Maundy Thursday 2020

Introduction 

If you knew it was going to be your last meal what would you eat? I thought about that for a few days and I decided I would want Bethany to make my grandpa’s Russian spaghetti. She usually makes it with a sourdough loaf that is stuffed with cheese, amazing! If I had to have a last meal with my family, this is what I’d want because my past, present, and future are connected in this meal.

Russian spaghetti evokes my past because it’s nostalgic for me. Both my grandpa and my dad used to make it all the time. It tastes and smells like my childhood. It also brings me joy in the present because I enjoy eating it. It points me to the future because my kids love it. Every time Bethany makes it the kids devour. It may be the favorite meal of all of my children.

Tonight we’re remembering and celebrating Maundy Thursday as a church. On the night before Good Friday, the past, present, and future all intersected for Jesus Christ in his last meal. Some of you may not be familiar with observing Maundy Thursday in an annual way so I want to take you through the highlights of the night focusing on three scenes: (1) the feast; (2) the feet; and (3) the fiend. Let’s begin with the feast.

The Feast

Maundy Thursday is the night that Christ instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist. Let’s read from Luke’s Gospel about the very 1st Communion:

14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood (Luke 22.14-20).

In the Lord’s Supper we see the intersection of the past, the present, and the future. First, the past: Jesus and his disciples are celebrating Passover. This is the ancient feast that Israel celebrated every year for 1,500 years. YHWH gave it to them when he led them out of slavery in Egypt to remind them of his redemption. Even though Jews still celebrate Passover to this day, Maundy Thursday would be the last real Passover celebrated by God’s people.

On this night Jesus took the old covenant Passover and transformed it into the new covenant Lord’s Supper. And so it has relevance to the present. It is one of two sacraments left by Christ himself to be tangible gospel witnesses to the church. Paul makes it a point in 1 Corinthians 11 to note (1) that he was given the sacrament by Christ himself. Paul is the only apostle who wasn’t there on Maundy Thursday and so Jesus explained it to him after his conversion. (2) Paul notes that the church is to take the Eucharist every time that they gather. Tied to the preaching of the Word the sacrament is a present gospel witness and means of grace.

But the Lord’s Supper is also about the future. Jesus tells his disciples that he will abstain from the sacrament until he returns in the kingdom. Jesus is telling us that he will take Communion with us for all eternity in the new heavens and the new earth. We will celebrate redemption as we remember his death and resurrection forever. Part of the pain that we feel in this quarantine is that we can’t take the Eucharist together. May our hearts long for our return to gathered worship and ultimately for the return of King Jesus when we will feast with him!

The Feet

If the first scene of Maundy Thursday is the feast, the second scene is the feet. John’s Gospel gives us this scene:

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean (John 13.3-9).

And look down to verses 34-35: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is where we get the name Maundy Thursday. The word Maundy is from the Latin mandatum, which means command.

What did Jesus mean when he said he’s giving them a new command? Loving one another is not a new command. The OT called Israel to love their neighbor as themselves. This is where we must remember the feet. Jesus served his disciples and then calls the love command a new command. The new wrinkle is just as I have loved you. Jesus was giving them a glimpse of what was going to happen tomorrow.

On Good Friday Jesus Christ will die on the cross for the sins of his people. This is the full-body cleansing that we all need. This is pictured for us in the sacrament of baptism. Jesus death and resurrection is the fulfillment of his life and mission; the goal of what he came to do. And so Jesus is telling his disciples (and us!) that we must now love each other the way that he loved us. He loved us with a self-sacrificial love, with a love that puts others before you.

The Fiend

Finally, the last scene we’re going to highlight is the fiend. In 1st Corinthians 11, Paul introduces the Eucharist by saying on the night that Jesus was betrayed. The betrayal of Christ is the way he gets to the cross. Let’s read Matthew’s account:

While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him (Matt 26.47-50).

Maundy Thursday is the night that Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord Jesus. Christ was handed over by one of his own and then the rest of the disciples abandoned him as well. Peter denied him three times. Maundy Thursday reminds us that Jesus was betrayed and abandoned by the very feet he washed hours earlier. This is our story. We are the betrayers of Christ. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3.23).

But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5.8). Judas may be the historical fiend, but we are all fiends, rebels, and enemies of God. This is why Jesus came to die. We’ll discuss this more tomorrow when Pastor Kevin and I do the Good Friday live stream, but for now the gospel beckons. We are all sinners who must repent of our sin and trust in Jesus Christ. If we don’t there is literal hell to pay. But if we do, if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we are saved (Rom 10.9-10). Look to Christ on this Maundy Thursday.

Conclusion

There are certainly scenes from Maundy Thursday that we did not consider tonight – Jesus’ high priestly prayer, the garden of gethsemane; there are a lot of important redemptive moments that happened this night. But we did hit the highlights. And so this is a special night we celebrate once a year, but there’s also a sense in which we celebrate it weekly. When we take the Eucharist every week we’re evoking Maundy Thursday. But it doesn’t have to just be at church that you can remember and respond; you can also do it when you’re having your favorite meal with your family. For me, that’s my grandpa’s Russian spaghetti. Happy Maundy Thursday!