Holy Thursday
Exodus 12:1-14: This account of the establishing of the Passover comes from the P section of the Book of Exodus. It gives detailed instructions about how the Passover is to be celebrated. These instructions reach back into the history of Israel between the Exodus and the Exile in Babylon, but they were written down in that latter time.
Note that the Israelite "New Year" begins with the exodus from Egypt (12:2, "the first of months"). This was the defining event in Israelite history. A new life began for the slaves in Egypt, and this new life is celebrated annually in this "first of months."
12:3-10 give detailed instructions about the manner in which the meal is to be prepared and eaten. Notes of interest to us:
The size of the lamb determines the number of people who will eat it. One family may eat the lamb, but if the household is too small to eat the whole lamb, they are welcome to invite their neighbors to share their passover.
The lamb has to be one-year old and without blemish. But it can be the lamb of either sheep or goats.
The lamb will be slaughtered on the 14th day of the month. All Israel are to slaughter their lambs at that time.
Blood from the lamb is to be put on two doorposts and the lintel of the house.
The lamb is to be roasted over a fire (not raw or boiled but roasted). It is to be roasted whole, with head, legs, and organs intact. It is to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. If any part of it remains until morning, that part is to be burned.
Verse 11 refers to that terrible night of nights when the angel of death went through the land. The Hebrews, having put the blood upon the door, are to eat with loins girded, sandals on feet, staff in hand. They are to eat hurriedly, for they will have to leave Egypt in a hurry in order to escape the Egyptian armies that will follow them.
Verse 12 explains the reason for the deaths of the first-born in Egypt, human and beast: "On all the gods of the Egyptians I will execute judgement," says the Lord.
The Exodus, seen in this light, was at base a contest between the gods of Egypt and the Lord God of Israel. The battle had begun with the plagues. Each plague challenged the power of one of the gods of Egypt. For example, Hapi was the god in charge of the River Nile. The Nile was, and is, the source of Egyptian life, and fish from the Nile was principle diet of the people. But when Yahweh turned his power upon the Nile, the river ran red with blood, and the fish died. Hapi was not able to protect his people against the power of Yahweh. Amon-Re was the chief Egyptian deity. When the sun rose each morning, he was seen as "resurrected" from the dead. But the sun did not rise in one of the plagues. Darkness covered the earth. The power of Amon-Re was not sufficient to challenge the power of Yahweh. Even the last of the plagues, the death of the first-born, was a challenge to the Egyptian gods. This was directed at the Pharaoh and the Pharaonic succession of rulers. When the first-born son died, that succession was fatally damaged. As Jeremiah was to say at a later time, reflecting this earlier period in the relationship of the gods of Egypt and the God of Israel, "The LORD Of hosts, the God of Israel, says, 'Behold, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him.'" (Jer. 46:25).
Above all, the plagues were an attack upon the power of Pharaoh.
The primary task of every Pharaoh was to preserve what the Egyptians called "ma'at." Ma-at was like the Hebrew shalom. It represented justice, righteousness, well-being, order and not chaos. But in the attack of Yahweh upon Egypt, the reverse had occurred: chaos had driven out order. Pharaoh was not able to supply ma'at to the people. If Pharaoh could not do that, his very reason for being was brought into question. "On all the gods of Egypt (even the divine Pharaoh), I will execute judgement. I am the Lord."
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14, Maundy Thursday: This passage brings us back to the dread night in Egypt when Yahweh, God, led the people out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. On that night God's passover came into being. In order to free the people from their slavery, God passed through all the land of Egypt. God had ordered the Hebrews to smear the blood of a slain lamb on the lintels of their doors. God entered into the houses of those who did not have blood on the doors, and the first-born son of every house was killed. When God saw blood from a lamb smeared on the lintels of any door, God passed over these houses, and the first-born of the house was spared. In the grief and confusion of that night, the Hebrews were able to go from their homes and begin the flight that a generation later brought them to God's promised land.
