Categories: uncategorized
Date: 24 March 2005 18:32:52
Today is Maundy Thursday in the western calander and it is one of those strange days where we remember the last supper, but do everything we can to take it out of context. This was something I only realised recently when it fully clicked that the last supper was also a passover meal.
This means that it wasn't just another meal with his disciples it was the most important meal of the year, and filled with a symbolism we forget when we just focus on the rituals which were added / symbols which had there meaning changed within that meal.
To try to put it into some kind of context this year I did a spot of surfing and found a description of what is involved in the Passover Seder and found out a few things I'd either forgotten from GCSE RE, or never taken in.
First of is the meal starts with the breaking of the middle matzoh (unleavened bread), so it was an existing ritual which Jesus gave new meaning to and then during the meal there are four glasses of wine poured to represent freedom, deliverance, redemption and release, with a fifth cup at the end of the meal poured and offered to Elijah. It seems that again with the wine at the end Jesus was taking an existing ritual and giving it new meaning.
Now I am sure that for those who have studied such things this is nothing new, but in a world where what we learn in church becomes so divorced from the context it took place in it gave this part of Holy Week a whole new perspective for me. The passover meal is full of such symbolism and Jesus would have been sharing this with his disciples but adding a whole new aspect to this.
I guess it's another example of where we need to realise that in our modern world if we just think within our own boxes of meaning and experience we miss so much of the story and so much of the richness within it.
I'm just beginning to realise that I know so little about any of it and need to do some serious exploring to find out what my faith is really about and the heritage I have (both the Jewish historical aspect and the history of church (general and denominally specific) I find myself part of.
Anyone who can give me any book titles / web sites to explore I would seriously appreciate it.