I took communion before I understood what it meant.
To be fair, the more I’ve studied the tradition, the more mystical it becomes, and I’m not sure I’ll ever really understand the wine and bread. However, as a little kid in church, when we had communion, my mom allowed me to partake. She told me the basics, as the pastor did when taking it, but the little cracker and grape juice didn’t mean much to me at the time. My mom also warned me to not spill the red liquid on the carpet. I remember being more cognizant of that than anything.
Different denominations have their own beliefs and perspectives on communion. Yet the Bible clearly teaches us to participate in it, and the gospel writers detail the tradition which began when Jesus sat with his disciples for Passover dinner the night before his death and revealed a new covenant. This day has become known as Holy or Maundy Thursday.
What Is Holy Thursday?
Holy Thursday, also called Maundy Thursday, remembers the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, the night before his crucifixion. The word Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum, meaning “command.” Tradition refers to Jesus’ command, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)
According to the three gospels, Holy Thursday includes several events. Jesus gathered with his disciples to celebrate Passover, what we often call the Last Supper. He washes the disciples’ feet. During the meal, Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper, or communion, with bread and wine. Jesus predicts Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial. After the supper, Jesus leads them to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed through great agony. Finally, Judas arrives, betraying him with a kiss, leading to Jesus’ arrest by soldiers.
The early church started to remember this day through a meal and Scripture readings. The first-century believers were largely Jewish, so they likely celebrated Passover while observing Jesus’ command to partake in wine and bread as his institution of the new covenant. Over the next few decades, a major shift took place. The church became more Gentile, almost exclusively by the third century. Even non-Jews would remember Thursday since Jesus clearly commanded communion. By the fourth century, Maundy Thursday was a formal part of the Holy Week liturgy. Churches would wash feet and have communion. In some traditions, the day also included consecration oils for baptism and anointing. The Eucharist (bread and wine) gave Maundy Thursday special meaning.
What Happened on Maundy Thursday?
All four gospels record the events of the day, and each provides slightly different details to give a complete picture.
Jesus started the day by instructing Peter and John to prepare the Passover meal. They found a furnished and prepared upper room in Jerusalem, just like Jesus instructed and predicted. That evening, he gathered with his twelve apostles for the Passover, the Jewish feast remembering God’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery.
The Passover meal traditionally includes a washing ceremony before eating. Likely at this point, Christ stripped down and washed their feet, teaching them how leadership in the Kingdom of God would be by service and self-sacrifice.
They sat down to eat, and Jesus revealed how one of his closest followers, one of the twelve, would betray him. Shocked, the disciples responded with confusion, asking, “Is it I?” Jesus served Judas some bread and identified him as the traitor, even though the others didn’t comprehend it at the time. Judas ran out to betray him.
At the supper, Jesus reinterpreted the Passover, which included bread and wine as staples. He took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) Then he took the cup and said, “This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20) Jesus becomes the sacrificial lamb of the Passover but of a new covenant, his blood saving believers from death. Jesus commanded them to have the bread and wine as a symbol of himself, which instituted communion, a central Christian practice.
John’s gospel records a long teaching by Jesus, a type of “last words” moment. He spoke of the Holy Spirit, their coming trials, and his promised return. Christ prayed for his disciples and all future believers, asking the Father to make them one, even as the Trinity is one.
Finally, Jesus led the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, Jesus struggled with a different will than his Father. Jesus the human didn’t want to endure the coming agony, humiliation, and separation from God, but he submitted to the Father’s will, saying, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
Judas arrives late at night, and identifies Jesus with a kiss, a horrible betrayal. The Temple soldiers with Judas arrest Jesus and take him to be interviewed by the council, eventually leading to his execution.
What Is the Christian Significance of the Last Supper?
The final meal of Jesus with his disciples was more than a farewell but an amazing revelation of his mission, which included those at the table and us today.
For the Jews, on the night of the first Passover, each Hebrew family in Egypt sacrificed a spotless lamb and spread the blood on the doorpost. God released the angel of death over Egypt to kill the firstborn of every family. The blood on the doorpost would mean the angel would “pass over” their home. While great sorrow and crying happened throughout Egypt as a judgment for their treatment of God’s people, Israel was saved. As Israel traveled, free from Egypt, God commanded them to remember the Passover in a festival.
This festival endured, marking Israel’s identity as a delivered people. The Mosaic Law required Jews to travel to the Temple during Passover, as a collective celebration and memory.
Therefore, Jesus came to Jerusalem, despite how dangerous the disciples thought it was. Christ celebrated the Passover with his disciples on Thursday. However, during the meal, he revealed an additional and deeper meaning. The unleavened bread was his body to be broken for them. The wine was now his blood to be shed for them. This doesn’t dismiss the original meaning, but it reveals a greater meaning, God’s plan from the beginning. Jesus declared how his death would be the ultimate sacrifice, the true Passover Lamb, and would bring in a greater covenant, the new covenant spoken about in Jeremiah 33:31-34.
