Present-Tense Re-Membering – 14 April 2022 – Maundy Thursday

“Do this in remembrance of me.” These words are heard every time there is a eucharistic celebration remembering Jesus’ death and resurrection. In the actions of eating the bread and drinking the cup, we participate in the death and resurrection, we re-member the body of Christ in our gathering. The remembering is in the re-membering.

Memory is powerful. In this technological age there is constant talk about increasing computer memory. The more memory, the more the computer can do. Classes teach people to increase their memory, herbs are marketed for strengthening one’s memory. Advertisements are loaded with information about brain games to increase the power of memory. At a time when we see a rise in dementia and Alzheimer’s there is concern about losing our memory. There is the repressed memory and there are memories that come shooting back from the past or from traumatic experiences in the flashback. Yes, memory is a powerful thing. –– Virginia S. Wendel

John 13:1–15

This report of Jesus washing feet is identified with the Passover feast. The context is further set by the mention of Jesus’ relationship with God, his acknowledgement of his own death and his love for those called “his own.” This common action of hospitality is made uncommon by Jesus using a servant act to express his love. He is willing to empty himself of status (and life) in order to win salvation. Peter would have no part of it. But if he would not participate in Jesus’ self-emptying, he could have no part in the blessings to come. –– Sara Webb Phillips

Exodus 12:1–4 [5–10] 11–14

The rituals for the annual celebration of the Passover feast start with acknowledging that God has established it and set the date and details. Verses 12–13 state the amazing (to them) confession that God’s power works even in Egypt, thus changing the traditional understanding that a god’s ability was limited to the land of origin. Israel’s God bests the gods of Egypt by having the ability to strike the firstborn of its inhabitants.

The Passover celebration revolves around the slaughter of the unblemished lambs at twilight. Then the meal is to be totally consumed (thus households joining together to accomplish the deed). Though its nomadic origins may have been as a sacrifice to pacify an evil deity, the Passover becomes a memorial of God’s protection and deliverance. The blood of the lamb to ward off demons was now a sign of salvation for the households whose doorposts it marked. –– Sara Webb Phillips

1 Corinthians 1:23–26

Instruction is given for the liturgical reenactment of the remembering. [Jesus] offers thanks as was traditional for the head of the household or the host, and breaks it to share as his body. Later he takes a cup and proclaims its identity with the new covenant (Jer 31:31–34). The charge is given to repeat the memorial. This symbolic action anticipated his death. Reenactment of this supper becomes a sharing in his death and in his rising. In remembering, the past, present, and future are brought together. –– Sara Webb Phillips

Sara Webb Phillips is a United Methodist minister serving Grace UMC in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a former co-editor of the journal Liturgy published quarterly by The Liturgical Conference.

Virginia S. Wendel is the Health Care Coodinator for the Cenacle Sisters, Chicago, Illinois.

Homily Service 43, no. 2 (2009): 69–70.