Holy Thursday: an awkward holiday dinner
March 20th, 2008 by Steve
Meal time.
It’s familiar.
Sit in your usual spot.
It’s a holiday, you know.
Evoke the familiar traditions
Familiar faces gather.
Not much needs to be said.
Often, on holiday gatherings, words are not necessary to communicate love… or to tick another off.
The “rules of engagement” in familiar settings are predictable, and the unwritten rule is… don’t diverge from the script.
Jesus diverges…
“One of you will double-cross me.”
“Who?”
“The one who dips his bread when I dip mine.”
“We all have already done that.”
“Yup.”
“So, you think we’re going to ditch you? Betray you?”
Maybe deep down, each one knew they were capable.
(“The one” wasn’t obvious.)
Pass the bread.
Pour the wine.
“I need you to consume my brokenness.”
“I need you to completely swallow my sacrifice.”
“Sure.”
“Are you? Will you?”
“We thought this was going to be a nice holiday dinner, and here you go wrecking it!”
“What if I’m re-framing it…”
What if this meal, this life, this way
… is more than going through the motions?
… is more than a past memory?
What if this meal, and this day, hopes for a future reality in the present?
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26)
March 24th, 2008 at 4:59 am
Not clear as to why there’s no reaction when Jesus tells Judas to go do what he was supposed to do. If Judas knew that Jesus knew, had they discussed this before? Had Jesus, perhaps, chosen Judas to be the betrayer, since somebody had to finger Him? Was Judas promised pardon and vindication by Jesus for being the one to carry out the horrible prophecy? When he got up to go, why no reaction from the other disciples gathered at the table? The scene seems stilted, unnatural.