Celebrating Maundy Thursday

John 13:1 says, “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come…”

Over the years Easter has become my favorite holiday. I limit myself to one Cadbury Egg each year and wait until the perfect time (away from my children) to indulge in its chocolaty, gooey goodness. I also love black licorice jellybeans. For real, my taste buds know no limit to them. This year don’t you dare make that “ewww…gross” face and throw them away! Baggie those puppies up and send them on over to me. 

Truly, I do love Easter. Celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is as big a deal as deals get in my book. Easter symbolizes fresh beginnings and new life with the promise of eternity in heaven. Those defining aspects of Easter are definitely celebratory occasions, but a few years ago I kept running into the term Maundy Thursday. It came up in conversations, on the news and on the radio, but as someone not raised in church I honestly didn’t know what it meant. So I did what any astute Christian mind would do. I Googled it. It turns out the word Maundy comes from the Latin term mandatum meaning “commandment.” Maundy Thursday is designated to remind us of the final evening Jesus spent with his disciples for the Passover meal before his crucifixion, when he commanded them to do two things: love by humbly serving each other and remember the sacrifice Jesus was about to make on our behalf through communion.

Equipped with this new information, I started thinking about incorporating Maundy Thursday into our family’s Easter preparations. Then it hit me just how alike Maundy Thursday is to black jelly beans. Go with me here…like black jelly beans, many people overlook Maundy Thursday because they just don’t like the sound of it (foot washing and communion? not exactly Easter dinner and egg hunts), they tried it once and got a bad taste in their mouth so they threw it out, or they just have no idea it exists. Too many companies stopped including black jelly beans in their mix, and too many churches have stopped emphasizing Jesus’ commands to humbly serve and remember His sacrifice for our salvation.

This Easter week, take time with your family to read about Jesus’ final evening with his closest friends. John 13:1 begins, “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come…” So celebrate but remember what and Whom it’s all about. Serve others even when it’s messy and remember that Jesus sacrificed in death so we could truly live in freedom (Ephesians 1:7). While you’re celebrating, don’t forget to save the black jelly beans for me.

Jena Meyerpeter is a freelance writer from Lenexa.