On the night in which
he was betrayed,
the night in which
one of his disciples
decided to move ahead
with his plan,
trading
his rabbi’s
life
for gold,
and making
arrangements
with the
powerful
and the
corrupt,
on that same
night,
knowing that his end
was drawing near,
Jesus acted out
another way.
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In that night,
Pilate,
anticipating the days
to come
and the commotion in
the streets,
people gathering for
festivities,
consulted with his
peers in a marble palace
drinking sweet wine
and merry-making,
and there
in the night
that they all decided
before it ever happened
that it would be best
for Pilate to allow it to happen (on the one hand),
but that he should
also publicly wash his hands of the matter
so as to make a
display of his “innocence.”
In that same
night,
knowing his end was
drawing near,
Jesus acted
out
another way.
That night,
while Judas was
scheming and Pilate was conspiring,
Jesus knelt.
Jeus knelt in the
dirt,
and that night,
he washed--not his
own hands--
but
his disciples’
feet.
+++
That night,
he called his
disciples com-panions
A word that
means
“those with whom I
share bread.”
And that night
he shared bread with
them,
to make sure
that they knew
that he meant
it.
“You are not simply
my disciples!” he would say,
“You are my
com-panions.”
“You are my friends!”
+++
And that
night,
The Night In Which He
Was Betrayed
became (also) Maundy
Thursday.
Maundy because Jesus would give a mandate,
a mandatum,
a
commandment:
“Love one another
as I have loved you,” Jesus commanded.
That is:
Feed one
another.
Kneel. And
serve.
Reverence those who
are near to you
as if they were
me.
Do this, Jesus
said.
In
remembrance.
Do this.
And remember.
Even when the world
is corrupted
and hurting.
You are my
disciples. You are my friends.
And you are my
com-panions.
And I call you to act
out, to live into, and
to be
together
that world that we
are all praying for.
Be God’s Reign of
Love,
together,
as you are
able,
while you are
able,
one day at a
time.
Every minute you do
this is worth it.
“This is my body,”
Jesus said as he gestured:
You are my body
when I am gone.
[Pause]
+++
+++
+++
Today, and every
Maundy Thursday, then
We kneel. We wash
one another.
We gesture toward
the liberating love
that Jesus called
us into.
And we share a meal,
remembering
that,
even though he was
killed,
he is present
within and among us
as we share,
and
as we continue to
long-together for God’s Reign,
for a world
where all belong
where all are able
to eat.
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