MAUNDY
THURSDAY Year A April 9, 2020
Today begins the Easter Triduum. Basically this is about the story of Easter
in three parts – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the resurrection ( there are a
few services for the resurrect with differences depending on time they are
held, but essentially, my belief is that the story is best told as a vigil that
ends with the rising of the Sun on the day of resurrection). These three days are a solemn time of prayer…
a time most, most holy.
It just so happens that today is also the 2nd day
of the Jewish feast of Passover and this is no coincidence. It was the traditional feast of Passover which
Jesus was celebrating with his followers on the night that he was
betrayed. Almost ironic really, that on
the holy time when the Jewish people were celebrating their deliverance, Jesus
was betrayed, taken into custody and sentenced to death. But we should know that none of this was
actually ironic or coincidental – it was all part of the plan and typical of the
way that God re-enforces his message of salvation.
Our first reading tells us about the first Passover and how
God commanded that the Israelites continue to commemorate it each year. It was such an important part of their
history that they were to mark this month as the first month of the year for
them – the month of preeminent importance.
Passover was the incredible story of God’s deliverance. Never, in the history of any nation, had there
been anything like this. Plagues came
upon Egypt and then they stopped when Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelite slave
nation go. But as soon as the plagues
had stopped then Pharaoh changed his mind and refused to allow the slave nation
to go. So God sent another plague… and
the same thing happened. This happened
over and over until the final plague; the death of the first born.
“For I will pass through the land
of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of
Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where
you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall
destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”
The Israelites were to eat a lamb, and place the blood on the
door posts of their house. They were
then protected by the blood of the lamb.
When the angel of death came, the houses with the blood were passed over. If we don’t understand or know this, much of
the understanding of Jesus dying for us will be a complete mystery and make no
sense.
Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God. It is not a random title given to him, but
was prophesied from the beginning of the Bible in Genesis where Abraham tells
his son, Isaac, “God himself will provide the lamb”. That story was told many generations before
the Passover in Egypt and many, many generations before Jesus was born. The prophet Isaiah also speaks of the
promised messiah as being a suffering servant who is like a lamb to be
slain. John the Baptist, when Jesus
appears before him, declares, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world.”
As the Israelite people continued to celebrate their Passover,
they remembered the story of how the blood of the lamb caused them to be saved
and they remembered how they were a nation in slavery who were set free by the phenomenal
and indisputable hand of God. The
reputation of these events caused fear in the hearts of the nations around them
for many years beyond their freedom, the forty years in the desert, and when
they entered their promised land. The
nations had heard of the miracles of God, and feared Israel whose God delivered
them from the great nation of Egypt.
The celebration of Passover was a reminder of God’s
deliverance and it was also a prophetic sign of God’s deliverance yet to come
and this was a part of the remembrance…. Remembering that God was promising to
send a Messiah who would deliver them. That
prophecy was being fulfilled on that night of the fateful last supper.
In the ceremony of the Passover, the leader has four cups. One is the cup of sanctification. The second is the cup of deliverance or
salvation, the third is redemption and the fourth is the cup of thanksgiving
and hope. One Jewish site explains it
this way; “1. "I will take you out…" 2. "I will save you…"
3. "I will redeem you…" 4. "I will take you as a nation…"”
(https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/658520/jewish/What-is-the-significance-of-the-four-cups.htm ). Actually,
every site I research explains the four cups a little differently, with
different words but they are similar words to express the way that God saved,
delivered & redeemed his people…. In our Psalm the psalmist proclaims that
he will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. Drinking from the cup came to symbolize a commitment
and a willing partaking in all that was associated with it. It was an acknowledgement that the partakers
claimed this story as their own experience.
When Jesus added his words, “Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is
poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”, he is most likely offering
the third cup in the Jewish Passover feast, the cup of redemption.
My research has revealed that there was an ancient Hebrew
tradition where if a man who wanted to marry a woman, he would propose by
pouring himself a cup of wine. He then offered
her to drink from his cup. If she did
so, it signified her commitment and willingness to partake in his life.
The Passover cups, for the Jewish people, were not just about
the past but also a commitment to be a willing party in the rest of the story
that God had in store. Most important
was that last cup, because the last cup is about the coming of the Messiah. It is likely that what we retell over one cup
in our Christian services, was actually broken up and proclaimed bit by bit by
Jesus and explained over the four cups in the actual last supper.
It is most important for us to understand that partaking in
the cup is a sign of our commitment to partake in the life of Christ.
At the beginning of the Passover there was a ceremonial
washing, and Jesus began to announce a new dimension to the ceremony right
there at the start and we read this in our Gospel where Jesus washes the feet
of the disciples.
Jesus teaches his followers one most important aspect about
leadership, which the Pharisees and religious leaders didn’t understand about
the heart of God. He teaches them that
they, who are to lead, are to be the servants.
Leadership was to be sacrificial.
It was the way that Jesus led and he calls his followers to do the
same. Unfortunately, we still have
trouble with this, as it goes completely against our human nature.
The ceremonial washing is symbolic of being purified from
sin. Usually it is about washing hands,
yet instead of allowing each to wash their own hands, Jesus washes the feet of
his followers. It is a radical sign that
once again strives to show that Jesus is the one who purifies us… and not just
superficially, but sacrificially, in humility and completely. Remember he tells Peter, “Unless I wash you,
you have no share with me."
In our Anglo Saxon society we have become very binary and
logical in our way of understanding life and this pervades the way we
understand our faith also, but Jesus spoke in parables and used actions that
were prophetic and meaningful in a way that needs us to think in a different
way and understand the emotion and images that convey meaning. Jesus washed Peter’s feet and there were two
meanings; one was that Jesus would be the one who purifies, the other was that,
as leaders the disciples needed to understand that they were to lead
sacrificially as servants to those they would lead.
And here is one more aspect that I believe is important;
Judas was at that meal. Judas was one of
them and even though Jesus knew what Judas was doing, Jesus washed Judas feet.
I might let you pause for a second and ponder all the
implications of that.
Judas drank from the cup.
He made the commitment along with all the others. He was purified by Jesus along with all the
others. There are many things we could
guess about Judas…. But what we know is that Jesus included and loved and died
for Judas even though he had full knowledge of what was about to take place.
That, my friends, is epic.
Where are we in this picture?
Do we see ourselves as Peter – confidently Jesus’ right hand
person? Have you ever considered that
you could be Judas? The one who thought
a little gain wouldn’t hurt…. After all he’d seen Jesus slip away from the
authorities miraculously before and this might finally force Jesus to reveal
himself as the Messiah, finally showing himself to the world. In other words, what I’m asking is, have you
ever thought you were doing something that would be good in the long run even
if it meant compromising in some area?
It is possible that, in Judas mind, this is all that he was doing?
Or maybe, you have actually betrayed a friend. No doubt you regretted it after. So did Judas.
Jesus washed Judas feet.
Jesus offered the cup of salvation to Judas.
Deliverance, Salvation, Redemption and the promise of
eternity…. These are offered to us
all. The question is; will you drink the
cup?
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