Good day everyone. This is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it. In spite of what might happen that may not be to my liking, I will rejoice. We need to keep Him first and we won’t be last. I’m sharing some very important spiritual history about this day so get ready!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I come before you this morning on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Christ everywhere to ask that You would remind us that this nation was once great because it was established on Your Christian legacy and by people who held Your Word to be sacred and Your sovereignty to be supreme. Help us not to be too quick to destroy our foundations in our haste to build a new global order — an order where diversity is revered and no unifying moral guidelines are offered. Forgive us for seeking the quick fix, the surface-surgery, when we need to rebuild our moral base and set limits on our sexual excesses. We need to be accountable and responsible for our individual actions and honest in all of our dealings, showing concern for those in need. Oh Lord, our nation’s leaders and citizens alike must set moral examples for all young people, worldwide. If we won’t do it, You will be forced to bring our nation to its knees. Forgive us for deserting Your high calling and sabotaging Your plan. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Let’s eat.

HOLY THURSDAY

Holy Thursday is the commemoration of the Last Supper that Jesus celebrated with the Disciples. Jesus came to Jerusalem with the Disciples to celebrate the Passover Feast. Holy Thursday, itself, cannot be understood without a bit of history related to Passover, and without an understanding of how communion has been seen over the years.

Passover was a feast established by God in Exodus 12-14. We are told in these chapters that God had sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but he refused to do so. God sent ten plagues on the Egyptians for their failure to release the Israelite people, with the last being the curse of the first born. During the night, the Lord took the first born male child of every household. The only way that a home could be saved would be if they had the blood of a lamb on their doorframe and doorpost. The Israelites immediately slaughtered a lamb for each household, put the blood on the doorframe and doorpost, and remained inside, eating the cooked lamb, as commanded by God.

In the morning, the first born son of all of Egypt was dead, including the son of Pharaoh. However, none of the Israelites were taken during the night. Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go.
For generations this was celebrated as a yearly feast. Not only was a family required to slaughter a lamb to eat amongst themselves, as part of Passover, they were required to bring the lamb to the temple to be slaughtered by the High Priest. This will be covered more in tomorrow’s article on Good Friday.
In addition to the lamb, the group, whether family or close friends, was required to eat unleavened bread. Unleavened bread is bread made without yeast. The reason this was chosen was to recognize that the Israelites had to leave Egypt so abruptly that they did not have time to make bread with yeast in it. There are symbolic reasons for this as well, but those are more issues of theology, and therefore are not germane to this message.

The Last Supper

After Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, He told the Disciples to gather in the upper room of a building to celebrate Passover with Him. We are not told that they ate lamb as part of the meal, which may relate to the events of the next day, but we are told that they had dinner. It can be assumed that lamb was probably part of that meal.

After the dinner was over, the Gospels tell us that Jesus broke bread and gave it to the Disciples, and told them to eat it in memory of Him. He also told them that as often as they did it, they should remember Him. After this, we are told that He gave them a cup of wine, and told them to drink of it. That this cup was to represent a new covenant, one that would last throughout eternity.

Transubstantiation

The idea of “eating His body” has been an idea that has caused great controversy amongst theologians for nearly 2000 years. A great deal of theology has been established based upon the words of Jesus.
In Catholicism, and some other Christian faiths, they believe in the idea of transubstantiation, which is the belief that when a person eats the bread at communion, that the bread is actually turned into the real body of Jesus. This has been a belief for only about a thousand years. The first recorded use of this practice is in writings related to Archbishop Heildebert de Lavardin, the Archbishop of Tours.
His writings spread throughout Europe, and soon it became a fairly common practice for priests to correlate the communion offering with the actual body of Christ. The belief became so common that the Pope included it in the Fourth Council of the Lateran, which was held in 1215. It was concluded at that point that the bread and wine would be considered the real body and blood of Christ, once they were blessed by the priest.
During the Protestant Reformation, this was an idea that was attacked early on by Protestants as “pseudophilosophy.” Protestants pushed the “memorial” part of the Eucharist, wanting believers to focus more on the “do this in memory of me” part, as opposed to the focus on “this is my body, which is given for you.”
The historic Council of Trent, in 1551, established permanently the belief in the Catholic faith in Transubstantiation. The Catholic Church formally established the conversion of the bread to the body of Christ, and the wine to His blood.

The Communion Meal

For those who do not subscribe to the Transubstantiation idea, the Last Supper is commemorated in a much different way. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he speaks of the communion gathering as more of a time when believers would gather together to share a meal together. The communion gathering was more about sharing a time of fellowship, remembering Jesus through shared friendship, rather than a focus on “eating His body.”

The Friendship Offering

Leviticus 24 speaks about an offering of bread that the Israelites were to bring to the temple to share with God. While many offerings were brought as a form of penance or reconciliation, this offering was specifically brought as a sign of friendship with God. What has been missed by many in the discussion related to communion, is the idea of friendship. Jesus focus was on the “gathering,” where people came together to join in the communion experience of breaking bread, and remembering His sacrifice. This was the primary focus of His wanting to be remembered through the eating of the bread; that believers would have fellowship with God, and more importantly, friendship with each other.

Holy Thursday History

Holy Thursday, which is also called Maundy Thursday, is one of the oldest celebrations related to Holy Week. Because the day has three primary commemorations, communion, the consecration of the priesthood, and mass, it has long been established as a sacred day within all denominations of the Christian faith. While not all denominations consecrate the priesthood or clergy on this day, all do recognize the communion portion of the day, and do hold some kind of service.
In the early part of the second century, many churches began the practice of having a mass or service on Holy Thursday. This began in the eastern region of the church, particularly in the Palestine, Alexandrian, and Jerusalem church areas, and spread rapidly throughout much of the Roman Empire. By the end of the second century, a vast majority of churches followed this practice.
When Constantine became emperor of the Roman Empire, he wanted a clergy that was ceremonial placed into the position they held. To accommodate his wishes, the church began the practice of anointing priests and other clergy members on Holy Thursday, in a practice that became known as “The Consecration of Holy Oils.” This eventually spread to the practice of anointing the sick with oil as well.
In the fifth century, Olei exorcizati confection, or the anointing of the newly baptized was established. This practice prescribed that newly baptized persons would also be anointed with oil, before the congregation, on Holy Thursday. This was a prelude to them joining in communion, and was the basis for the creation of the Catholic Church sacrament of Holy Communion.

The Servant – Washing of the Feet

At the Last Supper we are told in John 13 that Jesus washed the feet of the Disciples. His purpose for this was to demonstrate that He came to serve others, and He wanted His Disciples to follow in His footsteps. He wanted them to get the idea that they, too, needed to serve others, and to not think of themselves as above anyone.

Quote of the Day

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves. ~Frances de Sales~

WITH HOPE AND FAITH

REV. ELDER G E STERRETT

FOUNDER

GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY

LIVING REAL LIFE TOGETHER