The Wading Pool

…and think about what today represents.  It’s Holy Thursday (or Maundy Thursday for some).  Take a minute and think about that…what it means.

Tonight, in an upper room in Jerusalem,  Jesus shared one last meal with His disciples.  It was the last time they would celebrate the Passover together, the last time they would recline at table with Him.

Tonight, Jesus would take off His outer garment, put a towel around His waist, grab a basin of water…and wash the feet of His friends…even the feet of the one who would betray Him.

Tonight,  Jesus would  forever change the way we look at a piece of bread and cup of wine, telling us they are reminders of His body and blood, broken and poured out for our sins.  How would we ever look at these simple elements the same again?  He told them that whenever they ate the bread or drank the cup, they were to remember Him…to remember His sacrifice.

Take a moment and think about that…

Think about the garden…the quiet, the stillness, the prayers so earnest that drops of blood would begin to flow down the Savior’s face. Think about the meaning of the words “Not My will, but Thine be done.”  Think about what He was accepting from His Father’s hand in that moment.

Think about the torches, the guards, the kiss of betrayal…

The swords drawn, the blood from an ear removed…the astonishment of an ear restored…

And think about the feeling of abandonment that began with all forsaking Him, and would go right up to the moment on the cross when He would cry the words of Psalm 22 “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Have you stopped long enough to truly consider what this week means?  Have you given it a second’s thought?  You see, there’s a danger of looking ahead to Easter Sunday, of looking beyond all the event’s that lead to that day.  There’s a danger of forgetting just what Jesus would suffer for us.

Certainly, it began before the world was even formed, as He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  But it began in earnest on that Thursday before the Friday called good, before the silence of the tomb on Saturday, before that great gettin’ up morning known as Resurrection Sunday.

Don’t forget.

Take a moment.

Look to the Savior.

Remember.

And give thanks.