Maundy Thursday Reflections

 

Reflection – “Demon Down!”

Jesus is so wonderful and extraordinary.  He welcomed this gentleman who had so many demons. Those demons caused the man a lot of problems. For a long time, he was homeless, he was screaming like a maniac because he was a maniac and if that wasn’t scary enough, for a long time, he wasn’t wearing any clothes.

The fact that this was happening for a long time is an important detail. Terrible things that happen for a long time are usually hidden behind closed doors. Terrible things that happen for a long time are kept in the dark. I knew a woman who had episodes of mental illness. She walked naked outside her apartment, to the delight of her young male neighbors. As far as I know, it only happened one time. That is a blessing. This man that knelt at the feet of Jesus represents the demonic torture that is endured behind closed doors and in the dark, and often for a very long time.

He desperately needed Jesus because his life was being torn apart. After all, that is the devil’s mission, to kill, steal, and destroy anything good and Godly that is in our life. The mission of the diabolical is not only to separate us from God, but it is to divide communities with violence, and to tear families apart at their root. Diabolos means to divide, to separate. It means to do so viciously. Jesus sent the demons down a steep bank making it hard for them to return. Has something dark and dirty been happening for a long time in your life or the life of someone you know? If so, Jesus is
stepping ashore at this very moment. He can handle all the craziness there is to bear. Jesus can knock demons down, down for the count, down and out. Fall at his feet today. Amen.

Reflection – “Mad Martha!”

I like to eat at home because eating out means eating high calorie foods, rich sauces and mounds of super-sized portions. I remember a season when I did not have a lot of money to eat out at fancy restaurants even if I wanted to. My prayer partner fantasized often about being rich and famous though she wasn’t quite there yet. She had plenty of money. Once when we went to our favorite restaurant, she did not hesitate to order an appetizer and eat it in front of me. I could not believe she refused to share even though I was not in a position to pay half the cost.

We’ve all been there. It is common to get as mad as Martha when we don’t get what we want or need or feel entitled to. The feelings just pop up, but not out of nowhere. Feelings pop up from a reservoir of hurt and pain.  When we spend time at the feet of Jesus that hurt and pain will subside day by day, year by year. Mad Martha would learn this when she went to Jesus. She did not get the help from Jesus that she was asking for. She did get the guidance she desperately needed.

Now more than ever we witness the shocking results of being mad: road rage, cars being driven into an innocent crowd at high speeds, an increase in domestic violence, strangers knocking out Chinese people on the streets blaming them for Covid-19, and senseless murders over money. How many of you have seen the video of actor Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock during the Oscars? These are desperate times that call for desperate measures. Every solution for desperate situations can be found at the feet of Jesus!  Go there if you want to find real peace. Amen.

 

Reflection – “Cloak Catch”

In Jesus’ day, cloth was hand made from animals and plants. It was much more a big deal than it is today with clothes that are machine made and machine washed. Even today, there are certain things that may cause a sweater, for example, to shrink or stretch. Jesus is warning us just like the tags on clothes warn us what to do and not to do to have our clothes fit right. The rule was don’t sew a new patch on old cloth. Animals and plants wear differently than today’s polyester. The rules are different today. At the same time, pouring wine into an old, used wineskin would be like putting wine into something as thin as a brown paper bag. The Message version makes Jesus’ point this way: “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put your wine in cracked bottles.”

It’s not so much about the new mixing with the old; it’s about learning the new rules to get good results for a new day.  The synagogue leader operated with new rules. Even though his daughter had died, he humbly knelt at the feet of Jesus. He knew that Jesus would bring life in one way or another.

One of my classmates at Eastern College was raised in the Pentecostal church and she was very accustomed to what they called dancing in the Spirit. On a bus trip with our college gospel choir called the Angels of Harmony, she was grieving over the death of her beloved Godmother. Her loss weighed heavy on her mind. I went to look for her and she was alone behind the bus, dancing and crying at the same time. Later she explained that as she was praying, talking to God about her loss, she had been overcome with a Spirit of praise and thanksgiving that put dancing in her feet. It was God’s way of holding her and comforting her. Even in the midst of death, somehow, someway, Jesus brings new life.

As Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with oil of spikenard from her alabaster box, she did so in a culture where women and men were separated more often than not. We see this separation even in religious communities, thousands of years later. We may see it among Islamic, Sikh, Orthodox Jewish, Coptic Christian, Amish; many Hindu and some Buddhist worship centers. Their old rules work for them.

 A woman dared to catch Jesus by his cloak, by the hem, the edge where the anointing oil ran down to represent God’s healing presence and power. She defied the rules. She boldly used new rules. It had to cost her something emotionally and culturally.

The oil on the hem of Jesus garment and the oil in Mary’s box was priceless. The oil of God’s healing presence and power means we pay by giving up our pride and humbling ourselves by decreasing our will and letting Jesus’ will increase in our lives. As the song suggests, “We don’t now the cost of the oil in each other’s alabaster box. We don’t know what it costs each of us to be followers, to be healed and helped, but we do know being with Jesus is worth more than anything and anyone. Amen.