Final

Lections: Maundy Thursday, AD 2026 A

Homily:

Lord, we pray for the preacher, for you know his sins are great.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus knows He’s going to die tomorrow. He knows that crucifixion will be terrible and slow. He knows that all the people here about Him will abandon Him; not just the crowds but His Apostles, His friends. Only the women, and John, will be brave enough to stay. So what does He do, on His last night of life, before the Cross and the Tomb? He shares a meal with the people whom He loves, shares it even with the one who will betray Him.

The Apostles, for their part, have to be on pins and needles. They hadn’t wanted to come back here in the first place. Jerusalem had lately proved dangerous ground for Jesus, and for those who dared to follow Him. Yes, the Torah states that observant Jews must travel to Jerusalem for the Passover. And certainly Jesus keeps the Law. But John strongly implies, earlier in this Gospel account, that on at least one other occasion Jesus kept an alternate Passover away from the Temple.

Couldn’t they have done that this time? Couldn’t they have kept a low profile, until the building opposition to Jesus’ ministry, and the frenzy over Lazarus’ resurrection, died down? Instead they’d waltzed in with crowds shouting about Jesus as the return of the King, praying to Him to save them. It’s a miracle that the soldiers didn’t assault them then and there. For the last few days since then, it’s clear that the city authorities have been trying to trip Jesus up in His words, to turn the crowd against Him.

Surely they have spies attempting to ferret out exactly where He sleeps at night. That’s why this Passover meal had to be prepared in such secrecy. Even Peter and John, whom Jesus had instructed to prepare and coördinate the meal, didn’t know its location until just recently. So then, here they are in the dark, attempting to enjoy the Passover in secret, knowing full well that half the city expects Jesus to start a war, while the governing Sanhedrin are out for blood. And you thought that your holiday gatherings were tense.

Even so, there is a comfort in the ritual, in the ceremony. The Passover remembers the power and the faithfulness of God, He who sides with slaves against the empires who oppress them. Each of these Apostles would have known the liturgy by heart; from the time that they were children, asking, “What makes this night different from all other nights?” Amidst the messianic turmoil of a city crying for salvation, here they find some modicum of peace.

Or perhaps they would if things had gone to plan. Yet Jesus seems intent on overturning expectations. The first thing He does is prepare a towel and basin to wash His disciples’ feet. Now, to be clear, this is servant work. Peter and John, at either end of the triclinium, ought to be the ones washing the feet of their guests, or at least directing others to do so. Jesus is the Rabbi, the Master, indeed the very Messiah. It is not for Him to wash their feet! Thus Peter somewhat understandably protests. If anyone should do the dirty work, it’s him.

But Jesus makes it clear this is a lesson. “Yes, I am your Master,” He says, “your Teacher and your Lord. So if I am willing to humble Myself in order to wash My disciples’ feet, neither ought you to be squeamish when it comes to serving your neighbors in their need.” Indeed, footwashing is uncomfortable; that appears to be rather the point. “I give you My last command,” He intones—the mandate, whence comes Maundy Thursday—“that you love one another just as I have loved you.”

That must’ve sounded rather ominous to them. Last commandment? What does He know that we don’t? Alas, the night only gets weirder from there. At some point during the meal, Judas abruptly gets up and leaves—out into the night, into the dark, which decent people do not do, and the rich only dare to venture when they have an escort. The other guests are flummoxed. Perhaps Judas has gone to fetch something that we’ve forgotten for the Passover, they wonder. But we’re only getting started.

The role of the flatbread in the traditional Passover meal is to remind the people of God how quickly liberation came, with the slaves set free before their bread had time to rise. But this time, this last time, Jesus holds aloft the bread and says: “This is My Body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In remembrance of Him? Not in remembrance, in ἀνάμνησις, of Moses, of the Exodus?

Then Jesus holds up a cup of wine. Now, traditionally the Passover wine represents the promises of God. Four are drunk in a modern Jewish seder, with a fifth cup left out for Elijah. Tonight, however, Jesus says, “This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of Me.” And this, if anything, is even more remarkable, for the Jewish people had been awaiting the New Covenant ever since the time of the Prophets.

Notice there’s no mention of a lamb upon the table, despite the fact that the Passover narrative kind of revolves around it. It’s the blood of the lamb on the doorframe, after all, that marks a given household as people of God. The lamb is the reason why the Destroyer “passes over.” But this Blood, Jesus says, is Mine. And it delivers not one people from slavery unto Egypt, but delivers all peoples from bondage to sin and death and Hell.

Every one of these lines, these liturgical rewrites, has to hit the Apostles like a bombshell. What could they make of all this? How seriously did they take it? They must’ve been astounded, wondering what could then come next. Yet the Passover meal continues.

At the end of the evening, the Passover normally concludes with the guests singing the Great Hallel—the 136th Psalm—and finishing the final cup of wine. Yet we are told that after the Great Hallel, Jesus instead announces: “I shall not drink the fruit of the vine until I drink it anew with you in My Father’s Kingdom.” And then He just up and leaves! Seriously, out He goes, into the night, into the darkened city, just as Judas had some time before.

By now the Apostles must be utterly flabbergasted. The night started with the real threat that some of them could die, and it’s only gotten wilder from there. What can they do now, but follow Jesus into the darkness, winding the abandoned byways of Jerusalem? He leads them through the night, through the city gate; then down through the treacherous Kidron Valley, steep and full of tombs; then up again to the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple. His disciples are exhausted, frightened, stressed, and confused.

“Wait here,” He tells them. “Wait while I pray.”

And so we have it: Jesus’ final night on earth, before His Crucifixion. He spent it with His friends, washing their feet, teaching them, sharing His final commandment, sharing His final meal. Now He wants nothing more than for them to be with Him while He prays. Soon the Temple guard shall come, the soldiers led by Judas. He knows this place well, this Garden of the Olive-Press. Jesus often taught them here. Judas knows how to find Him.

Thus is the New Covenant proclaimed, not with glory blazing down from Heaven, but with simple elements of bread and wine, shared amidst a beleaguered people within an occupied city, in the dark of night, under threat of violence. But it isn’t over yet. The Lamb must still be slain. Only then will Jesus taste the fruit of the vine again, from a sponge stuck on a stick held up to Him by His killers, whilst He hangs there bleeding out upon the Cross. Only then will He proclaim that “it is finished.” Only then with His Passover close.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pertinent Links

RDG Stout

Blog: https://rdgstout.blogspot.com/

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X: https://twitter.com/RDGStout

St Peter’s Lutheran

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Website: https://www.stpetersnymills.org/

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Nidaros Lutheran

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nidaroschurch6026