Maundy Thursday

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable to thee, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, and Lord, give us here today, eyes to see and ears to hear so we can learn your word together as a family. We offer you all the praise, honor, and Glory for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good evening, my fellow encouragers! Tonight, we remember the events that occurred the last night of our Savior’s life. On that Thursday, the disciples gathered in someone’s home. We’re unsure whose home it was, but we know it had a furnished second floor. Tradition, though, says it was the house of John Mark’s mother, John Mark being the author of St. Mark’s Gospel.

In chapter 23 of St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus mysteriously sends St. Peter and St. John to arrange a place for the disciples to share in the Passover meal. Instead of sending them to the house of John Mark’s mother, who would be known to them, St. Luke tells us,

Jesus sent Peter and John off, saying, “Go prepare the Passover for us so we can eat it together.” They said, “Where do you want us to do this?” He said, “Keep your eyes open as you enter the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him home. Then speak with the house owner: The Teacher wants to know, ‘Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will show you a spacious second-story room, swept and ready. Prepare the meal there.” (Luke 23:8-12 msg)

Why would Jesus need to employ all this “cloak and dagger?” To my reasoning and knowing that earlier in chapter 22, St. Luke tells us that Satan entered Judas’ heart, had Jesus said, “Go to Mary’s house, the mother of Mark,” Judas would have informed the High Priest. Jesus would have been arrested before the Last Supper had occurred and before the Prayer time in Gethsemane.

I believe Jesus prearranged for the man carrying a jug to be there. When Jesus sent Peter and John, none of the disciples knew where the Last Supper would be held. Here, like on Palm Sunday, where a code word was used to borrow the donkey, the man with a jug who leads the disciples to the furnished room shows me that Jesus is very much in control of Holy Week—a Holy Week that was meticulously planned.

So, on Maundy Thursday, we remember the Last Supper. Though the Seder meal is one of the highlights of the Jewish Passover Celebrations, it was most definitely part of Jesus’s plan for Holy Week. The Passover festival was ingrained in the life of the Jewish nation. It commemorated the time when the Jews were in slavery in Egypt.

You may recall the story of the Exodus, where Moses warned Pharaoh to let his people go, but Pharaoh refused. So, God sent one plague after another. Pharaoh wasn’t moved until God sent the tenth and final plague, known as the death of the firstborns in Egypt. Yet this death passed over the homes of the Jews in Goshen. And so, God ordered the feast of Passover as a commemoration of the Jewish nation’s deliverance.

The meal itself was a symbolic one, reminding the Jews of the sufferings of their forefathers and the power of God’s deliverance. The foods that were eaten were symbols to remind the Jews of their captivity in Egypt.

The main course was Lamb. The Hebrew word ‘Pesach’ means Passover and symbolically applies to the Lamb of sacrifice, whose blood was placed on the two side and upper doorposts. We light the Paschal candle on Easter.

There was also unleavened bread or (Matzoh) called “bread of affliction” because it recalls the unleavened bread prepared for the hasty flight by night from Egypt.

Also served were bitter herbs or (Moror) as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery and suffering in Egypt, along with green herbs dipped in salt water. Salt water represents tears of sorrow shed during their captivity.

Part of the meal included (Haroses)—a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, cinnamon, and wine that represented the mortar used by the Jewish people in building palaces and pyramids in Egypt during their slavery.

Always present was Wine, sipped from a common bowl. There were four ceremonial acts of drinking wine during the Seder feast – known as the ‘Four Cups.” Thanksgiving, Hagadah (‘telling’), Blessing, and Melchisedek (‘righteousness’).

So, Jesus and the disciples celebrated the Seder or Passover Meal in the upper room that night. At the meal’s conclusion, Jesus gave two of the Seder symbols fresh significance.

He took a loaf of bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me.” Then he took a cup of wine. He drank from it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Drink ye all of this, for this is my blood which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin.”

It’s not without significance that Jesus took the elements for Holy Communion from the Passover festival. In Passover, the children of God celebrated their salvation and release from slavery in Egypt. In Holy Communion, we, the adopted children of God, celebrate God’s salvation through Jesus’ death on the Cross. In other words, the first Passover is an Old Testament prefiguring of Jesus’ victorious death on the Cross.

As St. John put it, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Or as St. Paul puts it, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

If we as Christians wish to follow Christ, we need to remember that Jesus gave us this command, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Luke 22:34 and 35)

It can be said that the Jews of the Old Covenant kept the commandments of the Torah – our first five books of the Old Testament - out of a sense of DUTY. Jesus, in contrast, calls our motivation to be different. We are called to LOVE.

Agape is a Greek word that refers to the highest form of love, characterized by selflessness and unconditional affection. It is associated with the love of God for humanity and the love humans should have for one another.

I’ll close tonight with a report from Tertullian, an important early Christian writer and theologian who noted the comments of pagans in his day: “Behold, how these Christians love one another! How they are ready to die for each other!”

This display of Agape Love was a magnet that drew pagan multitudes to Christ. I can’t help but believe it still has the potential to do so today.