[The following is a manuscript of my meditation delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Thursday afternoon, the 17th of April, 2025, Maundy Thursday. Our service this afternoon included the observance of Holy Communion. A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]
For this afternoon, I’d like us to travel back in time to the first century, to early April in 33 AD. We’re in the great Jewish city of Jerusalem, where the permanent population has more than tripled as devout Jews from all over the known world enter the city to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Passover Observance. Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived in the same age as the Gospel writers, put the Passover population at over 2,000,000! The place is crowded, to say the least. Especially since the One some are calling the King of the Jews came to town.
All manner of domestic and exotic goods are being sold in the marketplace and in stalls and from carts dotting the streets. Up until this past Sunday, you could have purchased doves and grain and incense and other things used for sacrifices right there on the Temple grounds. Sunday is when Jesus rode in.
You’ve heard of Jesus, haven’t you – the great Healer and Teacher, the holy Man from Nazareth? He rode in with a whole parade of followers, and all the people came out shouting “Hosanna” and throwing their cloaks and some palm branches onto the street for His mount to walk on. And get this – He came riding in on a donkey! A little, lowly donkey! What kind of king rides into Jerusalem on a donkey?!?
Anyway, He went right into the Temple and drove off everyone who was trying to profit off the pilgrims who’d come here to worship, turning over their tables and kicking their chairs. Well, that was Sunday and now it’s Thursday, the day of preparation for the Feast of Passover, which begins tomorrow evening at sunset. Come with me and let’s join this Jesus and His followers for dinner.
Please listen and follow along to the report provided in chapter 22 of the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, verses 1 through 33 and verse 39, reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…
1 The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is also called Passover, was approaching. 2 The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the people’s reaction.3 Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, 4 and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. 5 They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. 6 So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest Him when the crowds weren’t around.7 Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.”9 “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked Him.10 He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, 11 say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with My disciples?’ 12 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 13 They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.14 When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. 15 Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before My suffering begins. 16 For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”17 Then He took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”20 After supper He took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people—an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.21 “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray Me. 22 For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays Him.” 23 The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.39 Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives.--Luke 22:1-23, 39 (NLT)
Let us pray… Father God, this afternoon we step back in time to one day nearly 2000 years ago, a day that only holds meaning for believers. This day and the next were long and painful for Your Son Jesus, and now painful emotionally for us as well. So much happened those two days, and it was all for our benefit, we poor sinners. Speak to us, Father, speak into our hearts, that we might relive that dark time and understand its true meaning and full impact on us, both in this life and especially for the next. Speak to us that we might know the truth of our ways. Convict us of our sin and forgive us of our disobedience. This we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen
Today is Maundy Thursday. The word, “Maundy”, comes from the Latin word meaning command or commandment. At His last supper with His disciples, Jesus commanded us to “Do this in remembrance of Me”. A little earlier, He had also given us the commandment to love each other, just as much as He loves us.
In a few minutes we will share the elements of our Lord’s body and blood, just as He shared the bread and the wine with His disciples that night. We will renew the covenant God made with us, sealed by the precious blood of Jesus. But first, let’s look a little more closely at something that happened that Thursday so long ago.
Now it’s important to remember that Jesus knew exactly what was about to happen. This is evident in Luke’s account when he noted that Peter and John, who Jesus sent to prepare a place for them all to eat the Passover meal, found everything exactly like He had said they would. Since we believers today know and accept that Jesus was God in the flesh, we are not at all surprised that Jesus knew beforehand what would occur, because God knows everything. But I wonder if those two disciples weren’t a little surprised. It’s just like last Sunday when He told another pair of followers where they’d find a donkey and her foal. At some point, you’d think these men would start to realize Jesus would be correct with anything and everything He said, yet they still seemed to doubt Him, they still seemed amazed when He told them what would happen next. Especially if it had to do with His death.
We can see that again at supper. While they were eating, Jesus told His friends that one of them present that night, one of them sitting right there, one of His twelve chosen disciples would soon betray Him. Obviously astonished, they began questioning, “Who would ever do such a thing!?! Is it you? Is it you?”
Some of the Gospel writers report that Judas left the room at this point, so he could go set his own plan in motion. After this and the revelation that Peter would soon deny even knowing Jesus, they finished supper and headed out to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus would pray before being betrayed and arrested.
