2017 Belmont University Lenten Devotional Guideنمونہ

Maundy Thursday is all about connecting—connecting the presence of the Lord in the life of Israel to that of the early church, connecting the leadership of Jesus to the kind of service He displays, and connecting ourselves to Jesus’ own work in today’s broken world. Our passage in Exodus sets the stage: The Israelites are instructed by God to not only to prepare for the Passover event itself, but to formally institute its remembrance. That is, they are instructed to connect the salvific work of God in their exodus from Egypt to the whole of their lives afterword: remembering what God does becomes a way of “re-membering” God’s people into their communities. In 1 Corinthians, Paul does a remarkable thing: He takes the remembrance of the Passover that Jesus celebrated and makes it something open, something new: Now, Passover becomes Eucharist, a remembrance of thanksgiving for God’s radically inclusive act in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. By indicating that He had “received” this tradition, Paul connects the Eucharist to the Passover celebration. Remembering Jesus’ death with wine and bread is a direct remembrance itself of God’s work with Israel, also remembered with wine and bread. In this case though, Paul realizes that Jesus makes this remembrance open to all persons (and not just the Jews). Finally, in the Gospel passage, we read not about Jesus’ celebration of the Passover, but what takes place immediately before. To the dismay of Peter, and likely the confusion of the other disciples, Jesus washes their feet. In doing so, he makes it explicit that this kind of humility and service are what characterize his presence on Earth, and he indicates that those who love him will also wash the feet of those around them. And thus, Jesus makes the final connection. The mighty work of God in the exodus, remembered for centuries in the celebration of Passover, now finds the very Son of God extolling his followers to be known by their love for one another. To remember the work of God—and to declare God’s glory for that work—necessarily requires that we subvert our usual postures and adopt that of the foot-washer. May we remember this as Easter draws near. MICAH WEEDMAN Director of Outreach University Ministries