THURSDAY, APRIL 17
Exodus 12; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:1-20
Maundy Thursday marks the day when Jesus gathered with his disciples to share the Passover Seder meal. Rich with symbolism, each food item and cup within the ancient Seder commemorates how God had ransomed his people from slavery in Egypt through a series of ten plagues during the Exodus. Due to Pharoah’s hard heart, these plagues culminated in the death of the firstborn. As a marker of God’s people and to spare them from the same punishment as the Egyptians, God told Israelite families to sacrifice a spotless lamb and apply its blood to the outer doorframes of their homes. That evening, the people ate the lamb meat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Later that night God passed over, sparing those who had applied the lamb’s blood. Following this miracle, the Israelites were finally released from their centuries of slavery. Despite this new physical freedom, the Israelites remained in bondage to their sinful human nature- so evident during 40 years of wilderness wandering and centuries of covenant-breaking while living in the Promised Land.
Eventually their habitual sins led God’s people to experience the pain of exile again - this time at the hands of the Babylonians. It is into this time of despair, God spoke words of hope and restoration to His people through the Prophet Jeremiah. Amid the sorrow of exile, God consoled His people promising them that sometime after they returned home, something new and better was coming. An excerpt of Jeremiah 31:31-34 says, “I will make a new covenant … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people...for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
About 600 years after these words of hope were spoken, Jesus inaugurated this New Covenant during his last Passover Seder. He said, “‘This cup is the New Covenant, ratified by my blood, which is being poured out for you’” (Luke 22:20). From Maundy Thursday through Resurrection Sunday, Jesus transformed the Passover Seder from a declaration of release from physical slavery to a redemption from the spiritual captivity of sin and death.
As followers of the crucified and risen Jesus, we are children of this New Covenant in His blood. We are recipients of God’s ancient promise to know Him personally with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Joel 2:28-32). It is this life-changing reality that we celebrate during the Lord’s Supper. Join us tonight at 6pm for Maundy Thursday service as we honor the spotless Passover Lamb of God.
Eventually their habitual sins led God’s people to experience the pain of exile again - this time at the hands of the Babylonians. It is into this time of despair, God spoke words of hope and restoration to His people through the Prophet Jeremiah. Amid the sorrow of exile, God consoled His people promising them that sometime after they returned home, something new and better was coming. An excerpt of Jeremiah 31:31-34 says, “I will make a new covenant … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people...for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
About 600 years after these words of hope were spoken, Jesus inaugurated this New Covenant during his last Passover Seder. He said, “‘This cup is the New Covenant, ratified by my blood, which is being poured out for you’” (Luke 22:20). From Maundy Thursday through Resurrection Sunday, Jesus transformed the Passover Seder from a declaration of release from physical slavery to a redemption from the spiritual captivity of sin and death.
As followers of the crucified and risen Jesus, we are children of this New Covenant in His blood. We are recipients of God’s ancient promise to know Him personally with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Joel 2:28-32). It is this life-changing reality that we celebrate during the Lord’s Supper. Join us tonight at 6pm for Maundy Thursday service as we honor the spotless Passover Lamb of God.
