It’s Maundy Thursday and in the past we have celebrated this day by participating in a Passover meal, but this year due to conflicts in our schedule, we are not able to host the meal. It is the first time in several years I have not been busy with preparations for the celebration, but my thoughts are flowing to elements on the Seder plate and remembering Jesus partaking in the celebration with His disciples before going into the Garden to pray.
I feel amazed that Jesus “eagerly desired” to celebrate this meal with his disciples. First of all, Jesus knew what was coming and He was still able to celebrate. What a valuable characteristic to have. When I have had something bad happen to me or have knowledge of a forthcoming crisis, the last thing I want to do is celebrate. I believe this is a quality of faith to be able to celebrate the good things that God does despite what is looming in my future or right in front of my face.
The fact that He was going to have to address Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial would make me want to just not attend. I would rather withdraw in privacy than have to deal with conflict on the night before I was going to be arrested. Jesus amazes me—I am constantly aware of how much I am not like Him. I am becoming more and more like Him, yet still so far away.
As the disciples looked at the items on the Seder plate—the salt water reflecting the tears of the Israelites while in Egypt, the bitter herbs reminding them of the bitterness of soul the people suffered in Egypt, the charoset symbolic of the mortar placed between the matzo bread representing the hard labor of the Israelites to make structures under Egyptian taskmasters, the lamb shank bone representing the lambs killed to sprinkle blood on the door frames of the Israelites home to spare them from the last plague of death of the firstborn son, the green vegetables representing rejuvenation and the roasted egg representing new birth, the wine and the matzo which Jesus took and gave new meaning, maybe they were only viewing the symbols through the lens they had always viewed them and weren’t prepared to hear what Jesus was going to teach them further in the meal about what was to come.
Sometimes my religious background can be a stumbling block to the fresh insight that the Holy Spirit wants to give me. Much like the disciples partaking in a tradition with religious significance, but missing the meaning that Jesus was trying to give to the symbols. I hope that I can have eyes of faith to be able to see the fresh revelations that God wants to teach me even in the commonness of my life.
The disciples listened as Jesus talked and washed their feet. They took of the bread that Jesus used to redirect its meaning to represent His body that would be broken and the wine that he said would represent His blood that would be spilled. They listened, but they didn’t fully understand. I used to think the disciples weren’t too bright when I see how they followed Jesus and still didn’t get what was going on, but I find myself doing the same thing all the time.
I try to hear Jesus and follow Him—to model my life after Him, but I miss the mark in so many ways. I would like to think that He didn’t need to spill His blood for me, but I am so in need of redemption and He had to pay the price for my sin. Maybe that’s why they couldn’t get it—it was some form of subconscious denial because it was too hard to accept that Jesus would have to suffer for their personal sin. I don’t really know exactly what they were thinking or why they weren’t able to fully understand, but I do know that I love that their humanness is so evident in this particular story as my humanness is evident in my life’s story and Jesus loved them and returned to them as He does for me.
The other thing that is on my mind related to the celebration of Passover, is that from the time those precious babies were being thrown in to the Nile River and Moses mother placed him in a basket in that same river to protect him from being annihilated till the time Moses appeared before Pharaoh to relay God’s message, eighty years had passed. I have had about a decade of partaking of bitterness and tears, but not eighty and the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt
God’s ways are a mystery to me. Maybe because I am a softy, I have a hard time identifying with what God is doing sometimes in the Bible and also in my personal life, but that is where faith comes in. I not only have to trust in God, I also have to trust in His timing even though He appears quite slow to me.
Read through the story of God’s deliverance of His children in the first thirteen chapters of Exodus and be amazed at Moses faith and God’s mighty hand. Read it and seek fresh revelation from the story. Also read in the gospels the story of Jesus celebration of Passover with His disciples today. I hope you will find meaning and increased faith.
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