Maundy Thursday April 18, 2019
Ex. 12:1-14a Ps. 78:14-20, 23-25
1 Cor 11:23-32 John 13:1-15
Lectionary Link
The liturgy tonight highlights the practice of Holy Eucharist by the church. And it highlights that service is the value that Jesus promoted for the survival of the Jesus Movement.
Even though the Eucharist is related to the Passover Meal, it is quite different. The Passover Meal occurs once a year. The Eucharist was recommended for each gathering of Christians.
The Eucharist developed some of the themes of the Passover Meal. The early church proclaimed Christ as our Passover Lamb who would take away the sin of the world, but his actual death on the Cross was the event of him being the Last Passover sacrifice.
The lamb was no longer needed for a Christian Passover meal; the meaning of the body of Jesus was transferred onto the elements of bread and wine in a meal to become the gathering meal of Christian for the ages.
Why was Eucharist to be frequent and not just an annual meal? It was a communal eating, a public eating together. Why? What can be determined when people eat together? It can be verified that everyone has enough to eat. The early Eucharist was done within context of an actual meal, where everyone ate actual food. The Eucharistic words were added to an actual meal to reinforce that the people who ate together were a part of the family of Christ, and those who cared for one another.
The Eucharistic words of Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church are actually words of warning and discipline. People who gathered to eat together began to trivialize the holy significance of eating together; they were in fact forgetting the purpose of their gathering. So, St. Paul had to give them some discipline orders for how they were to regard the special meal of the bread and wine and their association and identity with the body of Christ. In the words of discipline about the practice of Eucharist by the Corinthian church we can find the first written Eucharistic words of the New Testament.
From the actual practice of Holy Eucharist by the early churches the Gospel were written with the account of the Last Supper to show the derivation of the Eucharist from a Meal event in the week of the death of Jesus. The early church confessed that the practice of Eucharist derived from a command, an institution by the word of Jesus. We commemorate this institution tonight.
If the church survives by the command to continue to gather and celebrate the Eucharist of Christ, what other value is the secret to the success and survival of the church?
Service. The value of service was demonstrated by Jesus in the washing of the feet of his disciples. Jesus led by example, and he exemplified service. He had the stature to be the boss and just give commands for others to serve him; but he led by serving. And he told his followers to do likewise. "Check your egos at the door or you will always live in contention and division." Service is what the living death of sacrifice looks like. St. Paul wrote, I urge you through the mercies of Christ to present yourselves as living sacrifice which is your spiritual service."
The foot-washing that we do tonight is embarrassing for us tonight because it is not a common practice of our culture; it was common to the culture of Jesus in a time of lots of walking in sandals creating dusty feet. A good host would provide for the relief of tired and dusty feet. The Maundy Thursday liturgy continues the foot-washing, not to recommend this as a modern practice, but to remind us that we present ourselves as living sacrifices to God and to each other when we serve each other.
Our parish, St. John's began with service, it has survived more than 60 years because of service, and it will only survive into the future through continued service.
Where is the future hope of our parish? In the continued faithful practice of Eucharist and in the continue practice of service by the people of St. John the Divine.
This Maundy Thursday reminds us and calls us to Eucharist and to service tonight. Amen.
Ex. 12:1-14a Ps. 78:14-20, 23-25
1 Cor 11:23-32 John 13:1-15
Lectionary Link
The liturgy tonight highlights the practice of Holy Eucharist by the church. And it highlights that service is the value that Jesus promoted for the survival of the Jesus Movement.
Even though the Eucharist is related to the Passover Meal, it is quite different. The Passover Meal occurs once a year. The Eucharist was recommended for each gathering of Christians.
The Eucharist developed some of the themes of the Passover Meal. The early church proclaimed Christ as our Passover Lamb who would take away the sin of the world, but his actual death on the Cross was the event of him being the Last Passover sacrifice.
The lamb was no longer needed for a Christian Passover meal; the meaning of the body of Jesus was transferred onto the elements of bread and wine in a meal to become the gathering meal of Christian for the ages.
Why was Eucharist to be frequent and not just an annual meal? It was a communal eating, a public eating together. Why? What can be determined when people eat together? It can be verified that everyone has enough to eat. The early Eucharist was done within context of an actual meal, where everyone ate actual food. The Eucharistic words were added to an actual meal to reinforce that the people who ate together were a part of the family of Christ, and those who cared for one another.
The Eucharistic words of Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church are actually words of warning and discipline. People who gathered to eat together began to trivialize the holy significance of eating together; they were in fact forgetting the purpose of their gathering. So, St. Paul had to give them some discipline orders for how they were to regard the special meal of the bread and wine and their association and identity with the body of Christ. In the words of discipline about the practice of Eucharist by the Corinthian church we can find the first written Eucharistic words of the New Testament.
From the actual practice of Holy Eucharist by the early churches the Gospel were written with the account of the Last Supper to show the derivation of the Eucharist from a Meal event in the week of the death of Jesus. The early church confessed that the practice of Eucharist derived from a command, an institution by the word of Jesus. We commemorate this institution tonight.
If the church survives by the command to continue to gather and celebrate the Eucharist of Christ, what other value is the secret to the success and survival of the church?
Service. The value of service was demonstrated by Jesus in the washing of the feet of his disciples. Jesus led by example, and he exemplified service. He had the stature to be the boss and just give commands for others to serve him; but he led by serving. And he told his followers to do likewise. "Check your egos at the door or you will always live in contention and division." Service is what the living death of sacrifice looks like. St. Paul wrote, I urge you through the mercies of Christ to present yourselves as living sacrifice which is your spiritual service."
The foot-washing that we do tonight is embarrassing for us tonight because it is not a common practice of our culture; it was common to the culture of Jesus in a time of lots of walking in sandals creating dusty feet. A good host would provide for the relief of tired and dusty feet. The Maundy Thursday liturgy continues the foot-washing, not to recommend this as a modern practice, but to remind us that we present ourselves as living sacrifices to God and to each other when we serve each other.
Our parish, St. John's began with service, it has survived more than 60 years because of service, and it will only survive into the future through continued service.
Where is the future hope of our parish? In the continued faithful practice of Eucharist and in the continue practice of service by the people of St. John the Divine.
This Maundy Thursday reminds us and calls us to Eucharist and to service tonight. Amen.
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