ἐντολὴν καινὴν, Mandatum novum, A New Command

MAUNDY THURSDAY
Thursday, April 2, 2026 — 7 pm
Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church
308 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036

[NOTE: Greek, Latin and English texts of Luke 13.1-17; 31b-35 follow at the end of the Sermon.]

+ In nomine Domini. Amen.

I am told that if we were to go to the northern part of Italy, to the city of Milan, and find the Dominican Convent/Church Santa Maria delle Grazie [Holy Mary of Grace], and if we would be fortunate enough to purchase a ticket [€15] we would be among the privileged 1,300 visitors who come each day to see the Cenacle [in Latin] or L’Ultima Cena [Last Supper] by Leonardo da Vinci. This most famous piece of art is found on one wall of the Dining Hall¹ of the Convent. Commissioned by the Duke of Milan, Leonardo’s patron, this 15ft x 28ft mural masterpiece dates to 1498.²

If you have been to Milan and seen the mural you are among the Blessed.

Most of us, myself included, have only seen photos of the mural. It appears in coffee-table art books, prints on the walls of Sunday School rooms, endless tee-shirts, coffee mugs, and a multitude of other places.

We know the painting: Jesus sits upright at an Italian Renaissance banquet table complete with white table cloth, he is centered with arms outstretched pointing to bread and wine — there are 6 apostles on his left and 6 on his right, in various postures and gestures.

Everyone is there, including Judas Iscariot.

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Tonight we begin the Triduum [in Latin] or “Three Days” — the most sacred time in our church calendar: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday.

To celebrate the Triduum is to embark on a journey; the journey of Jesus’ Passion. We join him in his final meal with his followers, shudder at his arrest, watch him placed on trial before the Governor of the Roman Province of Judea, hear him being condemned to death, bear witness at his Crucifixion and burial, and finally walk with the women to his tomb and find it empty —Easter, the Resurrection.

[NOTA BENE: this year, as in most [but not every] years, the celebration of Holy Week, the Triduum, and Easter is close to the Jewish Passover. In fact, last evening was the first night of Pesach [Hebrew for Passover]. Passover last for 8 days and will conclude next Thursday, April 9^th.]

Each of the Four Gospels tells the story of the Three Days, albeit with differences and slight variations of emphasis. However, for centuries, the Gospel for Maundy Thursday always comes from John, the 13^th Chapter — and in the Gospel of John, there is no Last Supper (!) There is a meal, a common meal, but not what you and I understand to be the beginning of the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper. In John’s version, the story takes place before Passover.

There are significant elements we need to remember in our Gospel reading from John:

1. Nearly right at the beginning we find Judas Iscariot, with a very interesting statement: “The devil had already decided that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus.” ³ The Greek of John’s Gospel which we translate “had already decided” says literally “the evil one had already thrown into his heart [that Judas would betray him]”.

2. The next significant element is that of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. This is the only Gospel in which this takes place; we do not find it in Mark, Matthew, or Luke.

3. Thirdly, with the washing of the feet comes what a small but poignant Sermon from Jesus — and it takes place in an encounter with Peter who refuses to have his feet washed by his Master. Peter rebukes Jesus, then welcomes him [“Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”]

4. And finally this leads into what becomes the title for this evening — the most important thing to remember not just tonight at the beginning of the Three Days, but throughout this Triduum and into Easter and Pentecost and beyond, always and forever: [in the Greek of John’s Gospel] ἐντολὴν καινὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους· “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.”

In the Latin of the 4^th Century CE Vulgate compiled by St. Jerome: Mandatum novum do vobis: ut diligatis invicem.

NOTA BENE: It is from the Latin that we find the title for our liturgy this evening: mandatum [“order” “command” “mandate”]. It comes to us from Middle English [mande, mandee] and Old French [mandé].

WHAT is the mandate? What is the commandment? ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους says Jesus, through John: Love one another — when we say or write these words, we should end with an Exclamation Point! It is not a thought or question or suggestion [perhaps we might love one another?] It is [in grammar] imperative. You/we must love one another.

Think about it. When you take it in, as we do tonight, when you ponder anew what the Almighty can do, when you consider just what that mandate of Jesus means — what?

If we are followers of Jesus, then what?

Let me tell you a story. Tonight is the anniversary of my taking the call to be the Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Santa Fe, NM. Fifty-one years ago today, I joined the congregation in Santa Fe as their Pastor (a gift which I held until I retired). Shortly after that, I was asked by a woman [Nima Ward, of blessed memory] who was the Director of the Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry [the advocacy arm of the Church in New Mexico] to come to the Roundhouse [the State Capitol in Santa Fe is indeed round, thus the name] and in the Rotunda [right in the very center of the Capitol] to be one of the speakers supporting a new piece of legislation that would give equal rights [housing, employment, human services] to everyone, especially persons in the LGBTQIA community. Her office was in our church building, her desk about 20 feet from mine. She was hard to ignore.

