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Maundy Thursday

About This Episode

1600 years ago Christians began calling the last days of Jesus’ life “Holy Week.” Seth and David talk about Maundy Thursday and why Jesus' final meal and new covenant is good news.

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How Jesus Transformed the Passover into a New Covenant

Show Notes

In this Holy Week episode, David and Seth explore the profound significance of Maundy Thursday—the day commemorating the Passover feast Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion. This meal marks a pivotal moment where Jesus begins to theologically interpret what he is about to accomplish on the cross, transforming an ancient celebration of deliverance into the inauguration of a new and better covenant.

From Public Confrontation to Private Revelation

Throughout Holy Week, Jesus had been engaged in dramatic public events. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as a rival king, openly challenged the religious establishment, and publicly debated the chief priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees. The tension had reached a breaking point—nearly everyone wanted to kill Jesus. Only Mary seemed to grasp what was coming when she anointed him for burial. Now, on the first day of Passover, Jesus takes a pause from the public spectacle to gather privately with his disciples.

This intimate setting provides the stage for Jesus to explain what his coming death will mean. Rather than simply sharing another Passover meal as they had done many times before, Jesus uses this deeply familiar ritual to reveal something entirely new. The disciples knew exactly what to expect from the meal—the tastes, the textures, the prayers, the expectations that accompanied this annual commemoration. What they did not anticipate was that Jesus would subvert the entire tradition and redirect its meaning toward himself.

The Original Passover and Its Enduring Hope

The Passover feast traces back to Exodus, when the people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt. After a series of devastating plagues, God announced one final plague that would convince Pharaoh to release his people: the death of every firstborn in Egypt. But God provided a way for Israel to escape this judgment. Each household was to sacrifice a lamb, paint its blood on their doorposts, and eat the lamb's flesh along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Those who participated in this covenant meal would be spared from death, freed from slavery, and established as God's new nation.

The significance of this meal extended far beyond that single night in Egypt. After the Exodus, the people journeyed to Mount Sinai, where God formally established his covenant with them, declaring, "You will be my people, and I will be your God." The Passover and the covenant formation were intimately connected—the meal that saved them from death also constituted them as a distinct people belonging to God.

For centuries afterward, the Jewish people continued to celebrate this feast, and by the time of Jesus, the meal carried additional layers of meaning. Israel was again under foreign oppression, this time enslaved to Rome rather than Egypt. Eating the Passover under Roman occupation was almost an act of rebellion—an expression of hope that God would once again act as he had in Egypt. Some who gathered for this meal likely prayed that God would bring a plague upon the house of Caesar, that he would strike down the firstborn of the empire and liberate his people once more. The Passover was an expectation meal, an annual declaration that God's people still awaited freedom from their oppressors and full restoration as his covenant community.

Jesus Reinterprets the Elements

When Jesus sat down with his disciples for this Passover meal, he took elements they had consumed their entire lives and assigned them radical new meanings. He lifted one of the cups of wine and took some of the bread, and instead of directing their thoughts backward to the Exodus, he pointed forward to what he was about to accomplish. "This is my body broken," he said of the bread. "Do this in remembrance of me"—not in remembrance of the Exodus, but in remembrance of him. "This cup is a new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you"—not the blood of a lamb painted on doorposts, but his own blood about to be spilled on a cross.

The innovation Jesus makes in this moment is staggering. The Passover lamb's blood had been painted over the doorways of Israelite homes to mark them for salvation. Now Jesus declares that his blood will serve the same protective, saving function—but instead of being applied externally to a house, it will be taken internally through the cup. The disciples would drink the wine and remember the blood Jesus was about to pour out for their protection and salvation.

The unleavened bread also takes on new significance. In the original Passover, the bread was flat because there was no time to let it rise—the people needed to eat quickly, standing with their belts fastened, ready to depart Egypt the moment God's salvation came. Eating unleavened bread signified that rescue was imminent, that deliverance was hastening toward them. When Jesus declares that this bread represents his body, he is announcing that God's salvation is once again right around the corner. Good Friday is just hours away. The urgency embedded in the unleavened bread finds its ultimate fulfillment in the imminence of Jesus's sacrifice.

