Revival and Renewal

Thursday of holy week is traditionally known as Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” comes from the Latin translation of John 13:34: “Mandatum novum do vobis…”, “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.” (ESV). As Jesus said this, if you remember, he bowed down low and washed his disciples’ feet, symbolizing what this love should look like. What’s more, all this took place at what we call the Last Supper, that final meal which Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion. 

In Matthew 26:17-29 we get another picture of that intimate final meal. Every good Jew of Jesus’ day would make special preparation for the Passover meal, a holiday that commemorated when God “passed over” the Israelites’ firstborn in Egypt. This meal symbolized sacrifice (a young lamb was slaughtered and eaten). It symbolized God’s covenant with his people, and the deliverance that was promised on the Last Day. Jesus knew how important this meal was, and so had prepared an upper room, and gathered his disciples. 

But the first words out of Jesus’ mouth are shocking: “one of you will betray me” (v.21). The intimacy of the moment was replaced by a shocked silence. Jesus had revealed his cards: he knew them. This is no mere man: this One eating with them has the power that only the Almighty possesses. He sees minds, wills, past, present, and future all alike. They realize that their Rabbi knows them better than they know themselves, and so all they can do is cry out “Is it I, Lord?” The betrayer is revealed, but now they are all set on edge. What will this All-Seeing One do next?

Then something even more stunning happens (vv.26-29). Jesus takes a loaf of bread and breaks it, crumbs and crackled crust falling to the floor. He blesses it and passes portions out, saying “Take, eat; this is my body.” And the disciples can’t but think of that spotless lamb, whose flesh they had eaten. Then Jesus takes the wine and says, “drink of it, all of you, for this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” And they eat and drink. 

And now, as King Jesus passes out the bread and the wine, those disciples (and you and I!) are confronted with the paradox of the Messiah. We see here a Jesus who knows the thoughts, desires, and destinies of all; who holds the future in his hand. This One should be exalted and honored, but instead his body will be broken, his blood poured out, for us. He who knows the future will be betrayed; he who has power over all hearts and wills will be crushed by man’s machinations. This contradiction seems wrong, and that’s because it is wrong. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  

“A new commandment I give to you,” he told them that fateful night, “that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” In the Paradox of the Messiah we glimpse the paradox that will mark our lives as well. The love we are called to this Maundy Thursday is no mere ideal: it is a sacrifice. It is a call to embody this contradiction, this other-worldly order, that to lose is to win, to die is to live, to give of ourselves is to receive our true destiny.