What Is Maundy Thursday?

Maundy Thursday is an important, though often overlooked, part of Holy Week.

 

A lot of things happened on Maundy Thursday.

Among them:

Jesus celebrated the Passover in the Upper Room with His disciples.

We now call this meal the Last Supper because it was the last time He shared a meal with them before His crucifixion.

It was during this meal Jesus instituted Communion as a way of remembering Him.

 

At the end of the meal, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples as a show of humility and as an example of how He wanted them to humbly serve others.

 

Following the Last Supper meal, Jesus and the Disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane, located at the Mount of Olives.

Here Jesus went off alone to pray.

He asked the Father to take this cup away if possible, meaning the Crucifixion He was about to experience, but immediately followed it up with, “Yet, not my will, Father, Yours be done.”

Jesus knew what was coming.

He knew He was going to be beaten and tortured, yet He agreed to it because He wanted to put God’s will ahead of His own.

 

As soon as He was finished praying, Judas Iscariot showed up with soldiers, chiefs and elders to arrest Jesus.

 

The day concluded with Jesus being questioned by the Jewish high priest concerning His teachings and whether He was saying He was the Son of God.

The Jewish officials decided to hold Jesus over night and present Him to Pontius Pilate the next morning.

The soldiers who guarded Him taunted Him until early morning when the guards took Jesus to see Pontius Pilate.

That early next morning was Good Friday.

 

All of these things happened so that God’s redemption plan could take place.

 

The events of Maundy Thursday set Jesus up to be judged and condemned on Good Friday, resulting in His crucifixion.

 

We often overlook the Thursday of Holy Week, but many important things happened that day.

Without them, the Savior’s sacrifice wouldn’t have taken place and we would not have a Redeemer who has rescued us from sin.

 

 

To learn more about Jesus’ actual arrest, please see my post, Jesus Was Arrested

To learn more about Holy Week, please see my post, What Is Holy Week?

To learn more about Good Friday, please see my post, What Is Good Friday?

To read more about Jesus in the Garden, please visit Matthew 26:36-56, Mark 14:32-50, or Luke 23:39-54

 

To learn more about the Easter Season, please visit my Easter page, a compilation of previous Easter and Lent posts.