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LEXEGETE™ / Year C / Gospel of Luke
+ T R I D U U M +
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MAUNDY THURSDAY | March
28, 2013
Exodus 12:1-4
(5-10) 11-14
Psalm 116:1-2,
12-19 (Ps. 116:13)
1 Corinthians
11:23-26
John 13:1-17,
31b-35
Lucan Text: Luke
22: 7-30
NOTE: In order to serve all
lectionaries as closely as possible, LEXEGETE
has joined the Lutheran and New
Common lectionaries with the alternate
reading from the Book of Common
Prayer. The resultant text from Luke 22 is
thus a longer version bridging all
three sets of pericopes.
________________________________________________________
1a. TEXT: John
13:1-17, 31b-35 (NIV)
Jesus Washes His
Disciples' Feet
1) It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world
and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in
the world, he now showed them the full
extent of his love. 2)The evening meal
was being served, and the devil had
already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of
Simon, to betray Jesus. 3)Jesus knew that
the Father had put all things under his
power, and that he had come from God and
was returning to God; 4)so he got
up from the meal, took off his outer
clothing, and wrapped a towel around his
waist. 5)After that, he poured water into
a basin and began to wash his
disciples' feet, drying them with the
towel that was wrapped around him. 6)He
came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
"Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
7)Jesus replied, "You do not realize
now what I am doing, but later you will
understand." 8)"No," said
Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus
answered, "Unless I wash you, you
have no part with me." 9)"Then, Lord,"
Simon Peter replied, "not just my
feet but my hands and my head as well!"
10)Jesus answered, "A person who has
had a bath needs only to wash his feet;
his whole body is clean. And you are
clean, though not every one of you."
11)For he knew who was going to betray
him, and that was why he said not
every one was clean. 12)When he had
finished washing their feet, he put on his
clothes and returned to his place.
"Do you understand what I have done for
you?" he asked them. 13)"You
call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for
that is what I am. 14)Now that I, your
Lord and Teacher, have washed your
feet, you also should wash one another's
feet. 15)I have set you an example that
you should do as I have done for you. 16)I
tell you the truth, no servant is
greater than his master, nor is a
messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17)Now that you know these things, you
will be blessed if you do them.
Jesus
Predicts His Betrayal
[
18)"I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this
is to
fulfill
the scripture: 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.'
19)"I
am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you
will
believe that I am He. 20)I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send
accepts
me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me." 21)After he
had
said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the
truth, one
of
you is going to betray me." 22)His disciples stared at one another, at a
loss
to
know which of them he meant. 23)One of them, the disciple whom Jesus
loved,
was reclining next to him. 24)Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and
said,
"Ask him which one he means." 25)Leaning back against Jesus, he asked
him,
"Lord, who is it?" 26)Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I
will give
this
piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece
of
bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27)As soon as Judas took
the
bread, Satan entered into him. 28)"What you are about to do, do
quickly,"
Jesus
told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.
29)Since
Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to
buy
what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30)As
soon
as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.]
Jesus
Predicts Peter's Denial
31)When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now
is the Son of Man glorified and God
is glorified in him. 32)If God is
glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in
himself, and will glorify him at once.
33)"My children, I will be with you only
a little longer. You will look for me, and
just as I told the Jews, so I tell you
now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34)"A new command I give you:
Love one another. As I have loved you, so
you must love one another. 35)By
this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another."
[ 36)Simon Peter asked him, "Lord,
where are you going?" Jesus replied,
"Where I am going, you cannot follow
now, but you will follow later." 37)Peter
asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you
now? I will lay down my life for you."
