“Maundy,” or Holy, Thursday, which is the fifth day in Holy Week, represents the day before Jesus is crucified and, also, the night when we remember His celebration of The Passover Feast, or, in Christian tradition, The Last Supper, with His dearest of friends.
There is a wonderful recounting of this event in Luke’s Gospel (Luke’s “Good News”—Gospel means Good News, because IT is!!). I’d like to pick up the story in verse 14 of Luke 22. Will you join me?
Okay…Luke 22:14-20…
When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.”
After taking the cup, He [Jesus] gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My Body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after the supper He took the cup saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood, which is poured out for you.”
As I read these words, I can literally feel myself right there with Jesus and His apostles. With the sun having gone down, perhaps no more than an hour before, the night is alive with the sounds of the many creatures stirring just outside the Upper Room, as it has been called, right there in Jerusalem—The Holy City of God.
During all of this, I can just sense the great joy Jesus is feeling. He knew the pain He was about to suffer, but, at this point—in this very moment, it was the joy of what would soon be accomplished that was central to what He was feeling and experiencing. I believe the author of Hebrews captured it well what he wrote in Hebrews 12: "And let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising it’s shame, and sat down at the Right Hand of God.”
For the joy set before Him.
Yes…great joy was being felt in THE celebration, for Jesus’—and our—JOY was about to be made complete in what He was about to do in the next many hours…
Taking up the cup and turning to those He loved so dearly, Jesus spoke of that which had never been spoken before…
…words that countless multitudes people had longed to hear...
...but never had…
This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood, which is poured out FOR YOU.
There is a wonderful recounting of this event in Luke’s Gospel (Luke’s “Good News”—Gospel means Good News, because IT is!!). I’d like to pick up the story in verse 14 of Luke 22. Will you join me?
Okay…Luke 22:14-20…
When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.”
After taking the cup, He [Jesus] gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My Body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after the supper He took the cup saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood, which is poured out for you.”
As I read these words, I can literally feel myself right there with Jesus and His apostles. With the sun having gone down, perhaps no more than an hour before, the night is alive with the sounds of the many creatures stirring just outside the Upper Room, as it has been called, right there in Jerusalem—The Holy City of God.
During all of this, I can just sense the great joy Jesus is feeling. He knew the pain He was about to suffer, but, at this point—in this very moment, it was the joy of what would soon be accomplished that was central to what He was feeling and experiencing. I believe the author of Hebrews captured it well what he wrote in Hebrews 12: "And let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising it’s shame, and sat down at the Right Hand of God.”
For the joy set before Him.
Yes…great joy was being felt in THE celebration, for Jesus’—and our—JOY was about to be made complete in what He was about to do in the next many hours…
Taking up the cup and turning to those He loved so dearly, Jesus spoke of that which had never been spoken before…
…words that countless multitudes people had longed to hear...
...but never had…
This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood, which is poured out FOR YOU.
The NEW COVENANT…
…IN…
…MY…
…BLOOD.
Jesus was initiating on that night a New Covenant; a covenant wherein we, as the people of God corporate, would become literally and in reality the Bride of Jesus (His Dearly Beloved) and The Oasis (The Seventh Day Resting Place) of God's Holy Spirit. Finally, IT would be accomplished!! No longer would God be OUT THERE somewhere. No!! With—and in—This Covenant, He would take up full and complete residence within each of us and become our Immanuel, our “God with Us,” individually and, more importantly, corporately. Can you see how utterly cataclysmic and forever-history-altering this event was going to be? The ushering in of a New and Perfect Covenant to replace—actually, render null and void—the previous sacrificial covenant? And Jesus was going to seal this Covenant with the shedding of His Own dear and precious Blood. Blood that would do what the blood of bulls and goats could never do, and that is, take away sin. It brings tears to my eyes…
Want to read a startling statement?
Um...sure.
Yeah??? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.
Here's my startling statement...
Jesus didn’t make atonement for my sins.
WHAT??!!
Okay...once again: Jesus didn’t make atonement for my sins. (I told you it'd be startling!)
Dave, Dave, Dave...Dude!! What do you mean Jesus didn’t make atonement for your sins? Of course Jesus made atonement for your sins—for OUR sins. THAT, dear brother, is what the Blood of Jesus is all about!
Ummmm....(No it’s not!!!!!!)
Now...before you hall off and rap me in the mouth, please take a breath and hear me out, okay?
WHAT??!!
Okay...once again: Jesus didn’t make atonement for my sins. (I told you it'd be startling!)
Dave, Dave, Dave...Dude!! What do you mean Jesus didn’t make atonement for your sins? Of course Jesus made atonement for your sins—for OUR sins. THAT, dear brother, is what the Blood of Jesus is all about!
Ummmm....(No it’s not!!!!!!)
Now...before you hall off and rap me in the mouth, please take a breath and hear me out, okay?
Okay...here we go...
