Mandatum
20 March 2008
In the Christian liturgical tradition, today is Maundy Thursday. The term itself has its roots in the Latin mandatum, or command, and is mnemonically connected to Jesus’ last command to his disciples: To love one another.
In reviewing the last 2000 years of church history, it seems that we really still have not grasped what this means. Christianity is supposed to be defined by how we love one another, both other Christians and those outside of the Christian circle. We have a checkered history, to say the least, and I daresay that the group that has suffered most from our inability to live by the mandate of Maundy Thursday is “those” Christians, whoever “they” are. We are quick to judge and exclude Christians who minimize doctrine and belief and emphasize justice and ethics. We are quick to judge and exclude Christians who do just the opposite, who maximize doctrine and biblicism and personal morality and minimize justice and ethics. We are quick to judge and exclude those who pay scrupulous attention to tradition and ritual, who yet seem lax over study or knowledge of the Scriptures. We condemn those whose personal morality differs from ours, whose sense of ethics place more value on saving the planet than saving souls, whose politics fail to cohere (we think) with biblical principles.
We condemn those who we think condemn us.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
We don’t deserve it.
Entry Filed under: Religion. .
5 Comments Add your own
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
1.
Ken | 20 March 2008 at 6:25 pm
Indeed, it is mercy we need.
I see that connection of love of neighbor with mercy in Leviticus 19:18.
We do need each other’s love.
I heard someone say, “we are the most cruel towards the people who are most like us.” In my experience, churches have been dangerous places - full of cruelty. I never encountered hatred worse than I saw at seminary.
I am wondering why you say, “Christianity is supposed to be defined by how we love one another.” Are you thinking of something in particular in a gospel or writing, or of something in church teachings? I have heard others say the same thing, but I don’t know the history of the expression.
I guess I doubt that there is an answer to the question, “How is Christianity supposed to be defined?” Some see it in terms of mercy, others in terms of justice, some in terms of promise and others in terms of ethics.
2.
jakeb | 21 March 2008 at 12:16 pm
We’re sharing Easter dinner with a local evangelical missionary couple and their son, along with a couple who have no particular religious faith and their daughter.
It seems to me that loving one another should look like a reaching out in all directions toward “the other,” who are dear to us. We fail, we try again, we fail, we try again…
As W. Brueggemann prays, “Lord, Easter us.”
3.
Benedict | 21 March 2008 at 5:43 pm
What about reaching out to “the other”s who are NOT especially dear to us?
4.
jakeb | 23 March 2008 at 11:51 am
Well, you gotta start somewhere. Guess I’m practicing.
5.
Benedict | 23 March 2008 at 7:30 pm
Amen to that, brother.