Maundy Thursday
Often when I’m working on my
computer I find things take longer to load and the computer becomes sluggish. When
that happens I find that the best solution is not to get angry and feel like
throwing my computer out the window but to switch it off and turn it back on
again. To reset it – get rid of all the things that build up and up and ends up
slowing things down. It’s the same with my phone and many other appliances –
turning them off and on seems clear everything and gets them back to basics.
In our 2nd reading today, in
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, it seems Paul is using the same technique
even though it will be many years before electricity and appliances are
invented. Paul is hitting the reset button. I received from the Lord what I
also handed on to you. Paul is not inventing something. Paul is not beginning a
new program or group. He is taking us
back to where it all began at the Last Supper with Jesus and his
Apostles. The reason he is doing this is because the Corinthian church had gone
off the rails and needed resetting. They were using the communion service to
overindulge in both the bread and the wine.
In the preceding verses it
tells just how things had degraded: He says: When you come together, it is not
the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own
meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat
and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have
nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. So
Paul brings them back to basics and reminds them of the solemness of Holy
Communion and the setting from which it came – the preparation of the apostles
for his impending death and the assurance of his presence with them into
eternity. Back to the Last Supper where Jesus sat with his apostles – broke
bread and gave it to them and said: Take and eat this IS my body. He took the
cup, blessed it, gave it to them and said: Take and drink – this is my blood of
the new covenant. Jesus instructed the church to do this often – to keep coming
back to where he could be found in his real presence. And that’s pretty much
how our lives go also.
Our lives get pretty messed
up at times. That’s why God set up a particular pattern of life – 6 days we
work and on the 7th we rest in God – just as God did. Our human nature needs a
constant reset as we have the tendency to allow the Old Adam to guide our way. In
his explanation of Baptism, Luther saw the need for a daily reset in our lives.
He said: Our sinful self, with all it’s evil deeds and desires should be
drowned through ‘daily’ repentance’ and that day after day a new self should
arise.
But this takes humility to
admit our faults and sin. So Jesus exampled that humility when he stooped down
to wash his disciples feet. An act of humility that Peter did not understand. Lord,
are you going to wash my feet?” “You will never wash my feet.” It’s very
similar to John the Baptist who didn’t understand Jesus humility when Jesus
went to him for Baptism: John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be
baptized by you, and do you come to me?
It was the same act of
humility shown by the father of the prodigal son who ran out to meet the very
son who had wished him dead. An act of humility that was not understood by the
older brother who showed the opposite of humility – anger, resentment, jealousy
and bitterness.
Jesus knows that as we
journey through life after he had gone that our human tendencies would want to
take us on a different tract. So everything about tonight is to bring us back
to him By giving us his body and blood under a new covenant that Jeremiah spoke
about written on our hearts.. By setting an example of humility by washing his
disciples feet. And then, the greatest acts of humility, to love one another as
he has loved us. And by this everyone will know you’re his disciples but also
you will be reminded of the greatest sacrifice anyone could ever make – to lay
down his life for us.
That is the standard of love
that Jesus asks us to follow – love one another as I have loved you. So if ever
we feel that the hurt is just too great to forgive or love someone – we are
called back to remember how much Jesus loved us even while we were yet sinners.
And that his request from
the cross to ‘forgive them father for they know not what they are doing’ was
not just for those who nailed him to the cross on that day – but also for us.
On this Maundy Thursday, let
us take time to reflect on the example of humility set by Jesus in his selfless
acts of service and love. As Paul urged
the Philippians to have the same mindset as Christ, let us strive to follow in
his footsteps and to serve one another with humility and compassion. Let us
also remember the gift of Holy Communion, which unites us in Christ's sacrifice
and assures us of his presence among us.
May we be inspired by the
example of Jesus on this Maundy Thursday and seek to live out his teachings in
our daily lives by serving others with the same love and humility that he
showed to his disciples. And all of this only possible as we receive the
powerful gift of our Lord’s body and blood that unites us as one body in Christ
in the new covenant of love.
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