Holy Week Devotional Guide – Maundy Thursday 4-9-20
Today's devotional guide is for Maundy Thursday of Holy Week. The word "Maundy" comes from a root word for "commandment." So Maundy Thursday is when we commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus with His disciples when got up from the table and washed their feet and then commanded them (and us) to love one another as He has loved us. May the Lord grow us in His love and for one another.
Quiet yourself to focus your attention on the Lord and ask Him to draw near and help you draw near to Him in this prayer time.
Lord, please help me focus on You. Be pleased to draw close to me and help me draw close to feed on Your presence and Word. Purify my heart and life by Your blood and fill me with Your Holy Spirit.
Today’s Gospel Reading - John 13:1-17, 34-35
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them….A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
Personal Reflection
Washing feet was the dirty work of servants. Jesus was showing them that what He just did symbolized what He was about to do through His suffering and death: LOVE the world. And we are to do the same. Have you allowed Jesus to “wash your feet”? Or have you kept Him from it? Are you washing the feet of others by loving and serving them? Who are you not loving or serving well?
A Prayer of Response
Lord, thank You for “washing my feet” and serving me in love. Please fill me with Your love that I may love and serve others the same for Your name sake and for their eternal good. In Your name, Amen.
Present your requests to God for yourself, your family, and others He lays on your heart.
Pray for your fellow brothers and sisters and members of our church to grow in the love of Christ and to serve and love one another and the world well in His name.
May the Lord bless you to love and serve so that you will be blessed in Him and that others will be blessed through you. Amen.