The Meaning of the New Covenant

A covenant is an agreement that God makes with people, typically involving mutual commitments. In the original Passover, God's covenant promise was clear: if you eat the lamb, if you paint the blood on your doors, I will save you from the death of the firstborn and deliver you from Egypt. This was the agreement—participation in the meal meant participation in salvation.

When Jesus speaks of establishing a new covenant, he is making a new agreement with new terms and new promises. The new covenant declares that through the sacrificed body and blood of God's firstborn, God's people will be freed finally and forever. In the Exodus, God required the death of the firstborn of the evil empire to accomplish deliverance. In this new Passover, God himself provides the sacrifice—his own Son. This is the profound reversal: rather than destroying Caesar's household, God allows his own firstborn to die so that all people can be included in his Kingdom.

This new covenant also brings a new command. The old covenant summation was to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus escalates this: love your neighbor as I have loved you. This is not merely a restatement but a transformation of the ethic. The standard is no longer self-love but self-sacrificial love modeled by Jesus himself—love that goes all the way to death. The bread and wine on the table represent this new standard, embodying the self-giving love that the new covenant community is called to imitate.

The Night Unfolds into Betrayal and Arrest

The Passover meal was only the beginning of a harrowing night. After establishing the new covenant, the evening descended rapidly into chaos. Judas slipped away from the table to betray Jesus with a kiss. The remaining disciples, rather than grasping the gravity of the moment, began arguing about who among them was the greatest leader and who was least likely to betray Jesus. Jesus withdrew to a nearby garden to pray, and in his anguish, he asked his Father if there was any way to avoid drinking the cup he had just offered to his disciples—if there was any way to avoid the cross and the blood it would require.

Then Judas returned with a mob to arrest Jesus, and the disciples scattered. One of them fled so hastily that he left naked, abandoning even his garment to escape. Jesus was dragged before the Jewish court, accused of blasphemy, and beaten through the night until sunrise. This is how Maundy Thursday ends—with every piece of the coming sacrifice falling into place. Just hours after Jesus had said, "This is my body, this is my blood," his body was already being brutalized and his blood already beginning to flow. What might have seemed like mysterious symbolism at the dinner table became horrifyingly concrete before dawn.

Why the New Covenant Is Better

The natural question arises: why is it good news that Jesus established this new covenant? Why should we celebrate the bread and cup that remember the cross rather than the Passover of Exodus? The answer is that everything Jesus inaugurates exceeds what came before by orders of magnitude.

The kingdom Jesus establishes is the final kingdom. Unlike the earthly nation formed after the Exodus, which could be conquered and oppressed by successive empires, Jesus's Kingdom cannot be overthrown. It is a resurrection Kingdom, impervious to the power of death that empires like Egypt and Rome wielded as their ultimate weapon. When Jesus rises from the dead, he proves that his reign is indestructible.

The salvation Jesus offers is also superior. The original Passover delivered Israel from slavery to Pharaoh—a genuinely good thing. But Jesus frees his people from something more primordial: the powers of sin, evil, and Satan that fuel all earthly empires and human rebellion. The worst these powers can do is kill, and Jesus has conquered death itself. Those who belong to him are freed from the ultimate curse and never need to be enslaved to these powers again.

Finally, the people formed by this new covenant expand beyond one nation. The original Passover constituted the Jewish nation, a great and chosen people. The new Passover constitutes a people drawn from every nation on earth—Jews and Gentiles alike united in God's household. God's faithfulness demonstrated in Egypt continues into this new act of salvation, but now he raises the stakes: he no longer requires the blood of lambs from his people, because he has provided his own Son. The death of the righteous achieves what the death of the wicked never could, and this self-sacrificial love becomes both the basis of salvation and the pattern for those saved to follow.

Transcript

Seth: [upbeat music] The, the thing that Jesus is inaugurating is better.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And the God that is doing it is continuing to prove Himself as the kind of God that ex- has existed for His people in all ages past.

Intro: [upbeat music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible is about Him. In each episode, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: Well, welcome everybody to Maundy Thursday.

