Holy Week begins Sunday, March 28th and ends on Saturday, April 3rd—the day before Easter.

Holy Week commemorates Jesus’ last week on earth and the events that led up to His resurrection on Easter Sunday. Holy Week does not include Easter; instead Easter is the first day of Easter Week.

In the middle of this Holy Week is Maundy Thursday. We celebrate this day as the day of Jesus’ final meal with His disciples —and His final Passover. Jesus led His disciples in the first communion service, where it symbolized His sacrificial death and resurrection through two elements that were part of the Passover meal—the bread and the wine.

So, why do we use the word “Maundy”?

Maundy is derived from the Latin word “mandatum” meaning “commandment”.

At His last supper, Jesus said, “My children I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for Me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 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.” John 13:33-35 NIV

During this Passover meal, Jesus displayed for them a key aspect of that love: He washed the Disciples’ feet. Through this one act, Jesus demonstrated that the love He commanded involved humility and service. He also showed that even His closest disciples will get dirty from involvement in the world and the sin in their souls, and will need to come to Him for cleaning. Even His closest disciples—including the one who left the table to betray Him.

Jesus asked the disciples to continue the ritual celebration of the Passover in a different light. Up to this point, Passover had commemorated the sparing of the Jews’ forefathers from Egyptian tyranny and the night the angel of death “passed over” their homes because in obedience to God they had smeared lamb’s blood on the doorposts. The blood showed the angel of death which families were not to be harmed. From this point forward, the Passover Seder would become a new sacrament symbolizing the blood of another Lamb—Christ, the Lamb of God, whose blood was about to be spilled and whose body was to be broken for taking on Himself the burden of our sins.

But, just as freedom was still in the offing for the Jews following the original “Passover, “ true freedom for the world still awaited the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So, what should we remember when we enter this Holy Week—and Maundy Thursday?

1. God is the Great Foreshadower - throughout the Bible, God prepares His people for the next step. Passover was given as preparation for Good Friday. The blood of the Lamb was put on the doorposts of the Hebrew houses so that the angel of death would bypass them. Jesus was nailed on a cross for our sins so that, through belief in Him eternal life can be ours.

2. Even the best and most devoted disciples need to be cleaned from the dirt of the world and from their own innate sinfulness. We are not perfect. And, only Jesus can clean the dust of the world from us. Go to Him.

3. We have been given the New Commandment—as His disciples—to Love one another and the world as He has loved us - this love involves service and humility.

4. We need rituals - we need to celebrate Holy Week over and over—each year. We need to remember all that Jesus did for us, and the great debt we owe Him.

5. We need to repeat the new Passover, communion—even more frequently—bringing our sins before him for cleansing and renewal.

Celebrate Maundy Thursday through communion, love, service and with humility. Easter is on the horizon!