38)Then Jesus answered, "Will you
really lay down your life for me? I tell you
the truth, before the
rooster crows, you will disown me three times! ]
GREEK: John
13:1-17, 31b-35
1Πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ πάσχα εἰδὼς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἦλθεν αὐτοῦ ἡ ὥρα ἵνα μεταβῇ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ἀγαπήσας τοὺς ἰδίους τοὺς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, εἰς τέλος ἠγάπησεν αὐτούς. 2καὶ δείπνου γινομένου, τοῦ διαβόλου ἤδη βεβληκότος εἰς τὴν καρδίαν ἵνα παραδοῖ αὐτὸν Ἰούδας Σίμωνος Ἰσκαριώτου, 3εἰδὼς ὅτι πάντα ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ πατὴρ εἰς τὰς χεῖρας καὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθεν καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὑπάγει, 4ἐγείρεται ἐκ τοῦ δείπνου καὶ τίθησιν τὰ ἱμάτια, καὶ λαβὼν λέντιον διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν. 5εἶτα βάλλει ὕδωρ εἰς τὸν νιπτῆρα καὶ ἤρξατο νίπτειν τοὺς πόδας τῶν μαθητῶν καὶ ἐκμάσσειν τῷ λεντίῳ ᾧ ἦν διεζωσμένος. 6ἔρχεται οὖν πρὸς Σίμωνα Πέτρον. λέγει αὐτῷ, Κύριε, σύ μου νίπτεις τοὺς πόδας; 7ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Ὃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ σὺ οὐκ οἶδας ἄρτι, γνώσῃ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα. 8λέγει αὐτῷ Πέτρος, Οὐ μὴ νίψῃς μου τοὺς πόδας εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς αὐτῷ, Ἐὰν μὴ νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις μέρος μετ' ἐμοῦ. 9λέγει αὐτῷ Σίμων Πέτρος, Κύριε, μὴ τοὺς πόδας μου μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὴν κεφαλήν. 10λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Ὁ λελουμένος οὐκ ἔχει χρείαν εἰ μὴ τοὺς πόδας νίψασθαι, ἀλλ' ἔστιν καθαρὸς ὅλος: καὶ ὑμεῖς καθαροί ἐστε, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ πάντες. 11ᾔδει γὰρ τὸν παραδιδόντα αὐτόν: διὰ τοῦτο εἶπεν ὅτι Οὐχὶ πάντες καθαροί ἐστε. 12Οτε οὖν ἔνιψεν τοὺς πόδας αὐτῶν [καὶ] ἔλαβεν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνέπεσεν πάλιν, εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Γινώσκετε τί πεποίηκα ὑμῖν; 13ὑμεῖς φωνεῖτέ με Ὁ διδάσκαλος καὶ Ὁ κύριος, καὶ καλῶς λέγετε, εἰμὶ γάρ. 14εἰ οὖν ἐγὼ ἔνιψα ὑμῶν τοὺς πόδας ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ διδάσκαλος, καὶ ὑμεῖς ὀφείλετε ἀλλήλων νίπτειν τοὺς πόδας: 15ὑπόδειγμα γὰρ ἔδωκα ὑμῖν ἵνα καθὼς ἐγὼ ἐποίησα ὑμῖν καὶ ὑμεῖς ποιῆτε. 16ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ ἔστιν δοῦλος μείζων τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ ἀπόστολος μείζων τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτόν. 17εἰ ταῦτα οἴδατε, μακάριοί ἐστε ἐὰν ποιῆτε αὐτά.
31Οτε οὖν ἐξῆλθεν λέγει Ἰησοῦς, Νῦν ἐδοξάσθη ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ: 32[εἰ ὁ θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ] καὶ ὁ θεὸς δοξάσει αὐτὸν ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ εὐθὺς δοξάσει αὐτόν. 33τεκνία, ἔτι μικρὸν μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι: ζητήσετέ με, καὶ καθὼς εἶπον τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὅτι Οπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν, καὶ ὑμῖν λέγω ἄρτι. 34ἐντολὴν καινὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους: καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους. 35ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες ὅτι ἐμοὶ μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγάπην ἔχητε ἐν ἀλλήλοις.
1a. Lucan Text:
Luke 22: 7-30 (ESV)
Lk. 22:7 Then came the day of Unleavened
Bread, on which the Passover
lamb had to be sacrificed.
Lk. 22:8 So Jesus sent Peter and John,
saying, "Go and prepare the Passover
meal for us that we may eat it."
Lk. 22:9 They asked him, "Where do
you want us to make preparations for it?"
