PROPERS: MAUNDY THURSDAY, YEAR B
TEXT: EXODUS 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14; 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-26; JOHN 13:1-17, 31b-35
PREACHED AT RESURRECTION, STARKVILLE, ON THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024
ONE SENTENCE: This evening commemorates the ongoing salvific acts of God – even to this day.
The Jewish Passover, which occasionally coincides with this day, includes a sacred, family meal which dates from the 12th Chapter of Exodus. That meal begins with the youngest member of the family posing this question: “Why is this night different from others?”
Indeed, we could pose that same question. But we have layer upon layer added to our response. And being good Episcopalians, we know that our Book of Common Prayer expresses our theology.
Our theology is so clearly and concisely explained in the Sacrament of Baptism, specifically in one of my favorite prayers in the prayer book – the Thanksgiving over the Water on page 306. That prayer says the following:
We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water.
Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation.
Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage
in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus
received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy
Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death
and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.
We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are
buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his
resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his
fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
That simple prayer highlights the saving acts of God down through the millennia of Holy History. The Passover, when God liberated the Hebrews from hundreds of years of bondage Egypt. The Red Sea, when God brought the Hebrews through the Red Sea on dry land, and swallowed-up the pursuing forces of Pharoah in the returning tides.
The Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, foreshadowing the rite of initiation that we share even today. And, finally, the Cross and the Empty Tomb, giving us eternal hope of deliverance from the bonds of death and the grave.
We add to that prayer in the lesson from 1 Corinthians tonight, when Paul recollects the Last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples – and beckons us to continue that sacred meal.
The Bible we used in Honduras on our medical missions to that remote village in the Central Mountains was entitled Dios Habla Hoy – God speaks now. In delivering his people – 3,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago, and today – God speaks now.
We recall those saving acts, and we bring them to mind this night – on the eve of his greatest gift.
No comments:
Post a Comment