How Is This Night Different? with Sonja Knutson

A strange greeting like “Happy Maundy Thursday” can sound like code, and we get it because church language can feel like trying to explain a sport nobody’s ever watched. So we slow down and tell the story in plain words: the night Jesus gathers friends for a Passover meal, then flips every expectation with a towel, a basin, and the kind of love you can’t control.

We walk through the Last Supper as more than a tradition. Foot washing becomes the shock that exposes our discomfort with vulnerability, especially when we’d rather serve than be served. Jesus tells Peter that this can’t be earned and it can’t be negotiated, it has to be received. Then comes the mandatum, the command that gives Maundy Thursday its name: love one another as I have loved you. That’s agape love, not sentimental, but chosen, self-giving, and defining for Christian discipleship.

From there, we connect the command to abiding in God’s love and to communion, where bread and wine become a visible promise of a new covenant. And we don’t keep it theoretical. We talk about “hard tables” where love feels risky: grief, divorce, depression, addiction, estrangement, and the people we’d rather avoid. The question that lingers is simple and unsettling: how will I be different because of this night?

If this helped you see Holy Week with fresh eyes, subscribe for more, share it with a friend who’s curious about Jesus, and leave a review so others can find the conversation. What’s one “hard table” you feel called to show up to with love this week?

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Transcript

Greetings And Church Inside Words

SPEAKER_00 0:00

My name is Sonia Knutsen. We all know Ryan can't help himself, right? Oh, I'm sorry. Just teasing. Happy Monday Thursday. What a strange greeting if you're not from a church or a Lutheran for that matter, right? Happy Monday Thursday. Who says stuff like that? But sometimes that is our inside language within the church, isn't it? We use words like Advent and Epiphany and Pentecost and Monday, Thursday, and Good Friday, which by the way wasn't so great as we'll find out tomorrow night, but something great came out of it. And explaining our holy holidays in the church can be difficult. Amen. It's like explaining a sport to someone who may not have any idea of what a sport might be. If you've never seen a sport or watched it or read about it, you might not know what it is. For example, ringette. How many of you ever heard of ringette before? One person, two, only because you know where I'm going with this, right? My son is dating a lovely lady. Her name is Brie from Canada. Hi, Brie. I think you're watching from Canada right now. And she, uh, when Connor told me about his new girlfriend, he was like giving me the hit list of why he likes her. Like she's pretty, she's smart, she's so kind, she loves Jesus, and she's a world champion ringette player. And I'm like, you won me at she loves Jesus. But okay, I'm intrigued about this ringette thing anyway. I'd never heard of this sport, but she's from Canada. So I assumed it's from Canada. It's a Canada thing to do. And I was asking him a little bit, like, what is this ringette game? And he really couldn't share much about it. So I'm like, okay, use your imagination. It probably uses a ring, right? It's in the name. And I don't know, she's from Canada. Maybe they throw rings at maple trees. Could be, right? I don't know. Maybe they play it at Tim Horton. That's her favorite restaurant up there. Maybe every time she makes a goal, she says, A, because again, isn't that what they do? So the first time we met Brie, I said, What is this ringette game that you're a world champion? She got a gold medal for this. That's pretty cool stuff. And she's like, Well, it's a mix of different sports. It's played on a sheet of ice. It's between hockey and basketball and lacrosse. And they use words like blue line and zones. And it's mostly played in Canada and Finland and Sweden and some of the United States. Like I said, it's played on a sheet of ice with a ring and a stick. That's her actually in the blue. So I'm like, cool. I know hockey. I can kind of wrap my head around this a little bit, but it's still a bit confusing, which got me thinking about the church and how we live in the church and how we explain church and Christianity and Jesus to other people. And I find myself searching for words to explain it, and it's confusing. And sometimes people have no idea what I'm talking about. Do you know how I feel? Have you been there with me before? Christianity and Jesus' life was full of moments that don't fit neatly into our understanding. Just think about the journey to the cross that we've been on during this Lenten season. It's filled with tension and misunderstanding and brokenness and hypocrisy as we move from the arrest to the trial and the mocking and the death and the resurrection. And when we try to explain our faith and the church and this guy named Jesus, we can feel like we're fumbling a little bit while the listener looks at us as if we're crazy, especially on a day like Monday, Thursday, a day that remembers a Passover meal shared over 2,000 years ago, before the arrest, before the cross, before the death and the resurrection. And it was a night that was supposed to be just a simple traditional Passover meal, but then something shifted and it became confusing and different. How was it different? Well, before we begin into dig into it a little bit, let's pray together. Father, as we've already prayed and thanked you for these first communicants, we thank you for the cedar meal and what they've experienced. And I pray this evening that it grows deeper in their hearts and in their mindsets of what this special meal is all about. As confusing, as different as it may be in taste and feel, it means something. It meant something to you this special night. As I share your words tonight about this special meal, this different meal, may we find ourselves receiving this meal at the end of the evening in a different way. May our hearts and our minds be open to what your plan is it for us in our lives. We love you, Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen. So