Maundy Thursday, 17 April 2014
Exodus
12:1-14
Psalm
116:1, 10-17
I
Corinthians 11:23-26
St.
John 13:1-17, 331b-35
Background: The Great Three Days – Maundy Thursday
What we know about these
days is due to a diary written by a Christian woman and pilgrim, Egeria or
Aetheria who was from Galicia and travelled in the Holy Land from 381-384
CE. Her diary survives in the form
of a letter that was shared with a group of women in Galicia. Here are her comments on the day as
celebrated in the Fourth Century.
On the fifth weekday everything that is customary is done from the
first cockcrow until morning at the Anastasis, and also at the third and at the
sixth hours. But at the eighth hour all the people gather together at the
martyrium2 according to custom, only earlier than on other days, because the
dismissal must be made sooner. Then, when the people are gathered together, all
that should be done is done, and, the oblation is made on that day at the
martyrium, the dismissal taking place about the tenth hour. But before the
dismissal is made there, the archdeacon raises his voice and says: "Let us
all assemble at the first hour of the night in the church which is in Eleona,
for great toil awaits us to-day, in this very night." Then, after the
dismissal at the martyrium, they arrive behind the Cross, where only one hymn
is said and prayer is made, and the bishop offers the oblation there, and all
communicate. Nor is the oblation ever offered behind the Cross on any day
throughout the year, except on this one day. And after the dismissal there they
go to the Anastasis, where prayer is made, the catechumens and the faithful are
blessed according to custom, and the dismissal is made.
Night Station on the Mount of Olives.
And so every one hastens back to his house to eat, because immediately
after they have eaten, all go to Eleona to the church wherein is the cave where
the Lord was with His Apostles on this very day. There then, until about the
fifth hour of the night, hymns and antiphons suitable to the day and to the
place are said, lessons, too, are read in like manner, with prayers
interspersed, and the passages from the Gospel are read where the Lord
addressed His disciples on that same day as He sat in the same cave which is in
that church. And they go thence at about the sixth hour of the night with hymns
up to the Imbomon, the place whence the Lord ascended into heaven, where again
lessons are read, hymns and antiphons suitable to the day are said, and all the
prayers which are made by the bishop are also suitable both to the day and to
the place.
(c) Stations at Gethsemane.
And at the first cockcrow they come down from the Imbomon with hymns,
and arrive at the place where the Lord prayed, as it is written in the Gospel1: and He was withdrawn2 (from them) about a stone's cast, and prayed, and
the rest. There is in that place a graceful church. The bishop and all the
people enter, a prayer suitable to the place and to the day is said, with one
suitable hymn, and the passage from the Gospel is read where He said to His
disciples: Watch, that ye enter not
into temptation1; the whole passage is read through and prayer is made. And then all,
even to the smallest child, go down with the Bishop, on foot, with hymns to
Gethsemane; where, on account of the great number of people in the crowd, who
are wearied owing to the vigils and weak through the daily fasts, and because
they have so great a hill to descend, they come very slowly with hymns to
Gethsemane. And over two hundred church candles are made ready to give light to
all the people. On their arrival at Gethsemane, first a suitable prayer is
made, then a hymn is said, then the passage of the Gospel is read where the Lord
was taken. And when this passage has been read there is so great a moaning and
groaning of all the people, together with weeping, that their lamentation may
be heard perhaps as far as the city.
(d) Return to Jerusalem.
From that hour they go with hymns3 to the city on foot, reaching the gate about the time when one man
begins to be able to recognize another, and thence right on through the midst
of the city; all, to a man, both great and small, rich and poor, all are ready
there, for on that special day not a soul withdraws from the vigils until
morning. Thus the bishop is escorted from Gethsemane to the gate, and thence
through the whole of the city to the Cross.
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.
Here we have a set of instructions on how to
celebrate the Passover. These
instructions are given “in the land of
Egypt”, thus preparatory in nature.
The lamb that was taken could either be a young lamb or a mature sheep
(in its first year). The language
of the instructions describes the lamb as something “that is kept.” Thus
it was selected and awaited its role in the Passover Liturgy. The instructions continue with how the
lamb, and later the bread, is to be prepared. The methods are those of a nomad; with the lamb “fire roasted”, as opposed to being
stewed or boiled (which would have required kitchen equipment). The whole process reminds me of Fr.
Michael Merriman’s description of the Great Vigil of Easter which he described
as taking place around “the campfire” and “telling our stories and singing our
songs.” Here the mood is the same,
simple bread and simple meal. The
slaughter is done at twilight (the new day just beginning) and the blood marks
the door with its ritual marks.
