Today is Maundy Thursday. The name comes from the Latin “mandatum”, the first word in the Latin rendering of John 13:34, “A new commandment (Mandatum novum) I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
Maundy in Latin is (Mandatum) meaning “commandment”, So Maundy Thursday is the Thursday of the commandment.
So what was this new commandment anyway? I mean if we read Galatians 5:14 it already states “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Jesus is giving us a new and greater example on love, He Himself “IS” love and a perfect example on how to love perfectly. Remember (John 15:13)
” Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends”.
This life is a life of sacrifice to those you love and to others Father has placed in your journey. The Apostle John states this “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16)
So as we go about our day let us recall this “Mandatum novum” or new commandment and live the life of selflessness and sacrifice. I pray that Father will strengthen us all, so we may live like the Lamb of God Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory forever and ever Amen!!
Desire Jesus 