how was this night different? It was supposed to be, as I said, a simple dinner among friends, Jesus and his disciples gathering together in an upper room, sharing this Jewish Passover meal and remembering the Exodus. It was supposed to be a familiar night filled with storytelling and roasted lamb and unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Nothing out of the ordinary was expected, but this night was different. Yes, they ate and they remembered how God had delivered them from slavery, but it was no longer just about remembering what God had done. It became a revelation of what God was doing right then and right there. This was the night when love showed up, not as an abstract idea, but as a living gift, a new commandment, a new covenant, and a new way to live through Him. And it began with the simple act of washing feet. Now, the act of washing feet was not uncommon in those days. They walked everywhere they went, they wore sandals, of course their feet got dirty, they were calloused and they were sore. So whether they were going into their own home or a guest home, it was common for them to sit with a basin and a bowl and wash their feet. And if they were a guest at someone's house, chances are a slave might wash their feet, especially if they were an honored guest, such as a rabbi like Jesus. So the disciples entered the upper room to share in this Passover meal, washing their feet would have been expected. But on this night, at this Passover meal, their master, Jesus, did the unthinkable and washed the feet of his disciples. Imagine the scene. He gets up from the table, he takes a towel, he kneels, and he begins to wash their feet one by one, taking on the act of a slave. How shocking for them, and how uncomfortable they must have felt as they question him and protested. And even Peter said, Lord, you will never, you will never wash my feet, because it felt wrong and backwards and undeserved. And if we're being honest, we understand where Peter stands in this. Letting someone serve you is an act of love, and receiving love like that is hard. Amen. Some of us would rather serve than be served. We'd rather give than receive. We'd rather earn love than be giving it freely. So to let someone kneel before you, to let someone serve you, to admit you need it requires vulnerability. And the disciples and Peter are feeling and exhibiting an angst about their rabbi doing this. Lord, you will never wash my feet. And Jesus' response to Peter is clear. He says, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. In other words, you cannot earn this, you must receive it. Then mind-blowingly instructed them to do the same. He said, Do you realize what I've done for you? You call me teacher and master rightly, and if I, the teacher, am washing your feet, then you should wash the feet of others. How is this night different? Well, first, he serves them, and he then tells them to do the same with others. They must have been stunned by this directive. Remember, they were of the understanding that Jesus was the Messiah, that he would come and overpower the Romans and return Israel to their independence. They were thinking of all the glory that was to come, not of bending low in humility and washing feet. All they knew was rulers of kingship was being flipped upside down. It's as if the coach took their playbook, held it up at the start of the game, and said, You thought you knew how to play this game? Think again. Their current reality no longer aligned with the rules previously followed, and he was instructing them to play a new way of life. And it came with a new command, a mandatum, which is a Latin word as Ryan said, meaning to command or order or commission. And in this mandatum, from that point on, it framed that night in all of his ministry work, and he shared his greatest commandment of a higher standard, a deeper call, a more costly love, which was to love one another as I have loved you. Not just love your neighbor as yourself, but love as I have loved you. It was a commandment that came from the Old Testament, and the disciples were familiar with it. They knew it. It was from the Leviticus teachings. And Jesus spoke of this often. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Don't live in vengeful thoughts. Don't try to get back at someone, but love your neighbor as yourself. And then Jesus takes it a step farther and he directs them love your neighbor as yourself and love them as I love you. And he shares that only through this type of love will the world recognize you as my disciples. It's not about power, Peter. It's not about strength, James and John, or wit, Matthew, but you will be known by your love, which is my love and agape love, the highest form of love, defined as unconditional and a choice rather than a feeling. Agape love that was originated from the Greek represents God's selfless love for humanity, prioritizing the well-being of others without expecting anything in return. I call it cupcake kind of love. This past weekend, my granddaughter came to stay with us. She's about three and a half years old, and she wanted to make cupcakes. And of course, I will let her do whatever she wants to do in Nana's house. So we made cupcakes, and halfway through the process, they're baked and she wants to frost them. Like, you can do that. So I put her up at the counter, gave her a toddler knife and a bowl of frosting, and I gave her six cupcakes, and I said, save one for later, and Nana will save one too, and we'll eat the cupcake when they're all done. She goes at it, and there was frosting flying everywhere. It was on the counter, it was on her fingers, it was on her face, and very little on the cupcakes, but much went into her mouth. My cupcakes, I have to say, were quite elegant. Martha Stewart would have been very proud of my cupcakes. Evenly frosted, sprinkles on top, a little bit of chocolate. And at the end, Kyrie and I took our cupcakes and we were going to box them up for our friends and our family and my friend who was having a birthday. And we were going to take these cupcakes to her. And I said, Did you keep your one cupcake out for yourself? Yep. There's her cupcake. Very