Maundy
Pastor Troy Slater - Our
It had been a long, excruciating,
painful and sleepless night that first Maundy Thursday, one that stretched into
the early hours of Friday morning. Per
John’s chronology it began with foot washing and it ended with Jesus, the King
of kings, being condemned to die by crucifixion. In between all of that there was the Last
Supper in the Upper Room, during which the end was set through the exposure of
Judas as the one who would betray Jesus.
Then, there was prayer in the
Of course then
after the rooster crowed for the second time Jesus was taken to Pilate, a Roman
politician who was too weak and too spineless to do what he knew was
right. A man who didn’t recognize the truth, that is the ultimate truth, even when it stared him
right in the eyes. Which
it did, through the person of Jesus of Nazareth who stood right before him. Pilate showed he would rather make strange
bedfellows with a demented Herod than to set free a man he knew to be innocent.
Of course the
charge against our Jesus during all of this was that he claimed to be a
King. In fact this very charge is what
would be posted above his crucified body.
This would be the charge that would incite the temple crowd to cry for
Jesus’ blood as they demanded his crucifixion.
At first Pilate was hoping a good flogging would satisfy their thirst
for Jesus’ blood. Of course this just
gave some of Pilate’s soldiers an opportunity to heap the insults and the pains
upon Jesus. A flogging itself was bad
enough, but then add on the taunts and the jeers, a
crown of thorns, soldiers standing in line to take their turn at bloodying up
Jesus’ face. All the while with the
haunting refrain, “Hail, King of the Jews.” Yes it had truly been a long, excruciating,
painful and sleepless night that first Maundy Thursday …
Of course
anyone who can pronounce or spell Maundy Thursday and is here tonight knows the
reason, knows the divine purpose for this spectacle of bullying and gross
inhumanity. Jesus was not just some
unfortunate victim of circumstances beyond His control. For rather Jesus was the Father’s ultimate sacrifice
for the sins of all humanity, including for the ones who so abused him. Late into that Thursday night and into that
Friday morning, Jesus willingly kept his hands bound when he could have
released them and cleansed that courtroom just as surely as he had cleansed the
temple just a few days earlier. Jesus
uttered not a word before the soldiers who beat and mocked him when He could
have called for a whole legion of angels to come and wipe out the entire Roman army. Jesus willingly let the crowds corner Pilate
into a sentence of crucifixion when he could have silenced them forever with
but one word. He could have, but He
didn’t.
For it had all been ordained, even
before history had begun. It had all
been prophesied about beforehand. For it
was the Father’s plan for saving a sin-sickened and a death-enshrouded humanity. It was God’s plan for redeeming His fallen
creation. And so Jesus went through with
it. He did it. He did it as Redeemer; He did it as ransom; He
did it as sacrifice; He did it as Savior.
He did it in a love, in a grace that would culminate on that Friday
afternoon on a cross.
Jesus did it, He willingly suffered,
He willingly died, so that He could say to His disciples early on that Thursday
night and so that risen from the dead He can now say to you this
Thursday night, “Take eat, this is My
body given for you. Drink of it all of
you, this is My blood of the covenant shed for the
forgiveness of all your sins.” Yes
that’s why He allowed it, that’s why Jesus did it. He did it for you. ... He did it for
you. Amen.