The same Old Testament text is used for Maundy Thursday in all three cycles of the lectionary. The preacher may therefore wish to consult the expositions in Cycles A and B along with this one.

 

In the oldest tradition that we have of the celebration of the Lord's Supper, Paul tells us in our Epistle lesson that on the night he was betrayed, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples. While Passover and the Lord's Supper are very different in many respects, they share some features in common. Perhaps those common characteristics can deepen our understanding of what we are about on Maundy Thursday.

 

As it now stands, the institution of Passover is embedded in the story of the exodus, falling immediately before the account of the final plague on the Egyptians in the form of the death …