Verses 1-4 give directions for the celebration of passover. These directions come from a much later time than that during which the first passover occurred. In fact, they come from the time when Isaiah of Jerusalem wrote the above prophecies, the time of exile in Babylon. These instructions tell of the annual date for passover and the selection of a proper lamb. They are even directed to share the lamb with another household if their own household is too small. The instructions continue through the verses we do not read in this selection from Exodus.
Verses 11 through 14 tell of the originating event of the passover. Verse 11 refers to the haste with which the Hebrews were to leave: loins girded, sandals on feet, staff in hand, eating hurriedly, there was no time to lose. 12 states the dread decree that Yahweh issued: I will strike down the first born in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. The reason for it is also stated: this takes place as a contest between Yahweh and the gods of Egypt, of whom there were an almost infinite number worshiped in the temples that are still landmarks in Egypt; the deaths at passover were a judgment against these gods, since they could not save their worshipers. Verse 13 alerts the people to the sign of their salvation: when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Verse 14 speaks of passover as a day of remembrance and a perpetual ordinance for Israel, a festival of celebration. Jesus took his disciples to Jerusalem for the passover during which his death occurred, to celebrate it with them in the Holy City. Christians look upon the celebration of Christ's meal as the fulfillment of passover: as God delivered the Hebrews from Egypt under Moses, so through Christ God delivers people from all the ends of the earth of both sin and death.
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19, Maundy Thursday: This whole psalm is worth reading, not just the selected verses. The distress of verses 3 through 11 do indeed recall the distress of Jesus Christ on this day before he was to go to the cross. Like the psalmist, the snares of death were about to encompass our Lord, the pangs of Sheol, place of the dead, laid hold on him. Gravely afflicted Christ was, brought low, and in Gethsemane he cried, "Remove this cup from me," words reminiscent of the psalm, "O Lord, I pray, save my life!"
"But gracious is the Lord and merciful. I keep my faith. I walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I love the Lord, and I will call upon him as long as I live." Jesus Christ could have said these things.
In verses 12 through 19 the psalmist goes to the temple to give God thanks. As he does so, he would perform a series of acts. He would present an animal sacrifice. He would offer a drink offering, a cup of wine poured into a bowl by the altar. He would issue a payment of vows in the presence of all the people, so that they could attest to what he had promised to God. In such a manner, he would respond to the goodness of God.
It is "the cup of salvation" that makes this text appropriate for reading on Maundy Thursday. It takes us immediately into the darkened room on the night in which Jesus was betrayed when Jesus spread bread and cup before his disciples. He took the bread, broke it, and gave it to his own. He raised the cup, poured wine into it, and through it bound his disciples to himself and each other. In many rooms, a vast cathedral or a simple apartment, Christians do the same. For us, it is "our cup of salvation."
First Corinthians 11:23-26, Maundy Thursday: Other than the Lord's Prayer and the Golden Rule, these may be the best-known words from the New Testament. They describe Paul's understanding of the Lord's Supper, and they are frequently used when we celebrate that supper today.
The words are not Paul's alone. "I have delivered unto you what I also received from our Lord." This is the usual Jewish manner of passing on a tradition, something received from someone else and passed on to others. When Paul says he received it from the Lord, he does not mean that this is some esoteric wisdom from Christ given to him personally; it was given to him by other members of the church, who had received it from others, who claimed that these were the words and deeds of Christ himself concerning the supper.
"Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed." This is the indication of the date for the supper. It occurred on the night in which Jesus was betrayed. It does not say that it occurred on the night of passover or on the day before passover. Not even his betrayer is identified. The important dating is simply, "when he was betrayed, when he was handed over to death."
