Live Holy Week: Tuesday
Remember a time when someone did you a favor but you didn’t know it because it really hurt at the time?
The Passover Meal in the time of Jesus was the combination of two religious holidays, the Unleavened Bread and the Passover. The Passover was about being passed over from death and led out into the desert to journey with God. The Unleavened Bread was a feast of all the left over breads from the year before. New breads were being made and stored for the following year. Together they say something incredible. Just as the leftover Unleavened Bread is all eaten to make room for the new, Jesus becomes our daily fresh new start. Every day we have God’s forgiveness to help us do and face what we must.
Passover uses the purifying blood and the roasted lamb. Each member of the family must be dressed and ready to travel a long way. Four cups of wine are shared. The fourth is the cup of promise and joy. Just as the wine of promise is shared, so is the death of Jesus a shared joy of promise. Just as those who ate at the Passover were dressed for travel, we too are figuratively ready to be sent out in caring service to live in the wilderness of God’s grace. The old passes away, the new joy in Christ comes. Jesus reinterprets the Passover. It becomes our Holy Communion.
The death of Jesus really hurt, especially when each of the disciples denied him. Each abandoned him in his greatest need. That had to hurt the disciples, as it did Jesus. But through this experience, something new was born. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, we are given eternal life and set free each day by God’s forgiveness.
The moment it seems the world is crashing in, God’s favor turns it into new life.
Did someone ever do you a favor you didn’t like at first?
Let us pray,
Loving God, you lived among us, showing us a new way. Set our minds to trust in you so that when bad things happen, that trust will not be broken. Show us how you turn the most horrible thing into a fresh start. Carry us through the tough times until we can walk again. Amen.
Pastor Michael
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