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Holy Thursday, Year B

 A few days ago, on Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem acclaimed by a crowd, our reflection showed us that his close friends simply did not understand why he was doing this.
They could not figure out what led Jesus to accept this demonstration by the people when he had refused before.
(* See below Palm Sunday).

Today, as we remember the Last Supper he had with his twelve friends (Jn.13:1-15), we see him asking them:
“Do you understand what I have done to you?”

Overcoming Peter’s initial reluctance, Jesus has just been washing the feet of all of them.
A very unusual task which would normally have been performed by a slave or a servant.
Jesus expects that his apostles will be puzzled by his gesture and he wants them to understand the meaning of what he is doing.
An attitude of service,
an attitude, a service, that they themselves are to imitate in the future.

In the past, Jesus had tried a number of times to show them this way of being his disciples (Mt.20:25-28) (Lk.22:27).
But it was a hard lesson, one they needed to be reminded of.
And, it became obvious that putting it into practice was… the task of a lifetime.

It seems the same is true for us as well…
Understanding is one thing, living according to what we understand is another…

Would Jesus need to ask us tonight: “Do you understand?”

Source: Images: LDS.org   vemsercristao.com

 * See      https://image-i-nations.com/palm-sunday-year-b/

Note: Another reflection is available in French on a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/jeudi-saint-annee-b/

 

 

 

Holy Thursday, C

Have you ever dreamt of something you wanted very much?
Something you would give anything to see happen…
Something that would fill you with deep joy, with utter contentment.
If it did happen, it was, literally a DREAM COME TRUE!

Well, we could say that what happened on the first Holy Thursday, during what is known as The Last Supper¸ is ‘a dream come true’.
Jesus had anticipated this moment for a long time… It was HIS dream…

At one moment, during the Passover meal, he left aside the usual Jewish ritual for that festive occasion.
He took some bread and said: “Take and eat, this is my body…”
Then, he took the cup of wine and said: “Drink all of you… for this is my blood…” (Mt.26:26-27)jesus_feeds_5000_4-web-size11

This was the realisation of what he had said following the multiplication of the loaves.
At that time, he had spoken these words:
“My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” (Jn.6:55).
At that moment, many people had stopped following him – they simply could not accept what they called such “intolerable language” (Jn.6:59).
His twelve friends had not understood either what he meant but they had remained with him… until tonight.

Hearing him speak now, they may have recalled that, when he had first spoken about this, he had added the words: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person” (Jn.6:56).

saltandlighttv.orgSome of them may have remembered… or perhaps they had not, overcome as they were by the solemn and sad atmosphere they could feel at that moment in the Upper Room.
They had noticed how Jesus seemed downcast and anxious… he was “troubled in spirit…” (Jn.13:21).
The Passover celebration was to be the most joyful occasion in the Jewish calendar – but for them, tonight, it was not so.

Later, much later, one of them wrote about that night and said: “He had always loved those who were his own in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was…” (Jn.13:1).
They had – finally – understood what that night was all about……….

Source: Images: elderwilkins.wordpress.com   saltandlighttv.org