Easter 2011 – Maundy Thursday
April 21st, 2011 (PM). By: Richard Blayney
Maundy Thursday is the day when we remember the events of the night before that first Good Friday. It’s the night when Jesus was arrested on the Mount of Olives after that agonising time spent praying alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. Traditionally we particularly remember the Last Supper, the meal instituted on that night by Jesus, that we now celebrate regularly together under the name of ‘Holy Communion’. And because of that long tradition of remembering Jesus’ death using bread and wine, this passage in Luke sounds very familiar to us. But it’s worth taking a few minutes now before we come to the table to consider what a remarkable innovation this meal was that night. I want to very briefly point to three features of this meal that would have shocked the disciples. These three features point forward to the significance of what Jesus was about to do in his death and resurrection. The three surprising features of this meal are (i) a new family, (ii) a new framework, and (iii) a new foe.
A new family (from verses 7-13)
Right from the start, the Passover meal was a family occasion. We saw that last term, studying Exodus in the evening services. Passover was instituted by God as a meal of remembrance to be celebrated each year. It was to commemorate the very first Passover, when the angel of the Lord moved throughout Egypt, killing the firstborn sons, but passed over the houses of the Israelites when he saw the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorframes. It had always been a family occasion. So the first surprise in this passage comes in verse 8. Jesus sends Peter and John on ahead to prepare the Passover meal for him and his disciples.
Most people spend Christmas with family, all being well. Imagine calling your family and announcing that you won’t be coming home to eat Christmas dinner with them because you’ve decided to eat it with your mates instead. Imagine the flip side… telling your mates that you want to have Christmas lunch with them and that they shouldn’t bring their families.
That’s a bit like what Jesus is doing here. Don’t forget that his family is in town; his mother would stand at the cross the next day. All of the Passover lambs were sacrificed at the Temple before being prepared for the meal, so Jerusalem was heaving with Jews from all over the country. Yet it’s the spiritual brothers, not the physical ones, who share this meal with Jesus. This was a carefully planned gathering of the disciples, indicating that they were somehow representative of a new family. This gathering is an indicator of the nature of the church: brothers and sisters with a new heavenly Father, caring for one another, sharing life’s joys and sorrows together – a new family. So as we gather tonight for this meal, this is family time that we’re spending together. Surprise number 1: a new family. Surprise number 2:
A new framework (from verses 14-20)
The time for the meal comes, verse 14. Jesus and his disciples recline at the table, as was the way in those days, to celebrate the Passover. Then in verses 15-18 Jesus makes a solemn announcement. Jesus announces, slightly cryptically, his death. I am about to suffer, and I will not eat another Passover meal until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God. In other words, I will not eat another Passover until the Passover meal finds its fulfilment in the wedding banquet of the Lamb at the time of the new creation. I am about to suffer and die. That would certainly have put a downer on the evening. But there’s more to come. Jesus took the bread, v19, broke it, and then said something astonishing. Every devout Jew who presided over a Passover meal since Passover was instituted back in Exodus would break the unleavened bread and say, “This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in Egypt.” But Jesus, presiding over this Passover meal, broke the bread and said, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” A little later he took the cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
Imagine now that you’re having Christmas dinner and the whole family is there. You’ve eaten your sprouts already to get them over and done with, and now you’re eyeing up the turkey and stuffing, when cousin Bob stands up, clinks a spoon against his glass and announces in solemn tone, “Everyone, I want you to know that Christmas is not about Jesus; it’s a celebration of me.” There’s a very awkward silence. No-one knows what to say next. People swap anxious glances round the table. Talk about your conversation stoppers!
But that’s what Jesus did on that night. He says that the action of breaking bread represents the coming fate of his body, broken for you. He tells them to repeat this breaking of bread in remembrance of him.
Imagine that on Remembrance Day later this year, the Queen makes a speech at the Cenotaph, saying that Remembrance Day will no longer be a commemoration of those who gave their lives in war, but will now be a remembrance of her reign. Imagine the monarch taking that solemn occasion and making it about herself.
But that’s what Jesus did on that night. He says that the wine is no longer to celebrate the old covenant with Israel but a new covenant. In this new covenant there would be personal redemption, not national redemption. There would be freedom from slavery to sin, not from slavery to Pharaoh. This covenant would be, v20, in my blood. Jesus was about to change places with sinners, receiving the death-sentence for our sin, so that we could live forever with the creator-God we rejected. Jesus instructed them, and instructs us, to remember this act of redemption by this meal. That night Jesus initiated a new framework, a new emphasis, a new understanding for this remembrance meal. And as if it wasn’t surprising enough to be sharing Passover with Jesus and the other disciples and as if it wasn’t surprising enough to hear Jesus make extraordinary claims about Passover being about him, there was one more surprise to come. Very briefly,
A new foe (from verses 21-23)
After three years of astounding miracles and authoritative teaching, there was an enemy within the camp. The hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him. As if there hadn’t been enough awkward silences and shocked glances, here was another bombshell. One of the twelve disciples reclining at the table for this new family meal would betray the Lord. Who could it be? That’s where we leave them in verse 23.
So because of our long tradition of remembering Jesus’ death using bread and wine, this passage in Luke sounds very familiar. But on that first night this was a remarkable occasion. Remarkable because of the new family gathered together. Remarkable because of a new covenant with God, a covenant of forgiveness and new life through Jesus’ death. And remarkable because one of Jesus’ closest followers would betray him to that death.