Seth: That's right.

David: Is it Maundy or Maundy? Maundy, Maundy. I don't know.

Seth: Choose your poison.

David: Choose your, choose, pick your poison. But, uh, this is the day that we remember the Passover feast that Jesus held-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... with his disciples, where he initiated a new covenant during-

Seth: Yes

David: ... Holy Week. Okay? So why should we be excited about Maundy Thursday?

Seth: This is probably the moment where Jesus starts to theologically interpret-

David: Mm

Seth: ... what He's about to do on the cross.

David: That's fascinating.

Seth: Jesus has been doing these very large public events where he's riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as a rival king and a rival to the religious establishment that's currently in power, very publicly arguing with the chief priests-

David: Yep

Seth: ... Pharisees, and the Sadducees of the day.

David: There seems to be, like, one person who gets it, Mary, when she-

Seth: Mary

David: ... anoints Him, and it's like-

Seth: Everybody wants to kill Jesus.

David: [laughs]

Seth: And so Jesus is now taking a beat on the first day of Passover with his disciples, and He's saying, "Let me explain what's going to happen when I die."

David: Mm.

Seth: Um-

David: And He, and He does that through a, a very old meal.

Seth: The Passover feast.

David: The Passover feast.

Seth: The Passover feast. Yeah.

David: Okay. So, uh, uh, well, let's get into this via the, the-

Seth: Passover

David: ... history here.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So, uh, Jesus is pulling on a Jewish feast that's been happening for a very long time.

Seth: Yep, that's right.

David: Uh, and it goes all the way back to Exodus when the-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, and, you know, God had been sending all the plagues until finally there was one final plague that would finally convince Pharaoh to let the people go and establish the new nation under God.

Seth: Freedom from slavery.

David: Freedom from slavery.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And-

Seth: And that's important.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Freedom from slavery and establish a new nation.

David: That's right.

Seth: Because we're talking about kingship, so, like, the Passover feast is connected to the idea of Israel establishing itself as a people-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and a kingdom for the very first time in history.

David: Right, because after Passover, they leave Egypt. They go to Mount Sinai, and God establishes his covenant with them and says, "You will be my people. I will be your God."

Seth: That's right.

David: And so it, uh, uh, Passover and the establishing of God's people and God's covenant is-

Seth: They're, they're-

David: You know, they're very similar.

Seth: Yes, that's right.

David: They're connected. That last plague that came against Egypt was the death of the firstborn.

Seth: That's right.

David: Right?

Seth: And before that, God promised that there would be a way to escape the death of the firstborn.

David: Right. And, yeah.

Seth: The people of Israel would need to sacrifice a lamb, take its blood, and paint it on the doorposts of their home-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and eat it at a meal with flatbread-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... which was matzah bread, or not matzah bread, but, um, unleavened bread.

David: Unleavened bread, yeah.

Seth: Flatbread, and then wine as well.

David: Yeah. And bitter herbs.

Seth: And bitter herbs. This is the meal-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that would reenact their salvation story, but also act as the meal that they would eat that would save them from coming death-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and establish them as God's people.

David: Okay, hold on. Let me say that again. This is the meal, the Passover meal is-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the meal that would save them from coming death-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and establish them as God's covenant people.

Seth: Yeah.

David: That, that's good.

Seth: Yes.

David: That's helpful.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay.

Seth: And free them from slavery, but you know-

David: Oh, yeah, that too. [laughs]

Seth: All of that too, you know. [laughs]

David: That's also very good.

Seth: It's a big deal. It's a big-

David: Big-

Seth: It's a big, big deal.

David: Yes. Okay. Very good. And so for years after that, obviously there, there were times within Israel's history that the Passover stopped being celebrated due to lapses in law obedience.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But for all intents and purposes, we could say, you know, for years and years and years, the people of Israel have been taking this feast.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Um, and why were they taking it?

Seth: Why were-

David: Like, why were the people of Israel still participating in the Passover meal every year? What did it mean to them?

Seth: Well, I mean, to keep it kind of really unspiritual for a second-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... it's Passover. There's all these messianic expectations f- for Jesus. They're still living under slavery to Rome.

