Pathways Press.com

Written by the team at Spoken Gospel, an organization that supports Bible readers in understanding the Bible.

1600 years ago Christians began calling the last days of Jesus’ life “Holy Week.” “Maundy” comes from a Latin word that means covenant. Maundy Thursday remembers the day Jesus shared a final meal with his disciples and gave them a new covenant… Maundy Thursday is good news because Jesus announces that the darkness and disappointment of these final hours will lead to freedom and a Kingdom. Just as bread cannot be eaten until it’s broken and wine cannot be drunk unless it’s poured, a covenant cannot be made without blood…On this day Jesus promises that he will bear the cost for our covenant of freedom. Just as Israel was freed from slavery by the blood of a lamb, we are freed from slavery by Jesus’ blood. He is the firstborn son who was lost so that we are no longer captive to this world’s powers, temptations, sins, and consequences. Because of Maundy Thursday we are free citizens of Jesus’ new eternal Kingdom. So, I pray that on this Maundy Thursday you will accept Jesus’ body and blood as a new covenant—God’s promise to free you and bring you into his Kingdom,

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,  and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  [1 Corinthians 11:23-26]