I'm having trouble getting ready for tonight's Good Friday service and I think it's because I'm still stuck on last night's Maundy Thursday service. I wanted to emphasize the Last Supper part and Jesus' instituting Holy Communion. So, I deviated from the lectionary and instead of the Gospel reading about Jesus washing the disciples' feet, we read Matthew 26:17-30, about the Last Supper. I've also been reading "24 Horas que cambiaron el mundo" ("24 Hours that Changed the World") by Adam Hamilton in preparation for this Holy Week; much of my reflections below are from that book or stimulated by it.
In "the Last Supper," Jesus was celebrating the Passover. This is a feast that Jews still celebrate today (after all, why wouldn't they?). It's the feast commemorating the 10th plague of Exodus, the plague of the firstborn, after which Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go (for real, kinda, til he changed his mind again). The Lord "passed over" the houses with lamb blood on the doorpost, (all the Israelite houses) and killed the firstborn in all the houses sans lamb blood (primarily, the Egyptians, including Pharaoh). Every year the Jews celebrate the Passover, remembering that once they were slaves in Egypt but God brought them out and now they are free.
The last time Jesus celebrated the Passover, he transformed it into the first Eucharist:
"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Tomen y coman; esto es mi cuerpo.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Beban de ella todos ustedes. Esto es mi sangre del pacto, que es derramada por muchos para el perdón de pecados."
Jesus invites us, whenever we participate in Holy Communion, to remember that we, too, once were slaves to sin and death, but now we are free! Jesus broadens the scope of the Passover to include the whole human race. We all were once slaves, but now we are free! Gloria a Dios! However, we're not free to do whatever we want and follow our own desires. (See Romans 6, among other passages, for more on this idea.) We leave the Lord's Supper free to know our Savior, to follow him, and to accept his grace and mercy in our lives.
One final note: since it was a short service last night (less than 1.5 hrs), the kids stayed in the service the whole time. On communion Sundays, they leave before the sermon and return to the sanctuary in time to receive communion, missing all the liturgy. As soon as I got in position last night to begin The Great Thanksgiving Eucharist liturgy, 9 year old Jason was in line to receive Jesus' cuerpo y sangre. He was ready!
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