Maundy Thursday, the Doy of Commandment (Dies Mandate), most properly refers to the example of service given us by our Lord and the directive to love as we have been loved (John 13:34) Yet we must not forget the command given in the Words of Our Lord to “do this in remembrance of Me.” This day, with its commemoration of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, is set off from the rest of Holy Week as a day of festive joy.

The door posts and lintels of our hearts are smeared with the blood of the Passover Lamb, who was offered for us. The Passover in Egypt foreshadowed the complete salvation that was accomplished by the death of Jesus, the perfect Passover Lamb, who was able to be both victim and priest in one person (Heb 5: 1-10). Today we stand on the verge of the commemoration of the passing over of death, all wrapped up in the Triduum, the Three Days, which concludes with the Paschal Feast. The Passover’s sacrifice needs never again to be repeated (1 Pet 3:18). The sacrifice of Christ fulfilled what was promised in those old slaughters.

Our hearts have been set free from the fear of death because the blood of the Passover Lamb has been smeared upon the doorposts and lintels of our hearts. The blood that once was offered will be received this night when we drink of the cup of the testament. Our lips will by hyssop-spattered with the sign of His mercy toward us ( Ex 12:22). Death no longer appalls us. Its slavery no longer enthralls us. The Lamb who is “the firstborn of all creation” (Colo 1:15) offers Himself for every other so that His body might be received in the feast of His Supper. These signs are for our comfort God has no need of them. He knows those who are His. He gives them to us in the Supper so that we might know who we are, sprinkled and marked by the blood of the Lamb. The blood sets us free. ‘The blood of the Passover, sprinkled on each man’s doorposts and lintel, delivered those who were saved as Egypt, when the firstborn of the Egyptians were destroyed. For the Passover was Christ, who was afterwards sacrificed, as also Isaiah said, ‘Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter’ (Is 53:7). It is written that on the the day of the Passover you seized Him, and that also during the Passover you crucified Him (Jn 18:39). As the blood of the Passover saved those who were in Egypt, so also the blood of Christ will deliver from death those who have believed. Would God have been deceived if this sign had not been above the doors? Of course not, but I affirm that He announced in advance the future salvation for the human race through the blood of Christ.” (Justin Martyr, Dialogue, III )