Passover
Thursday, December 9, 2010 -- Week of 2 Advent, Year One
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p 936)
Psalms 37:1-18 (morning) 37:19-42 (evening)
Isaiah 7:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Luke 22:1-13
We enter the passion narrative of St. Luke today. He opens the story by establishing the setting: "Now the festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near." Luke is giving us a clue. This will be another Passover story.
The Passover is a story of liberation. God's people suffered under bondage as slaves in Egypt. With a mighty hand God rescued the people and brought them into the Promised Land of freedom. The ritual of the Seder supper, and the sharing of the sacred meal of the Passover lamb, reminds the people of their story of liberation. Luke helps us see the story of Jesus' death and resurrection as a story of liberation and freedom.
It is also a story of conspiracy and intrigue. Judas, one of the twelve inside the intimate leadership circle of Jesus' apostles, confers with the authorities who wish to confront Jesus in a private place where he cannot be shielded or protected by the crowd of commoners who support him. Judas is paid off to reveal the cave on the Mount of Olives where Jesus and his leadership would gather. Tradition holds that it is was in Gethsemane that Judas betrayed Jesus. The word means "oil press" (Assyrian). There is a cave, near the bottom of the Mount of Olives not far from what is today called the Garden of Gethsemane. Inside that cave is a notch in the stone floor, the kind of notch that would hold the wooden base for an olive oil press. Some believe it is the cave where Jesus would have met with his friends -- the cave Judas led the authorities to for the arrest of Jesus.
Today we hear Luke's version of Jesus' preparations for the Passover feast. He tells Peter and John to go into the city and look for "a man carrying a jar of water." He would be easy to spot. Men did not carry water. Women carried water in that culture. Some have speculated that the water-carrier might have been a member of the Essene community. Most Essene men were unmarried and it was not uncommon for men to carry water in that community.
Jesus tells his disciples to make ready a rented or borrowed upper room for the Passover supper.
Part of the memory that is recited at the Passover Seder is the story of the feast that the Hebrew slaves shared before their escape from Egypt. Each Hebrew household was to put a mark on their doorposts, with the blood of the lamb from the feast. When the Angel of Death visited Egypt that night, it would pass over any house that had the mark of the blood of the lamb.
Christian imagery speaks of Jesus as the lamb of God who liberates us from death and bondage. We celebrate his triumph in our own sacred meal, the Eucharist, which is sometimes also called the Last Supper. We eat the bread and wine that Jesus identified with his own life, and we sense the past become present. We are fed by God. We are liberated from all bondage and oppression, including the bondage of sin. We are made one with Christ and with one another, to live as a new people in a promised land. Freedom. Liberation. Peace. These are the gifts that come to us through the Christian Passover of Christ's Passion.
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p 936)
Psalms 37:1-18 (morning) 37:19-42 (evening)
Isaiah 7:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Luke 22:1-13
We enter the passion narrative of St. Luke today. He opens the story by establishing the setting: "Now the festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near." Luke is giving us a clue. This will be another Passover story.
The Passover is a story of liberation. God's people suffered under bondage as slaves in Egypt. With a mighty hand God rescued the people and brought them into the Promised Land of freedom. The ritual of the Seder supper, and the sharing of the sacred meal of the Passover lamb, reminds the people of their story of liberation. Luke helps us see the story of Jesus' death and resurrection as a story of liberation and freedom.
It is also a story of conspiracy and intrigue. Judas, one of the twelve inside the intimate leadership circle of Jesus' apostles, confers with the authorities who wish to confront Jesus in a private place where he cannot be shielded or protected by the crowd of commoners who support him. Judas is paid off to reveal the cave on the Mount of Olives where Jesus and his leadership would gather. Tradition holds that it is was in Gethsemane that Judas betrayed Jesus. The word means "oil press" (Assyrian). There is a cave, near the bottom of the Mount of Olives not far from what is today called the Garden of Gethsemane. Inside that cave is a notch in the stone floor, the kind of notch that would hold the wooden base for an olive oil press. Some believe it is the cave where Jesus would have met with his friends -- the cave Judas led the authorities to for the arrest of Jesus.
Today we hear Luke's version of Jesus' preparations for the Passover feast. He tells Peter and John to go into the city and look for "a man carrying a jar of water." He would be easy to spot. Men did not carry water. Women carried water in that culture. Some have speculated that the water-carrier might have been a member of the Essene community. Most Essene men were unmarried and it was not uncommon for men to carry water in that community.
Jesus tells his disciples to make ready a rented or borrowed upper room for the Passover supper.
Part of the memory that is recited at the Passover Seder is the story of the feast that the Hebrew slaves shared before their escape from Egypt. Each Hebrew household was to put a mark on their doorposts, with the blood of the lamb from the feast. When the Angel of Death visited Egypt that night, it would pass over any house that had the mark of the blood of the lamb.
Christian imagery speaks of Jesus as the lamb of God who liberates us from death and bondage. We celebrate his triumph in our own sacred meal, the Eucharist, which is sometimes also called the Last Supper. We eat the bread and wine that Jesus identified with his own life, and we sense the past become present. We are fed by God. We are liberated from all bondage and oppression, including the bondage of sin. We are made one with Christ and with one another, to live as a new people in a promised land. Freedom. Liberation. Peace. These are the gifts that come to us through the Christian Passover of Christ's Passion.
Lowell
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| Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: -- Morning Reflection Podcasts About Morning Reflections "Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church. Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer. Evening Prayer begins on p. 117 An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at missionstclare.com -- Click for online Daily Office Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html -- Click for Divine Hours Discussion Blog: To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, or click here for Lowell's blog find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts. |
| The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love. See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org Our Rule of Life: We aspire to... worship weekly pray daily learn constantly serve joyfully live generously. Lowell Grisham, Rector St. Paul's Episcopal Church Fayetteville, Arkansas |
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