the disciples would have acted very much according to the advice Paul gave to the Corinthians. Someone in Corinth had hurt Paul badly. Rather than go and risk a dangerous confrontation, Paul simply stayed away, apparently using the time to cool off. In his most calm, rational voice he tells the Corinthians, “If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you . . . . you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (2 Corinthians 2:5a, 7).
Naturally, the disciples would have been beyond furious. Naturally, the disciples would have wanted to wreak vengeance on Judas with a capital V. It’s what anyone would have wanted. It’s what we would have wanted. Naturally.
But we Christians are not ruled by our emotions. We are not at the mercy of our anger and despair. We feel them, of course. Christians are human beings.
But we are also Jesus’ sisters and brothers. We are ruled by Jesus’ commandments to love one another. Even Judas. Even our own personal Judas.
May we all love everyone, even our own personal Judas, as Jesus loves us.
May the blessings of Maundy Thursday be with us all,
Pastor Ken.