The new covenant would not be written on stone but on hearts. The very nature of a believer in this covenant would be changed. Through the Spirit, Christians are given a new nature, a divine nature, able to follow and obey God. The new covenant offers eternal forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and inner transformation resulting in outward obedience. The old covenant required sacrifices made repeatedly. As an eternal, sinless person, Jesus’ sacrifice would be once for all.
Christians remember and participate in the new covenant through Communion, also called the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist. Some observe it weekly, others monthly, quarterly, or even annually. However, all believers observe it to remember Christ’s death, his body and blood, and his resurrection. Through the bread and cup, Christians proclaim the ultimate sacrifice and examine their own hearts to renew commitment to God alone. The apostle Paul writes, “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26)
How Do Different Denominations Observe Maundy Thursday?
Roman Catholics mark Maundy Thursday with a somber evening called the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The liturgy includes washing feet, symbolizing Jesus’ teaching on humility and service (John 13). The priest might wash the feet of twelve parishioners to reenact this moment. The Mass focuses on instating the Eucharist, the priesthood, and Christ’s command to love later that night. After Communion, the sacrament is removed from the altar, which is stripped bare for Good Friday.
The Eastern Orthodox churches have several services on Holy Thursday. In the morning, they have a Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, combining it with Vespers to remember the Last Supper. In many Orthodox fellowships, the congregation gathers once more in the evening to read the Twelve Passion Gospels, which share the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. Foot washing happens in a few monasteries and cathedrals but remains rare in the Orthodox tradition.
Anglicans, Lutherans, and Episcopalians follow similar traditions to the Catholic church—a Eucharistic service including foot washing and stripping of the altar. The service might end in a silent procession and prayer called the Altar of Repose, where believers reflect on Jesus’ time in Gethsemane.
Reformed and evangelicals vary in their observance of the day. Many don’t have a special gathering on Thursday, but a few might have a communion service to remember Christ’s sacrifice. Different evangelical churches have individual traditions, often observing the Lord’s Supper on Good Friday instead of having a separate time on Thursday.
How Does Holy Thursday Prepare Us for the Cross?
At the Last Supper, Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for the chaos and struggle to come. He identified the necessity of the cross and his death to accomplish a great joy, the salvation of many people over hundreds of years. His willing self-sacrifice would have a forever impact, a real event in history with eternal implications. Jesus even promised to return. Unfortunately, the disciples didn’t fully understand until later. But they would.
The account in the Garden of Gethsemane becomes a pivotal moment for Jesus and us. The full weight of the approaching cross came to bear upon him, spiritually and emotionally, and he had to willingly choose it. He sweat drops of blood in his emotional agony. Showing his humanity, he had to submit his will to the Father. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) Jesus might have looked like a victim on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but he clearly chose it willingly. Able to call upon angels to save him, he instead trusted the Father’s plan. He endured the cross for the joy set before him (Hebrews 12:2). Our redemption and reconciliation to God is that joy.
The first man, Adam, disobeyed in a garden, a selfish act, and sin entered the world. In a fascinating twist, Jesus obeys in a garden, and his obedience unto self-sacrifice led to salvation and deliverance entering the world.
This moment prepares us to follow Jesus. First, as a perfect man, Jesus had a will contrary to his Father. We must remember it’s not a sin to have a different will than God’s. However, like Christ, we have the Spirit to help us submit to the Father’s plan. We must also willingly give up our life to truly find it (John 12:25). We can’t do this in our own strength; we require the power of God to do so. Through faith, we look beyond the temporary cost to see the eternal joy of knowing God and serving others.
Jesus calls us to take up our own cross daily (Luke 9:23), a path of discipleship, obedience, and self-denial. But this isn’t blind duty but choosing love like Jesus did. We can trust that the Father’s will, though sometimes difficult, will lead to greater life in ourselves and others.
Reflecting on Maundy Thursday, Jesus invites us to make the same choice he did. We choose the cross. Not because it’s easy but because it leads to joy no one can take from us, a joy that endures forever. Beyond the suffering lies resurrection. Holy Thursday calls us to walk with courage and to trust in the joy set before us, too.
Peace.
Read More about Maundy Thursday:
What Is Maundy Thursday?
Bible Verses About Communion and the Lord's Supper
Why Did Jesus Wash the Disciples Feet At Passover?
What Happened Judas Bible Story Last Supper?
When Was the Last Supper?
Why Don’t Christians Celebrate Passover If Jesus Did?
What Is the Biblical Origin of The Seder Meal?
20 Maundy Thursday Prayers
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