Here are items from today’s Maundy Thursday service.
A. The pastor said that Luke foreshadows Christ’s death and
resurrection, as if those were the reasons that Christ came. Luke 2:7
states that Jesus, as an infant, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and
placed in the manger because there was no room in the inn, or “kataluma”
in Greek. Luke 23:53 uses “kataluma” for the place where Jesus and his
disciples ate the last supper. There was no room at the inn when Jesus
was born, but there is room at the Lord’s supper. Jesus was wrapped in
swaddling clothes as an infant, and he was wrapped in linen as a corpse
in Luke 23:53 (though the Greek word for “wrap” is different in those
passages).
B. This is a fallen world. Our dysfunction attests to that, and we
can become so preoccupied with our dying bodies that we do not rejoice
in eternal life. Fallenness weighs us down.
C. The Lord’s supper was to be a supper of remembrance: Jesus said
“Do this in remembrance of me.” “Remember” in Hebrew is richer than mere
recollection: it means to re-experience, or relive. Israelites relived
the Exodus at the Passover. Christians at the Lord’s supper
re-experience Christ’s last supper, but also get a taste of the banquet
that Christ will eat with the saints in the eschaton. The pastor talked
about how his grandmother used to make him meringues cooked in Mexican
vanilla because he liked them, and, anytime he smells Mexican vanilla,
he is transported into his grandmother’s kitchen.
D. The pastor talked about God meeting people amidst disaster. After
the Columbine massacre, it was “Good Shepherd” Sunday at the Lutheran
church that he pastored. After 9/11, there was a cross amidst the
rubble, which many took as a sign. When Lutheran churches burned down in
fires, the cross still stood. This is a testimony that God meets people
amidst disaster, which is what the cross itself is about.
E. On “D.”, the pastor seemed to imply that God arranged for Good
Shepherd Sunday to follow Columbine, even though he did not want to say
that God caused Columbine. God was working providentially to meet people
in the midst of disaster. The pastor does not believe that God causes
disasters but meets people in the midst of them. Indeed, saying that God
caused Columbine then comforted people is a troubling idea: it is like
running a person over and then taking him to the emergency room. Some
may argue, though, that God permitted Columbine to provide an
opportunity for people to turn their attention to God, which is
important in its own right. But I doubt that God decided to schedule
Good Shepherd Sunday in response to when he foresaw that the Columbine
massacre would occur. That is quite a bit of micromanaging. Yet, I can
understand people looking at that and concluding that what happened is
more than a coincidence.
F. A convicting item from the liturgy: “When others need mercy and
kindness, we often fail to acknowledge or fulfill their earnest needs.”