Tonight is Maundy Thursday, a powerful night of remembrance. I came once more to a belief in God after a Maundy Thursday service, and I’ve tried writing about that several times, but have never been able to capture the moment.

I suppose it’s the story we’ll tell again tonight. Jesus is with his disciples in a borrowed room during the time of Passover, sharing the traditional meal. Jesus knew the time was near for His death. Jesus knew that that Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him. John 13: 3-5

Jesus knew He would be betrayed; this becomes clear later in the passage. He knew it was Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, who would betray Him. Jesus told Judas to do what he was going to do, and to do it quickly.

Jesus washed the feet of the man who would betray Him. Jesus washed the feet of Peter, too, who would deny Him later that night.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, “we are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous and free..” (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 133). Don’t you want that? I know I want that, to be happy, joyous and free.

Being that free must rest with a trust in God that will surpass any circumstance, a trust in God that surpasses any understanding I have — but I want that understanding; I want that peace, I want that mind stayed on God.

Jesus had a trust that was beyond the circumstances, and faced the coming ordeal by serving those He loved.

Jesus loved Judas, offering him a choice part of the meal before calling him out, washing his feet before then.

Maundy Thursday is a night to remember betrayals, and to remember that we don’t deny them, ignore them, bury them, but we face them and we love through them. We pray for the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. We pray that our minds may rest in peace, because our minds are stayed on God.