"Took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is for you.'" Bread would have been on the table before Jesus. He took it, and he prayed. Every meal that a Jewish person ate was a sacred meal, provided by God and shared by God's people. Then Jesus broke the bread and gave it to those seated with him. His words were simple, "This, my body." There was no connecting verb in the Aramaic language which Jesus spoke that night. We have argued endlessly what Jesus meant when he identified the bread with his body, and the arguments have badly divided the church. Calvin's understanding of the event may help us understand what Jesus had in mind. When Jesus said, "This, my body," suggested Calvin, he was speaking not of the bread but the breaking, not of the cup but the pouring. Jesus' body was about to be broken on the cross, his blood was about to be poured out. "Which is for you." What he did that night, and on the next day on the cross, was not for himself but for those with him. Jesus' death was for all people; as John's Gospel said, "And I, when I be lifted up, will draw all people to me." This meal was for all people, too, and especially for those who have found their salvation in him.
"Do this in remembrance of me." On the surface, this would seem to mean that the supper is an act of remembering. As we eat it, we try to remember what Jesus did and perform the act as a memorial to him. The word in Greek, however, has a great deal more meaning than that. Anamnesis, it is. The "mnesis" part is easy. That has to do with "calling to mind." It is the "ana" part that makes the act more than just remembering. It has to do with "remembering something in the past and making it effective in the present and the future." In medicine there is a medical procedure called an "anamnetic shot." That is a technical name for a booster shot. A booster shot is applied to stir up one's immune system to fight a disease. The shot does not defeat the disease. It is the aroused immune system that protects the person. The booster shot is infused into the system to stir up something that is latent in it. That is what the Lord's Supper does for us. We have heard about Jesus Christ. We have studied what he did and what he said. We even remember his crucifixion and resurrection. But all this has a way of receding into our past. What can bring it up to date for us and make it effective in the present? Attending the Lord's Supper can. What was done for us through Christ long ago is updated and becomes effective in our present. The Lord's Supper is our "booster shot" which stirs up old memories of God and Christ and makes them operative here and now.
"In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink of it, in remembrance of me.'" Unlike the bread, which was integral to the meal, the cup came "after supper." It was a special fellowship cup that was passed around after the meal was eaten. Drinking from it was a sign of deep and abiding friendship on the part of those who shared it.
The cup is called "the new covenant in my blood." With these words, Jesus announces to his followers that the new covenant proclaimed in Jeremiah, 31:31ff, has now been fulfilled. "The days are surely coming," said the prophet, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah."
That covenant is made today, said Jesus, as we eat and drink together. "In this covenant I will be their God, and they shall be my people." The covenant meant that God is everlastingly loyal to us, and we are to be loyal to God. As we reach out our hand to take the bread and then the cup, our outreaching hand is a signal of our renewed loyalty to the God who is loyal to us. "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more." Sin we will, even after we eat the bread and drink from the cup. But God will not let our sin keep us from fellowship with him. He will not "remember" it, nor hold it against us. Peter Marshall used to say that he could envision himself standing before the judgment seat of God. He would hear a list of his sins read to him, and he would cringe with each one. But then Jesus Christ would come and put his arm around him, and Jesus would say, "Because of a transaction made between us long ago, I stand accountable for all these sins." The "transaction" was his cross. Jesus stood accountable for our sins, and died because of them. But in his death we are freed from the sin. The Lord's Supper renews this transaction between us every time we eat it and drink.
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." I am always surprised that this does not say, "the Lord's death and resurrection" until he comes again. I do believe that this is implied in the words; Paul, who was the apostle of the resurrection, would not have omitted including this meaning in the phrase. Paul is saying that the supper is the bridge between Christ's death on Golgotha and his "coming again," whenever that is and whatever it means. This it does mean. Week by week, as we eat and drink together at the celebration of our Lord's last meal, we are drawn closer to the event that called it forth, Christ's death and resurrection. We stand closer, too, to the event that will fulfill the meal, the coming again of Jesus Christ. This is a mystery, not in the sense that we cannot talk about it but in the sense that the more we think of it, the more magnificent it becomes. In his supper Jesus draws us closer to one another, to his death and resurrection, to his coming to us again, and to all the meaning that these events have for us.