David: Right.

Seth: This meal would've been eaten in hope that through the blood of a lamb-

David: Mm

Seth: ... through the enjoyment of bread and wine, that they could still, by God's power, be rescued from death, freed from slavery, and be established as a new people once again.

David: That's helpful to, to think about Israel under Roman oppression-

Seth: Right

David: ... and, you know, kind of enslaved again-

Seth: Yes

David: ... under this world power, and to eat that meal under Roman oppression-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... is almost an act of rebellion.

Seth: Yes.

David: You know?

Seth: Yes.

David: They're expecting some kind of overthrow. You know, I could even imagine some people praying that night as they were eating, like, "God, would you bring the death of the firstborn of-

Seth: Right

David: ... Caesar?"

Seth: Yeah, that's right.

David: You know, like-

Seth: That's right

David: ... would you come and just do what you did in Egypt?

Seth: Mm.

David: It was an expectation meal-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that God would free them from their oppressors and, uh, reestablish them as the-

Seth: Yes

David: ... covenant people of God that they were meant to be.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so people are gathering around. The disciples are gathering around Jesus.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: You know, they've taken this meal before.

Seth: Right.

David: This isn't their first Passover.

Seth: Right.

David: You know? They know what it's gonna look like, what it's gonna feel like, what it's gonna taste like, what their expectations are gonna be, and Jesus sits them down-And subverts the whole thing

Seth: Yeah, he takes one of the glasses of wine and some of the bread, and then redirects the meaning-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... of those elements away from remembering a past act of salvation and reinterprets them as symbols of what he has come to do.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: That's the innovation-

David: Yep

Seth: ... that Jesus makes-

David: What's going to happen-

Seth: ... in that moment

David: ... tomorrow

Seth: That's right, what's gonna happen tomorrow.

David: Yep.

Seth: And he says, "This is my body broken. Do this in remembrance of me."

David: Right.

Seth: Not of the Exodus.

David: Right.

Seth: "Do this in remembrance of me."

David: Mm.

Seth: "In the same way," after the, the, the supper, he took the cup, "This is a new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you, which is my blood poured out for you. Not a lamb's blood-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... my blood poured out of me-

David: Right

Seth: ... for you."

David: Jesus is saying that he's the new lamb. We had this Passover lamb, but its blood wasn't poured into a cup that was drank.

Seth: Oh, right.

David: Right? [laughs]

Seth: Right, yeah.

David: Its blood was spread over the doorpost.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But now Jesus is saying that he's the new lamb whose blood will save you, and instead of painting it over the doorway of your house, you're gonna paint it over the doorway of your body, in a sense-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... by-

Seth: Or, or instead of drinking the wine and remembering the blood of the house-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... it's like the same concept. No, you'll drink this wine and remember the blood that I am about to spill-

David: Right

Seth: ... for your protection-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and for your salvation.

David: So not only is Jesus redirecting the focus-

Seth: Right

David: ... of, of something past to what he's about to do, he's also kind of reinterpreting some of the symbols.

Seth: That's right.

David: Um, a- and so the bread, too, you know, I don't think when people were eating the unleavened bread, they were thinking-

Seth: Mm

David: ... about someone's body.

Seth: No.

David: You know, so Jesus is using that moment to provide-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... new meaning-

Seth: Yes

David: ... to that element-

Seth: Yes

David: ... in the supper-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and saying that it is his body-

Seth: His body

David: ... because the idea of the unleavened bread, uh, for the original audience was the idea that they didn't have time to wait for the bread to rise.

Seth: Yeah.

David: They, because they had to eat it s- like standing up-

Seth: That's right, that's right

David: ... with their, with their belt on and ready to get out of Egypt. So-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... don't even wait for the bread to rise. Don't use leaven. Just cook flatbread, eat it, and go.

Seth: And in the expectation that rescue and salvation-

David: Was right around the corner

Seth: ... was right around the corner.

David: Which is why the next day, Jesus is gonna die.

Seth: That's right.

David: So him saying like, "My body's gonna be broken like this unleavened bread," eating the unleavened bread means that God's salvation is hastening. It's close-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... which is why Good Friday is tomorrow.

