Maundy Thursday, 13 April 2017
Exodus
12:1-4, (5-10) 11-14
Psalm 116:1,
10-17
I
Corinthians 11:23-26
Saint John
13:1-17, 31b-35
Background: Passover
Like a great
number of religious rites and festivals, Passover has a history that discloses
several more ancient usages and meanings. It is thought that the festival is
the descendant of an ancient nomadic feast, the Shepherd’s Rite, and a
Canaanite agricultural feast. In Exodus
5:1, and 10:9 we have
some evidence of a rite that precedes the Passover celebration that we know
from later in Exodus. Combined with these two roots is also the Feast of
Unleavened Bread (see
Deuteronomy 16:16), probably the oldest of the festivals in the liturgical
calendar. Some commentators see the original locus of the Passover rites as
being in the home itself. Later, under the reforms of Josiah, and the
Deuteronomic school, the celebrations may have been combined into a feast that
was celebrated by both home and nation. As a national celebration these rites
are attached to a celebration of the liberation from Egypt. The texts in Exodus
(see the First Reading below) that outline the various aspects of the
celebration were probably brought into their final form either during the
exile, or in the period immediately following. For an engaging and exhaustive
discussion on the Passover, see J. C. Rylaarsdam’s article in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, page
663ff.[1]
First Reading: Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the
land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall
be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel
that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb
for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join
its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion
to the number of people who eat of it. [Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep
it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled
congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of
the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which
they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted
over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw
or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner
organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that
remains until the morning you shall burn.] This is how you shall eat it: your
loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you
shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night,
and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings
and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you
on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and
no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
This day shall be a day
of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you
shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
These materials have a somewhat regulative nature, and were
probably formed either during the Josiah reforms, or later as Judaism began to
reassert itself following the Exile. In verse 2 we have an indication that this
feast also signaled a new year, although there are at least four other
occasions that are lifted up as new year’s dates. Later the new year was
aligned with the agricultural calendar, rather than attaching it to a
historical event. It might make an interesting preaching point that the
directions allow for a lamb or a kid.
The urgency of the situation is indicated by the use of a
flatbread – easily prepared when needed, and the provision for fire-roasting
the lamb (or kid). The concern about the consumption of blood would be averted
by this method, as would preparing a stew as in boiling the meat. However,
there would need to have been a pot for the latter method. Here we have but the
bare essentials.
Much like Moses’ appearances before Pharaoh and his wise men, this
night is cast as a contest between the God of Israel and the Egyptian pantheon,
“from all the gods of Egypt I will exact
retributions.” The scene, or at least the comments on the seen seem
analogous to Elijah’s contest with the priests of Ba’al. It is here that we see
a major thread in this narrative – the theme of blood. It is Moses who sheds
the blood of an Egyptian supervisor. In his return to Egypt and subsequent
circumcision blood is shed again. The blood of the first-born is shed, and the
Nile is turned into a river of blood. It is blood, smeared on the lintels of a
home that deters the visitation of the “Destroyer” or as in our text the
“plague”. Two words in the Hebrew preserve a pun. “Pesach”, the name of the festival is punned by the verb pasa which means to “skip” or “hop”. In
English the verb has been morphed into a name for the celebration, “Passover”.
Breaking
open Exodus:
1.
What is the urgency that surrounds this meal?
2.
How has God delivered you from death?
3.
What does Passover mean to you?
Psalm 116:1, 10-17 Dilexi, quoniam
1 I love
the Lord, because he has
heard the voice of my supplication, *
because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.
because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.
10 How shall I repay
the Lord *
for all the good things he has done for me?
for all the good things he has done for me?
11 I will lift up the cup
of salvation *
and call upon the Name of the Lord.
and call upon the Name of the Lord.
12 I will fulfill my vows
to the Lord *
in the presence of all his people.
in the presence of all his people.
13 Precious in the sight
of the Lord *
is the death of his servants.
is the death of his servants.
14 O Lord, I am your servant; *
I am your servant and the child of your handmaid;
you have freed me from my bonds.
I am your servant and the child of your handmaid;
you have freed me from my bonds.
15 I will offer you the
sacrifice of thanksgiving *
and call upon the Name of the Lord.
and call upon the Name of the Lord.