I explained that I did not really like to talk in public. She reminded me that I did that every Sunday. I offered excuse-upon-excuse to which she countered each one and finally I gave in and went to the gathering.

When it came my time to speak, I said that for followers of Jesus, we obey the commandment to love one another; but what we do is to draw a circle around ourselves and say: OK, these are the ‘anothers’ — spouse, children, parents, family, friends who look like me, people I like. And what happens is that we see Jesus standing on the outside of that circle saying to us, “what about these folks?” And so the circle is erased and we move out and say, “Ok, well I’ll love these as well.” And we draw another circle around ourselves. And then we look and see Jesus standing outside that circle again and beckoning to us, “how about over here as well?” And we give in and move over there and find ourselves loving now even more.

And on and on it goes, Jesus keeps erasing the circles (the boundaries) we draw. There is no end — that’s what the commandment means.

After I made my speech, and the gathering was breaking up, I saw one of my clergy-colleagues (albeit from a different branch of the tree) coming through the crowd. I extended my hand toward him — but he refused to take it and instead pronounced some manner of anathema on me, something about me loving gay people, and then he walked on shaking his head.

I thought of what I had just publicly said, and whispered to myself, “Hard as it is, I think the circle just got wider to include my colleague. I guess I should say, “thank you, Jesus.”

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That’s the way it is with the Gospel of Love, that’s the journey to which we are called by the One we Follow. Not always easy, in fact frequently not, not always nice, in fact far from it, not always beautiful and pretty, in fact reaching into the difficult parts of life and the people who live there — but it is the Novum Mandatum, and it comes from Jesus.

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Think back to Da Vinci’s Mural. When I look at that mural, I wonder how long that table could be — is there room at that banquet for me? For you? For us? For everyone? Just how many extra leaves can Jesus put into the table, how far can it extend and will it? Does it lengthen through time and space? Can we come to it?

And the answer is simply: Yes.

So, let us come to the Table tonight, and always, there is a place for us at the Banquet, where we are loved, and we learn to love — one another.

And let us all say: Amen.

Deo Gratias (+)

The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III
Retired

1Traditionally, the Refrectory.

2Putting this into dates we might best understand, Martin Luther was born in 1483.

3καὶ δείπνου γινομένου, τοῦ διαβόλου ἤδη βεβληκότος εἰς τὴν καρδίαν ἵνα παραδοῖ αὐτὸν Ἰούδας Σίμωνος Ἰσκαριώτου,

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JOHN 13.1-17, 31B-35

1 Πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ πάσχα εἰδὼς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἦλθεν αὐτοῦ ἡ ὥρα ἵνα μεταβῇ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ἀγαπήσας τοὺς ἰδίους τοὺς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, εἰς τέλος ἠγάπησεν αὐτούς.2 καὶ δείπνου γινομένου, τοῦ διαβόλου ἤδη βεβληκότος εἰς τὴν καρδίαν ἵνα παραδοῖ αὐτὸν Ἰούδας Σίμωνος Ἰσκαριώτου,3 εἰδὼς ὅτι πάντα ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ πατὴρ εἰς τὰς χεῖρας καὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθεν καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὑπάγει,4 ἐγείρεται ἐκ τοῦ δείπνου καὶ τίθησιν τὰ ἱμάτια, καὶ λαβὼν λέντιον διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν.5 εἶτα βάλλει ὕδωρ εἰς τὸν νιπτῆρα καὶ ἤρξατο νίπτειν τοὺς πόδας τῶν μαθητῶν καὶ ἐκμάσσειν τῷ λεντίῳ ᾧ ἦν διεζωσμένος.6 ἔρχεται οὖν πρὸς Σίμωνα Πέτρον. λέγει αὐτῷ, Κύριε, σύ μου νίπτεις τοὺς πόδας;7 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Ὃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ σὺ οὐκ οἶδας ἄρτι, γνώσῃ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα.8 λέγει αὐτῷ Πέτρος, Οὐ μὴ νίψῃς μου τοὺς πόδας εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς αὐτῷ, Ἐὰν μὴ νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις μέρος μετ’ ἐμοῦ.9 λέγει αὐτῷ Σίμων Πέτρος, Κύριε, μὴ τοὺς πόδας μου μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὴν κεφαλήν.10 λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Ὁ λελουμένος οὐκ ἔχει χρείαν εἰ μὴ τοὺς πόδας νίψασθαι, ἀλλ’ ἔστιν καθαρὸς ὅλος· καὶ ὑμεῖς καθαροί ἐστε, ἀλλ’ οὐχὶ πάντες.11 ᾔδει γὰρ τὸν παραδιδόντα αὐτόν· διὰ τοῦτο εἶπεν ὅτι Οὐχὶ πάντες καθαροί ἐστε.