Lk. 22:10 "Listen," he said to
them, "when you have entered the city, a man
carrying a jar of water will meet you;
follow him into the house he enters
Lk. 22:11 and say to the owner of the
house, `The teacher asks you, "Where is
the guest room, where I may eat the
Passover with my disciples?"'
Lk. 22:12 He will show you a large room
upstairs, already furnished. Make
preparations for us there."
Lk. 22:13 So they went and found
everything as he had told them; and they
prepared the Passover meal.
Lk. 22:14 When the hour came, he took his
place at the table, and the apostles
with him.
Lk. 22:15 He said to them, "I have
eagerly desired to eat this Passover with
you before I suffer;
Lk. 22:16 for I tell you, I will not eat
it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of
God."
Lk. 22:17 Then he took a cup, and after
giving thanks he said, "Take this and
divide it among yourselves;
Lk. 22:18 for I tell you that from now on
I will not drink of the fruit of the
vine until the kingdom of God comes."
Lk. 22:19 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."
Lk. 22:20 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.
Lk. 22:21 But see, the one who betrays me
is with me, and his hand is on the
table.
Lk. 22:22 For the Son of Man is going as
it has been determined, but woe to
that one by whom he is betrayed!"
Lk. 22:23 Then they began to ask one
another, which one of them it could be
who would do this.
Lk. 22:24 A dispute also arose among them
as to which one of them was to be
regarded as the greatest.
Lk. 22:25 But he said to them, "The
kings of the Gentiles lord it over them;
and those in authority over them are
called benefactors.
Lk. 22:26 But not so with you; rather the
greatest among you must become
like the youngest, and the leader like one
who serves.
Lk. 22:27 For who is greater, the one who
is at the table or the one who
serves? Is it not the one at the table?
But I am among you as one who serves.
Lk. 22:28 "You are those who have
stood by me in my trials;
Lk. 22:29 and I confer on you, just as my
Father has conferred on me, a
kingdom,
Lk. 22:30 so that you may eat and drink at
my table in my kingdom, and you
will sit on thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.
Greek: Luke 22:7-30
ηλθεν δὲ ἡ ἡμέρα τῶν ἀζύμων, [ἐν] ἧ ἔδει θύεσθαι τὸ πάσχα. 8καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην εἰπών, Πορευθέντες ἑτοιμάσατε ἡμῖν τὸ πάσχα ἵνα φάγωμεν. 9οἱ δὲ εἶπαν αὐτῷ, Ποῦ θέλεις ἑτοιμάσωμεν; 10ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Ἰδοὺ εἰσελθόντων ὑμῶν εἰς τὴν πόλιν συναντήσει ὑμῖν ἄνθρωπος κεράμιον ὕδατος βαστάζων: ἀκολουθήσατε αὐτῷ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν εἰς ἣν εἰσπορεύεται. 11καὶ ἐρεῖτε τῷ οἰκοδεσπότῃ τῆς οἰκίας, Λέγει σοι ὁ διδάσκαλος, Ποῦ ἐστιν τὸ κατάλυμα ὅπου τὸ πάσχα μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν μου φάγω; 12κἀκεῖνος ὑμῖν δείξει ἀνάγαιον μέγα ἐστρωμένον: ἐκεῖ ἑτοιμάσατε. 13ἀπελθόντες δὲ εὗρον καθὼς εἰρήκει αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἡτοίμασαν τὸ πάσχα. 14Καὶ ὅτε ἐγένετο ἡ ὥρα, ἀνέπεσεν καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι σὺν αὐτῷ. 15καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς, Ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα τοῦτο τὸ πάσχα φαγεῖν μεθ' ὑμῶν πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν:
16λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐ μὴ φάγω αὐτὸ ἕως ὅτου πληρωθῇ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ. 17καὶ δεξάμενος ποτήριον εὐχαριστήσας εἶπεν, Λάβετε τοῦτο καὶ διαμερίσατε εἰς ἑαυτούς: 18λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν [ὅτι] οὐ μὴ πίω ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ γενήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου ἕως οὗ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἔλθῃ. 19καὶ λαβὼν ἄρτον εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων, Τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ σῶμά μου τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον: τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. 