Chaplain’s Note

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, we took the opportunity as a community to reflect on Easter in our concert and services in the Junior and Senior School. Thank you to all who contributed and to the guests who attended. I hope you found them edifying.

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.” This commandment was given by Jesus on the Thursday before his crucifixion. So Maundy Thursday is the “Thursday of the Commandment.”

Jesus did not replace or change the commandment, “Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” He filled it out and gave it clear illustration. He is saying,

Here is what I mean by “as yourself.” Watch me. I mean, that is how I am now loving you. My suffering and death is what I mean by ‘as yourself.’ You want life. Live to give others life.

Later his disciple John wrote, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). In the horrors of his suffering, Christ was sustained “by the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). And that joy was the everlasting gladness of his redeemed people, satisfied in the presence of the risen king.

Therefore, let us be open to seeing the greatest love in action on Maundy Thursday and tomorrow on Good Friday. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Let us be so moved by this love that it becomes our own. “He laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” This is the commandment, not just for this Thursday, but for every day.

I hope you all get the chance to enjoy the long weekend that Easter provides. May it give us all the rejuvenation we need to finish the term well. I look forward to joining our year 9s on CITF next week, so, enjoy the holidays when they come and see you in Term 2.

Rev. Rod Farraway
Chaplain