The last post I did was about Palm Sunday, but what was Jesus doing from then until now? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday Jesus was teaching in Jerusalem. A lot of stories and teachings found in the 4 Gospels took place during this time. In fact, if you were to group together the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, almost half of their books are devoted to this one week (according to my husband). That's a lot of teaching going on.
Now, back to Maundy Thursday. First of all, what does "Maundy" mean? It comes from the Latin words Deis Mandati, which means mandate of God. In order to understand what the mandate involved this special night, you have to know what Jesus was doing Thursday evening.
It was Passover, the traditional Jewish holiday, and Jesus was celebrating it with his disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem (sidenote- I've been to the place where they think the upper room was in Jerusalem- very cool). During Passover, family and friends gather for a traditional meal, called a seder (which means order), and they retell the story of when the Israelites escaped slavery from the Egyptians. This meal is filled with all sorts of symbolism, and it is customary for Jews to celebrate it each year. This is what Jesus was doing Thursday evening.
Here are some of the symbols of Passover. We celebrated a seder meal this year with the young adult group/college group at church, and it's always fun to go through the meal since we know the fulfillment of the passover lamb now (i.e. Jesus). Jews today still celebrate the seder meal during Passover since they don't believe the Messiah has come yet.
Here's a traditional seder plate, much like the one we put together for our seder meal.
These are the traditional foods on the plate and their symbolism:
Unleavened bread (matzoh)- There was no time to let the bread rise when the Israelites were fleeing Egypt.
Charoset- made from apples, cinnamon, sugar, and nuts- this reminds the Jews of the mortar for the bricks they used to make buildings during their time in slavery. It is placed between two unleavened crackers and eaten.
Green vegetable (karpas)- we used parsley- the green color reminds the Jews of springtime and the renewal of life. It is dipped into salt water during the meal to remind them of the tears shed during their slavery.
Bitter herbs (maror)- we used horseradish- this is a reminder of the bitterness of slavery.
Lamb bone- this shankbone reminds them of the sacrifice made on the evening of their exodus.
Egg- a representation of the offering brought to the temple.
Wine- four cups are consumed at different points during the meal to commerate the redemption of the Jewish people. (We used grape juice at our seder.)
These are the food elements of the seder. There are a lot more spoken parts that occur with the meal- a reminder of the 10 plagues, opening the door for Elijah, hiding the afikomen, and more.
Celebrating a seder makes the story of Maundy Thursday come alive. Jesus was partaking in this 3+ hour meal and ritual with his disciples, yet he broke from the traditional order of the meal when he washed his disciples' feet, predicted his betrayal, gave his body and blood through the bread and wine, and gave the mandate (mandati) to his disciples to serve one another. This is where we get the title- Maundy Thursday.
I have so much more to say about the symbolism with the Christian viewpoint on the seder meal, but you probably haven't even made it this far in your reading. One final note, after Jesus finished this meal, he went out with his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane to pray before he was arrested, tried, and crucified.
To read the passover story of Jesus, check out Mark 14, Matthew 26, John 13, or Luke 22.
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2 comments:
Craig and I did a modified seder just the two of us. We didn't do the whole script but had the food and talked about it. It was the first time doing one in my home and I really enjoyed it.
I am also extremely jealous that you have been to Jerusalem. I was just telling Craig this morning how I think a trip through Israel would be amazing.
Very cool to do a seder at home. We've never done that before. I did make some cool connections with the one we did this year. I'll have to share them with you next time we connect (I'm too lazy to explain them all out in typing).
I was fortunate to have had an opportunity in college for a 2 1/2 week trip. We did an archaelogical dig for 5 days then toured around for the rest of the time. Very, very cool and it made so many of the stories on the Bible come alive for me.
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