DAY 5- MAUNDY THURSDAY

A HALF DAY WALKING TOUR for MAUNDY THURSDAY

Best foot forward today!  We cut in through the Damascus Gate and head through the middle of the Old City to Zion Gate. It is only a short walk to the Dormition Church Which is a magnificent building which came to be associated with the death of Mary the Mother of Jesus. This particular building dates from 1900, so it is relatively recent. Of course there has to be some doubt about this link as this tradition dates only from the 6^thcentury. There is an equally strong tradition which links Mary to a home in Ephesus in her later life. The fact is we do not know: does it matter? But some people like a particular place to go to recall events, but this particular event is non-biblical, so we’ll move on!  

Just around the corner is an upper room called the Cenacle. Again it is not an original building where our Lord might have gone,

but it was built in Byzantine times to commemorate the first Christian community gathered in the Upper Room at Pentecost. The Upper Room is where Jesus instituted the Last Supper – the foundation stone of our Holy Communion. This when he washed his disciples feet:

John 13 New International Version (NIV)

13 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

In this action Jesus set a foundation stone for Christian discipleship – that all ministry is about servant hood. In many churches on Maundy Thursday the chief minister will invite members of the congregation to come forward and have their feet washed. Yes it is a token, a symbol of what Jesus did, but as we wash these feet of the people we know and love, something curious/wonderful/humbling comes over the one performing the service, which sets the tone for the rest of this time together. For, in commemoration we break bread and share wine and then keep watch. 50 years ago in the parish in which I served my first curacy the watch went right through the night until 9.00 on Good Friday morning – and yes there were parishioners who would get up and 2 a.m. to come and watch and pray for one hour.

Matthew 26

³⁶ Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. ⁴¹ “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴² He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

⁴³ When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

⁴⁵ Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.

Of course,this place is also associated with the Upper Room of the Last Supper when Jesus took bread and wine telling us to “Do this in memory of me”.

John in his gospel tells of the disciples being together after the resurrection “Behind locked doors, for fear of the Jews” and Jesus appeared to them. Thomas the doubter was not there, but a week later, in the same place, Jesus came again and reassured Thomas of his Risen Presence. It was here also that the disciples first received the Holy Spirit. So this Upper Room although not the place where these important events happened, is an important symbol for us to pause and remember this biblical events.

We continue our journey on foot to a church called St Peter in Gallicantu. 

 (Gallicantu means cockcrow) and commemorates the betrayal by Peter of Jesus, but what is more important is that steps have been uncovered here leading down into the Kidron Valley and across to Gethsemane and is very possibly the path by which  our Lord was brought to trial by his captors, because in this part of the City was the High Priest’s lodgings and here there are the remains of a stable with tying posts. We pause here to meditate on the arrest and trial of Jesus. We walk down the steps into the Kidron Valley and find our way back to Gethsemane and cross the road to the other part of Gethsemane where we will have a quiet celebration of Holy Communion to mark Maundy Thursday.

 

Again, the rest of the day after Holy Communion is left free for folk to revisit places that caught their imagination, or to do some shopping. Some will find a café – there is a lovely one just near the Damascus Gate – it is ideal for a cup of coffee and to sit on it’s terrace watching all the comings and goings through the gate.

Tomorrow, for Good Friday we will walk the Via Dolorosa marking the journey of Jesus to the Cross.