C Cycle – Holy Thursday 25

Jn. 13:1-15

After hundreds of years of prophesies God’s plan for the restoration of what we lost by the sin of Adam was being realized.  It was unfolding and the disciples were excited about that day and were looking forward to the traditional Passover celebration. The day began with the crowd’s loud shouts of jubilation.  Shouts of Hosanna filled the air. It was finally happening; the people were acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah. The promised one of God. It was going to be a glorious Passover.  The Passover celebrated the night God freed the Israelites from bondage.  The ritual was given to Moses by God.  The Messiah would come and free them from the oppression by the Romans. That evenings Passover would take on a new meaning which would unfold over the next fifty days.   

The Passover meal they would experience that night did not unfold in the traditional way.  It begam with the King of Kings washing their feet.  A demeaning task, performed by a servant humbly washing the feet of the master.  Instead, the disciples were having their feet washed by their master.  But that was not the only thing that was departed from the traditional Passover ritual.  Jesus by example models what is expected by anyone who believes in Him.  We are to be servants, washing the feet of all we will serve.  We must humbly serve and consider everyone as greater than ourselves.    

It is hard to embrace the mantel of discipleship and serve others.  Particularly to serve those whom we judge to be unworthy of being served.  Christ tells us what He did that evening we must follow if we desire to become whom we were created to become.  If Christ began this evening by washing feet, we should consider how each of us can emulate that action as we begin this holy season of Easter.  One thing each of us can do is to forgive and free those who have hurt you and betrayed you. We can in silent prayer to Christ ask Him to wash them of their sin and we can relinquish them into the hands of God.   

There were more surprises in store for the disciples that night. The normal prayers during the Passover meal were changed.  The normal blessing of the wine and bread was not about giving thanks.  What Jesus said as He lifts the bread and wine was a prelude for something that was to become a new ritual.  Jesus was preparing them for a new covenant and a new way to remember how His sacrifice freed us and removed the barrier of sin between us and God.  His words will point directly to Him as the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of all. 

Jesus was giving us another ritual which would sanctify bread and wine and sanctify us as we eat and drink it.  The words Jesus spoke that evening were unfamiliar and confusing.  What entered their minds when He said, “Take and eat for this is my Body give up for you.” “Take and drink for this is my blood shed for the forgiveness of sin.” They would ultimately understand and would establish the ritual as a central part of celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus.   

 Jesus that evening modeled the consecration of what happens each time we gather to celebrate and remember the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.  He becomes present to us as we eat what the disciples ate and drink what the disciples drank that night – His Body and His Blood.  Tonight, we will once again sit at the table of the Lord and remember the Lamb of God which was sacrificed for our sins. Not a purchased lamb as the law prescribed in the Levitical law (Lev.16:21-22) but the true Lamb of God who gave up His life so that we may stand before God freed from the penalty of our sins. 

Jesus made it clear that night if we believe then we must become servants and disciples. We must depend on Him and the Sprit to change us, transform us, and renew our minds.  Jesus before that evening ended told us and the disciples apart from Him, we can do nothing.  He told us how the Holy Spirit will be our teacher, our enlightenment, our moral compass.  Intimacy with God will be possible because we will understand forgiveness has been bestowed on us. 

But tonight, the sacrifice made by Jesus requires a response from us.  We must offer Jesus a sacrifice of our own.  Our hearts, our desires, and our own plans for our holiness.  This evening is the beginning of a journey into the heart of God. The remaining part of the journey demands we do what the disciples did.  Listen to the words of Jesus and meditate on them. Experience the confusion of the disciples and experience our own lack of understanding.  One way to have your own Passover meal with Jesus.  Take the time this coming week and read John’s gospel beginning with Chapter 13 through Chapter 17. 

Everything in those chapters is Jesus celebrating Passover with His disciples.  We can have our own expectations changed if we just spiritually and mentally enter that evening.  With prayer and inviting the Spirit to guide us to fully grasp the gift given to us in Jesus Christ.  We will discover how we must response to the gift of Jesus and express our desire to receive what God offers us – restoration, His love, His embrace and His transforming power.