Tonight's First Reading from Exodus stood out for me after my particular journey in Lent. The verses detailed Passover. and how the "congregation of Israel" could avoid God's judgment and final plague. The Bible tells us at around midnight one night, all the firstborn children of the Egyptians began to die, including the first child of Pharaoh, which was the highest position in Egyptian society, and the first child of the maidservants, which was the lowest occupation in Egyptian society or of a prisoner.
The Israelites were commanded by God to take the blood of a male lamb that was without blemish, and smear it on the doorposts of their home. When the Lord saw the blood, God would “pass over” that house. God’s judgment passed over believers who honored God's command. Some declare that this foreshadows the coming of Jesus, the spotless lamb of God whose blood would cover our sins for those who believe in this God.
This Old Testament God is tribal. This God is not in keeping with the God Jesus understood and personified during the Passover meal. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples in an extraordinary display of humility. He then commanded them to do the same for each other. Maundy Thursday marks an important part of Holy Week; here is what to know about this day that commemorates the day Jesus submitted His will to that of the Father and prayed "Not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). The judgmental Old Testament God does not discriminate once death comes into the picture. The Lord struck down and killed everyone without blood on the door. God’s judgment passed over believers who honored God's command. Rather than the humility Jesus shows at this Passover meal, God humiliates the Egyptians with the plagues. The contrast was made clear to me tonight. None of the Egyptians were told to observe this rite.
God, through Jesus, raised the definition of love to a new and higher standard. Jesus sacrificially met His followers' deepest need---that of new spiritual life and the forgiveness of sins. He even loved His enemies, and He calls us to show love to those who don't appear to deserve it. Just as Jesus loved sinners "to the end" (or "to the max" John 13:1) when He had nothing to gain from them, so must we. The Bible says that there was nothing attractive about sinful mankind that drew Him to love us. God loved us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). Salvation is not only a wonderful gift that protects us from the penalty that we deserve Romans 6:23, the work of Christ also embues new life, grants spiritual strength, and motivates godly action in those who believe.
As He was about to go to the cross, Jesus was telling his disciples, and demonstrating to them through washing their feet, that the kind of love He was talking about was much more than the rules of the Pharisees--it was sacrificial and selfless.
John 13:2-17 - "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
The voice of John's Jesus always sounds much more emphatic and powerful.This the same Jesus who, as he arrested comes forward and starts by asking, '“Whom are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.”Jesus replied, “I am he.” When Jesus said to them, “I am he,”they stepped back and fell to the ground.'
John is chronologically later than the other Gospels in when it was written. Jesus accounts make him out to be much more Godlike than the earlier accounts.
The Stripping of the Altar was another unique experience. Not only was the altar stripped, the banners were as well and the Prayer corner. Two powerful symbols were left. The cross in the back corner, which was the tool of choice for the Romans who were trying to hold and yield power by fear and death. The other was the altar itself, which was a reminder tonight of the abundance of the table that Jesus embodied that the powers of the day were trying to strip.
Through the resurrection God demonstrates that this striping of the table will not stand. After the resurrection the appearance stories will mostly feature powerful table fellowship. For instance, Jesus eats fish with the disciples and it is around the table that Jesus is recognized at Emmaus.
John 13:2-17 - "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
The voice of John's Jesus always sounds much more emphatic and powerful.This the same Jesus who, as he arrested comes forward and starts by asking, '“Whom are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.”Jesus replied, “I am he.” When Jesus said to them, “I am he,”they stepped back and fell to the ground.'
John is chronologically later than the other Gospels in when it was written. Jesus accounts make him out to be much more Godlike than the earlier accounts.
The Stripping of the Altar was another unique experience. Not only was the altar stripped, the banners were as well and the Prayer corner. Two powerful symbols were left. The cross in the back corner, which was the tool of choice for the Romans who were trying to hold and yield power by fear and death. The other was the altar itself, which was a reminder tonight of the abundance of the table that Jesus embodied that the powers of the day were trying to strip.
Through the resurrection God demonstrates that this striping of the table will not stand. After the resurrection the appearance stories will mostly feature powerful table fellowship. For instance, Jesus eats fish with the disciples and it is around the table that Jesus is recognized at Emmaus.
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