Exodus 12.1-14; 1st Corinthians 11.23-26; John 13.1-17, 31b-35
O Lord Christ, Lamb of God, Lord of Lords,
call us who are called to be saints, along the way of thy Cross;
draw us, who would draw nearer our King, to the foot of thy Cross;
cleanse us, who are not worthy to approach, with the pardon of thy Cross;
instruct us, the unmindful and short-sighted, in the school of thy Cross;
arm us, in the quest for holiness, by the might of thy Cross;
bring us, in the fellowship of thy sufferings, to the victory of thy Cross:
and seal us in the kingdom of thy glory among the servants of thy Cross,
O crucified Lord; who with the Father and the Holy Ghost
livest and reignest one God, almighty, eternal, world without end. Amen.
These days—from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday and on through Easter—are the holiest time of the church year, focused entirely on the self-giving love of God in Jesus Christ. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. But these days are the center of our faith: Jesus handed over to death, crucified, and raised from the dead. “The stone that the builders rejected,” says 1st Peter looking to the cross of Christ, “has become the chief cornerstone.” Our lives are built on the cross of Christ.
When Jesus wants to illustrate the meaning of life, death, and resurrection, he doesn’t merely teach us things that stretch our minds and imaginations at the wonder of God and the mercy of God; though we are meant to love God with our minds and be “transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Nor does Jesus come only to fill our hearts with warmth and gratitude, though thanksgiving and joy in the Holy Spirit are indeed a part of faith. When Jesus illustrates the meaning of life, death, and resurrection he spreads a table before us, gives us a meal of bread and wine.
We hear about this in tonight’s second reading, “The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you’…In the same way also the cup.” The night before Jesus gives his body on the cross and sheds his blood for the life of the world, he gives himself to you in the sacrament of his Body and Blood. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
Jesus’ meal with the disciples takes place, as we hear in the Gospel of John, at Passover. This is the central story of the Old Testament, the central meal for God’s people. To this day, Passover remembers God rescuing and freeing the Israelites from the powers of slavery in Egypt, God’s forces of destruction passing over them and sparing the firstborn of the Israelites from death. They were protected by the blood of the lamb. “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”
Jesus chooses the feast of Passover and the Passover meal as the framework for his Last Supper and the meaning of his death. He interprets it all around himself. Through the blood of Jesus the Lamb, the powers that keep people enslaved, fearful, and angry are broken; also fear, sorrow, and shame; the power of sin and—most especially—the power of death. The New Testament letter of Hebrews says of Jesus that, “through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death…and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.”
In Jesus, the story of the Exodus applied to our lives. Through the blood of the Jesus the Lamb, we are rescued and delivered from fear to freedom, from sin to forgiveness, from death to life. And that we might taste and see the goodness of the Lord, Jesus gives us a meal. The night before he gives body on the cross and sheds his blood for the life of the world, he gives himself gives himself to in the sacrament of his Body and Blood. “Christ our Passover sacrificed for us,” Paul declares with words we repeat at each celebration of this Holy Eucharist; “therefore let us keep the feast.”
And the truth of Jesus’ self-giving at Passover love is further expressed in our reading from the Gospel of John. Here again, Jesus doesn’t merely teach about love or tell us to love one another with warm affection; he puts love into action. Because for all the times that we hear words about God’s love, you also know that words can be dismissed as empty words. “Talk is cheap,” says the cliché. Aren’t there times when it is hard to trust that God’s love comes to us or is given for us; that even matters or makes a difference? Look out at the world or in at your heart, especially during those silent moments you are faced by things you’d do anything to avoid and see how much still needs to be changed. Is there anyone who hasn’t wondered or doubted that they are beloved by God?
Yet notice what happens in the gospel when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. He comes to each: including Judas who will betray him; Peter who will deny him; the rest who will abandon him. He puts love into action for them and says as clearly as he can, ‘I am giving myself for you, not just for the person next to you, but for you. It is as though Jesus is saying to each and to you, ‘I will cleanse and refresh every part of your life: your faults and failings; your sadness and loneliness; your memories, sorrows, hopes, anger, illness, puzzles, and fears about what the future will bring; the parts of your life that you wish with all your heart were different and the parts that you still long to be healed—the sin and brokenness within you and around you.’ He wants to give us a share in his life through his cleansing love.
And when the gospel says that Jesus, “Loved his own who were in the world [and] loved them to the end,” this means not merely the end of Jesus’ earthly life but loved to the fullest: the end as the culmination of love beyond caution, regret, boundary, or breaking point; love that reaches beyond the days of his earthly life to you in your day. He loves to the utmost, so much so that in his body he took our sin and our brokenness upon himself on the cross to cleanse us, forgive us, and give us a share in his life.
In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven…the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The One who gives himself on the cross tomorrow gives himself to us tonight in bread and wine. In this Holy Eucharist, and as Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, the meaning of our Lord’s life, death, and resurrection come together in word and deed.
At the beginning of the holiest days of the year, and as evening turns toward darkness, we stand at the foot of the cross and we wait in hope. Because the way of the cross that we are drawn to is the way of the one who has given himself to us. “Christ our Passover sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast.” +
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