Atonement is an Old Testament concept, and, try as you might—and despite our English translations—you won't find the word atone in the New Testament Greek. In Hebraic terms, the word atone means, to cover (and that's it!), which is what the blood of bulls and goats did. It provided a covering (of nakedness), whereby the justice of God could be satisfied, a sinner could be forgiven, and the detestable ugliness of his or her sin could be blotted out from God's Eyes, but it really did nothing for the sinner. The atoning blood did something for God, in that it satisfied His justice, but it did little for the sinner. It could not make that person different.
Some additional clarifications about the Blood of Jesus are needed, though. While the sacrifice of Jesus does (And I confess it to be so!) cover sin (our nakeness), His Blood does so much more than just cover sin. MUCH more, in fact—HALLELUJAH and THANK GOD!! More than just satisfying the justice of God and providing a covering, the Blood of Jesus ELIMINATES sin (our naked need to be covered) and provides THE ONLY means for reconciling its cataclysmic effects. The atoning blood of the sacrificial system, which was set up under the old covenant, COULD NOT take away sin or its effects. But what the blood of bulls and goats was powerless to do, the Blood of Jesus accomplished.
The Vindication of God...
And then there’s what God did for Himself on the Cross. The Cross became God’s great vindication…where His justice and His love came together and united in perfect harmony. While our sin “partially” separated us from God (and I write “partially” because, though we were sinned-stained and at enmity with God, we were still a part of God’s ousia and, as such, held together by the divine substance that IS God Himself) and mounted an ever increasing, infinite debt that we could never pay, all creation (including the created beings in heaven and those banished to hell) awaited that time when God’s justice would be fully (and finally) satisfied. That time when mankind would once and for all be destroyed by God to pay our sin debt. For God had said in the Garden, “If you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you will surely die.” And neither He nor the witnesses in heaven or hell had forgotten those words.
So God waited, and, as He waited, He suffered the many jeers of Satan and his legions: “And you call yourself just and true? You said death would come, but it hasn’t. You are such a liar, and, by consequence, unfit to retain the Throne of God.” God listened. And waited. Waited until “the fullness of time,” the scriptures, read. When the past, the future, and the present would all “fittingly” and “ordinately” and “fully” collide at the cross, where God, Himself, would carry-out the death sentence, and, as a human Himself, become humanity’s Kinsman Redeemer, and buy back—win back—all that was lost. ALL that was lost. And, in the realest sense imaginable, recreate man in His Own Resurrected Image. So that man, in looking unto His example, might become like Him in His willingness and ability to lay down His life—His own instincts for power, self-protection, and self-preservation—and, paradoxically, create the conditions for taking it up again in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
In Jesus, you and I have been made the righteousness of God. And, because of that very re-creation, God and I and you can dwell together in inextricable union. Never before, since the fall of Adam and Eve, was this even possible. And now, because of what Jesus did for us, it is not only possible, but a very present reality. And a reality that God intends for us to enjoy and take full advantage of. (I'm sorry for ending that with a preposition; I think it just reads better that way.) THIS, my friends, is what Jesus did for me and for you…
…and for you, my friend…
…and for you, my brother…
…and for you, my sister….
God’s blessings on all’y’all…
Bling
Tomorrow morning, I begin my practice of a tradition I began several years ago: After my prayer walk, I will watch The Passion, which just completely wrecks me each time I watch it, and then head over to Duke Chapel, where I will park myself and spend most of the day soaking in God’s Presence as I listen to the organ music that wafts throughout the chapel.
Have a fabulous Good Friday, everyone, and, Lord-willing, I’ll see you soon.
Peace…
So God waited, and, as He waited, He suffered the many jeers of Satan and his legions: “And you call yourself just and true? You said death would come, but it hasn’t. You are such a liar, and, by consequence, unfit to retain the Throne of God.” God listened. And waited. Waited until “the fullness of time,” the scriptures, read. When the past, the future, and the present would all “fittingly” and “ordinately” and “fully” collide at the cross, where God, Himself, would carry-out the death sentence, and, as a human Himself, become humanity’s Kinsman Redeemer, and buy back—win back—all that was lost. ALL that was lost. And, in the realest sense imaginable, recreate man in His Own Resurrected Image. So that man, in looking unto His example, might become like Him in His willingness and ability to lay down His life—His own instincts for power, self-protection, and self-preservation—and, paradoxically, create the conditions for taking it up again in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
In Jesus, you and I have been made the righteousness of God. And, because of that very re-creation, God and I and you can dwell together in inextricable union. Never before, since the fall of Adam and Eve, was this even possible. And now, because of what Jesus did for us, it is not only possible, but a very present reality. And a reality that God intends for us to enjoy and take full advantage of. (I'm sorry for ending that with a preposition; I think it just reads better that way.) THIS, my friends, is what Jesus did for me and for you…
…and for you, my friend…
…and for you, my brother…
…and for you, my sister….
God’s blessings on all’y’all…
Bling
Tomorrow morning, I begin my practice of a tradition I began several years ago: After my prayer walk, I will watch The Passion, which just completely wrecks me each time I watch it, and then head over to Duke Chapel, where I will park myself and spend most of the day soaking in God’s Presence as I listen to the organ music that wafts throughout the chapel.
Have a fabulous Good Friday, everyone, and, Lord-willing, I’ll see you soon.
Peace…
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