John 13:1-17, 31-35, Maundy Thursday: This is John's account of the Last Supper. It differs in many ways from the account given in the other gospels and in Paul's report of the supper given in the First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 11. Instead of putting the emphasis on the eating and drinking, John's Gospel puts the emphasis upon the act of servanthood of Jesus. What John is trying to do is to show us the inner meaning of the supper. He understands that as we eat and drink together we are with one another as those who serve rather than as those who are served. Much of John's meaning is found in the compacted paragraph that introduced the event.
13:1 According to John, this supper takes place before the festival of the Passover. Working out the chronology of this is rather difficult. Part of the difficulty arises because there were two feasts of Judaism that occurred almost simultaneously. The Passover festival was first, and it lasted only one day. On that day the passover lamb was sacrificed. One member of every party took a lamb to the Temple. There it was sacrificed, flayed, and partially eviscerated. The owner brought it back, and it was roasted whole. That evening the Passover meal was held. But since the Jewish day changed at sunset, the "passover meal" was actually held on the next day, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted 7 days. (Sanders The Historical Figure of Jesus 249} This was the "feast" during which the Jerusalem authorities did not want to arrest Jesus, for fear of the disturbance that might occur. So, if we follow John's chronology, Jesus was not executed during the festival but before it. He was slain on the same afternoon that the passover lambs were being sacrificed, the lamb of God sacrificed to bring the deliverance to humankind promised when the first passover took place twelve hundred years before.
13:1 "Having loved his own, he loved them to the end." The meaning of "love" is seen in this act and the ones that follow. Jesus loved his own to the end, the end of his life and the totality of his sacrificial love.
13:3-4 "Jesus, knowing that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, laid off his outer robe, and tied a towel around his waste." The courage Jesus displayed as he went through his trial and his cross found its source in this statement: "knowing that he had come from God and was going to God." God was in his past, God was in his future, and Jesus had confidence that God was with him in these present moments.
"He put off his outer garment." C. J. Barrett, in his commentary on John's Gospel, points out that the word here used for laying aside his garment might very well be used for Jesus' laying aside his life.
"Then Jesus washed the disciples' feet." One commentator points out that the washing of a bride's feet formed part of the Jewish wedding ceremony; as Jesus washes his disciples' feet he makes them worthy successors of the true Israel, the bride of God. Another points out that while the Christian conception of God begins with an exaltation of the divine majesty, the greatest that the human mind can conceive, when the greatness and far-reaching power and authority of God exhibit themselves for us, it is by doing the most menial and disgusting act that one can perform for another, washing our feet. Still others see in this act Jesus' conscious fulfillment of the role of the servant of God which had been proclaimed in Isaiah, chapter 53, which we considered earlier. Dr. John Mackay, one of the greatest of Presbyterian theologians, has used this whole incident to illustrate the fact that Christ is the servant of God, and that we who make up his church are called to be servants of people as Christ was a servant. Washing the disciples' feet stands forth as one of the great symbols and pictures of the whole Christian experience.
13:6-11 Simon Peter rebelled against Jesus' act. 'You will not wash my feet." Peter did not want Jesus to do a servant's work. He had completely understood the purpose of his ministry. When Jesus said that only those whom he had washed had a share in him, Peter wanted Jesus to wash him completely. There may be a touch of baptismal theology in this conversation. In baptism one did not wash all over, but the baptized one was clean. "You are all clean" said Jesus, except one, and Jesus knew what Judas was about to do.
13:12-17 "If I have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet." This is the clue to the Christian life. Christians serve one another, and the world, as Christ has served us. Until this occurs, the fellowship is not a Christian fellowship. This is the single standard by which every congregation needs to examine itself.
13:31-35, especially 34-35 "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." The commandment was new, not because of what it said but because of the person who gave it. Everything Jesus said, everything Jesus did is the definition of the love spoken here. The language of this section is simplicity itself. Following this Teacher and Master is complex indeed.