As I sit in prayer this morning, I hold each of you close to my heart, knowing your complete alignment with Radiant Health and Wholeness, and with abounding Joy!
Today is Maundy Thursday, a Christian observance that takes place on the Thursday before Easter Sunday. It is sometimes referred to as Holy Thursday. The day commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus with the Apostles and the time that Jesus spent in the Garden of Gethsemane (according to the gospels of Matthew and Mark), in prayer, prior to his arrest.
According to all four Gospels, immediately after the Last Supper, Jesus took a walk to pray, accompanied by three Apostles: Peter, John and James (symbolizing Faith, Love, and Wisdom). He asked them to stay awake and pray with him. Metaphysically, Jesus was asking that he be guided by Wisdom and Love, and that his faith remain strong. In the story, Peter, John and James fall asleep…representing how Jesus is wavering in his faith, and how maybe he is questioning his inner Guidance. In the next verse, it says that he moved “a stone’s throw away” from them, and as he knelt he said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as You, not I, would have it.” He was clearly experiencing sadness, even deep anguish. After some time in prayer, he was able to surrender. “If this cup cannot pass by, but I must drink it, Your will be done!” (Matthew 26:42)
I can only imagine that as Jesus came to see the big picture, it became clear that only by dying and being resurrected (factually or metaphorically) could his message to the world be received. This physical life is not the whole Truth…Life is much bigger than that. Life is eternal and there is a Divine Nature to your humanity. He wanted us to see our lives through God’s eyes, to help us transcend our fears, our limitations, our smallness. His heart’s desire was to guide us in seeing that all of life’s experiences contain blessings. His wish for us was that we transcend our mistakes as we learn from them; we transcend our pain as we respond with self-care; we transcend our grief as we reach out to one another. Jesus wanted to open our eyes to the Truth that when we finally push through fear and choose Love, we are empowered and strengthened by Spirit. By viewing life from a higher perspective, we live a transcendent life.
These lessons, offered by the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, are powerful and worthy of our focused attention and prayer. But there is another important insight to be gained from the story of Maundy Thursday. Prior to their meal together, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. This is perhaps the most poignant example of Service that could have been used. First, make note that Jesus called his disciples together in the upper room…symbolizing a high state of consciousness. In preparing to give them the commandment to “love one another”, he kneels on the ground and washes the feet of each person at the table. For me, this is a very powerful image of Servant Leadership. He then says, in John 13:15, “For I set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” Jesus is directing his disciples to live the message of Love. Not to simply talk about it, but to demonstrate what Love looks like in action. He wanted them be become apostles, rather than disciples…messengers, teachers, and active demonstrations of his teachings, rather than merely students of this Higher Truth.
Immediately following the foot washing, the act of Servant Leadership, Jesus shared bread and wine as part of the meal. When he invited his disciples to eat the bread as his body, and drink the wine as his blood, they responded by saying, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” (John 6:60) They didn’t understand the metaphor he was presenting. His flesh and blood, represented by bread and wine, were symbols for the substance of life, always circulating and purifying. He offered a clue to the deeper metaphysical meaning when he said, “… the one who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:58). Jesus wanted us to absorb his teachings into our lives, as our bodies absorb food and its nutrients for sustenance. He was offering a metaphor…we should take into our hearts and minds only that which feeds the soul, that which nourishes the spirit. And then, from that sustenance and Love, we Serve.
This short and simple story has so much to teach. It causes me to look deeply at my own life, my own motivations, my own actions. I seek to be a Servant Leader in the world. I have chosen this in the form of Ministry. But each of us is a Leader in our own lives. By our choices, we cause our lives to move forward in one direction or another. We create a path, or means of access, to a particular experience of life according to our thoughts, intentions, motivations, words, and actions. And in doing so, we offer our gifts to the world.
And so, perhaps it is a good question for each of us to ponder…where am I a Servant Leader in my life? How am I actively leading from Love, serving my world, and generally making the world a better place? Our Service may come forward in small, intentional, Loving actions. Most True Service goes unnoticed by the world at large, because it is not offered in dramatic, grandiose ways. One simple act of kindness at a time…that is the point.
Mahatma Gandhi spoke these words: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service to others.” And Mother Theresa bade us, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” She also said, “”Love is a one-way street. It always moves away from self in the direction of the other. Love is the ultimate gift of our selves to others. When we stop giving we stop loving, when we stop loving we stop growing, and unless we grow we will never attain personal fulfillment; we will never open out to receive the life of God. It is through love we encounter God.”
And so today, I take with me this affirmation offered in Unity’s Daily Word:
“In service to others, I find my true self.”
May we all be well…stay in touch…know our Unity…and thrive!
And may we know the Absolute Beauty and Wonder of this Grace-filled, once-in-a lifetime day…
