It’s Maundy Thursday! Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum, meaning mandate or command. We encounter Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper. It’s the most important meal they’ll eat all year, per Jewish custom and tradition. Bigger than that, it’s the most important meal they’ll eat in their lifetime.
Have you ever had a memorable meal? My husband and I had a chance to eat a meal atop the Eiffel Tower; it was incroyable (incredible!). The setting, the food, quality time with my favorite person—it was just perfect. At no time in the meal did anyone mention betrayal, blood, or death; that would’ve really changed the mood!
During the Last Supper, Jesus knows his betrayer is at the table. He knows his death is imminent. And he still invites every person at that table into a meal that is life-altering. He’s offering his body as the Passover sacrifice. It’s at this meal (the Festival of Unleavened Bread, see Exodus 12:1-27) during the Passover celebration that every Jewish family sacrifices an animal, commemorating the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. If you recall the 10 plagues, the final plague was the plague of death. The Israelite households were instructed to sacrifice an animal and wipe the blood over their doors to be passed over by the angel of death. In the blood and sacrifice, God’s people were saved and freed!
Jesus is telling his disciples that he is the sacrifice, and everyone—not just the Israelites—is invited to the eternal freedom and salvation that Jesus provides. WOW! Of course, the disciples (who know their Jewish traditions) are picking up on all this. Can you imagine what they must’ve been thinking?! He’s the once-and-for-all sacrifice? He’s our way to eternal life? He’s the fulfillment of all the Old Testament law? You think they would get it …
But for the rest of the narrative, the disciples will abandon Jesus. They fall asleep in the garden. They aren’t there for the trial. Peter denies even knowing Jesus … three times! They aren’t at his crucifixion …
If you’ve been around church for a while, it’s easy to become desensitized to this text. We read it every year. We know it. Today, may we place ourselves in that upper room, in the garden, and next to Jesus on trial and truly feel what this must have been like. Church, don’t let this all become so normal that we miss it. In the next couple of days, I invite you to really sit in the pain, struggle, and massively world-changing things Jesus is doing … all for you and for me.
Reflection:
- Imagine sitting with Jesus during the Last Supper. How would you respond when he says, “One of you will betray me …”?
- The next time you take communion, pay attention to how you feel. Is it just a “normal” thing? It shouldn’t be! Every time we take the bread (body) and wine (blood), Jesus is encountering us!