20καὶ τὸ ποτήριον ὡσαύτως μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι, λέγων, Τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυννόμενον. 21πλὴν ἰδοὺ ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ παραδιδόντος με μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης: 22ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς μὲν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατὰ τὸ ὡρισμένον πορεύεται, πλὴν οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκείνῳ δι' οὗ παραδίδοται. 23καὶ αὐτοὶ ἤρξαντο συζητεῖν πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς τὸ τίς ἄρα εἴη ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁ τοῦτο μέλλων πράσσειν. 24Ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ φιλονεικία ἐν αὐτοῖς, τὸ τίς αὐτῶν δοκεῖ εἶναι μείζων. 25ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Οἱ βασιλεῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν κυριεύουσιν αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ ἐξουσιάζοντες αὐτῶν εὐεργέται καλοῦνται. 26ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ὁ μείζων ἐν ὑμῖν γινέσθω ὡς ὁ νεώτερος, καὶ ὁ ἡγούμενος ὡς ὁ διακονῶν. 27τίς γὰρ μείζων, ὁ ἀνακείμενος ἢ ὁ διακονῶν; οὐχὶ ὁ ἀνακείμενος; ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν εἰμι ὡς ὁ διακονῶν. 28ὑμεῖς δέ ἐστε οἱ διαμεμενηκότες μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς μου: 29κἀγὼ διατίθεμαι ὑμῖν καθὼς διέθετό μοι ὁ πατήρ μου βασιλείαν 30ἵνα ἔσθητε καὶ πίνητε ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης μου ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ μου, καὶ καθήσεσθε ἐπὶ θρόνων τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς κρίνοντες τοῦ Ἰσραήλ.
1a.
Lucan Context: Luke 22: 7-30
Luke's picture of the Last Supper is
dramatically compelling and
theologically profound. After his
triumphal entry and five days of teaching in
Jerusalem, Jesus has gained the
enthusiastic backing of the crowds and the
enmity of the Jewish religious
authorities. We have just learned in vv. 2-6 that
the chief priests and Pharisees seek to
arrest Jesus but fear the people. They
obtain their opportunity when Judas, one
of the twelve, turns traitor. At this
point, Jesus prepares to celebrate the
Passover with his disciples. The
performance of this solemn religious duty
puts him, as he is well aware, in
mortal danger, since it must be a private
ceremony. This context accounts for
the conspiratorial tone of vv. 7-13. The
fact that Jesus himself knows, but the
disciples evidently do not know, the full
significance of what is happening adds
pathos to the account. As this human drama
absorbs us, we are also aware of a
deeper drama of salvation. Jesus, in
celebrating the Passover, gives it new
meaning by being himself the Passover lamb
who completes God's salvific
work in the Exodus by presenting himself
as a perfect offering to God on behalf
of the entire world.
This passage is the only gospel account of the Last Supper to
include, not
only Jesus' description of the bread and
wine as his body and blood, as do
Matthew and Mark, but also the command,
"do this in remembrance of me."
As such it is traditionally read on Maundy
Thursday to commemorate the
institution of the eucharist. The
Reformation made the interpretation of Jesus'
words "This is my body" and
"This is my blood" the subject of intense
confessional debate, as in the
confrontation between Luther and Zwingli at the
Colloquy of Marburg in 1529. Debate now
centers on a more fundamental
question: "Did Jesus actually
institute the eucharist?" Many serious scholars
do not think so. Rudolf Bultmann, for
instance, held it as all but self-evident
that our account of the Last Supper as the
institution of the eucharist is a "cult
legend" (HISTORY OF THE SYNOPTIC
TRADITION, p. 265). More
recently, Joachim Jeremias has argued
cogently for the authenticity of Luke's
account.
