Suffering Love - Maundy Thursday and Good Friday

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Maundy Thursday – April 1, 2021

 

Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment: To love one another as he had loved them. By your Holy Spirit write this commandment in our hearts; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14 – God establishes Passover as a day of remembrance.

 

Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 – What shall I return to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows…

 

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 – For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that on the night in which he was betrayed our Lord took bread…

 

John 13:1-17, 31b-35 – Washing of the disciples’ feet.

 

Good Friday - April 2, 2021

Merciful God, your Son was lifted up on the cross to draw all people to himself. Grant that we who have been born out of his wounded side may at all times find mercy in him, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 – The Song of the Suffering Servant. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…

Psalm 22 – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Hebrews 10:16-25 – I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. New covenant.
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Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 – Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, let us hold fast to our confession. 

John 18:1-19:42 – John’s passion: arrest, trial, crucifixion. The passion for John’s gospel is appointed for Good Friday every year. John’s account is most problematic of the four gospels because of its many references to “the Jews.” In a post-holocaust world, we have to be acutely aware of how these passages get heard and interpreted. Crucifixion was a Roman form of execution. While there is little doubt that Jesus was also at odds with the Temple leaders, he and his disciples were Jewish. Passages about “the Jews” calling for Jesus’ death were used to stoke the flames of hatred and violence against Jewish people.