The Holy Week: Holy Thursday...

All images in this blog post re-published from this site.

We've arrived to Holy Thursday and so stand on the threshold of the three day period of Easter in the Holy Week. It's a nervy kinda day for true devotees of Jesus the Christ...I guess in Hinduism they would be called Christ Bhakts! :) Here on the island Catholic churches all over are holding Mass in his honour. Me, I've bought my traditional 'hot cross buns' as really there is no church for a UCPer like me...however perhaps one day in the future who knows there will be! But for sure usually most Easters ever since I was in my early teens I've wondered about what was done to Jesus the Christ over the period that is celebrated as Easter! What a thing really! As I've perhaps written in my 2009 Easter blogs...I recall at 14 getting so wrapped up into the thing that I almost felt the pain or loss of Jesus as if he was an actual living relative or something...can't say that I experienced the pain of the crucifixion though as that was something else! Especially after seeing that 'The Passion of Christ'...YIKES!

So tonight is the night that the famous 'Last Supper' occurs according to modern day recollection of the events that happened (based on the gospels that were put together by Christ Bhakts post his crucifixion and in summary are called the New Testament part of the Holy Bible) The Christian site where I got the photos from says this about the events that happened on Holy Thursday night:
"On Thursday afternoon, Jesus and his disciples walked out of Bethany together, and over the Mount of Olives, and into the city. Only Jesus, who could read the thoughts of men, knew that one of these disciples, Judas, had made a promise to the chief priests to lead them and their servants to Jesus, when the hour should come to seize him: and Judas was watching for the best time to do this dreadful deed. They came into the house, and went upstairs to the large room, where they found the supper all ready. The meal was spread upon a table; and around the table were couches for the company, where' each one lay down with his head toward the table, so near that he could help himself to the food, while' his feet were at the foot of the couch, toward the wall of the room. Their feet were bare, for they had all taken off their sandals as they came in.

Jesus was leaning at the head of the table, and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was lying next to him. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and gave thanks. Then he broke it, and passed a piece to each one of the twelve, saying, "Take, and eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this and remember me." Afterward, he took the cup of wine, and passed it to each one, with the words, "This cup is my blood, shed for you, and for many, that their sins may be taken away; as often as you drink this, remember me." Jesus then rose, and tied a towel around his waist in preparation to wash His disciples' feet.

Jesus was with the twelve in the upper room of the house in Bethany in what we now refer call the Last Supper. After dinner, while they were still leaning on the couches around the table, Jesus rose up, and took off his outer robe, and then tied around his waist a long towel. He poured water into a basin, and while all the disciples were wondering, he carried the water to the feet of one of the disciples, and began to wash them, just as though he himself were a servant.

Then he washed the feet of another disciple, and then of still another. When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

Jesus said to him, "What I do, you cannot understand now; but you will understand it after a time."
"Lord, thou shall never wash my feet," said Peter. "If I do not wash you," said Jesus, "then you are none of mine." Then Peter said, "O Lord, wash not only my feet, but my hands and my head too!"
But Jesus said to him, "No, Peter; one who has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and then he is clean. And you are clean, but not all of you."

For he knew that among those whose feet he was washing was one, the traitor, who would soon give him up to his enemies. After he had washed their feet, he put on his garments again, and leaned once more on his couch, and looked around, and said, "Do you know what I have done to you? "You call me 'Master' and 'Lord,' and you speak rightly, for so I am. If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other's feet; for I have given you an example that you should do to each other as I have done to you." By this Jesus meant that all who follow him should help and serve each other, instead of seeking great things for themselves.

Jesus saw that his disciples were full of sorrow at his words, and he said, "Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many houses; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going to make ready a place for you. And when it is ready, I will come again, and take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

Then Jesus talked with the disciples a long time, and prayed for them. And about midnight they left the upper-room together, and came to the Mount of Olives."

To be honest after reading this excerpt all I can say is..."Isn't it lovely how Jesus washed their feet?!" :) I guess this in Hinduism is what would be called seva...service to fellow man...and I cringe a bit...as tonight I recall the ultimate seva that Jesus is about to undertake...