Hello friends,
This is Mark Ludman also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks.
Welcome to Maundy Thursday as part of our Lenten 2026 series,
In the Wilderness,
Still Held.
As we start today into the Easter Triduum,
The three gate services of Easter with Holy Saturday there in between as well,
Our reflections take on a slightly different sound,
Where for the next few days we'll simply spend time reflecting on the core passage of scripture for the day.
So as we begin,
I advise you as always to still yourself,
To recollect yourself together,
Your mind,
Your body,
Your spirit,
To take a deep breath in and out and allow yourself to be fully here and fully present as we reflect on the words of Jesus in John chapter 15 verses 9 to 13.
As the Father has loved me,
So have I loved you.
Now remain in my love.
If you obey my commands,
You will remain in my love just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
My command is this,
Love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this,
That they lay down their life for their friends.
In the gospel today,
Jesus gives what might be the most repeated command in all of Christianity,
Love one another.
But when Jesus speaks about love,
He doesn't speak about a feeling.
In our culture,
Love is often treated as something emotional.
We say we love someone when we feel warmth towards them,
When we feel affection,
When the relationship brings us joy.
But Jesus never defines love emotionally.
Instead,
He defines it relationally and sacrificially.
He says,
Love one another as I have loved you,
Which immediately raises questions.
How has Jesus loved?
And the answer to that question is the cross.
You see,
Jesus' love isn't primarily shown in moments of affection.
It seems to be shown more often than not in self-giving.
It's shown in service.
It's shown in patience with the disciples when they misunderstand him.
It's shown in forgiveness when they abandon him.
It's shown in the willingness to lay down his life.
And that's why he continues,
No one has greater love than this to lay down one's life for one's friends.
In other words,
Love is measured by sacrifice,
Not by the intensity of the feeling or the words or the intention,
By that what we give of ourselves.
And as we move further into Easter after today,
The cross reveals something essential about love.
Love always moves outward.
Love always gives.
Love always costs something,
Which means that the Christian life is patterned after this same movement.
To follow Jesus then isn't just to believe something about him.
It's to live the same pattern of self-giving love in the small,
Ordinary moments of daily life.
It happens when a parent gives their time and energy for their children.
It happens when someone chooses patience instead of anger at the supermarket checkout.
It happens when we forgive even though we've been hurt.
And it happens when we quietly serve someone who can't repay us.
These moments never look dramatic.
But this is exactly where the love of Christ becomes visible,
Because love in the Christian sense isn't something abstract.
It's always embodied.
It always takes shape in concrete acts of generosity,
Patience,
And mercy.
And this is why the real question for us isn't simply,
Do I love?
Most of us would answer yes to that question.
But the deeper question that Jesus asks us is this,
How do I give myself?
Where in my life am I laying down something for the sake of another?
Where am I choosing generosity instead of comfort?
Where am I allowing my life to become a gift?
Because every time we choose self-giving love,
Something of the life of Christ becomes visible in the world again.
The central act of Maundy Thursday as celebrated in the Christian church is the act of washing someone's feet.
Jesus knelt with the bowl and the towel,
Literally taking the posture of the most meagre and smallest servant in the household to wash the feet of his disciples,
An act so shocking that Peter even went to the point of saying,
I will never let you wash my feet.
But remember what Jesus said,
You need to let me Peter,
Because if I don't,
You can't be a part of this.
This was the model of self-giving love that Jesus wanted the disciples to understand,
That Jesus wants us to understand.
This is what love looks like.
So the gospel today reminds us that love isn't something that we simply feel,
It's something we practice.
And yes,
It's something that we become.
In the quiet sacrifices of everyday life,
The command of Jesus begins to take shape among us,
Love one another as I have loved you.
And the question that's really worth pondering today is,
Jesus,
How have you loved me so that I can go and do likewise?
And may grace,
Peace and love go with you every step of the way as you explore that question and put it into action today and every day.
Amen.
Until tomorrow,
Friends,
All peace be with you.
May you love one another.
May we love one another.
