Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14 John 13:1-17, 31b-35 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
As we gather for the celebration of Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, we remember the story of the last supper but also the history of the people of Israel and the tradition that was likely being celebrated by Jesus and the disciples. If the meal that we know as the last supper was, in fact, the celebration of remembrance for the exodus of Israel from Egypt, none of the gospel writers explicitly say so. We can be sure that it was during the week of Passover because John’s gospel points to it being the day before the official Passover celebration. In any case, this is the reason that these two events are traditionally connected.
And so, tonight, as we read the scriptures that relate to these two events, I want to highlight a consistent theme that flows through all of them, and that theme, is the proclamation of God’s message through the way that his followers, in other words all of us gathered here, live their lives. We begin this evening with the story of Israel’s departure from Egypt and the beginning of their journey to freedom and we read that story in Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14:
12:1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lambfor his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.
You will notice that God commands two groups of people, those in the time of Moses, and all the future descendants of that group of people. God declares that these are the instructions for the people, and then declares that this is a day that should be celebrated as a festival forever.
This is God’s paradigm proclamation in which God says that those who follow him should establish a new normal, and a new tradition, which shall be done both now and forever.
We see this again when Jesus meets with his disciples for what we now name as the last supper. We read that story in John’s gospel in John 13:1-17, 31b-35 where it says:
13:1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 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.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
31 Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Jesus declared, in the setting of the last supper, another paradigm proclamation that all who would follow him should do, and remember, forever. The first of these is foot-washing. Most churches, including ours, see this as a figurative command that we should serve the people that we lead, the people that work alongside, and the people around us. But some churches, such as our brethren friends, periodically celebrate a literal foot-washing service at church because they understand this command to be both literal and figurative. In either case, service to others, especially service to those under your authority, is something that Christians should do as a matter of habit and have in mind, and live out by example, regularly and perpetually.
The second of these is to love one another. The love that the followers of Jesus Christ have for the people in their church, in their communities, and all the people around them should be a mark of distinction. Christians aren’t called to simply be kind in the way that everyone in a culture is expected to be kind and polite to one another. Christians are called to be so loving that people who don’t know you would guess that you are a Christian because your love for others is so far above what is ordinarily seen. Folks, I have to say that that is certainly a high bar and a demanding standard, but that is exactly what Jesus expects us to do.
The third thing that came out of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples isn’t found directly in his words, but in those of Paul and are found in his first letter to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, where he says:
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Obviously, this is the one that you all expected me to talk about tonight. Although Jesus never specified that the last supper was to be a lasting ordinance or as a perpetual remembrance, it didn’t take long at all for the disciples and the followers of Jesus to decide that he had implied it and that they must remember it just as the people of Israel remembered the Passover.
These things that I have referred to this evening as “paradigm proclamations” are the things that God has called us to do conscientiously, regularly, and faithfully to remind us of who we are, to remember where we came from, to be the kind of people that God wants us to be, and to reveal God’s love to the world. The celebration of the Passover was something that marked Jewish believers and Jewish families as being Jewish. Likewise, if we are to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ, the people around us should know that we regularly celebrate communion when we meet together, that we serve the people that we lead and treat them like we would want to be treated, that we are committed to serving the others, and that our love is so distinctive, so… excessive, that we stand out from the ordinary kindness of our culture.
When we say that we are the followers of Jesus Christ, these are the things to which we have committed ourselves.
And, if we’re honest, we have work to do if we want to meet those high standards.
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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