One of the connections between Judaism and Christianity is the symbolism and celebration of freedom represented by the Passover meal for Jews and the eucharist for Christians. On Thursday night, Christians will celebrate Maundy Thursday ("Maundy" comes from the Latin phrase "Maundatum Novum" which means "new commandment"–a reflection of Jesus' Last Supper command in John 13:34-35 to "love one another as I have loved you"). We'll celebrate holy communion as a sign of Jesus' sacrificial death on our behalf, becoming the Paschal Lamb who takes away our sins–images that have their roots in the Passover meal.
For those of you who want to know a little more about how Jews celebrate Passover today, I found this two-minute video on Bing this morning, which gives a great overview. My friend, Rabbi Josh Aaronson, sums up the Jewish story in this way: "They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat!" The story of Israel is the foundational story of Christianity, and Jesus' reinterpretation of the symbols of Passover to represent himself and his mission was a sign that God's liberating power from the slavery of sin and death was and is now available for all people–Jew and Gentile alike.
I've talked to some folks who like to skip the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services because they're too "depressing," but I have said to them that one cannot understand Easter without them. Indeed, one of the things I love about Holy Week is that it forces us to confront the reality and pain of death in the story of Jesus. His death is a reminder of our own mortality, and his resurrection a clear promise that death can and will be defeated by the power of God. In a world that likes to deny the reality of death by focusing on "spirituality" and a kind of Platonist dream of a disembodied afterlife, Holy Week reminds us that Jesus did not come to lead us to some higher plane of spirituality, but rather to enter into our pain, to die our death, and to redeem us through his own suffering.
I invite you this week to ponder over the Exodus story laid beside the story of Jesus so that you might see how God's liberating power is making all things new.
