NO BIBLE NO BREAKFAST DAILY BIBLE REFLECTIONS AND MORE

SCRIPTURE READINGS

EXODUS 12:1-14

1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-26

JOHN 13:1-17, 31-35

REFLECTION

The word Maundy comes from the Latin word “Mandatum” which means
“commandment”. Maundy Thursday commemorates the important commandment of love, humility and sacrifice Jesus gave to His disciples on the night of His betrayal and arrest. The theme for our reflection is “Called to Sacrifice. Sacrifice means to suffer or give up oneself for the benefit of others. We shall reflect on the theme by looking at the following facts:

1. Jesus sacrificed Himself as the new Passover lamb for our salvation
2. We cannot fulfil our calling as true disciples of Jesus until we possess His sacrificial love.

In our first Scripture reading, Exodus 12:1-14, God shows Israel His mercy and
love when Pharaoh was unwilling to liberate them. God takes decisive action
by instructing the Israelites through Moses and Aaron to slaughter a male lamb of one year old without blemish for sacrifice. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it” (Exodus 12:7). The purpose of the blood is to serve as a sign that will exempt or save the Israelites from experiencing death in their homes when the Lord Passes over the land of Egypt. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:11-13). In sum, the Israelites were made slaves in Egypt, after several interventions to set them free through Moses, Pharoah refused to let them go but when God Passed over Egypt and visited them with death Israel was liberated.

Dear friend in the Lord, after Israel had been liberated through the Passover event, Israel and the rest of the nations were still held slaves by a bigger captor. Satan continued to hold the children of God and humanity under the slavery of sin and eternal damnation. This was evident in Israel’s persistent disobedience and punishment and God’s continuous intervention to reconcile them to himself. God needed to make another Passover sacrifice to liberate not only Israel but the whole of humanity from the bondage of sin and Satan’s captivity. This Passover would be a unique and everlasting one because God’s own begotten son’s blood will represent the blood of the unblemished lamb. The doorposts and the lintel of the house in Exodus 12:7 will now become our bodies and spiritual lives. It was during the celebration or commemoration of the Passover Feast that Jesus offered Himself as the new Passover lamp. Paul stresses this point in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Jesus’ sacrifice has become a pivotal turning point in our lives and faith as believers.

God called Jesus to become the Sacrificial lamp on our behalf so that through His unconditional love, all who repent and believe will be saved through His priceless blood. Paul reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice through the institution of the sacrament of the Holy Communion, which symbolizes the blood and the body Jesus sacrificed for our redemption. “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

Beloved in the Lord, Jesus’ sacrifice is our perfect example, He is the final Passover lamp and that is why He said “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:16-
18). Beloved in the Lord, let not this Easter pass you by without you inviting Jesus the Passover lamp into your life. He is the only key to eternal life. Let us repent and have faith in Jesus, follow Him as true disciples and our lives will be transformed to the glory of God.

Secondly, in order to fulfil our true calling as disciples of Jesus Christ we must also possess the spirit of sacrifice which is found in the unconditional love Christ willingly gave us on the cross. This is the crux of the John 13:34-35.  Jesus is calling us to demonstrates sacrificial love in the same way He loved us and sacrificed Himself for our redemption. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35). In other words, if we are not ready to sacrifice ourselves for others like Jesus then you have no share with Him and cannot be called His disciples. “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:13-17)

My dear friend in Christ, our discipleship status is determined by our ability to sacrifice ourselves for the mission of God in the redemption of others . In a world filled with unnecessary and destructive competition and obsession for superiority, the temptation to have people wash our feet while we sit in our comfort zones is high. Our sacrifice for one another must translate into our willingness to condescend to serve one another. Our call to sacrifice can be in the form of visiting the sick and the poor to pray for them and make donations to them. We must be aware that some of the feet have been unkept due to poverty and disease, they may carry offensive odour yet as disciples of Christ we must not discriminate when Jesus calls us to sacrifice and serve these less privileged ones. As disciples of Christ, demonstrating sacrificial love in our daily dealings with other people is not an option, it is a commandment and a lifestyle. We are being reminded on Maundy Thursday to obey the commandment of love, humility and sacrifice as the hallmarks of true discipleship. It is through our sacrifice and love shown to all and sundry, especially the poor orphans, prisoners and the less privileged in our societies that we are able to please God. “Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”(Matthew 25:44-46) 

In Summary, the theme is called to serve. In our reflection on the theme, we have underscored the fact that Jesus sacrificed Himself as the new Passover lamb for our salvation and that we cannot fulfil our calling as true disciples of Jesus until we possess His sacrificial love. May this Maundy Thursday reflection transform our attitudes into sacrificial and loving servants and disciples of our Lord and Master Jesus. Amen