Maundy Thursday. The name of this night -“Maundy”- comes from the Old Latin: mandare – to command. And indeed we receive the “new commandment” which Jesus gave his disciples: that "you love one another even as I have loved you."
It is easy to forget that there is another “new commandment” given by our Lord this night: “Take, eat. Drink this, all of you”.
This new command to “take and eat” stands in stark contrast to the first command given in the story of Scripture: The first commandment was given to Adam in the garden: “You may eat freely of every other tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it, you shall die.”
These two commands are wonderful bookends in the stories of Scripture. A command not to eat, and then a command to eat.
What then did Adam do? He ate. There is a tree, the eating of which brings death. The Lord God spoke to Adam of what he should not eat. The command was clear: the eating of this brings death. And so it was, as we know, that Adam ate. He broke the commandment: the eating of this brings death. And death has reigned over our race, from the time of Adam to the time of those who will die this very night. All of us have tasted sin, and all of us will taste death.
There is a tree, and the eating of its fruit brings death.
There is another tree. It does not stand in the center of a garden. Instead it is found outside the walls of the city. It is the tree upon which our Saviour was crucified.
What of the fruit of this tree? What is its fruit, and what does the eating of it bring?
“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’
Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'
I am the bread of life.
Tonight is not the first time this Lent that we have heard the Scriptures speak about bread. Almost 40 days ago we heard the words of the tempter: “If you are the Son of Man, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Jesus will not turn stones into bread. Instead, he takes the bread and turns it into something greater: the sign of his body, given for us. Jesus answers the tempter again.
Nor is this the first time in the Gospel that we taste wine. We have seen wine before. At the wedding feast of Cana in Galilee Jesus took water and changed it into wine. Recall his words at that time: my hour has not yet come. Tonight his hour has come: But what does Jesus do? He takes the cup of wine and makes it into something better. This is the cup of the new covenant in His blood. And still the words of the steward of the feast echo in our ears: “You have saved the best wine until now.”
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