Seth: That's right.

David: Right.

Seth: That's right.

David: It is just around the corner.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, okay. That's-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that's pretty cool.

Seth: One way that I thought about it earlier was God's covenant on the first Passover promised freedom and a new kingdom-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... on the other side of a sacrifice lamb-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... uh, and a dead firstborn.

David: Right.

Seth: And at the same meal, Jesus makes a new covenant and promises that by the sacrificed body and blood of God's firstborn-

David: Mm

Seth: ... God's people will be freed finally and forever.

David: Yeah.

Seth: That's the new-

David: Wow

Seth: ... deeper level-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... of it. Like, I won't require the firstborn of the evil powers anymore.

David: Right.

Seth: I'm the most powerful empire in the world, and I will sacrifice-

David: Mm

Seth: ... my firstborn so that all people can be included in my kingdom.

David: Wow, that's amazing. Just thinking about the hypothetical situation that I mentioned earlier in which, you know, some Jewish person was sitting there being like, "God, would you just bring a plague and kill-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the firstborn of Caesar," you know?

Seth: Right.

David: Uh, do what you did in the Exodus. He's like, "I'm gonna do something better. I'm gonna let m- my own son die-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... to save you." Uh, man, that's a lot of grace.

Seth: A lot of grace.

David: Talk to me then about this idea of a, a new covenant, 'cause there's a few things we need to explore there to really understand what's going on.

Seth: Mm.

David: Number one, what is a covenant? Number two, what was the old covenant? And three, what does it mean that there's a new covenant? So first off-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... what's a covenant?

Seth: Uh, an a, a covenant is just an agreement that God makes with humans-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... normally the leaders of a nation or of a particular people.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But it, and it's agreement between God and people.

David: Okay, and so when God rescued Israel out of Egypt that first time, celebrated by the first Passover, and he said, "I will be your God, you will be my people, I will establish my covenant with you," what was he establishing with them there? What was that covenant?

Seth: Well, what's interesting here is I had never thought about this until studying this passage, but it seems like there is multiple covenants going on.

David: Mm.

Seth: If you take covenant simply to mean agreement-

David: Right

Seth: ... between God and people, God makes an agreement with Israel before they ever get to Mount Sinai. He tells them, "Eat the lamb-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... paint the doors, I will save you."

David: Right.

Seth: And then several, 50 days later, after their journey in the wilderness, after the Red Sea, they get to Mount Sinai, and then he makes an official covenant-

David: Mm

Seth: ... that we all know is a covenant 'cause he uses the word covenant-

David: Right

Seth: ... in which he establishes them as people. So I was wa- I, as I was thinking through this, there's multiple agreements God's making with his people-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in which he's saving them in different ways. There's wa- a covenant that saves them from slavery, sets them free from Pharaoh, and there's another covenant, in a sense, in which he makes them his people for the first time.

David: Mm.

Seth: And normally in a covenant, what happens is God says, "I have expectations of you-

David: Right

Seth: ... and here's what I'll offer in return. I expect you to eat the lamb-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and in return, I will save you."

David: Yeah.

Seth: "I expect you to obey my, my laws, to love God and love others. In return, you will be my people."

David: Right.

Seth: That's a covenant.

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seth: So that's, that's what a covenant is. That's the old covenant that God made with his people.

David: That, okay, and, and the covenant was that God has saved them-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... right? And is making them his people.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: That he would dwell with them, be their God, keep them-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... safe-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you know, a- and, and give them a law to obey. Like here's-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... here's how to be my people in the world.

Seth: Maybe even more granularly, the covenant is-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... if you eat the lamb, if you break the body, if you remember the cup, I will save you from death of the firstborn. I will save you from Egypt.

David: Right.

Seth: So if, if we take it granularly right there, that's the covenant.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so the new covenant- That God is making with his people right there is if you drink this bread-

David: Right

Seth: ... or drink this bread-

David: Drink this bread. Mm-hmm

Seth: ... drink this wine-

David: That's called beer

Seth: [laughs]

David: [laughs]

Seth: If you drink this wine-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and eat this bread-

David: Right

Seth: ... this constitutes a new Passover meal in which I will save you from certain death by the death of my own first born-

David: Right

Seth: ... and I will save you from slavery to Pharaoh, and I will bring you to a place where I'm establishing a new kingdom.