little frosting, kind of cut up. And here's my beautiful Martha Stewart cupcake. I'm like, which one do you want? She looked at her cupcake. She looked at my cupcake. She looks at her cupcake and she's like, I want that one. Now I have to tell you, I love my sweets. I don't share very well. And if my husband had asked for that cupcake, I'd be like, no, sorry. That's yours. But for some reason, when Kaikai asked Nana for her cupcake, that agape love flows out of me. And not only did I want to share my perfect Martha Stewart cupcake with my deepest loved, but the joy that I felt watching her eat it was priceless. And this is the overflowing love that Jesus is talking about. The agape love, that share a cupcake kind of love. He didn't want their success. He didn't want their strength or their power to define them. He commanded them as his followers. He commanded them that their love would be what would be identifying them. How was this night different? A command was given to love as he loves. And with it he shared a pattern for how to live that out in John 15 that reads, As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now abide in my love and go. Be that love to others. Jesus reveals in this reading the source of his love was his relationship with God and Father. He says, I abide in his love. And in other words, he says he's living in constant perfect union with the Father. And through that connection, the Father's love then flows into him and remained within him as a living, divine power of love, a deep sacrificial love to be shared with all. And he then invites us into the same rhythm as we read in verse 9: abide in my love. He's saying, Stay connected to me. That's why I'm here. God sent me as an act of love, which is the reading that Serena shared earlier. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. That whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. This is agape love. It is self-giving, sacrificial, and for all. And anyone who knows this love, who trusts it and receives it, is given eternal life, not as a reward to be earned, but as a gift to be embraced and redeemed. And that is the love that he commands for us and goes on to symbolize it at the table, as he gave his love as a visible form through the bread and through the wine. And he said for all, This is my body. Take and eat, remember me, and remember the love that I have for you. And he lifted his wine and said, This is my blood given and shed for you. Remember me. Drink this and my love for you. And in that moment, this visible form of love became a new covenant that was revealed, not written in stone, but offered through fresh flesh and blood. How was this night different, Central? This night love showed up at a table where it was commanded that all, all who call themselves followers, receive this gift, and then they carry it into the world, to every table near and far, seen and unseen, which can be easy when you think about it, when your table is familiar, when your tables and your homes are filled with the people that you know and you love and your friends and your family and the people that you call your community. But this love is also meant for the more difficult tables, the ones where we're unsure of what to say or how to act, the ones that stretch us and make us uncomfortable, the tables where people feel invisible and unworthy or forgotten, the tables where the broken and the overlooked gather. Perhaps a table that you're aware of, that seats a neighbor that's going through a divorce, or a person that's struggling with depression or mental illness. Perhaps it's a table with someone that's battling addiction or a displaced family and they don't have anywhere to go, nowhere to live. Or maybe it's a person that you don't care for. Maybe it's someone that you haven't spoken to in years, or a family member that has offended you or hurt you in some way, and you think, I can't go to that table. I can't go to that place. I can't love on that person. But these, these are the places where the abiding agape love is meant to be shared. This is what this night calls us to do when we receive his body and his blood. And we are sent out to embody that same love in a world that can be cruel and calloused. Friends, choosing to bring love into places where it's absent or sitting with a stranger and treating them with dignity or reconnecting with someone you don't think deserves your love, as hard as it is, that reflects the love of Jesus, a love that moves from the table to the floor to wash our feet and serve us, and ultimately to the cross. It's very love, is affirming in John's words, as I have done for you, you should also do. It's a different way to live, especially in a world that values dominance and control, self and power. It was different for the disciples as well. They expected glory and victory and authority from Jesus, and they were met instead with a towel and humility. Was this night different? Without question, yes. And while it's important to understand the why of our faith, perhaps there's a deeper question to ask as we walk through the rest of this holy week and beyond Resurrection Sunday. Maybe instead of asking, how was this night different, we should be asking ourselves, how will I be different because of this night? A night when love showed up? Will I receive that love even when it feels uncomfortable? Will I carry that love into a world that only in words, but in actions? Will I exchange pride and humility, power for service and fear for love? Central on this Monday, Thursday, this sacred and mysterious and very different holiday that shapes who we are called to be as his followers. When you come to this table tonight, whether it's your first time as a first communicant, or maybe you've been here hundreds of times, how will you receive this gift of love? What do you need to lay down so your heart can be open? Who do you need to forgive so your spirit can be clean? What do you need to place in his hand so you can live in the freedom he secured for you on that cross? Whatever it may be, leave it at the foot of the cross today. It's time to be renewed, it's time to be set free, and it's time to share his agape love with this world. Amen.