Maundy Thursday: Duane W.H. Arnold

Maundy Thursday

The meal was done. The observance of Passover was complete.  The week had started with triumph. As Jesus had come into the city, people had greeted him, laying palms in his path.  He had turned his wrath upon the money changers and taught in the courtyard of the temple.  Tonight, however, the mood had changed.  No one could define the atmosphere – ominous, expectant or, perhaps, something unexpected would take place. As a small group in an upper room finished their meal, their leader, one Jesus of Nazareth, did something that placed all of us here in a direct line that takes us back to that room.

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

On that first Maundy Thursday, Christ himself presided at the first eucharist. In the days before that evening, Christ had given himself to the world.  He’d given himself as the messiah to the crowds waving palms.  He had given himself as a judge to the money changers.  He had given himself as a teacher to religious inquirers in the temple courtyard.  Now, however, he gave himself to his own, to his followers, to his disciples.  These were already marked by the baptism of John in the Jordan river, just as we are marked with baptism in the name of the Trinity.  Here, in the seclusion of the upper room, hidden from the eyes of the world, he gives himself exclusively to the Church and to no one else.

“Given for you…” “Poured out for you…”

The following day, Good Friday, he would take upon himself the sin and suffering of the whole creation. He would offer himself for all, and to all, once again. Yet, even in his death and resurrection, he would provide for his followers.  As St. Paul says, “don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  Yet, while baptism is a once in a lifetime, at the altar, we may, again and again, as the Church, enter into his life, death and resurrection and find a foretaste of eternity.

“Given for you…” “Poured out for you…”

You see, through Christ the new age of eternity has come and is manifested in his Church. It is proclaimed through word and sacrament; through baptism and the eucharist.  An while it is indeed true that the world with its suffering, and its death has not passed away, as another writer has said, “the new Kingdom has, nevertheless come, the promises are fulfilled, and life eternal is already given in an anticipatory manner to those who believe in Christ and live with him in his Church.” And tomorrow, Good Friday, we will liturgically encounter once more the turning point of history in that hour when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was lifted on the cross and from that cross raised his triumphant cry to all nations and all ages and said, “It is finished…”

Duane W.H. Arnold, PhD

The Project