MAUNDY THURSDAY

Below is Duccio di Buoninsegna's beautiful artwork (c.1310); and next to it is also a photograph reminding us what we celebrate today.

This brings me to my devotion for tonight: Maundy Thursday 2020             “Having a Traitor in the Midst” 
Scriptural Texts: John 13:1-30 and Matthew 26:17-30                                         My Christian friends: Your worst enemy may be one in your inner most circle of friends. And this shouldn’t be surprising since no one is able to betray you who first was not seen to be loyal. This was the tragic discovery on that first Maundy Thursday (Mandatum, Latin meaning a command). It was on that first Thursday night in Christ’s passion that He exemplified servant-hood and gave the holy command to his disciples to love one another as He loved them. He also instituted Holy Communion in which He also commanded His disciples to eat and drink for the remission of sins. But it was also on that first Maundy Thursday that one of the twelve was to betray Him.

Jesus had abruptly interrupted the irenic atmosphere of the Passover meal, by plainly stating that one of His most inner-sanctum of friends, whom He had chosen to be apostles, would betray Him. And Scripture records the anger and sorrowful inquisition among the disciples. Matthew 26:20 25, says, “When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. Now as they were eating, He said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.’ And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, ‘Lord, is it I?’ He answered and said, ‘He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.’ Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, ‘Rabbi, is it I?’ He said to him, ‘You have said it.’”

Christians also may have traitors around them and even within them. We also betray Christ when we are indifferent to sin; when we have pride in our own goodness; when we lack love for our fellow man, especially our fellow Christians; or, when we lack the desire to partake of the Lord’s Body and Blood in the Holy Supper. When these forces are allowed to pull us away from what Christ had accomplished for you and me, our faith gradually will fade away to be lost to this world. Oh, you might moan and bewail the fact that Jesus suffered so much, was tortured and nailed to the cross, but do you not find any comfort and joy in what he gladly and willingly did for you? We may all eventually lose what it means to be a Christian and deny the cross of Christ altogether unless we, like Paul, can come to the profession of the faith and state: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

The desire also to glory in the cross of Christ has been dissimulated, in particular, by the Second Vatican Council when it had written, “...the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place among these are the Moslems, who, professing to hold to the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.” (The Documents of Vatican II, ed. Walter M. Abbot, S.J., p.34.) This, friends, shows an indifference to the sacrifice of God’s only Son for the sins of the world. This shows that the truth of God takes a casual backseat to all ecumenical endeavors. As it was written against the Laodician Church of Revelation, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: ‘I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.’”

These traitors within Christendom must also be named so that faith may be strengthened as it was on the night Christ had instituted His Last Will and Testament in this His Holy Supper. The details of this Will are familiar (or should be familiar) to any Christian. Through communion with the natural, true and essential Body and Blood of Christ; therefore, we do show forth His death until He comes again to judge the living and the dead. And we can rejoice in this thought, namely, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). And, as Jesus Himself tells us in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say to you, He that hears My word, and believes in Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but has passed from death into life.”

This Maundy Thursday, let us end with the words of the Swedish hymn-writer, Haquin Spegel, in his hymn “The Death of Jesus Christ, Our Lord”:
The death of Jesus Christ, our Lord, We celebrate with one accord; It is our comfort in distress, Our heart’s sweet joy and happiness.

Let us also have a closing prayer from the words of the hymn-writer, Isaac Watts, in his hymn “’Twas on That Dark, That Doleful Night”: 
Jesus, Thy feast we celebrate; We show Thy death, we sing Thy name, Till Thou return and we shall eat The marriage supper of the Lamb. Amen.