It is Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, and we come to the day when the disciples’ first question was Jesus, where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?
Jesus has it all planned –a man in Jerusalem will host all of them to share Passover together. So the day is spent in preparation and when the evening comes, there are Jesus and the twelve disciples all reclining at the table, eating the Passover meal. And in the middle of eating, Jesus says –One of you will betray me... not your typical mealtime conversation. And so they all start to ask Jesus who he was talking about. Judas feels the accusation –surely not me?
And out of this uncomfortable conversation, Jesus then took bread, gave thanks, broke it and offered it to the disciples, saying, take, eat, this is my body. And also with the cup, saying, drink this –all of you, this is the blood of the covenant poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. This is the last wine I will drink until I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And then they all sang a hymn together around the table, before heading out to the Mt of Olives. There Jesus warns the disciples –they will all fail... Peter jumps in –I won’t fail you Jesus... and so Jesus tells him that yes, he too will fail. Not once, but three times.
The group then walk on to Gethsemane –a lovely garden, where Jesus wants them to pray. But it is getting really late and it has been a long day. They are exhausted. Although Jesus asks them to stay awake with him to pray, they sleep. Jesus is overwhelmed by what is about to happen, and is enormously let down by his sleeping friends. He must pray alone –if it is possible, don’t make me drink this cup. But let your will be done. Eventually he wakes them in his frustration and they are wakened not by Jesus but by a large crowd appearing with clubs and swords. Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss and he is arrested. There is some resistance but Jesus tells his disciples to stop. This is not the time for resistance. And all the disciples flee. Jesus is left arrested and deserted by his friends. Completely isolated.
There follows a weird search for false witnesses to prove the improvable. Finally all they can accuse is that he had said he could destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Jesus remains silent at the accusations, only answering with “you say that I am” when asked if he is the Messiah. The high priest tears his clothes in despair and accuses Jesus of blasphemy –the ultimate irony. The people call for his death. They spit on him, punch him and mock him.
But still the dark night is not over. Peter then denies him three times just as predicted, before the rooster crows. He weeps bitterly at his failure.
It is a night of many failures.
But amidst the failures, we see Jesus’ commitment to remain at the table with those who fail. When we live closely with one another in a bubble, failures may become more apparent. Are we willing to remain at the table and continue to love through failure, through betrayl, through desertion?
And so as we work our way through another day of Holy Week, .I light a candle beside my fifth square –the one with a patterned piece (check out the close up photo below) -a mix of good and bad intwined together… one which becomes the table I choose to remain at.
