Maundy Thursday
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31-35
Tonight is a night of command and memory
We heard God’s command to the Israelites
to remember the Passover,
we heard Paul share with the Corinthians
what had been passed on to him,
the ritual of eating and drinking in remembrance of Jesus,
commanded by Jesus,
we heard Jesus command the disciples to love one another
as he had loved them
(a command which involves them remembering just how Jesus loved them).
Tonight is full of commands,
that’s where we get the Maundy part of Maundy Thursday,
Mandatum is Latin for commandment,
and part of the commands are to remember.
Now of course memory is a funny thing,
what our brains hold on to and what they forget,
that important task to accomplish in the next week,
gone
that toy jingle from 30 years ago
you can sing it on command.
How we access our memories, is fickle,
sometimes we would dearly love to remember something
and though we try and try
we come up blank,
other times we catch even a whiff of a scent,
a perfume, a food, or something distinct,
and all of a sudden we are transported back to another time and place,
a taste, touch, or sound can do the same thing,
often when we least expect it,
which while inconvenient
gives us a clue for ways to help our memories,
to help us remember,
repetition helps (we heard that toy jingle so many times),
as well as connecting a memory with one or more of the physical senses.
And when we look closer,
we notice that God,
in the wisdom of the one who created us,
has included these memory aids as part of the commands.
The command to remember the Passover
comes as a command to observe a yearly festival.
God says ‘from now on your year will begin with this festival’
and you will set this day aside as a day to remember.
Every year the festival is repeated,
and during the festival the same meal is eaten,
this is what freedom tastes like
roasted lamb eaten with friends and neighbors.
This taste recalls the mighty acts of God
that led to the flight from Egypt,
the people moving hurriedly
even as Pharaoh changed his mind,
how God parted the sea and the people crossed on dry land
even as Pharaoh’s army foundered in the water.
Observe the festival,
tell the story,
taste the lamb,
Remember, this is what God has done for you.
And part of the point of remembering
is to apply the lessons of the past to the present and future,
God has done this before,
God will do it again,
and when God does it again
there is more to remember,
as the years go on layers of meaning get added to the celebration
each celebration in itself
contributing to the memory and meaning,
adapting over time.
It was at a Passover meal
Jesus was sharing with his disciples,
a night already full of remembering
that he took bread and broke it
and gave it them to eat saying,
this is my body given for you,
and again after supper he took the cup
and blessing it he gave it for all to drink saying
this is the new covenant in my blood, given for you,
do this in remembrance of me.
Do this often, remember and proclaim.
Memory adding to memory,
Something old becomes something new
as Jesus uses the festival of the Passover,
which the disciples have grown up with,
which they understand,
to help them understand and remember
what he is about to do for them,
the lamb, sacrificed,
whose blood meant protection,
who tastes of freedom,
that is Jesus now,
his body will be broken and blood spilled for the freedom of all.
Bread broken,
wine poured,
this is Jesus,
this is the taste of remembering,
do it as often as you gather
Jesus tells his disciples,
repeat it again and again.
Remember.
John tells the story of Jesus’ last night
with his disciples a little differently
(notice how there are four gospels,
each slightly different,
a tribute to the variety of human memory
as well as the fact that differing memories
can all contain the same truth)
Jesus is at a meal with his disciples
the night before the Passover
(John does this to strengthen the connection
between Jesus and the Passover lamb,
Jesus is the lamb of God,
sacrificed to take away the sins of the world).
And at this last meal together
Jesus, always the teacher,
has one final lesson for the disciples,
a lesson he enacts,
as he takes the place of a servant
and washes the disciples’ feet
and then says 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. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
Then Jesus commands them to love one another as he has loved them,
love he has just demonstrated before them.
Now
kneeling in service,
the touch of water,
all call to mind Jesus’ command,
and it’s not just for the sake of the disciples,
these actions will be how others know the love of Jesus,
the community that gathers in his name
is marked by the servant love they have for one another.
Remember that I love you,
remember by loving one another.
Do this in remembrance of me
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
Just like with the Passover,
God’s command to remember
is not just about reliving the past,
but about looking toward the future,
the future where Jesus will return to fully heal the world,
a process he started
but has not yet completed,
these commands are meant to help us wait in the meantime,
the time where freedom seems elusive,
where Jesus may seem absent,
where people debate what exactly Jesus wants us to do.
Taste the lamb,
God freed the people before
God has promised to do it again,
eat the bread,
drink the cup,
Jesus is present,
feel the cool water on your fingers,
the ground digging into your knees
as you kneel at the feet of a neighbor in service,
remember the servant love shown to us,
that we show to others.
These are the memories that sustain us in the present
And carry us into the future.
As the word of the final stanza
of the hymn Great God, Your Love Has Called Us (ELW 358):
proclaim:
Great God, in Christ you set us free
Your life to live, your joy to share.
Give us your Spirit’s liberty
To turn from guilt and dull despair,
And offer all that faith can do
While love is making all things new. Amen
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