Such discussion is complicated by a
textual problem. A family of Western
Mss. does not read the words between
"this is my body" in v. 19 and the
beginning of v. 21. The argument is made
that this shorter form of the text is
original, vv. 19b and 20 being an early
interpolation added under the influence
of Paul's discussion of the eucharist in I
Cor. 11: 23-26. If the longer text is
original, it provides independent
attestation of the tradition that attributed to
Jesus the words that institute the
eucharist as the principal act of Christian
worship, "Do this in remembrance of
me." Nonetheless, the importance of the
textual issue should not be overrated.
Paul's description of the eucharist, which
he claims to have received from Jesus
himself by way of tradition, is, in itself,
sufficient evidence that Christians very
soon believed that Jesus had instituted
the eucharist at the Last Supper. At the
same time, confirmation of that
tradition in Luke could not prove that it
came from Jesus himself as opposed to
the primitive Christian community. Most
textual scholars accept the longer form.
Jeremias makes the authenticity of the
words of institution as sayings of
Jesus historically plausible by
demonstrating that our accounts of the Last
Supper in the Gospels and in Paul are
consistent with Jesus' decision to
celebrate a final Passover just before his
death. He also argues that the
accounts we have in the Synoptic gospels
are consistent with such a
celebration, which Jesus reinterprets and
modifies (as, for example, by passing
a single cup around). He provides a
provocative interpretation of the words "do
this in remembrance of me," arguing
on the basis of Biblical usage that the
implied subject of remembrance is not the
disciples, but God. The disciples are
to celebrate a common meal, not so that
they will remember Christ, but so that
God will remember him and bring on the
glorious last age (THE
EUCHARISTIC
WORDS OF JESUS, pp. 237-55).
2. ANALYSIS: Luke
22: 7-30
v. 7 [Elthen de he hemera ton azumon, hei
edei thuesthai pascha.] Here, as
in v. 22:1, Luke identifies the Passover,
which properly designated only the 15
Nisan, with the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
which coincided with it and lasted
seven days. The confusion stems from what
appears to be an ancient fusion of
a pastoral feast, the Passover, with an
agricultural one, the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. Note that [pascha] (Hebrew
"pesah") means both the Passover feast and
the Passover lamb; here, as in vv. 8 and
15, it means the latter. Although Luke
does not describe Jesus eating the lamb,
his presence is presupposed.
v. 10 [sunantese humin anthropos keramion
hudatos bastazon]-- Presumably
it would be remarkable to be met by a man
carrying a jug of water, because this
was normally women's work. Jesus'
instructions have a conspiratorial tone.
Since Judas was seeking an opportunity to
betray Jesus apart from the
multitude, it is important that he not
know in advance where Jesus will
celebrate the Passover. It is natural to
assume that Jesus had already made
some arrangement with the man in question,
as Matthew 26: 18 implies.
Nonetheless, we cannot necessarily do so
here any more than in 20:30-35,
where Jesus instructs the disciples to
bring to him the colt he will use in his
entry into Jerusalem. Luke does not
transmit Matt. 17: 24-27, the story of the
temple tax, where Jesus gives the
disciples instructions that imply miraculous
clairvoyance.
v. 14 [anepesen] means "he
reclined." Reclining at table had become the
customary way to celebrate the Passover by
Jesus' time, replacing the early
custom of standing described in Exodus 12.
v. 15 [pro me pathein] -- "Before I
suffer" refers here, as elsewhere, to Jesus'
crucifixion.
v. 16 [heos hotou plerothei en tel
basileiai tou theou] -- Joseph A. Fitzmyer
(THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE, X-XXIV, p.
397) points out that
Jesus here "gives a new
eschatological dimension to the Passover meal being
taken with his disciples."
v. 17 [eucharistesas] -- "Giving
thanks" here and in v. 18 refers to normal
prayers of thanksgiving over the meal. Its
association with the Lord's Supper
provided the earliest name for the
Christian rite.
v. 19 [touto] means "this bread"
v. 20 [He kaine diatheke], "new
testament," comes from the LXX version of
Jeremiah 31:31 and gave its name to the
specifically Christian scriptures.
3.
