During the
services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday:
Reflect
and meditate on the last words of Christ spoken from that
cross: words
of grace, love, hope, agony, suffering, finality, and rest.
Remember
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the atonement of our sins.
Recognize
the gravity of our sin that caused him the agony.
Repent
and turn to God for forgiveness.
Realize
the greatness of the Holy Trinity, the one and only God who saves.
Respond
to the Lord in reverent worship, prayer, and obedience.
On
Maundy Thursday we share in the Tenebrae liturgy. The word ‘tenebrae’ is Latin for
shadows. The purpose of the Tenebrae liturgy is to recreate the excruciating emotional
aspects of the passion of Christ. It is not a happy service, because the
occasion it reflects on is not a cheerful one. The deeply felt love for Jesus
that holds on to his sacrifice for our sake is not entertaining. But it brings us to stand in awe, to remember
with reverence, to love passionately and to be grateful beyond the possibility
of the expression of words and actions.
On
Maundy Thursday you are asked to meditate on the fact that it was on the
Thursday evening before Good Friday that Jesus and his disciples were together
for the last time, when he and they stood in the shadow of the cross, when he
washed their feet and instituted the Holy Supper.
It is to
stand in the shadows within the darkness of Christ’s suffering.
It is
keeping watch with the Lord.
The
gradual extinguishing of the lights and candles is symbolic of the advancing
darkness that came over Jesus as a result of the flight, the denial and
betrayal of his disciples, the bitter hate of his enemies, the shadows of the
cross.
The
moments of total darkness recalls the time when he was in the tomb.
And the
relighting of the central candle is a prophecy of Easter so soon to dawn.
The
purpose of the service is to recreate the abandonment and agony of the events,
and it is left unfinished, because the story isn’t over until Sunday –
Resurrection Day. At Tenebrae we do not
hear a “happy ending story” but it speaks of love and divine commitment to us,
God’s people. And because the outcome is not on Thursday, or Friday – the final
word, the final blessing, the amazing light comes on Sunday.
There
can be no faith without listening to what Jesus said on the cross.
There
can be no joy of atonement, without the death of the Sacrificial Lamb.
There
can be no joy of life, without the dreadful death of the Saviour.
There
can be no joy of Paradise, without the Redeemer’s forsakenness by God.
There is
no forgiveness without the bitter pain of repentance.
There is
no grace and mercy, without the wrath of God satisfied.
There is
no salvation, without God acting to redeem us by giving his Son.
There is
no joy of thanksgiving, without reverent worship and prayer.
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