When we look at this supper, we can see that Jesus varied just a little from the customary Passover meal tradition by sharing the bread and announcing that it was His body. He blessed and then broke the loaf of bread so that they might eat, just as His body, blessed by God, would soon be broken so that they, and all of us, might be forgiven of our sins before God. Then He passed the cup, declaring it to be a new covenant between God and His people, an agreement sealed by His blood – the blood of God’s only Son - poured out for us, shed for the many who will believe, not just those gathered there that night.
The sacrifice is readied.
As I and the scripture mentioned, this is all taking place as the Passover observance is about to begin. Just as a reminder, the original Passover occurred when God intervened for the Israelites to free them from Egyptian captivity. As His final sign against Pharoah, God sent His angel of death to slay the firstborn son of every household in the land. The Israelites were told to slaughter a lamb and put its blood on their doorposts and lintels so that the angel would pass over their home, sparing their sons from death. That sacrificial lamb had to be one year old and unblemished – a spotless lamb.
When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching the River Jordan to be baptized, he proclaimed, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" Jesus is the Spotless Lamb, without the blemish and stain of sin. And in our scripture reading, we see Him being readied for sacrifice. The blood of the Spotless Lamb of God spares us of eternal death.
But that comes tomorrow. Tonight begins the preparations. Judas plots with the chief priests and then betrays Jesus, with a kiss, no less. Jesus is arrested and taken off to be tried in a sham trial. The Spotless Lamb being led to the slaughter.
We know that tomorrow, Friday, after being betrayed, denied, and abandoned, Jesus will be nailed to a rough-hewn cross, there to yield up His mortal life. But tonight we dine, we fellowship, and we share.
“Do this in remembrance of Me”, Jesus said. It was as much a plea as a command. “Remember Me. Let the bread and the wine remind you of the sacrifice made on your behalf, the offering made for your sin, the covenant made between you and God confirmed and sealed by My blood.”
In just a few moments we will come to the table of our Lord, to do just as He commanded. We will share His last meal with Him at our side. We will eat the bread and drink of the cup, in remembrance of Him. The Apostle Paul warns that we must be right with God before doing so. Otherwise, we share the guilt of His execution, of His death, with those who committed the act.
Now is the time to get right with God. If you are feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit, if you are weighed down by the guilt of your disobedience, if you are holding a grudge against a fellow believer, if there is anything in your life that God would see as sinful, lay it all at the foot of our Lord’s cross, repent, and seek forgiveness. Get right with God.
In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, this afternoon we reflect back on a time when Your Spotless Lamb was being readied for sacrifice. For on that day so long ago Your only Son, whom You sent to offer us salvation, was betrayed and led off to be tried and then crucified. Instead of being received as Lord, Jesus was rejected and scorned. And even today, Father, we often betray and deny Him because we are too timid to testify for Him, too fearful of what others may think or say. Forgive us, Father, when we let our fear and hesitation keep us from doing what we know is right.
Father, we pray that You show us not only the error of our ways, but also how to do what is right in Your eyes. You gave us the faith to believe in Your Son Jesus, and then He gave of Himself to wash us clean of our sin. Thank You, Father, for loving us this much! Please help us understand how everything we do while bearing the name of Jesus, reflects back on Your Son. Please let others know Your love through our love, through our words and deeds.
Lord Jesus, You gave so much of Yourself on our behalf. You took our punishment, You bore our stripes, You died so we could avoid the final and permanent death just by believing in You and accepting You as Lord. You loved us to the very end.
Forgive us, Lord, when we deny You by our inaction. Forgive us our times of doubt and confusion. Forgive those who refuse to believe, who reject Your authority. Forgive us when we could stand up for You against the doubters and disbelievers, but we are just too timid, too afraid, to do so. Forgive us when we can’t let go of the world, refusing to put all our faith and trust in You and our Father God. Help us, please Jesus, to not be so concerned with what others may think about us, or with anything this world might offer. Give us the strength of our convictions, the fullness of our faith, so that we can serve You by serving others. Help us be good and faithful servants.
This we pray in Your sweet name, Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God. Amen.
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