12 Ὅτε οὖν ἔνιψεν τοὺς πόδας αὐτῶν [καὶ] ἔλαβεν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνέπεσεν πάλιν, εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Γινώσκετε τί πεποίηκα ὑμῖν;13 ὑμεῖς φωνεῖτέ με Ὁ διδάσκαλος καὶ Ὁ κύριος, καὶ καλῶς λέγετε, εἰμὶ γάρ.14 εἰ οὖν ἐγὼ ἔνιψα ὑμῶν τοὺς πόδας ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ διδάσκαλος, καὶ ὑμεῖς ὀφείλετε ἀλλήλων νίπτειν τοὺς πόδας·15 ὑπόδειγμα γὰρ ἔδωκα ὑμῖν ἵνα καθὼς ἐγὼ ἐποίησα ὑμῖν καὶ ὑμεῖς ποιῆτε.16 ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ ἔστιν δοῦλος μείζων τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ ἀπόστολος μείζων τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτόν.17 εἰ ταῦτα οἴδατε, μακάριοί ἐστε ἐὰν ποιῆτε αὐτά.

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31 Ὅτε οὖν ἐξῆλθεν λέγει Ἰησοῦς, Νῦν ἐδοξάσθη ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ·32 [εἰ ὁ θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ] καὶ ὁ θεὸς δοξάσει αὐτὸν ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ εὐθὺς δοξάσει αὐτόν.33 τεκνία, ἔτι μικρὸν μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι· ζητήσετέ με, καὶ καθὼς εἶπον τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὅτι Ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν, καὶ ὑμῖν λέγω ἄρτι.34 ἐντολὴν καινὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους· καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους.35 ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες ὅτι ἐμοὶ μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγάπην ἔχητε ἐν ἀλλήλοις.

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1 Ante diem festum Paschae, sciens Jesus quia venit hora ejus ut transeat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem: cum dilexisset suos, qui erant in mundo, in finem dilexit eos.

2 Et coena facta, cum diabolus jam misisset in cor ut traderet eum Judas Simonis Iscariotae:

3 sciens quia omnia dedit ei Pater in manus, et quia a Deo exivit, et ad Deum vadit:

4 surgit a coena, et ponit vestimenta sua, et cum accepisset linteum, praecinxit se.

5 Deinde mittit aquam in pelvim, et coepit lavare pedes discipulorum, et extergere linteo, quo erat praecinctus.

6 Venit ergo ad Simonem Petrum. Et dicit ei Petrus: Domine, tu mihi lavas pedes?

7 Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei: Quod ego facio, tu nescis modo: scies autem postea.

8 Dicit ei Petrus: Non lavabis mihi pedes in aeternum. Respondit ei Jesus: Si non lavero te, non habebis partem mecum.

9 Dicit ei Simon Petrus: Domine, non tantum pedes meos, sed et manus, et caput.

10 Dicit ei Jesus: Qui lotus est, non indiget nisi ut pedes lavet, sed est mundus totus. Et vos mundi estis, sed non omnes.

11 Sciebat enim quisnam esset qui traderet eum; propterea dixit: Non estis mundi omnes.

12 Postquam ergo lavit pedes eorum, et accepit vestimenta sua, cum recubuisset iterum, dixit eis: Scitis quid fecerim vobis?

13 Vos vocatis me Magister et Domine, et bene dicitis: sum etenim.

14 Si ergo ego lavi pedes vestros, Dominus et Magister, et vos debetis alter alterius lavare pedes.

15 Exemplum enim dedi vobis, ut quemadmodum ego feci vobis, ita et vos faciatis.

16 Amen, amen dico vobis: non est servus major domino suo: neque apostolus major est eo qui misit illum.

17 Si haec scitis, beati eritis si feceritis ea.

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31 Cum ergo exisset, dixit Jesus: Nunc clarificatus est Filius hominis, et Deus clarificatus est in eo.

32 Si Deus clarificatus est in eo, et Deus clarificabit eum in semetipso: et continuo clarificabit eum.

33 Filioli, adhuc modicum vobiscum sum. Quaeretis me; et sicut dixi Judaeis, quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire: et vobis dico modo.

34 Mandatum novum do vobis: ut diligatis invicem: sicut dilexi vos, ut et vos diligatis invicem.

35 In hoc cognoscent omnes quia discipuli mei estis, si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem.

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1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already decided[a] that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet,[b] but is entirely clean. And you[c] are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers[d] greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

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31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him,[a] God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the [people] so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”