Maundy Thursday
Maundy? What is Maundy?
12 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples, {Peter and John,LK} telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.
14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: {My appointed time is near.MT} Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
[LK 22:]14 when the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
What next? Well, we are humans after all.
What happens next can only be described as incredible.
Not everyone got it? Do you? Which side of the bowl are you most on?
Against this backdrop...
But, it also includes the frame...
Four voices record this holy sacrament. Matthew and Mark are nearly identical while Luke and Paul overlap significantly. Even though we weren’t there, every Christian is privileged to play a part. For two thousand years now, the church of Jesus has reenacted and remembered his death. Strangely, divinely, this celebration draws us back in time. It allows us to relive all the events which follow: Peter’s denial and Jesus’ death; the joy of the resurrection and the hope of Peter’s restitution. This is the Lord’s Supper; it is the Christian’s celebration. As the church consumes his body, his body is united in the church.
17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body {given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”LK}
27 {In the same way, after the supperLK} he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you {in remembrance of me.1COR}” {And they all drank from it.MK}
28 “This is my blood of the {newLK} covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Jesus sits down with his closest friends for one last meal. For the Jews, eating together was a sacred event. In fact, Jeremias points out five implications of Jewish/Christian meals: (1) Jewish meals demonstrated deep affinity between the participants. It was a declaration of kinship. (2) Jewish meals were sacred events because God’s presence was invoked through the blessing. They were not merely thanking God for the food; they were inviting him to be present at the table. (3) Table fellowship with Jesus most often indicated that you were part of his new family. Furthermore, the least and the lost were uniquely welcomed to eat with him. (4) Meals with Jesus were celebration feasts. They declared the inauguration of the kingdom—redemption and forgiveness. (5) After Jesus’ ascension, the communal meals of the church remembered Jesus. As a result these meals were used as opportunities for benevolence. All of this is the backdrop of Jesus’ last supper.
Of all Jewish meals, the annual Passover is the most sacred. But this year it gets a new twist. The Seder is finally fulfilled in the Lord’s Supper. It’s been waiting for nearly 1,500 years.
The table is set. Before us we see the bread and the wine and a dish of haroset, a sauce made from pureed fruit and bitter herbs. The host brings out the roasted lamb. But before we eat, a young boy is to ask, “Father, what does this mean?” The patriarch of the house then recounts the history of Exodus and the glorious liberation of God’s people. As near as we can tell, there is no young boy in the upper room. Nevertheless, it was likely at this point of the supper that Jesus picked up the first cup of wine and explained to his “family” the true meaning of the Exodus.
Matthew and Mark only mention one cup of wine while Luke mentions two. In actuality, the Passover meal included four cups, each of which stood for one line from Exodus 6:6–7a.
Cup #1: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”
Cup #2: “I will free you from being slaves to them.”
Cup #3: “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.”
Cup #4: “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.”
If G.J. Bahr is correct, cup #1 would be served with the hors d’oeuvres in the main house before they ever got to the upper room. Thus, the two cups Luke mentions would be the second and third cups mentioned above, served on either side of the Passover meal. Both of these cups were attached to some pretty strong “salvation talk.” This makes for a pretty rich institution of the Lord’s Supper. The fourth cup represented God’s presence. Carson speculates that Jesus, in fact, abstained from this fourth cup (Mt 26:29; Mk 14:25), preparing for his passion. He will not celebrate the presence of God with the disciples again until the Messianic Banquet (Lk 22:16, 18; Mt 26:29).
Jesus then takes the unleavened loaf and prays a prayer of thanksgiving (eucharisteō, “give thanks,” from which we get the word “Eucharist”). This represents his body. It is no more literal here than it was in John 6:53–58, and no less picturesque.
With these two simple elements, Jesus explains what this Exodus is really all about. (1) The bread and the wine, representing Jesus’ body and blood, point to his vicarious death (e.g., Isa 53; Mt 20:28). It is now not more than twelve hours away. (2) Jesus’ death will establish a new covenant. We remember the words of Jeremiah 31:31–34, especially 34b: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” The two words “blood” and “covenant” are used together only two other times (Exod 24:8; Zech 9:11). Exodus 24:8, in fact, told how the Mosaic covenant was ratified by the shedding of blood. “The Mishnah (Pesahim 10:6), which in this instance may well preserve traditions alive in Jesus’ day, uses Exodus 24:8 to interpret the Passover wine as a metaphor for blood that seals a covenant between God and his people” (Carson, p. 537). Likewise, the new covenant was ratified by the shedding of blood. Hebrews 9:22 explains why: “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (3) The words “poured out for many” (“many” meaning “all”) would kindle, in the minds of the Eleven, the massive bloodletting of the Passover lambs, which Jesus typifies (Jn 1:29). Perhaps they even connected it with Isaiah 53:12, “Because he poured out his life unto death …”
What Jesus is doing is clear. He memorializes his death—not his life, his miracles, or his teaching! Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to earth was to die for the sins of the world (Mk 10:45). So the Eucharist is for the purpose of remembering the cross (1 Cor 11:26). But it also looks forward to Jesus’ return. As Carl puts it, “We remember forward.” The final cup of wine, the symbol of God’s presence, is still awaiting the consummation of the wedding supper of the lamb (Mt 22:1–14; Rev 19:6–9; see also Isa 25:6; 1 Enoch 72:14; Mt 8:11; Lk 22:29–30). Beyond this forward and backward glance, the Lord’s Supper urges us to look inward, to examine ourselves (1 Cor 11:27–32), and outward, to proclaim the unity of Christ’s body (1 Cor 10:17; 11:17–19). It is indeed a wondrous mystery that such a fragile memorial, comprised of such common and transitory elements, has endured so tenaciously the ravages of time.