Passover Thursday

Pretend you are being accused of a heinous crime that you didn't commit. Now pretend you have less than 24 hours before the authorities showed up to, for all intents and purposes, end your earthly sojourn. What are you going to do with your day? Try to build a defense? Hide? Go skydiving? Mend a broken relationship? How would you spend your final hours of freedom? How would you spend the last hours of your life?

Thursday of the Passion Week marked Jesus last full day before His death. How did He spend those precious moments? John's Gospel gives us the most information regarding Thursday evening’s events (technically, in Jewish culture an evening was the beginning of a new day, so to the disciples this would have been considered Friday).

First, He spent them in service. Incredibly, Jesus washed the feet of His followers. The same disciples who had earlier bickered about who would be Vice President in the Kingdom were now being served by the President Elect. Peter squirmed. Jesus, however, showed them that the way to true leadership is the opposite of the quest for worldly power.

Second, He spent them in communion. It was their Passover Meal and it was going as anticipated until Jesus started comparing the food and drink to His flesh and blood. The disciples must have lost their appetites. I don’t think anyone quite understood ‘The Last Supper’ until Jesus ate ‘The Next Supper’ with the 2 believing travelers after the resurrection. It was while breaking bread with them that their eyes were opened. It’s interesting that in one of the most mundane acts known to man, perspective grew larger than ever.

Finally, He spent those final hours in prayer. He prayed for Himself, His disciples, for future believers, and then prayed some more at Gethsemane. And knowing that Judas was on his way, knowing the disciples were too weak to save themselves, knowing His Father would have it no other way…Jesus prayed Himself to death.

I’ve prayed myself to sleep before, but I’ve never done what Jesus did.