Passover is the Jewish feast commemorating the Lord God’s dramatic liberation of His People from slavery and oppression. It is the most important of all their feasts.
Accordingly, Jesus made certain his disciples carefully completed the preparations.
- They took a lamb to the Temple and made a sacrifice of it.
- Then they made their way to the place for the sharing together of the ritual meal which included the roasted lamb.
- They prepared the water ablutions (used for the ritual washings), the bitter herbs (repeating the bitterness of slavery), the unleavened bread (in memory of their ancestors whose sudden flight from Egypt interrupted their baking) and the wine.
However this celebration will mark the final Passover gathering for Jesus and his disciples. Assuredly, it begins with the familiar ritual and, then, Jesus transforms it. For Christians, Holy Thursday is the moment of God’s glorious design in which the Passover of God’s original covenant becomes the Eucharist of God’s new covenant.
The lamb offered that evening is Christ Jesus Himself. He is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world and on Holy Thursday He establishes Himself as the new and everlasting covenant!
How bewildering it all must have been to the disciples that Holy Thursday evening. Passover begins for all of them with the familiar words and actions. Then, Jesus deviates from the prescribed ritual and declares:
- “This is my body which will be given up for you.”
- “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new covenant, poured out for many for the remission of sins. Do this in memory of me.”
Rest assured, it only is by means of the Holy Spirit that they later come to realize and understand that Jesus meant what He said and said what He meant.
- No longer is it bread but His Body broken for all.
- The cup no longer contains wine but now Christ Himself Whose Blood is poured out for all.
Holy Thursday is the interpretive key for understanding Good Friday. Precisely by means of the new covenant God forges with humanity in the upper room are the gruesome events the next day transformed from a violent execution into a pure sacrifice.
For Personal, Family and Parish Reflection:
- In what way do the people we encounter know we are disciples of Jesus Christ?
- How does the God’s new covenant through Jesus Christ influence our ordinary living and inspire our daily pursuits?
