04/02/2026
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
—John 13:34–35
On Maundy Thursday, we are invited to behold a love that does not remain distant or abstract, but comes near — stooping low, taking the form of a servant, and giving itself freely.
We are often shaped by thinner visions of love. Love that is cautious, self-protective, or extended only where it feels safe. But the love of Christ is not measured or restrained. It moves toward us in our need, our weakness, even in our resistance. It kneels before us. It serves. It gives itself without holding back.
And so, on Maundy Thursday we remember that Jesus offers himself — bread broken, cup poured out — inviting us to first receive the very love he commands.
As Jesus knew the Father’s love and rested in it, so we are invited to abide in him — to receive again the life, the mercy, and the steadfast love that flows from his heart.
And from that place — not striving, but abiding — his love begins to take shape in us. And as we are filled with what we have received, we are sent — not to manufacture love — but to carry it.