STRATEGY: Luke 22: 7-30
The late Jaroslav Pelikan boldly made
clear the significance of the eucharist
as the most characteristic act of
Christian worship for the past two millennia:
I
have never seen it stated in print (except when I myself have stated
it),
and I am not quite sure how I would go about documenting it, even with a
string
of footnotes. But it is, I think, a "self-evident truth"... that, for
more than
nineteen
centuries and in a great variety of cultures, Christians have been
blessing
bread and wine and celebrating the sacrament of the Eucharist nearly
every
day. If that is a self-evident truth, it is also a massive instance of
continuity
amid change, and a prime instance of the reality of tradition (THE
VINDICATION OF TRADITION, p. 48).
Maundy Thursday provides us an opportunity
to ground this act of worship in
the Biblical witness to Jesus Christ, to
ground the sacrament in the word. The
eucharist reminds us that our salvation is
the result of the decisive saving act of
God recounted in the Bible. It also
reminds us that we attain salvation through
our participation in Christ's self-giving
life.
4.
REFERENCES: Luke 22: 7-30
Bultmann, Rudolf† HISTORY
OF THE SYNOPTIC TRADITION. Rev.
ed., tr. John Marsh. New York: Harper
& Row, 1963.
Fitzmyer, Joseph† THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE (X-XXIV).
Anchor Bible 28A.
Jeremias, Joachim† THE
EUCHARISTIC WORDS OF JESUS. Tr.
Norman Perrin. Philadelphia: Fortress,
1984.
Pelikan, Jaroslav †.
THE VINDICATION OF TRADITION. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1984.
5.
MUSIC: Maundy Thursday
"Come, risen Lord, and deign to be
our guest" (Hymnal 1982, pp. 305 &
306; LBW 209), "Let thy Blood in
mercy poured" (Hymnal 1982, p. 313),
and "Thou, who at thy first Eucharist
didst pray" (Hymnal 1982, p. 315) are
eucharistic hymns particularly appropriate
to Maundy Thursday.
Exegete: Joseph Trigg, PhD, is the
author of an oft-cited major study of
Origen (SCM Press, 1985). It leads
the “Patristics Bibliography”
< http://www.ebookmall.com/ebook/128488-ebook.htm >
6.
FURTHER READING
The Pascal mystery
we celebrate during Holy Week calls to mind the deeper meaning of all of our
worship and eucharist. Timothy F. Sedgwick's little volume SACRAMENTAL ETHICS:
PASCHAL IDENTITY AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE is a remarkably succinct and articulate
discussion of the importance of worship in the moral life of Christians. Based on
the axiom, Lex orandi, Lex credendi
(the law of worship is the law of belief), the book explores the necessity for
a clear theology of worship in order to arrive at an ethical perspective for
the church. Because worship correlates life and faith, worship transforms and
changes the worshippers in relationship to God. While this may seem overly
obvious at first, Sedgwick skillfully expands on these ideas in a way that
helps us see both worship and ethics in a new light. A key concept is the importance
of mythic stories, which mediate a world to the worshipping community. But worship
is parabolic, as well, and
this is what challenges us to enter into a new relationship with God.
Sedgwick
concentrates on the Paschal mystery, not only the passion and resurrection of Jesus
in the past but the presently experienced mystery of that passion and
resurrection to which we are reconciled.n Thus the center of this mystery
brings us into stark conflict with our hedonistic, utilitarian culture. We
discover that we are neither self-sufficient nor autonomous nor capable
"by our own reason and strength" of freeing or saving ourselves. Within
the ecology of our faith, we are part of a web of interdependence and grace. We
deny this only at our own peril. For Sedgwick, then, Christian ethics is about
the paschal mystery and "is more broadly part of the task of the cure of
souls, sustaining and nurturing individuals and the community in their
faith" (p. 19). In the last analysis, it is that system of formation and
identity which leads us to grasp the gifted nature of the paschal mystery, that
"Our life is
not our own but is given by God" (p. 20). Timothy F. Sedgwick is Assoc.
Prof. of Christian Ethics and Moral Theology at Seabury- Western Theological
Seminary in Evanston, IL. SACRAMENTAL
ETHICS (FORTRESS, 1987), was to our knowledge his first book. It is filled
with helpful insights into the relationship between ritual and the moral life!
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