The meal is seen as a reenactment of ancient national history. What ever remains of the meal is to be
utterly destroyed. The English
word “Passover” does not really translate God’s action, and our translation
exhibits that as God “passing through” the
Land. The word Passover is related
to a different root. Like later
prophets and their oracles, the Egyptian gods will be seen as nothing, and
totally powerless when confronted by God’s act.
Robert Alter[1]
notes the power of “blood” in the Moses cycle. There are several instances where blood is shed: a) the
Egyptian taskmaster, the blood of circumcision, and the tenth plague. These are all linked or participate in
the signing of the houses with blood.
Breaking
open Exodus:
1.
Is there an
urgent nature to your faith?
2.
Can you take
your religion and go anywhere?
3.
How basic is
your religious life?
Psalm 116:1, 10-17 Dilexi, quoniam
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.
How shall I repay the LORD *
for all the good things he has done for me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation *
and call upon the Name of the LORD.
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD *
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD *
is the death of his servants.
O LORD, I am your servant; *
I am your servant and the child of your handmaid;
you have freed me from my bonds.
I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving *
and call upon the Name of the LORD.
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD *
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the LORD'S house, *
in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Here we have a thanksgiving psalm in which the
author gives thanks for God’s attention to the author’s supplications. The verses that are deleted from the
reading describe the interaction between God and the psalmist, and the
situation that calls forth his prayer, “the
cords of death encircled me – and the straits of Sheol found me.” The following verbs describe God’s
response: rescue, showing of mercy, requiting, and freeing. How then, returning to our reading,
should the recipient of so great a grace respond? Indeed that is the question on the psalmist’s mind, “How shall I repay the Lord?” What is then described is the
ritual of a thanksgiving sacrifice, especially a cup of libation. Later verses make certain the ritual
nature of this response, “In the courts
of the Lord’s house.” In
addition to his participation in the temple rituals, the author notes a kind of
dedication, “O Lord, I am your servant.”
Breaking
open Psalm 116:
1.
How present
is God in your praying?
2.
What
difficult moments in life has God answered for you?
3.
How are you
God’s servant?
1 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.
This remembrance of the actions at the Last Supper
predates any such remembrances in the Gospels. Paul makes us clear that what he repeats for us he first was
given by Jesus himself. This
notion of “passing on”, or in our translation “receiving” is a technical one denoting
for Greeks, the traditions of a school of thought, or for Jew’s the same notion
of the preservation of a tradition or rabbinic school. Thus Paul passes on the tradition that
is borne in Christ. In his
commentary on I Corinthians, Hans Conzelmann[2]
notes that this strand, this tradition of words, incorporates both an earlier
strand – no longer discoverable, and possible emendation by Paul. Or as Conzelmann says, “Both in Mark
and Paul we find older and younger elements.”[3] It is not bread and wine that is lifted
up here, but rather bread and cup. Thus we see in the Eucharistic action
the elements of the agape meal in which the final “cup of blessing” is the cup
that Jesus lifts up. Conzelmann
continues on to detail what is much too familiar to us, so that we escape the
basic elements. The cup has more
to do with the notion of covenant – covenant sacrifice. It is these elements that we are bidden
to repeat and with them to proclaim.
Breaking
open I Corinthians:
- What have you received from Jesus and then passed on?
- What role does memory play in your life of faith?
- How do you proclaim “the Lord’s death until he comes?”
St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35
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."
And here we confront a classic conflict between the
Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) and John. John holds that the meal was held “Before the festival of the Passover,” while the synoptics claim
that it was held on the night of the Passover. Some have argued that the synoptic date could not be the actual
date because the trial would not have been held at the same time as the
Passover. One commentator adds,
however, that perhaps the situation cited in Deuteronomy 17:13 might obtain
here – namely, that a false prophet should be made an example of so that, “thus shall
you purge the evil from your midst.”
Jesus takes the opportunity of this
meal (whatever its actual nature) to provide an example of his message and
commandment on love. Here Jesus
shows his own power of loving, which is done in great humility. Peter’s reaction might prove to be a
great basis for a sermon on this day.
His inability to receive, and to rethink the status people and events,
might be similar to our own inability to receive grace. I am reminded of the comment that a
colleague of mine, Pr. Ruth Frost, made to me in the sacristy when she asked
why I communed myself. I gave the
usual answers, to which she replied, “Michael, you need to learn to receive!”
What follows in the reading is a
leap to discourse from Jesus on what his actions have meant. He will build on these themes later in
chapter 14. In a sense, as John
recalls Jesus words about what has happened, he looks forward in the use of the
word “glorify” to what will happen,
as if it were already complete.
The touching theme of love has a gritty accompaniment in the Passion of
Jesus, which will immediately follow.
The softness of the day will soon give way to harshness and tragedy.
Breaking open Gospel:
1. What events of your life inform you as you tell the story of the crucifixion?
2. What are your emotions during Holy Week?
3. How will you observe the week?
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.
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