March 28, 2024 [MAUNDY THURSDAY]

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6.23)

“After that, Jesus poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.” (John 13.5)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

[Author’s Note: By the sheer weight of gospel evidence the traditional Church calendar for the events of Holy Week follow the Synoptic Gospel order: Sabbath dinner on “Saturday”; Declaration Entry on Sunday; Cleansing the Temple on Monday; the Teaching Discourse on Tuesday; Judas plotting with the Temple officials on Wednesday; Preparation for the Passover/Seder Meal on Thursday; The Betrayal, Arrest and Crucifixion on Friday; Shroud Saturday and the Sabbath of Grief; culminating with Resurrection Sunday. Having deviated for that one moment when John does not place the “cleansing of the Temple” during Holy Week, we find ourselves at a crossroads again in John’s gospel. This time, we are left to consider the episodic dilemma of Judas from Kerioth. Within the Synoptic story, Judas conspires with the Temple leadership to lead them to Jesus. He has been approached previously and thus the invitation was given for his consideration. We can only read into the story the true intent of Judas for such a heinous act of treachery. Then there is the gospel of John who resolves such consideration. Regardless of the intention of Judas Iscariot and what was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back,” John states simply that Satan had taken him over. We might think that the battle as reported in Matthew between Satan and Jesus in the wilderness has now moved to a different venue and level. Judas is a pawn in the hands of Satan and serves blindly the purposes of God. It also allows us to see how Jesus teaches the disciples to respond to the tempting of the Devil.]

It is in light of this witness that John alone brings us to “Maundy Thursday.” And while it is true that all four gospels record (as does Paul in his letter to the Community of Faith in Jesus as the Christ founded in Corinth) the “breaking of bread and sharing of the cup of promise” in remembrance of Jesus’ ministry with them, for them and for the glory of God to be revealed to the whole world, it is in John’s gospel alone that we find “the foot washing” performed by Jesus. If you will read from the beginning of the 13th chapter of John, you will find (as I mentioned yesterday) the only mention of Judas as the betrayer within the entire pericope. We do not hear of the conspiring with the Temple leaders but that Satan had overtaken his heart and moved him to act against Jesus. I will most certainly say for Judas and the Temple leadership that their role was inevitable. Because of the Temple leadership’s fear and hatred of Jesus, someone was 1) going to have to die and 2) someone was going to have to betray. The words of Joseph to his 11 brothers in Egypt when he revealed himself to them are appropriate here: “What you intended for evil, God has turned for good.” Quite honestly, if it wasn’t Judas of Kerioth who would betray Jesus then someone else would because “Jesus had to die.” We have to embrace the inevitable. Without the sacrifice of the “Perfect Lamb of God” in whom there was no blemish of sin, we would still be wallowing in our sins, muddied by the world and seeking as lost ones the hope for our salvation. But, within John’s remembrance of that night we are brought to Jesus’ “command” performance. Indeed, the word “maundy” comes from the latin word meaning “command.” In the whole of John’s sharing of the events of that special Sabbath on which the Passover was celebrated in the Upper Room, command was the operative word.

Jesus was under command. Yes, in His love for God His Father and for the people of God, Jesus accepted the charge to “go into the world and bring the good news of salvation which was for all people.” Fitting, is it not, that in Luke’s gospel of Jesus, that phrase was the angelic declaration to those shepherds watching their flocks in the wee hours of the morning. I say it was the wee hours of the morning preceding Passover for those shepherds, Mary and Joseph and indeed all of Israel. Yes, Jesus was under command doing the will of His Father for the sake of God’s children of whom He would become as one like them apart from sin.

Jesus was under a new command. John would have us remember that in the midst of Jesus’ sharing again the events of what was about to happen, He would teach them a new command “Love one another. No greater love is there than the one I am commanding you to receive: no greater love is there than this that One would lay down his life for another.” John would repeat that in Peter’s reconciliation in chapter 21 and throughout his letters to the churches of Asia Minor including the Letter of Revelation.

Jesus commanded them with an act of remembrance by renewing the meaning of the Passover with the prophetic events as they were about to unfold. He would say to them “…as often as you eat and drink of this meal, do so in remembrance of Me.” Jesus was calling them out of the past where hope was in the distant future to the present where the future was opening to them with such power and authority as never before known.

Jesus commanded Judas to “Go and do quickly what you must do.” And here was ought to be struck to the heart concerning Jesus resolution to be under command of God and the command to love one another. We cannot lose sight of the fact that Jesus had washed Judas’ feet as well knowing he was already moved to collaborate with the Temple leadership to arrest Him. But, Jesus also knew what Judas did not: Jesus would be tried, convicted and executed. Even in Judas’ desire to “make things right,” whatever that meant, he was blinded by his own ambition and in collaboration with “the Enemy” found himself serving Jesus’ enemies and not God. But again, if not Judas, then who? We will never know because Judas had placed himself in the way apart from the truth and the life. Yet, Jesus still loved him and in duty as the true host of the feast, Jesus washed his feet along with the others.

Mighty ones of God in Jesus Christ, dare we forget to seek deeper meanings and stories of that night and simply get lost in the “communion” of bread and cup? We barely remember them with depth on Sunday morning, Saturday night or whenever we gather to break bread with one another. It seems we “commune” with the believers in brief to press on to more important worship matters. It is almost as if communion is a box to be checked off signifying “I went to Church.” Aren’t we supposed to be under command by “being the Church” whenever and wherever we are? Maybe the words of Jesus to Judas should echo more resonantly and resolutely within us: What you are about to do, do so quickly!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit spoke us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.