MAUNDY THURSDAY 2004

A Homily by Marcus Ramshaw

Maundy Thursday is one of the most profound and deeply moving series of rituals in the Christian tradition. Today we remember the last supper, the washing of the disciples feet by Jesus, the time spent Gethsemane andand beginning of the end of Jesus; mortal life.

Normally on Maundy Thursday preachers focus on the footwashing and on Jesus words exhorting us to humility and service .You call me teacher and Lord, and I you are right, for that is what I am, so if your Lord and Teacher has washed your feet, you also ought to wash another’s feet.

I however want to focus our thoughts on what will happen immediately after this service, when the altar is stripped and we leave in silence. There is no service in Holy Week as such which commemorates the mocking of Christ by the Roman soldiers, it is touched upon on Good Friday but I have also felt the stripping of the altar calls to mind this story.

The only time I have witnessed a real, genuine standing ovation in a west end theatre was during the 2000 revival of Jesus Christ superstar, the entire audience stood up immediately. At the beginning of the second act there was a very moving piece of theatre when Christ was being brutally beaten up by the Romans and made to wear the crown of thorns whilst the disciples knelt around watching and singing a simple song

‘Could we start again please?’

I’m sure we all wanted that many times in our Christian life – to start again. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday dramatically reminds us of the cost of God’s love, the psychological and physical pain experience by our Saviour so that we can have a fresh start, a new relationship with our Creator. The service of the Holy Eucharist is at centre of our worshipping life and represents an opportunity to start again, to be fed and nourished by our Saviour,

Starting again requires a letting go of something that is holding us back, an addiction, a prejudice, a grudge, an unwillingness to forgive someone, snobbery, selfishness. A lack of generosity either in spirit or with our money, a lack of love for our neighbour. Over the next forty eight hours we have a final chance to identify our most besetting sin and resolve to work harder on it, we also have the chance to think about what service we can do for Christ in the future; this might be in our work, in our charitable giving, in our time, helping others.

Such reform must spring from our own sense of humility, a self-awareness of us in relation to God. A servant is there to help someone, to give and to obey, yet the service; of course, we are called to is to obey God. We are to encourage others to follow Christ’s teaching to be the servant of all, to encourage others to find that sense of humility which leads to an inner peace and calm. Servants though gain little reward for their labours, since for Christians our reward’s come later from God we should not be discouraged by our own failures or setbacks when we try to help others find Christ’s humility in their hearts.

So our lives then should reflect that of Christ, his love, his graciousness and his giving, his humbling of himself, and his peace. True humility, not a false one which is, in reality the complete reverse, is a key part of inner contentment and happiness. For indeed, in the words of William Shakespeare;

‘In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility.’