David: Right

Seth: 'Cause like-

David: It's, it's the agreement of what Jesus is going to accomplish on the cross.

Seth: That's exactly right.

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seth: That's exactly right.

David: That's cool.

Seth: Yes.

David: What I also like is, you know, when they do come out of Egypt into Mount Sinai and the word covenant is used.

Seth: Is finally used. Yes.

David: Right? You have this, this agreement in the covenant, the summation of the covenant is love God, love others.

Seth: Yes.

David: Right? And when Jesus, you know, says, uh, he's establishing a new covenant there on Passover, he's like, you know, "You, you've heard this, this old, uh, this old thing, which is to, uh, love your neighbor as yourself."

Seth: Okay.

David: "But I'm giving you a new command."

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: "So here's your end of the bargain."

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right? Uh, the, the, your side of the covenant is to love your neighbor as I have loved you.

Seth: Mm-hmm. Yeah

David: And ... it's like, still love your neighbor, but in a different way. Instead of love your neighbor as yourself, it's love your neighbor as I have loved you.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And it's-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... this, like, new way of being human.

Seth: Yeah, that is part of what Maundy Thursday generally communicates-

David: Okay

Seth: ... is the escalation-

David: Oh

Seth: ... of the command to love others.

David: Oh, cool

Seth: Uh, because in some of the Gospel accounts, is that's exactly what Jesus says-

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah

Seth: ... at this meal-

David: Right

Seth: ... is like, "Now you must love others as I have loved you."

David: As which I sacrificially-

Seth: Yes

David: ... all the way to death.

Seth: That's right. That's right.

David: Yeah, like it's represented in the, in the blood and in the bread.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah. That's pretty amazing. Okay. Yeah.

Seth: So I mean, what's crazy is that's only a sliver of what happens-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... on Maundy Thursday.

David: Yeah.

Seth: That's the new covenant, this, the new command.

David: Yeah.

Seth: The new promise to save, the new ethic to live by-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... the new ethic of a new kingdom.

David: Yeah

Seth: Like, all that's happening here at Passover dinner, and then Judas leaves to betray Jesus-

David: Oh

Seth: ... with, uh-

David: Right

Seth: ... a kiss. The disciples start arguing about who's the best leader and who's-

David: Oh, boy. [laughs]

Seth: ... the least likely to betray Jesus. Jesus goes to a nearby garden and starts praying and actually asks God to spare him from giving up the cup that he's just offered his disciples.

David: Right, from having to actually go to the cross and spill his blood-

Seth: That, that's right

David: ... in the way that he just offered.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right

Seth: And then Judas returns with a mob to drag Jesus to a Jewish court. The disciples then scatter. One of the disciples is left naked at one point. He's dr- placed in front of the Jewish court, and they accuse him of blasphemy, and then he's beaten until sunrise.

David: Oof.

Seth: And that's how Maundy Thursday ends, with finally all the pieces that we've been talking about finally in place.

David: Yeah. It is amazing for Jesus to be like, "Here's my body. Here's my blood." And they're probably scratching their heads being like, "I don't see what you're talking about."

Seth: Right.

David: "This is just our Passover meal."

Seth: Mm-hmm. That's right

David: And then just hours later-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... Jesus is under arrest-

Seth: That's right

David: ... being beaten-

Seth: That's right

David: ... on the way to execution.

Seth: That's right.

David: And they're like, "Oh, he really meant his blood-

Seth: Right

David: ... and his body."

Seth: Yeah.

David: Very real. Why is it good news that we have Jesus facilitating a new covenant of his body and his blood on the cross? Why is it better that we celebrate using the, the bread and the cup to remember the cross instead of the Passover of Exodus?

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Like, why has what Jesus has done eclipsed what God did in Egypt?

Seth: I think there's one way to answer this question, and that's the way you're framing it, and it's how is it better?

