Everyone knows tomorrow is Good Friday -- if only because it’s a statutory holiday. They don’t think much about why it’s a holiday. As a real estate rep once asked me following a Good Friday service with dimmed lights, plaintive music, and a tear-jerker homily, “Why are we supposed to weep and wail about someone who died 2,000 years ago?”
Shortly after, he withdrew his two daughters from our church’s Sunday School program.
Today, by contrast, is Maundy Thursday.
Maundy? Probably not a word you run across often. “Maundy” apparently derives from Latin mandatum, meaning commandment.
Traditionally, today celebrates the last evening Jesus spent with his disciples. Where he took pita bread, or some equivalent, and tore it up, and told his disciples, “This bread is (like) my body (which will be) broken for your sakes.”
And he poured wine into their cups (today it would probably be Tim Hortons coffee), and said, more or less, “This is like blood. You need it to keep your strength up. Drink it, and remember me in tough times.”
Treat those as commands, and you have “Maundy”.
A different story
Interestingly, the gospel attributed to a disciple named John doesn’t tell that story at all. John says, instead, that Jesus took a basin of water, probably earthenware, fired but not glazed. He dipped his hands in the water and went around the room washing his disciples’ feet.
They must have had mixed feelings. Their feet were tired from walking Jerusalem’s filthy streets. The warm water felt soothing. Having fingers gently spread their toes, bathe out irritating grit, was bliss.
But it felt wrong to have their leader doing it. The Messiah was supposed to sit on a throne, high above petty irritations, being served by others. Not him serving them.
So they protested. Or at least Peter did, and the gospels often portray Peter as the voice for what the rest couldn’t say. “You’re not gonna wash my feet,” Peter said.
“If you want to be like me,” Jesus replied, “this is the way you need to act.”
That’s today’s mandatum.
A different basin
A little later in the story, after Jesus has been arrested, and had three different trials, Roman Governor Pontius Pilate also used a wash basin. This one was probably silver, maybe even gold.
Like Jesus, Pilate dipped his hands in the water. But all he washed was his own hands -- a gesture we’re all too familiar with in these Covid-19 days. And as he dried them with the towel a servant handed him, he said, “Do whatever you want with this troublemaker. I wash my hands of anything to do with him.”
Do we think the same about that pesky virus?
Note the contrasts. One gets involved; the other doesn’t. One takes personal responsibility; the other doesn’t. One acts from humility; the other from superiority.
Which do we take as our mandate (also derived from mandatum)?
Jesus now has two billion followers. Pilate has none. At least, none that claim him as their inspiration.
But it seems to me that every time people shrug off responsibility for any issue -- climate, poverty, illiteracy, homelessness, pandemic, bullying, race or gender prejudice -- they’re choosing to follow Pilate’s lead.
Even if they don’t recognize it.
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Copyright © 2020 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
As before, I shall not include the many letters of condolence you sent. I thank you for them. They are a true comfort in my grieving.
Last week a tried to inject a lighter tone. You seemed to appreciate it.
Tom Watson called it “an excellent exegesis. Thank you!”
Hanny Kooyman recognized that it wasn’t just an attempt to be funny: “Thank you so much for this beautiful humour, with a serious undertone.”
And Lois Carey wrote, “As a big Raptors fan, Jesus as Kawhi Leonard made my day.”
Robert Mason wrote, “I hope the humour brightens the day for some of your readers as it did mine, when we all are mostly bombarded with the horribly sad news in the media. Thanks for the chuckle, and your funny take on an Old Testament story.”
Bernard Dewonck has his own warped sense of humour. “It was: not what I expected when reading the title. First thought that came to mind reading the column – ‘Weevil overcome!’”
Bob Rollwagen picked up on my “free market” reference, and applied it to the current situation: “Many have had their livelihood threatened while some ignore what is law or common sense and most worry about the future in a way they had not considered before. It could be said that the homeless, the poor and the disadvantaged have lost nothing. Their needs are finally getting the attention they deserve. Medical assistance is provided as needed, regardless of status. I do not know how many seniors are in homes, live with family, or are on the street but I do know we need to start making sure they are all treated better. I do know that right now, as a percentage of the elderly, not many can afford the care level they all deserve. [Manwhile] millions of Canadians in one of the world’s richest countries just discovered that they have little savings and are always one month away from poverty. Only 10% of Canadians have an RRSP.”
Despite my intention not to include letters of condolence, I am going to include two, because they speak to the significance, of lack of significance, of delayed memorial services.
Laura Hutchinson: “My Mother died when I was four years old. Back in 1959, children were not invited to attend funerals or memorial services. We lived in a remote city called Uranium City, in Saskatchewan. The rest of the family were in Ontario, so that is where the funeral was. Years later, when we were all adults, my sister Margaret Tribe decided that we all needed a memorial, and so she held one in her home. Our Uncles came, and our Mother's sister, Aunt Flora, and even though it was many years later, it was profoundly personal, and helpful; and so I recommend for anyone who is waiting, that you go ahead and do something, with other people who care. It's never too late to love and to remember together.”
Laura’s own husband Ken “died six years ago, this week.”
Beth Richardson, owner and editor of The Chataqua, took the opposite view: “When my dad passed 17 years ago we didn't have a service, at his request and our preference, and what ended up happening was that the most important family and friends visited one or two at a time over a two week period, which was way better and more meaningful than any service we could have had. When my mom passed June, 2019 we didn't have a service, again as per her request and the preference of my sister and myself (I actually was too sick at the time)...I personally have never seen the point of a service -- it is the remaining, and on-going (not a one-time get-together) relationships that are important for healing and keeping the love and memories alive in your hearts.”
And finally, Wayne Irwin, who has been a colleqgue and friend for years, had this bit of sad news of his own: “I have been caring for you from a distance and remembering Joan from the days at 85 St Clair. when Flora [Litt] and I were overseeing Gathering back in its birthing.
“You have lost Joan. And now I have lost Flora. She died suddenly on Sunday evening after living for 9 years following a diagnosis of Ideopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
“I wanted you to know. It is the beginning of the next chapter of life for both of us. May you also find solace in the rich memories of lives lived in love.”
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Psalm paraphrase
These verses from Psalm 116 are intended for today, Maundy Thursday, not for Easter Sunday. I thought this paraphrase fitted the gospel readings.
12 How do I thank God? God has been so good to me.
13 My cup has been filled right to the brim;
A drop more, and it will overflow.
14 I owe everything to God.
15 The lives of those who live in God's ways are precious to God.
16 I have tried to live God's way.
Serving God has set me free from the clamor of my culture.
17, 18 I owe everything to God.
Now it is time for payment of my debt;
I turn everything over to God.
19 You who are the people of God, bear witness to my commitment.
I owe everything to God.
For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalmsfrom Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have blocked my posts because they’re suspicious of some of the web links.
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca He’s also relatively inexpensive!
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also has lots of beautiful photos. Especially of birds.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)
ALVA WOOD’S ARCHIVE
I have acquired (don’t ask how) the complete archive of the late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures. I’ve put them on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. You’re welcome to browse. No charge. (Although maybe if I charged a fee, more people would find the archive worth visiting.)