April 14, 2006
I give you a new command -- to love one another. John 13:34
Maundy Thursday --- I grew up with the Latin Catholic mass in, so early on I understood the meaning of this day as "command" Thursday. Attending Catholic elementary school for a few years, Maundy Thursday was quite an eventful day. It was the day the disciples received their command to love and serve and saw by example as they had their feet washed by Jesus. Even as a child I remember thinking that it was “neat” (a term of the time) that Jesus would get on His knees and wash the feet on the men who followed him.
As I prepared for my First Holy Communion at the innocent age of seven, I was able to make the connection that it was the day, Maundy Thursday, that the disciples first saw this Passover as a sacrifice, between their beloved teacher and the bread of life yet to come. And at a time when each day was filled with miracles, I, too, realized that my own first walk to the table would change my life forever.
Maundy Thursday was the day the eyes of these men were roused by the uniqueness of the man before them; their minds stirred with history, prophecy, and tradition—and they began to wake to the grand mystery of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Perhaps that first Maundy Thursday, just before the Passover Feast, a day when Jesus was betrayed, is a revealing scene for the honest seeker of Christ's identity.
As we read on Palm Sunday (days before) and like we read again at mass on Maundy Thursday, the story is recounted in the Gospel of John. (John 13:1-17.) What a night; Jesus would look at his disciples, his friends, those who would soon deny even knowing him, those who even so, He would love to the end. And standing with those men, knowing the weight of the eternal task before him, knowing from where He came from and where He was going—knowing that before the light of Sunday would come the blackness of Friday and the emptiness of Saturday—Jesus took a towel and a basin and began to wash their feet.
This night, of all nights as I sit with hundreds of believers, I witness this scene again and my heart is stirred.
Our Christ was both the Son of God and a faithful Jewish man. And while I try hard to join the religion of my husband, Dennis & his son Jacob and celebrate a Passover Seder, I contemplate why Jesus chose this time of Passover to institute the new 'meal' of salvation and redemption. So here we are once again at The Last Supper, three days before Easter Sunday, which once again coincides with the Seder meal at the Jewish festival of Passover (Pesach).
The best-known quote from the Pesach Haggadah is, "why is this night different from all other nights?" This line is usually recited by the youngest person at the table (or at least, the youngest person capable of reciting it). It is meant to express the child's confusion at the difference between a typical every-day or holiday meal and the unusual features of the Seder. And while I try to draw lines of commonalities between the Passover Seder to the feast of Maundy (or Holy) Thursday… I can say that this night is different because it solemnly commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and is the oldest of the observances peculiar to Holy Week.
I do remember a time when Holy Thursday was taken up with a succession of ceremonies including the joyful character – the baptism of our new Catholics. As long as I can remember following the 40 days of lent there was a reconciliation of penitents. Another season ritual I recall was emptying out the stoups, removal of holy water from Church until Easter morning and there was also the consecration of the holy oils. And as incense fills the church, a new table is set as we prepare for that first meal.
Imagine, the night of Maundy Thursday on which Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. Of course, if you consider the Passover story as so colorfully described in Exodus 12:1-14 where the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron telling them to take an unblemished lamb and slaughter it at twilight. And then take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and eat the lamb that night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and this day shall be a day of remembrance for you.”
Further on we read this holy of nights from 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 that our Lord, knew that he would be betrayed and yet on this night He took a loaf of bread, gave thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And as we do at each Eucharist, the Priest continues and tells us that the Lord “took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, this is my blood that is shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
Finally, we hear in either the Gospel of John or Luke that just before Passover Jesus said to his disciples that "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example that you also should do as I have done to you.”
Of course, we all know that Passover commemorates the Exodus and freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. Passover marks the "birth" of the Jewish nation, as the Jews were freed from being slaves of Pharaoh and allowed to become servants of God instead. A symbol of Passover is the matzo recalling the bread that the Israelites ate after their hasty departure from Egypt. But for Christians this is a time to recognize that Jesus’ selfless acts resulted in our own freedom from sin.
The view of Jesus as the Lamb of God is commonplace in the New Testament, notably in the Gospel of John. Our paschal lamb, Christ, was sacrificed as we so dutifully memorized and prayed during the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) as well as a greeting that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast" at the breaking of the bread (also the symbolic body of Christ).
It could be said that there is a connection between Easter and Passover as the story of Jesus’ resurrection is a liberation from slavery. But bottom lining it, the season of Lent is a time of sacrifice, Maundy Thursday is a time to prepare for the Lord’s greatest sacrifice on Good Friday and not until Easter do we rejoice for He is Risen. You cannot be glad unless you experience and witness the suffering.
