To Follow Him HOLY THURSDAY 17th April 2025

 2025  04  17  Maundy/ Holy Thursday

 

Psalm 116 tells us;  “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD”.   The words in the original language convey a deliberate and zealous taking up of the cup.  This is a psalm of David, and he is talking about a specific cup that is drunk from during the festival of Passover.  When the Jewish people celebrate this feast, they retell the story of God saving them from the Angel of death when they were in the land of Egypt, where they lived as slaves.

 

In that story, a lamb was sacrificed and it’s blood was painted over the doorway.  Those from that house were kept in safety that night, but those who didn’t partake awoke to find the first born male of every house hold was dead.  The Jewish people were quite literally saved by the blood of the lamb.

 

After this event, we know that Pharoah, let the people go into the desert…. Although he changed his mind again after they had set out, and the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites.  God parted the sea so that the Israelites could cross on dry land.  The Egyptians began to follow them, but the sea came back, and they were drowned.

 

This event is remembered by the Israelites and commemorated each year as a feast called Passover.  unleavened bread is used, along with lamb, bitter herbs and salty water.  All are part of the telling of the story.  There are also multiple cups of red wine, consumed at various times in the meal with varying remembrances.  Something that really stood out to me, when I celebrated a Christian version of this, was that during the ceremony the finger is dipped into one of the cups (probably the 2^nd cup) and drops of wine are placed onto the plate.  This is to signify each of the plagues that God sent because Pharoah would not let the people go, but in doing so, from the cup of wine, also symbolically shows that the cups are less full, and the victor’s joy is less because salvation came at a cost of great pain to the Egyptians.

 

Jesus was taking part in this ceremony with his friends on Holy Thursday.  As I mentioned, there are multiple cups of wine that are used.  They are associated with God’s promises from Exodus chapter six, verses six and seven.  Firstly, there is the cup of Sanctification, which is associated with the promise; “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”  It might help to understand that sanctification means to set apart.  The second cup is the cup of Deliverance, which is associated with the promise; “I will rescue you from their bondage.”  The third is the Cup of Redemption, also known as the cup of Salvation, with the promise; “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.”  And the fourth cup is the Cup of Praise; also known as the cup of consummation.  Associated with the promise; “I will take you as My people.”

 

In our Psalm, we read about the cup of Salvation.  This is the third cup, and it is this cup that we believe Jesus took up, as he said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

 

Jesus had already taken bread, broken it and declared; "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."  The meal and the remembrance served as a prophetic sign declaring the salvation that God would bring.  Every Israelite knew that God had promised a Messiah to come.   John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world.  You know, in our modern society, and to those not brought up in the church, this must seem very odd indeed. 

 

We have a society that doesn’t like the idea that we have sins to be taken away.  We have a society that declares all our sin to be “not sin”.  More and more, the laws of the land are changed so that no one is really guilty.  And even when people are found guilty, many will declare them a victim of circumstance.   It is true, to some extent – we are victims of circumstance, and there but for the grace of God go I, however, you don’t have to look too hard to know that our society is more messed up than ever.  The more our culture moves away from Christian and Godly values, the more confused and lost people become, and the more depression and mental illness abound.

 

God would not send his only beloved son to die on a cross if it wasn’t the ONLY way that we could be redeemed and brought back into a right relationship with God.

 

We are told how this all began in the garden of Eden; mankind decided they wanted to be their own God.  That was the essence of the fall.  It was a selfishness that put themselves as the “top dog”, and the desire to be “More”, and to be equal with God.  It was our selves becoming our own God.  It was something that impacted not just the physical, but also the spiritual.  Death was the price for sin.  Not just physical death, but eternal and spiritual death.

 

Jesus lived as perfect human was intended, in submission to the God the father and as a servant leader.  Being a servant and giving ourselves for the good of another does not make us less.  Servant leadership is powerful…. How do we know?  Because Jesus, through unselfish giving and pouring himself out for others, brought about the salvation/ redemption of the world.  Jesus was without sin and therefore, the perfect lamb of God, who saves us all from the eternal death.  Yes, will still physically die, but spiritually, we live because we live in, and declare our allegiance with Christ – and we declare that allegiance each time we take communion.  In that allegiance we declare our submission to God the father.

 

Tonight, as we partake in the Easter Triduum, we are reminded how the greatest and most powerful of us all, came to serve.  He took up the cup of salvation and become our hope.  He gives us his life, brings us salvation and calls us to follow him.