Greetings on this Most Holy Week,
This post is both an invitation and commentary. First the invitation. You are all invited to a Maundy Thursday observance this Thursday at 7:00 PM.
The word 'maundy' comes from the same Latin root from where we get our English word, 'mandate.' It refers to the fact that at that last Passover celebration Jesus shared with his disciples, he both instituted our sacrament of communion and mandated (commanded) us to continue to partake of the bread and the cup 'in remembrance of him.'
This Thursday evening we will obey Jesus' command as we gather to worship, read the gospel narratives of the Passion Week and share in the Lord's Table. This is a very reverent and solemn observance as we honor the Lord's suffering on our behalf. There is childcare provided for children up to six years.
Now the commentary.
This year the calendar happily syncs up the Jewish Passover celebration and our observance of Good Friday and celebration of Resurrection Sunday. This is not always the case. The reason? Early in church history, the observance of Holy Week was de-linked from Passover as an act of overt antisemitism. The Jews were accused of deicide in the death of Christ. This made Holy Week an occasion for annual pogroms where Jews lived in Christian lands. It is an ugly truth of history.
That is why I had asked Rabbi Librach to come to Wellspring last week and teach on the biblical observance of Passover as Jesus and his disciples would have celebrated it. I did so for several reasons. One was to continue the ongoing friendship between the rabbi, his congregation and the Wellspring family. The second was to take an action directly opposite to the centuries of persecution of Jews associated with this week. And the third was to continue to help us, as Christians, to re-center our understanding of Jesus' passion as the fulfillment of the themes and prophetic portents of Passover.
It was not only hateful to de-link Holy Week from the Jewish observance of Passover, it is unbiblical. The Old Testament calls Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles perpetual 'festivals of the Lord.' They are not only festivals of Israel--they are festivals unto the Lord, which have ongoing meaning for the people of God. We see New Testament fulfillment of Passover in the cross and resurrection. We see New Testament fulfillment of Pentecost in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. And we look forward to (are currently experiencing?!) the fulfillment of Tabernacles in the end-time in-gathering, or harvest, of souls.
So, in inviting Rabbi Librach, I know I was stretching the envelope a bit for some of you. To have a non-Messianic rabbi take a Christian pulpit is a bit of a stretch. But this was done with intention and with the elders' approval and blessing. I was confident that the rabbi, who is an excellent Bible teacher, would give us some solid understanding of the feast, and honor our faith in the process.
I have given him a rain check. We will let you know when this works out. I look forward to that--I hope you will as well.
In the meantime, may you all have a blessed and meaningful Holy Week.
Pastor Rick
P.S. By the way, the rabbi invited any and all of us to the United Jewish Center on Wednesday evening, April 18 at 7:30 for observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. I am planning to go myself. Maybe some of us can carpool down to Danbury.