Maundy Thursday Reckoning (Lent 38, 2025)

Jesus is gone.  The two men from the Road to Emmaus are alone with the awareness that they’d been with Jesus all along.  He’s left them now.

Let’s get some context.  For the disciples, it hasn’t even been 24 hours since the tomb was discovered empty.  Three days since He was crucified. Four, since the Last Supper with the “new” command to love one another as Christ loves us, as we commemorate today as Maundy Thursday on our Holy Week calendar. 

It was a lot to process in such a short time.

Interestingly it’s not always our head knowledge that is the problem, it’s the context, the expectations, and the ways we are trying make the puzzle pieces fit OUR ideas.  Making the Cross of Christ fit, submitting to God’s way when we have our own expectations, it’s hard to resolve so long as we hold tightly to our ideas.

The two men on the Road to Emmaus now understood that all their reasoning and confusion were resolved only by hearing from Jesus Himself, and importantly, that what had happened—though utterly confusing and shocking—was precisely The Way it Had to Be.

In the Garden of Gethsemane,
Jesus prayed and asked the Father if there was any other way.
(Matthew 26:39-42)

There was not.

Principle: Jesus’ death was the only way to conquer sin and death.

Questions for further thought:

Why wouldn’t half-measures of being a good person or trying hard to be spiritual and righteous be enough?

Once impurity (as is sin) destroys what was once pure, can purity ever be truly attained, not near zero, but actually zero (as in it never was impure at all)?

Christians often get derided for the term born-again.  How is this term the best descriptor for complete forgiveness in Christ Jesus?  Is it our righteousness we bear or His?

Prayer:   Lord Jesus, thank You that You didn’t leave the task partly finished so that the rest of the burden of forgiveness with the Father would fall on us. Thank You for the remembrance of Maundy Thursday and Your command to “Love one another” as You have loved us.  May we put aside our disagreements and our hatred of our fellow man and do what You told us to do.  What You commanded us to do.  Love one another.  If we’re going to claim to follow You.  Strengthen us for this moment when things are difficult.  For Your glory. Amen.

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Lent began Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, and will continue until Resurrection Sunday, Easter (April 20, 2025). I hope you’ll join me and be prepared to have your eyes opened. I know mine have been in writing this series, “The Way it Had to Be.”

The author gratefully acknowledges Grok XI for assisting with this year’s pictures.
Technology can be amazing.

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2025 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

“Seeing His Love with New Eyes” was the topic for 2024 and it explored looking at God’s love beyond the superficial and trite notions of love. They are archived beginning February 14, 2024.

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.

A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 

Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 

ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.

Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.

Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.

Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.

Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.

The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.

Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.

“Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.