Maundy Thursday

Thursday April 9, 2009

Scripture
Mark 14:12-25
¹²On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"

¹³So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' ¹⁵He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."

¹⁶The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. ¹⁸While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me."

¹⁹They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?"

²⁰"It is one of the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me. ²¹The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."

²²While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."

²³Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.

²⁴"This is my blood of the^a]">[a] covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. ²⁵"I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."

In American society, a day like Maundy Thursday is not something we put a ton of focus on because it is kind of a downer. It is a stark contrast to the warm fuzzy feelings we get when we all pile into church on Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday. That is why I think it is so crucial. What makes the power of the joy of Easter stronger except actually being sad right before it so that it can be truly appreciated for the wonder that it is.
The spring of my Senior year in High School, on Maundy Thursday, I received a phone call late in the morning and my Mom told me that my grandmother had passed away. This, being my first real brush with death in my family, was a life changing moment for me.
I feel like I have a good understanding of what the friends and family of Jesus were feeling. Emptiness.
When we were in town for the funeral, we stayed in my Grandmother's house. It was a little odd and my mom shut the door to my Grandmother's bedroom because it helped the feelings of emptiness not to overcome me.
I imagine that the disciples had very similar feelings when they noticed all the things that Jesus was missing. They felt his absence in everyday things, just as you do when you lose someone you love.
Emptiness. That is what filled me as I sat in the church on this sad Thursday. The lights go out and there is soft singing from the choir. I don't know what they were singing, but it sounded like crying to me. Crying due to the death of the one person who not only did we all grow to love and honor, but the one who we were told was going to set us free and be our connection and our link to God and God's redeeming grace.
You cant just skip through Holy Week just because we all know the end of the story. You have to feel the pain. You have to feel the guilt and shame for what our people allowed to happen to Christ.
Only then can you possibly feel a fraction of the joy when he rises from the dead on Easter Sunday.


Written by a PC Junior.


Today please pray for the library staff.