On this April Fool’s Day and Maundy Thursday, I’m reflecting on how we are foolish and forgiven.

It’s a fool’s day today: a day for pranks and a few laughs. The classic prank in our house—not creative at all—was to pretend a creepy spider was crawling on someone’s shoulder or back. “Don’t move,” I’d whisper. “It’s a big one . . . ” Then slowly, ever so slowly, I’d stretch out my hand to brush the big hairy thing away. 

Then, in my best dramatic piece de la resistance, I’d recoil in horror—my eyes growing bigger and bigger—as if the spider were too untouchable. “I can’t!” which usually elicited a quick. moment of squealing and then, eventually, “April fools!” followed by, “Oh, mom!” And because I love them, it was always followed by a hug.

I’m pretty sure I learned that prank from one of my big brothers.

Today, I skipped the whole prank thing because it also happens to be Maundy Thursday.

It’s a fool’s day and a holy day.

They actually go together quite well.

April Fool’s Day is mostly about laughter. Everyone has a chance to play, to trick someone, to play a prank, and to be pranked. To be the fool. And then to laugh. To trick someone else. And then to laugh. Remember the royal court jesters, a.k.a. the fools? Their job was to make the king and queen laugh. These were usually smart comedians who knew exactly how to set up a routine for a good belly laugh. At times, however, they became the joke. Others laughed at them instead of with them.

Nobody wants to be that kind of fool.

Nor do I want to be the kind of fool St. Paul describes: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:22-23).

Yet every single day, I am that fool.

Every single day, I grasp for creeping things like self-sufficiency, beauty, and applause instead of clinging to the glory of my immortal God. To further compound the whole mess, I claim to be righteous, wise, holy.

Without really trying, I trick myself. I trick others. Every day becomes a fool’s day.

So here we are today. Maundy Thursday. Holy Thursday.

If you aren’t in a traditional liturgical faith tradition, this name may be unfamiliar. Here’s a mini-lesson. Maundy is derived from the Latin word mandate which means commandment, based on John 13:34 where at the Passover Meal after Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, He says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

For many, this is a day to remember and celebrate the Last Supper where Jesus gathered in the Upper Room with His disciples for the final meal. This is, according to many, a day of joy. In the midst of what we often think of as a somber time—Lent and Holy Week—we are invited to celebrate these gifts—the Lord’s Supper—and the One who gives us all good gifts.

Foolish and Forgiven

Yet I am ever the fool, the trickster, the player. Foolish.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:23-24

Yeah, that little word all is troubling. Me? You? Yeah. All of us. Fools. But then there’s a few more words that pack a punch: justified by His grace.

Done. Because He loves us.

It’s not a trick or a prank. God won’t knock on the door of your heart and say, “Oops. Sorry! Just kidding. I didn’t really mean it when I sent my Son to die for you.”

As we follow in the Lord’s footsteps from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane and then to Calvary and the cross and the empty tomb this weekend, we will see His gift for all us fools.

Foolish and forgiven.

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