Maundy Thursday, 2026
Exodus 12:1-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Maundy Thursday. We get the word Maundy from the Latin word, maundatum, which is also where we get the words mandatory and mandate. It’s related to command, and commandment. All these words give us the notion of being told what to to. What is required of us. And in the gospel reading we just heard, Jesus gives us a commandment. He says it’s a new commandment.
What is that commandment? Is it to wash one another’s feet? No. Is it not to eat pork? No. Is it to kill people who don’t believe like we do in a righteous holt war? No. The new commandment from Jesus—the maundatum of Maundy Thursday—is to love one another. Just love one another. And a necessary part of that commandment is the “one another” part. Because you cannot do what Jesus commands without other people. It requires community. There is no “me and Jesus” in this commandment. It requires us. Together.
On Palm Sunday, we once again ended the 10 o’clock service singing “O Sacred Head Sore Wounded.” Here’s the final verse of that hymn:
My days are few, O fail not,
With thine immortal pow'r,
To hold me that I quail not
In death's most fearful hour:
That I may fight befriended,
And see in my last strife
To me thine arms extended
Upon the cross of life.
And—as has happened to me before—I was so overwhelmed by that text, my eyes teared up, and I had to stop singing. I just couldn’t do it. And even though I could not sing, the song didn’t stop. Because of the community. Congregational hymns are not solos, thank God. We sing them together. And if the priest or anyone else has to stop singing, the song goes on. When you cannot sing, the community sings for you. When you cannot pray, the community prays for you. When you cannot believe, the community believes for you.
On Palm Sunday, I couldn’t sing, but the song didn’t stop. When one voice stops, the song is changed, but it still goes on. In our community, in our worship, in our singing, you add a part that only you can add. A certain flavor, a certain tone, a certain shakiness, a certain wrong note even! The song is different because you are there. When you can’t sing, or when you stop singing, the song changes . . . and it keeps going. The song goes on, and whether you’re singing or not, it was made different because you were there.
At the close of this service, after we have set aside the reserved Sacrament for tomorrow, we will adjourn for a time into the parish hall for an Agape’ meal. The word “agape’” means love. Unconditional love, actually. And the reason churches have this meal on this Maundy Thursday night is to remind ourselves of the commandment we have received. That we love one another. As Jesus said, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
There will come a day when each and every one of us stops singing. But the song will go on, because we love one another, just as Jesus loves us. The song goes on through eternity, and you are a voice in this unending hymn. Even if you have never sung a note in your life, you are a voice in the eternal choir, and your voice matters.
Amen.
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