Make no mistake about the differences.
Maundy Thursday --- I grew up with the Latin Catholic mass in, so early on I understood the meaning of this day as "command" Thursday. Attending Catholic elementary school for a few years, Maundy Thursday was quite an eventful day. It was the day the disciples received their command to love and serve and saw by example as they had their feet washed by Jesus. Even as a child I remember thinking that it was “neat” (a term of the time) that Jesus would get on His knees and wash the feet on the men who followed him.
As I prepared for my First Holy Communion at the innocent age of seven, I was able to make the connection that it was the day, Maundy Thursday, that the disciples first saw this Passover as a sacrifice, between their beloved teacher and the bread of life yet to come. And at a time when each day was filled with miracles, I, too, realized that my own first walk to the table would change my life forever.
Maundy Thursday was the day the eyes of these men were roused by the uniqueness of the man before them; their minds stirred with history, prophecy, and tradition—and they began to wake to the grand mystery of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Perhaps that first Maundy Thursday, just before the Passover Feast, a day when Jesus was betrayed, is a revealing scene for the honest seeker of Christ's identity.
As we read on Palm Sunday (days before) and like we read again at mass on Maundy Thursday, the story is recounted in the Gospel of John. (John 13:1-17.) What a night; Jesus would look at his disciples, his friends, those who would soon deny even knowing him, those who even so, He would love to the end. And standing with those men, knowing the weight of the eternal task before him, knowing from where He came from and where He was going—knowing that before the light of Sunday would come the blackness of Friday and the emptiness of Saturday—Jesus took a towel and a basin and began to wash their feet.
This night, of all nights as I sit with hundreds of believers, I witness this scene again and my heart is stirred.
Our Christ was both the Son of God and a faithful Jewish man. And while I try hard to join the religion of my husband, Dennis & his son Jacob and celebrate a Passover Seder, I contemplate why Jesus chose this time of Passover to institute the new 'meal' of salvation and redemption. So here we are once again at The Last Supper, three days before Easter Sunday, which once again coincides with the Seder meal at the Jewish festival of Passover (Pesach).
The best-known quote from the Pesach Haggadah is, "why is this night different from all other nights?" This line is usually recited by the youngest person at the table (or at least, the youngest person capable of reciting it). It is meant to express the child's confusion at the difference between a typical every-day or holiday meal and the unusual features of the Seder. And while I try to draw lines of commonalities between the Passover Seder to the feast of Maundy (or Holy) Thursday… I can say that this night is different because it solemnly commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and is the oldest of the observances peculiar to Holy Week.
I do remember a time when Holy Thursday was taken up with a succession of ceremonies including the joyful character – the baptism of our new Catholics. As long as I can remember following the 40 days of lent there was a reconciliation of penitents. Another season ritual I recall was emptying out the stoups, removal of holy water from Church until Easter morning and there was also the consecration of the holy oils. And as incense fills the church, a new table is set as we prepare for that first meal.
Imagine, the night of Maundy Thursday on which Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. Of course, if you consider the Passover story as so colorfully described in Exodus 12:1-14 where the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron telling them to take an unblemished lamb and slaughter it at twilight. And then take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and eat the lamb that night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and this day shall be a day of remembrance for you.”
Further on we read this holy of nights from 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 that our Lord, knew that he would be betrayed and yet on this night He took a loaf of bread, gave thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And as we do at each Eucharist, the Priest continues and tells us that the Lord “took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, this is my blood that is shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
Finally, we hear in either the Gospel of John or Luke that just before Passover Jesus said to his disciples that "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example that you also should do as I have done to you.”
Of course, we all know that Passover commemorates the Exodus and freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. Passover marks the "birth" of the Jewish nation, as the Jews were freed from being slaves of Pharaoh and allowed to become servants of God instead. A symbol of Passover is the matzo recalling the bread that the Israelites ate after their hasty departure from Egypt. But for Christians this is a time to recognize that Jesus’ selfless acts resulted in our own freedom from sin.
The view of Jesus as the Lamb of God is commonplace in the New Testament, notably in the Gospel of John. Our paschal lamb, Christ, was sacrificed as we so dutifully memorized and prayed during the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) as well as a greeting that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast" at the breaking of the bread (also the symbolic body of Christ).
It could be said that there is a connection between Easter and Passover as the story of Jesus’ resurrection is a liberation from slavery. But bottom lining it, the season of Lent is a time of sacrifice, Maundy Thursday is a time to prepare for the Lord’s greatest sacrifice on Good Friday and not until Easter do we rejoice for He is Risen. You cannot be glad unless you experience and witness the suffering.
Make no mistake about the differences.
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