Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
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Mark 14:12-16, 22-25
The Last Supper
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, 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: 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.
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
On Maundy Thursday, those of us who are striving to follow Jesus traditionally gather to remember the last night of his earthly ministry, including his Last Supper with his disciples. We also remember and celebrate the sacrament he established for us on that night. So in our Reflections for today, we’re going to think briefly about two stories from that night, one from Mark, and the other from John.
As you might remember, the Gospel of Mark is said by many Bible scholars to be Peter’s remembrances of the life and teachings of Jesus. So if that’s correct, then his version of the Last Supper is an eyewitness account. But that might also be true of the Gospel of John – some scholars believe that John was also present at the Last Supper, and that he might have been the “beloved disciple” mentioned in the story.
The first thing we should probably say about the Last Supper is that it was a Passover gathering – an observance at which Jews remember and celebrate the liberation of their people from slavery in Egypt. And Passover rituals have a bittersweet quality to them. Jews eat bitter herbs to remember the bitterness of their bondage in Egypt. They eat bread without yeast to remember that they had to leave Egypt in a hurry – with no time to let bread rise. And the Passover meal was always to be eaten with shoes on, for the same reason. And they ate lamb – a reminder of the lamb whose blood marked the homes of those who would be set free at the cost of its life.
For followers of Jesus, the connection might be obvious. The Last Supper has a bittersweet quality of its own. The gathering gives us our sacrament, but it also includes the tragic moment when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. And within hours, his chosen ‘rock on which the church would be built’ would deny even knowing him. As his followers looked back in later years, they would remember these things about their final meal with Jesus before his death.
As his followers 2,000 years later, our observance of the Lord’s Supper reminds us that our salvation was bought at the price of Jesus’ death – that his body was broken and his blood poured out for us. So this occasion reminds us that our liberation from slavery to sin and death always calls us to remember the bitter price he paid to set us free. The body of Jesus was broken for us, and his blood was shed to establish a new covenant for those who love and follow him.
John 13:1-5, 12-17
Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet
1It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
It seems to me that no observance of the Last Supper is really complete unless we stop to remember that on that night, Jesus performed history’s most breathtaking act of servant leadership: He got down on the floor to wash the feet of his disciples. And when he did, he washed the feet of one who would betray him, one who would deny him, and one who would doubt his resurrection. And then he commanded those who follow him to do likewise.
This act points to the very profound truth that our master loves us and accepts us in spite of the fact that in various ways, each of us betrays, denies and doubts him. That love is a gift out of his grace – literally something we could never earn or deserve. And that love is unconditional – given in spite of our sins and flaws.
If that’s true, then in our service to others in Jesus’ name, we can never refuse that service to anyone because we consider them ‘unworthy.’ If Jesus would so humbly wash the feet of those who betrayed, denied and doubted him, what basis could we have for refusing to serve any of those in need around us?
Maundy Thursday commemorates a profound event that shapes the way we understand and practice our faith. It also marks the beginning of three days that changed the world forever.
Let’s pray. Lord, on this Maundy Thursday, we remember with thanks the night when Jesus established the blessed sacrament we share around your table, and we remember also the great promise that sacrament represents: that all who follow him are adopted as members of your own family, and welcomed at your table. And we also remember that command he gave: that we serve others as he did, without judging who might be ‘worthy.’ Write that command on our hearts, we pray. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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