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Listen "Thursday the 14th of April, the 44th day of Lent. The Fifth Day of Holy Week. (Maundy Thursday) Luke 22:7–30 Jesus and the Last Supper "
Episode Synopsis
Today is Maundy (or mandate) Thursday, the day when Jesus at the Last Supper gave his disciples a new and supreme mandate to love one another.
At the Last Supper Jesus re-appropriated the ancient Passover meal commemorating Israel’s liberation from bondage in Egypt, giving us the sacramental meal of Communion by which we commemorate the Lord’s death and partake of his body and blood.
Of course the disciples didn’t know this was the last supper before Jesus’ suffering and death—they were still anticipating the arrival of the kingdom of God in the way of conventional conquest. Yet Jesus was explicit about this being the last meal of an old age, telling his disciples that he would not eat or drink again until the kingdom of God had come. And thus we see the significance of Jesus eating and drinking with his disciples following his resurrection! Sadly, the poignancy of this final meal was marred by a dispute among the disciples over who would be regarded as the greatest in the coming kingdom. Once again, for the last time before his death, Jesus stresses to his obtuse disciples that what is counted as greatness in the empires of the world is not what is counted as greatness in the kingdom of God.
Caesar and all his successors measure greatness by power—power to kill, power to obtain, power to control. But in the kingdom of Christ, greatness is measured by love, humility, and service. Jesus modelled this kingdom version of greatness when he washed his disciples’ feet during the Last Supper. Despite the disciples’ inability to fully grasp what he was saying and doing, Jesus spoke warmly about how they had stayed with him through his trials. As a result they are to eat and drink at his table in his kingdom. (Notice that in Jesus’ kingdom the central place of sacrament has shifted from temple to table.)
Finally Jesus says they will sit on twelve thrones and judge the reconfigured Israel that is the church. I often think of this passage of Scripture when I’m in a church that has statues or icons of the twelve Apostles ringing the interior dome, looking down upon the congregation. In the primacy we give to apostolic writings and practices, the Apostles do indeed judge the church.
Zahnd, Brian. The Unvarnished Jesus: A Lenten Journey (pp. 181-183).
Music By: Dear Gravity,
Salt Of The Sound - Be Thou My Vision.
At the Last Supper Jesus re-appropriated the ancient Passover meal commemorating Israel’s liberation from bondage in Egypt, giving us the sacramental meal of Communion by which we commemorate the Lord’s death and partake of his body and blood.
Of course the disciples didn’t know this was the last supper before Jesus’ suffering and death—they were still anticipating the arrival of the kingdom of God in the way of conventional conquest. Yet Jesus was explicit about this being the last meal of an old age, telling his disciples that he would not eat or drink again until the kingdom of God had come. And thus we see the significance of Jesus eating and drinking with his disciples following his resurrection! Sadly, the poignancy of this final meal was marred by a dispute among the disciples over who would be regarded as the greatest in the coming kingdom. Once again, for the last time before his death, Jesus stresses to his obtuse disciples that what is counted as greatness in the empires of the world is not what is counted as greatness in the kingdom of God.
Caesar and all his successors measure greatness by power—power to kill, power to obtain, power to control. But in the kingdom of Christ, greatness is measured by love, humility, and service. Jesus modelled this kingdom version of greatness when he washed his disciples’ feet during the Last Supper. Despite the disciples’ inability to fully grasp what he was saying and doing, Jesus spoke warmly about how they had stayed with him through his trials. As a result they are to eat and drink at his table in his kingdom. (Notice that in Jesus’ kingdom the central place of sacrament has shifted from temple to table.)
Finally Jesus says they will sit on twelve thrones and judge the reconfigured Israel that is the church. I often think of this passage of Scripture when I’m in a church that has statues or icons of the twelve Apostles ringing the interior dome, looking down upon the congregation. In the primacy we give to apostolic writings and practices, the Apostles do indeed judge the church.
Zahnd, Brian. The Unvarnished Jesus: A Lenten Journey (pp. 181-183).
Music By: Dear Gravity,
Salt Of The Sound - Be Thou My Vision.
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