The night in which He was betrayed. The church calls it Maundy Thursday, or Thursday of the Mandate. A mandate is a lasting rule, to be observed until it is fulfilled.
God had given Israel a mandate when they were still in captivity in Egypt. This mandate was connected to the 10th plague, the plague that finally caused Pharaoh to let Israel go.
This mandate was interesting. Notice just how specific the instructions from God were. This was a life and death situation, and the Israelites had to follow these instructions to the letter in order to protect their firstborn from death.
The perfect one-year-old male lamb or goat was to be slaughtered at dusk, and the blood painted on the top and sides of the door frames of the houses of Israel. Observe the shape that the painting would take. The bloody paint strokes would form the shape of a cross. This blood would protect the firstborn of Israel, people and animals, when the plague of the death of the firstborn descended on Egypt.
One interesting thing here: God knew who His people were. He didn’t really need to see that cross of bloody paint in order to spare Israel’s firstborn. It was for the Israelites, and for us, so that we can see that it would take a perfect lamb and a bloody cross for the deliverance of all humanity from death and the grave. God made these things to be specific because we, as humans, tend to invent our own means of salvation. But, this is God’s way of redemption, and it’s specifically for us.
“…a one-year-old male with no defects.” It could be a lamb or goat, but it was to be a perfect male. This is a very specific type, or foreshadowing of the Savior who was to come, “the sinless Son of God,” who would be our prophet, priest, and king. And when the sinless Son of God came to Thursday of Holy Week, he showed us all how the Passover was to be celebrated from that day until his return in glory.
We hear these words often: “This is my body, which is given for you. “This cup is the new Testament (promise made) with my blood.” The new promise, or Testament, is the fulfilment of the Old Promise, or Testament. It means that the Perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ, has been slain, once for all sinners. We remember that, and receive the benefits of forgiveness and faith, as we eat and drink the supper of the Lord.
In the Large Catechism, Luther writes about the Lord’s Supper, “We must never think of the Sacrament as something from which we had better flee, but as a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy that grants salvation and comfort. It will cure you and give you life both in soul and body. For where the soul has recovered, the body also is relieved. We speak of the presence of the living Christ, for we know that death no longer has dominion over him.”
The night in which He was betrayed; Jesus served a meal that transcends our day to day reality, because, as we receive this meal, we declare that we are united with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven in giving praise to God for the salvation which has come to us in and through Jesus Christ. This meal will find it’s fulfilment when Christ returns and we enter the marriage feast of the Lamb and His Bride, the Church, which lasts forever.
It is a precious gift, which gives Christ to you for the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation.
In short, Maundy means Commandment. On this night which He was betrayed, we remember Jesus saying to his followers, “A new commandment I give you: that you love one another as I have loved you.” And, at his Last Supper on earth, Jesus uses tangible symbols to teach his disciples what he means. He shows them how to be incarnate agents of grace–how to dignify people by washing their feet, feeding them, and telling them stories. Everyone likes to talk and think about love. But the practical ways Jesus lives out love are disturbing, unseemly, and downright unsanitary. Jesus commands his followers to love and serve one another in the same way.
Footwashing, for starters. I know some of you are nervous about this. Footwashing confronts us with being in another person’s normally-covered-up personal space.
We have to look dead-on at what might be unlovely—even smelly—about another person, and–what is sometimes worse–we have to show what might be unlovely about ourselves to someone else.
For the record, it was just as unseemly and unpleasant in Jesus’ day, too. Friends did not wash each others’ feet—that was slave’s work. So it is no wonder Peter got upset when Jesus knelt to wash his feet. There’s so much we’d rather not have anyone see, share, know about our secret selves. The part of us we keep hidden—under socks or a sunny smile or a reserved demeanor. But if we take seriously our Lord’s command to serve each other, to wash each other’s feet, to love as we have been loved—it means letting someone else see and touch what might not be our best features. It means being somewhat exposed, vulnerable, transparent. And that can be very unpleasant. But Jesus commands us to wash one another’s feet. The night in which He was betrayed, Jesus washed ours.
But even that might be more palatable than what he suggests during the meal! No wonder some outside observers accused ancient Christians of being cannibals. The Greek word John’s Gospel uses for to eat is actually more accurately translated as to gnaw on or to chew. Why is this gruesome activity a revered part of our worship, instituted by Jesus himself?
One reason could be that it reminds us that God is determined to be very intimate and personal with us. God does not want us to intellectually believe in Jesus so much as to embrace Jesus and hold on tight. The Gospel of John’s Christmas story is simply to tell us, “The Word became flesh and lived among us full of grace and truth.” Well, now the Word has grown up, but is still full of grace and truth. The Word is incarnate in this smelly, coronavirus messy world, and Jesus is determined to spread it around forever. Be Incarnate Word for the world! Don’t just think about this. Don’t just discuss its symbolism. DO THIS in remembrance of me.
The night in which He was betrayed; Jesus tells us that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood abides in him and he in them. God is not just with us, but in us! We are Christ incarnate for the world that God so loves! God our Creator takes the most ordinary and unremarkable materials—like bread and wine, or you and me, perhaps—and uses them to bring Christ to a sinful but precious world. God our Redeemer takes on evil and makes it good. That’s how what seems like a carnivorous cultic act of dismembering is transformed into a means of remembering a community, putting it back together. God finds a way to reconnect what has been isolated, mend what has been torn. This lockdown would be over but could be turned to profit for us!
Jesus must have known enough of biology to know that whatever we eat and drink is digested in our bodies, and becomes a part of us. It flows through our bloodstreams, all around our insides. It is as true to say that after we take communion, Jesus is in our little kneecap as it is to say that Jesus is in our hearts and minds.
And Jesus must have known enough about sociology to know why people who are on dates often go out for dinner. There’s something about eating together that brings us closer. Anyone with whom we eat and drink cannot ever really be a stranger to us again. We say that Christ is in, with, and under the bread and wine. What that means, no matter how we spin it, is that our Incarnate Jesus permeates the world, making the ordinary extraordinary, turning evil into good, and strangers into family.
Jesus can turn COVID 19 to our good! Stay covered and blessed!