Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Days In-Between预览

Thursday

On Thursday, the night he was betrayed, Jesus gathered in the upper room of a house and shared a sacred meal with his disciples before going to the cross. Often called Maundy Thursday (or sometimes Holy Thursday), it would be Jesus’ last time with them before being arrested. It’s where we get the practice called the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, or Communion.

“Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum, meaning “mandate” or “command.” On this night Jesus gives us a lasting command: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

Matthew, Mark, and Luke (called the Synoptic Gospels) focus on the details of that meal itself, particularly how Jesus associates himself with it. John focuses on the details around it. Let’s talk about the meal first. Then what John tells us about the rest of that night second.

The Meal

We saw earlier this week that this meal Jesus and his disciples had was the Passover meal. Maundy Thursday is Passover. The lambs for this meal were selected on Sunday, and tonight they were slaughtered and eaten.

The Passover ties in with the last of the ten plagues God sent on Pharaoh and Egypt to shake them into letting Israel go. For this tenth plague, God commanded every Israelite to slaughter a lamb without defect. They were to take some of its blood and put it on the door frames of their houses. This would be a sign to God’s avenging angel who was coming to strike down the first-born son of everyone in Egypt (in retribution for Egypt enslaving God’s first-born son, Israel) to pass over Israel and spare them. That same night God commanded his people to eat the meat in haste, along with unleavened bread (which doesn’t take long to make), and bitter herbs—fully dressed and ready to go. They were saved under the blood of a lamb, and God was about to deliver them. (You can read about it in Exodus 12.)

This is the meal Jesus and his disciples were eating. It was celebrated by Jews every year since the Exodus. It was their main annual holiday.

What’s interesting is that the Gospels never mentioned the lamb or bitter herbs. Only the bread and wine. What’s more interesting is that as Jesus leads his disciples through the meal, he says things like, “Take and eat, this is my body,” and “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:26-29). Jesus associates himself with the Passover. He is the one by whom God’s judgment will pass over us, and the one by whom we will be saved. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, I am your Passover lamb. By my death, you are delivered.

John picks up on this in passages like John 19:31-36 where he draws parallels between Jesus’ death and the methodology prescribed for slaughtering the Passover lamb in Exodus 12. Jesus is the lamb, and what he faces are the bitter herbs.

So today, because of Jesus, our focus shifts. No longer do we look to the Passover of old. We look to the new Passover in Christ. This is what Maundy Thursday is. Communion (or the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist) expresses it.

• Communion is about connecting with Christ. Faith in Christ unites us with Him. We are in him, and communion is one way Christ comes to us. It fosters worship, intimacy, and oneness with our Savior.
• Communion is about connecting with each other. If we are united to Christ, we are part of his body. That body includes everyone else in him. It fosters oneness and fellowship. A fellowship of faith.
• Communion is about remembering. It’s remembering what Jesus did for us and never taking it for granted.
• Communion is about forgiveness. It’s a new covenant in his blood by which we are forgiven.
• Communion is about proclamation. Paul writes, “Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). Christ has come. Christ will come again!

When we think about Passover, the new covenant Jesus instituted, and Communion today, let’s not also forget this. Tim Mackie from the Bible Project puts it this way: “As they share the Passover meal, each participant eats and drinks a story they belong to.” As you commune, you eat and drink who you belong to. “In a way, this ritual is like transcending time to enter into the first Passover moment in Egypt while bringing the story into their present world.” Or in our case, entering Holy Week and bringing what Jesus did into our present world, today.

The Night

More than a sip of wine and bite of wafer or bread, Jesus and his disciples would no doubt have shared the full meal, Exodus-style: lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and wine. But they did more than eat. John shows us Jesus’ teaching and the disciples talking, praying, worshiping, and probably doing many things we would do at a large family meal.

What else happened that night?

Judas goes out to betray Jesus, along with all sorts of questions, worries, and accusations back and forth between the disciples about who the betrayer would be.

Jesus washes his disciples’ feet to set a pattern, teach humility, and show the character of his kingdom, and who he is.

Jesus prepares them for what’s to come. His crucifixion, which he’ll call his glorification, and that he won’t be with them for much longer.

Jesus reassures them, telling them he goes to prepare a place for them, that he will come back for them, and that he is the way to the Father.

Jesus encourages them, letting them know they are not alone. That what he will face is for good, and that he’ll send the Holy Spirit to continue to guide them and be with them. This means peace, courage, and hope.

Jesus teaches them about the absolute necessity of remaining in him, and so remaining in God.

Jesus lifts them up. He tells them they are not mere servants of God; they are his friends.

Jesus warns them. The world will hate them and they will be persecuted. But the Spirit will be with them, and God sees. The days ahead will be filled with grief, but the day will come when they turn to joy. He tells them to take heart, because he has overcome the world.

After this, Jesus prays. He prays that his Father would be glorified. He prays for what he’s about to do. He prays for his disciples. And then he prays for all believers to come. If you are a believer in Christ, that includes you! Pause for a moment to consider. On the night Jesus was betrayed and was about to be crucified, he prayed for you.

All of this happens at the meal they share on the day we call Maundy Thursday.

Today, seek out a church, celebrate this meal, and remember the sacrifice of body and blood which Jesus made on our behalf. It is a testimony to his love for us and the love we are called to have for one another.

You’ll find Thursday’s events recorded in Matthew 26:17-75; Mark 14:12-72; Luke 22:7-62; and John 13-17, along with really great commentary on Communion by Paul in 1 Corinthians 8-11, especially 11:17-34.