Maundy Thursday, 2024

The day probably started out like every other day when it was time to celebrate the Passover—“On the first day of the Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed” (Mark 14:12). Someone had to take the lamb to the Temple to be sacrificed while others had to prepare the room and the dishes for the Passover meal. Nothing about the day prepared the disciples for what they would experience as they gathered that evening for the Passover meal.

The Passover celebration followed a carefully scripted liturgy built around the Passover meal. It told the story of how the LORD acted to set the people of Israel free from their slavery in Egypt. Each dish shared during the meal recalled some aspect of the story. As faithful Jews, the disciples knew the liturgy by heart and could recite it along with those who were assigned the different parts in it. That night, however, Jesus didn’t follow the script. They never forgot that night or what Jesus did. What he did was that disturbing.

Jesus said three disturbing things that evening.

The first thing he said was that one of them—on the twelve, one of their trusted circle of companions, one who was sharing the Passover meal with him—would betray him. That betrayal would result in his arrest. Naturally, they were distressed by what he said. One by one, each sought to reassure him—and maybe themselves—by saying, “I would never do such a thing!”

Then, of all things, Jesus changed the Passover liturgy—the liturgy that had been used by every generation since the Passover had begun to be observed. That liturgy was sacred! That night, Jesus didn’t talk about how the LORD acted on behalf of the people trapped in Egyptian slavery. Rather, he talked about how the LORD was at work in his death—in his body broken for them, in his blood shed poured out for them. He talked about his blood as the blood of the covenant that bound the LORD and the people together in relationship with an unbreakable bond. It made no sense!

The third disturbing thing he said was after the meal as they made their way from the city to the place they often escaped to on the Mount of Olives. “You will all become deserters” (Mark 14:27). First, one of them would betray him! Now all of them would desert him! What in the world was Jesus thinking?! They had followed him for going on two years, through thick and thin. Why would they desert him now?!

Peter—good ole Peter, you could always count on him to say something when no one else would—challenged what Jesus said. “Even though all become deserters, I will not” (Mark 14:29). Jesus responded to Peter’s vow of loyalty with another disturbing prediction. “This day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times” (Mark 14:30). Not only would Peter desert him, before the next morning Peter would deny that he even knew Jesus—not once, but three times! Jesus’s words cut Peter like a knife. He pushed back, asserting, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” That’s when all of them found their tongues and vowed the same.

Betrayal, desertion, denial—not to mention all his talk during the Passover meal about his own death! It was all so disturbing, so unbelievable. Yet, before the night was over, Judas had fulfilled his promise to the religious leaders. He led their soldiers and a mob to Gethsemane where he knew Jesus would be. He used a kiss of greeting to identify Jesus, betraying him into their hands. As they grabbed Jesus, binding his hands, one of his disciples—was it Peter?—made good on their vow. Wielding a sword, he attacked the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Jesus, however, rebuked the attack. He even healed the man’s ear! That’s when the disciples ran, escaping into the night. Fleeing for their lives, they deserted him as he had said they would.

Peter, at least, followed the mob in the shadows. As Jesus was on trial before the Sanhedrin, he tried to go unnoticed in the courtyard so he could hear what was going on. He could not escape being seen, however. When someone accused him of being one of Jesus’s followers, he—fearing for his life—denied it. Then it happened again and again. Then the rooster crowed, announcing the dawn of a new day.

The disciples never forgot that Passover or all the disturbing things that happened on it—just like Jesus said they would. Neither have we.