Maundy Thursday
Thursday, April 9th, 2020click here for past entriesMark 14:22-25
I wonder what the disciples thought was happening as they sat there at supper with Jesus. Jesus has already told them that one of them would betray him, which has disconcerted them greatly. And then, while they are still eating, Jesus takes a loaf of bread, blesses it and breaks it, and gives it to them. “Take; this is my body” (Mk. 14:22). Did they have any idea what Jesus meant by this?
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and all of them drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mk. 14:24). Perhaps it is a good thing that they drank it before Jesus said this. I wonder how many of their stomachs turned. They might have expected a cup of blessing, but this sounds more like a cup of suffering. Perhaps it was meant to be both.
And then Jesus tells them that this will be the last cup of wine that he drinks until he “drink[s] it new in the kingdom of God” (Mk. 14:25). Surely they were already getting the sense that something catastrophic was about to happen.
Mark 14:26-31
If they had, indeed, just sung the final hymn of the Passover, it would have been Psalm 118, which includes this verse: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (v. 24) (workingpreacher.org). Jesus, too, would have sung this verse, in the midst of the darkness that is coming. And then Jesus tells them some more of what is coming. They will all desert him. He will be left alone. It will be just like when the prophet Zechariah spoke about the sheep scattering when the shepherd is struck down (Zech. 13:7).
Peter, however, always the bold one, claims that it will not be so. Even though the others might desert Jesus, he would never do such a thing. Jesus, though, gets even more specific. Before the cock crows twice, Peter will have denied Jesus three times. But Peter doesn’t believe it. Even if I have to die with you, “I will not deny you” (Mk. 14:31). And all the others say the same. And Jesus has already been left alone.
Mark 14:32-42
At Gethsemane, Jesus is feeling the full impact of what is about to happen, and he asks Peter and James and John to come with him, and watch and pray. Jesus is pleading with his Father that the cup of suffering that awaits him might be taken away. Yet, even as he asks this, Jesus submits to God’s will. “Not what I want, but what you want” (Mk. 14:36). The disciples, however, instead of praying, fall asleep. Jesus continues to be alone.
Two different times, Jesus comes back to them and wakes them up, and asks them to pray – not for him, but for themselves, that they might be saved from the time of trial. For, “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mk. 14:38). And each time, they fall asleep. And then, while they are still sleeping, “the hour has come” (Mk. 14:41). Judas arrives with a crowd armed with swords and clubs, and it is not long before all of the disciples desert Jesus and run away.
Maundy Thursday (NL 2) Mark 14:22-42
April 9, 2020
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison
© 2020 Lynne Hutchison All Rights Reserved
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