David: Yeah.

Seth: And this kingdom is the final kingdom.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: He's about to go in front of Pilate and explain how his kingdom is not of this world and how the order that he's establishing can never be destroyed, and it's to be proven when he rises from the dead.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: His, his kingdom is a resurrection kingdom, unable to be overthrown by any empire like Pharaoh or like Rome that wields the power of death.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, it is a indestructible kingdom-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that cannot be assailed. It's better by orders of magnitude.

David: Right

Seth: Right?

David: Yeah.

Seth: The salvation Jesus also offers is better than the salvation that was offered to-

David: That's true

Seth: ... Jews were saved from actual slavery in-

David: Good

Seth: ... good things.

David: That's good. That's a good thing

Seth: An amazing thing.

David: Yeah.

Seth: They were constituted as a people of God.

David: Right

Seth: Like, great thing. Now we're not just s- s- freed from nations, and oftentimes we're not freed from nations.

David: No, oftentimes you're not. Yep

Seth: But we're freed from the more primordial powers, the powers that fuel nations and fuel-

David: Sin

Seth: ... sin.

David: Right

Seth: Evil, Satan.

David: Right

Seth: The powers-

David: Right

Seth: ... that rule this world in some sense.

David: Yeah

Seth: Like, we are freed from their curse and never need to be beholden to them again because the worst thing they can do is kill us.

David: Right, and we're free from that, too [laughs]

Seth: And we're free from that, too.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Yeah, and then the nation-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... that was formed after Passover was the Jewish nation.

David: Right

Seth: A great nation.

David: Yes. Right

Seth: Now that God's people are both Jews and non-Jews.

David: Right

Seth: It's all people.

David: The house of prayer for all nations

Seth: The house of prayer for all nations-

David: Yes

Seth: ... like we talked about before, so-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... yeah. It is better.

David: Yeah.

Seth: The, the thing that Jesus is inaugurating is better.

David: Yeah

Seth: And the God that is doing it is continuing to prove himself as the kind of God that ex- has existed for his people in all ages past.

David: Oh, you're s- you're saying that, like, Jesus is showing in repeating this Passover meal that he has been consistently faithful.

Seth: Right.

David: Right. I saved you back then. I'll save you now. I'll save you in the future, and I'm always here.

Seth: And I am cr- increasing the stakes because I'm not gonna require-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... your lambs anymore.

David: Right.

Seth: I'm-

David: So maybe that's another reason-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... why this one is better, is because in the first Passover, it required the death of the evil in order to bring salvation.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: But in this one, Jesus, the death of the righteous-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... achieves salvation, that there's this self-sacrificial upping of the ante-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that God makes in giving his own son-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... instead of killing Caesar.

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Wow, that's insane. Okay.

Seth: Yeah

David: That's Maundy Thursday.

Seth: And that's Maundy Thursday. That's right

David: That's the new covenant. That's the Passover meal.

Seth: This is the part of Holy Week where I feel like I start running out of words to communicate the, uh, impact of these things that are happening.

David: Because it's just everything

Seth: Because this is now everything.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: This is... Yeah. [laughs]

David: Yeah, it's not like, oh, cool, okay, the judging of the fig tree.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Awesome. It's like, no, this is, like, the center of the universe.

Seth: Right. [laughs]

David: Yeah. [laughs] It's like, okay, amazing. Well, thank you guys for joining us here on Maundy Thursday. Um, we're excited to get into Good Friday tomorrow, which is the day of Jesus's death.

Seth: That's right

David: And we'll talk about why such a horrible day could be good.

Seth: Could be.

David: So we'll see you tomorrow. [outro music]

Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel creates short films, devotionals, and podcasts like this one. Everything we make is free because of generous supporters like you. To see our resources, visit spokengospel.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening. See you next time. [outro music]

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How Jesus Transformed the Passover into a New Covenant

Show Notes

From Public Confrontation to Private Revelation

The Original Passover and Its Enduring Hope

Jesus Reinterprets the Elements

The Meaning of the New Covenant

The Night Unfolds into Betrayal and Arrest

Why the New Covenant Is Better

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