16 I will fulfill my vows
to the Lord *
in the presence of all his people,
in the presence of all his people,
17 In the courts of
the Lord’s house, *
in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
Verse introduces us to the psalm of
thanksgiving. You may want to read the elided verses (2-9) to capture the complete
flavor of the need and the subsequent thanksgiving. Themes of death, and stress
are relieved by God, and thus the psalmist gives thanks. When we pick up with
the psalm again, at verse 10, we seem to be at the temple, offering a ritual
thanksgiving to God. The cup of salvation is more than likely a cup from which
a libation was poured upon the altar. For a similar libation see II Samuel 23:16, where
David pour out a cup of water gained at great price by his men. To underscore
the theme of deliverance from death and distress, Robert Altar translates the
cup as “The cup of rescue.”[2]
The vows in verse 12 and verse 16 are the vows to offer the thanksgiving
sacrifice, perhaps a reference to the libation poured out in verse 11. The
final verses are a widening scene from the individual to the temple and finally
to the entire city of Jerusalem. God’s mercy is for more than the one.
Breaking
open the Psalm 118:
1.
What does it mean to you to be righteous?
2.
Is there a “righteous one” that you know?
3.
Where is righteousness in your city?
Second Reading: I Corinthians 11:23-26
I received from the
Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was
betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and
said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of
me." In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink
it, 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.
In this section (11:2 -14:40) Paul outlines rules and behaviors
for the Christian assembly. These are the considerations that Christians have
for one another when they have gathered together. Following a section on “head
coverings”, we come to the Eucharistic assembly and what is required there. In
the verses immediately preceding this pericope, Paul tackles the problems of
social discrimination at the assembly, and then centers them, in our reading,
in what it was that Jesus intended in the meal. He recalls the evening of the
supper and what happened there. The remembrance is necessary, not only from the
“Do this in remembrance of me,” but also in remembering what it was that the
same Lord did for all on the cross. We have a section that seems both social
and sacramental at the same time – and that is proper. The example given moves
the meal from the benefit for only the individual to the benefit for all, and
for the other. What meaning does the Lord’s death have for the community? Paul
sees the answer in the actions of offering, partaking of, and sharing the bread
and the cup.
Breaking
open Philippians:
- Describe Jesus’ humiliation.
- Describe Jesus’ exultation.
- Which gives you the greatest strength?
The Gospel: St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Now before the festival
of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world
and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them
to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon
Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had
given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to
God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around
himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples'
feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon
Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus
answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will
understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon
Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my
head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash,
except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all
of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said,
"Not all of you are clean."
After he had washed
their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to
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.
Jesus said, "Now
the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God
has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will
glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You
will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am
going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one
another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
It is here
that John differs from the synoptic gospels. Whereas Mark, Matthew, and Luke
place the last supper at the Passover celebration, John places it before the
Passover. What is tied to the Passover in John is the judgment of Jesus and his
crucifixion. John shares some things with all the synoptics, namely: 1) the
warning of the betrayal, 2) a prediction of Peter’s denial, 3) the fruit of the
vine, and 4) reference to the Covenant. John shares a prediction of the
scattering of the disciples with Mark and Matthew, and with Luke he shares a
lesson of humility, and a reference to the disciples and the kingdom.
The main
focus of this reading, and indeed this evening’s liturgy as well is the Foot
washing. Its history in the churches is mixed, from use as a mandatory rite, or
as an observance specific to Maundy Thursday, or as a monastic rite of welcome
and hospitality. The text suggests what we are to know from the practice, both
humility and servant hood. Here we have an action on the part of Jesus, which
is then subsequently explained and expounded upon. Both preachers and readers
may want to focus on the dialogue between Peter and Jesus, for in their
exchange we see a key to the meanings of the event. From Peter we have
questioning, objection, and finally acquiescence. From Jesus we have the
promise of understanding, the question about inclusion, and finally acceptance
of Peter, and a predictive reference to betrayal. Most important, however, is
the example that Jesus leaves for the community that will gather in the future
around this supper. It is an example of servant hood and humility – and it
indicates a life of action and involvement.
The second
pericope in our reading verses 21-30, A Prediction of the Betrayal, is elided
from our liturgical reading and is completed by parts of another pericope, the
introduction to the Last Discourse, verses 31-35. It is important that we are
not left dangling with the foot washing alone, but are led into the events of
the week that follows. The vision here almost looks back through John’s
experience of the risen Christ, as Jesus speaks to his disciples about glory
both of God, and the Son of Man. The presence of God-with-us will soon be at an
end, at least in human terms, and thus Jesus prepares his closest with a behavior
that ought to unite them. The behavior is love.
Breaking
open the Gospel:
1. What do you think a Christian’s behavior should look
like?
2. Is humility a positive or a negative term for you? Why?
3. How are you a servant?
After
breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday.
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered,
instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may
receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these
holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Questions and comments copyright © 2017, Michael T. Hiller
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