Maundy Thursday
Jeremiah encourages the people to give full reign to
grief. He has poured out tears copiously
over the destruction and his grief is so great that he cannot bear it. He speaks of the children wandering the
streets looking for sustenance, asking their mothers where to get what had only
recently been commonplace, bread and wine.
The enemies laugh and scorn them, mocking the former beauty of the city,
deriding the people, their pride in their city and, ultimately, their God who
has failed to either protect or deliver them.
Having gone through a situation where we as a church were forced to
vacate our building for financial reasons, this is painful and yet faith says
that if we are willing to humble ourselves and take responsibility rather than
blame God then we will see something yet more glorious.
Here at the Passover meal Jesus prophesies that one of the
men at the feast with Him, one who has been with Him as a disciple, will betray
Him. All the disciples ask, “Is it
I?” It would seem that nothing would
have tipped off anyone that Judas was the betrayer, they had no suspect in
mind. Betrayal is a terrible thing and
yet we get no hint of what the disciples thought about Judas after the
fact. He judged himself and agreed that
it was better that he not continue to live.
During the meal, Jesus re-interprets the symbols as His body and blood
of the new covenant. What did the
disciples think as they heard those words, ate the bread and drank the
wine? When we remember this night on
Sundays what are we thinking?
Paul writes about the importance of communion. What does it mean that we participate in the
body and blood of Jesus? It is a
physical reminder of the reality of His life, death, resurrection, and
ascension. The body and blood of Jesus
were real, not some phantom that only seemed to be a man. Christianity is nothing if not about the
reality of life. The incarnation matters
but all the details of Jesus’ life matter to us, not just that the Word became
flesh. Jesus imbues all of life with
meaning and purpose. His life tells us
that every encounter is fraught with meaning, that God cares about
everything. His life also tells us that
the only way we will find meaning in everything is if we give Him our lives to
use for His purposes. To discern the
body is to recognize this truth, that Jesus lived to the glory of God and was
willing to lay down His life for the sake of others, including us. When we eat the bread and drink the wine we
are identifying with His sacrifice and taking up our crosses just as HE did.
Let this be recorded
for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:
that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die.
so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:
that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die.
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