Homily: Maundy Thursday; 2 April 2026; Gregory Strong
Exodus 12:1-14 Institution of the Passover ritual
Psalm 78:15-26 Recollection of God’s provision in the wilderness
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Institution of the Eucharist
Luke 22:14-30 Institution of the Eucharist; commandment to serve
The density and gravity of meaning in Holy Week are great. The four gospels devote a considerable amount of their narratives to the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry and life — about 1/3 of the total text in the gospels. As we journey through these days, I hope we are finding ample time, quality time, to attend to and absorb all that we can, with God’s grace.
Now we have come to Maundy Thursday in Holy Week. Even this one day is complex and deep with meaning — more than we can address fully in our time together. Nevertheless, we want to explore some important dimensions of this day, especially certain personal dimensions. We will undertake this by asking three questions.
What does Jesus do on this night?
What do his disciples do on this night?
What do we do on this night, and next week and beyond?
As we start, let’s frame our exploration by taking first a long view and then a short view of this night that we remember so solemnly.
The long view of this night goes back to begin with God’s good creation of everything, including humankind; followed by humankind’s turning away from God and subsequent descent into sin and death; then through many twists and turns to the emergence of the Jewish people and eventually their enslavement in Egypt; followed by God’s deliverance of them from that enslavement, as we heard in the reading from Exodus. From there it goes forward to the resurgent Jewish people entering and dwelling in the land of promise, and then specifically to this night in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, with Jesus and his disciples, as we heard in our reading from Luke. From this night, the long view continues forward to the birth and growth of the early church, the new people of God, as indicated in the reading from 1 Corinthians; and with that to the anticipation of a new heaven and earth at the end of time. That’s the long view of this night. It occurs centrally, pivotally, in the grand biblical story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.
The short view focuses on this night, on the people and events of this night in Jerusalem, leading into tomorrow. At the center are these people: Jesus; his closest disciples; and the Jewish and Roman people and authorities. Also at the center are these events: the Passover meal; final teachings; an act of service; and acts of betrayal.
With the long view as background then, let’s concentrate on the short view, on the people and events of this night in an upper room in Jerusalem.
After a few years of widespread public ministry in Israel, Jesus has journeyed to Jerusalem with his disciples. He entered several days ago on a donkey in a symbolic prophetic act. He spent the next days in teaching and further symbolic prophetic acts. Now he has come to this night. It is the beginning of the Passover remembrance and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Jesus gathers with his closest disciples in an upper room to celebrate the Passover meal. He knows it is the beginning of his suffering. He knows it will be the end of his earthly ministry. He knows it will be the end of his earthly life.
The hour has come.
What does Jesus do on this night? He radically reinterprets Passover — its elements and its meaning — to focus on him. He makes himself — his body and blood — the elements of Passover. And he makes his life and death — his whole salvific ministry from beginning to end — the meaning of a new Passover. On this night, the remembrance of God’s long-ago act to redeem the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt becomes the event, and later the remembrance, of God’s act in Jesus to redeem all people enslaved and doomed in sin. Jesus becomes the Passover Lamb whose death will bring deliverance and new life for us, for the whole created order.
This is both grim and good. It is good through the grim, and only through the grim, as Jesus knows and accepts, with agony. His excruciating suffering and death will lead to new life, to re-creation. In his radical love for God and for us, he will take up a cross and suffer a most cruel death, that we and the whole creation may be made new and good, well beyond the cruelty and grimness of sin and death.
What do his disciples do on this night? They betray him. Those who had followed him closely for years fail him. There is the obvious betrayal by Judas for money. There is the other betrayal — perhaps less obvious but betrayal nonetheless — when the disciples argue, on the brink of his suffering, about which of them will be the greatest in the kingdom of God. And there is the later betrayal in the denials and the desertions of Peter and the remaining disciples this night and the next day.
All of this betrayal occurs in the context of Jesus’ self-identification as the sacrificial victim for sin and death. It also occurs in the context of his profound demonstration of loving servanthood in his washing of the feet of his disciples (John 13:1-15). His is not a pretentious pursuit of being a ruling benefactor, as others seek for themselves. It is down-on-the floor, in-the-dust, humble, even humiliating service for his disciples, for his neighbor.
What do we do on this night, and next week and beyond? It’s so easy to go the way of the Pharisee in the temple, proud and grateful to God not to be the tax collector — in other words for us, proud and grateful not to be those foolish and even worse disciples. Yet can we honestly say that we love Jesus so much and so well that we would not have betrayed him on that Passover night? Can we honestly say that we have not betrayed, do not betray, Jesus? Out of fear, or out of desire for cultural prestige and power, or in any number of other ways?
This night, and next week and beyond, let us learn anew and with greater fidelity to take up the cross, to die with and in Jesus, that we may rise with and in Jesus to new life, that in new life we may love God and our neighbor through down-on-the floor, in-the-dust, humble, even humiliating, service, as Jesus did. Let us be more faithfully people of God, true images of Jesus, the sacrificial lamb and the suffering servant for the world. In the power of the Holy Spirit, let us tell and be the good news of God’s kingdom, the kingdom of sacrificial servant love for our families, friends, and even strangers — for our neighbor — as Jesus was and is and will be.
The hour has come.
