Sermon Illustrations for Maundy Thursday (2025)
Illustration
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14
It is perhaps not widely known, but the Community Blood Center has a website that contains stories of blood recipients. I spent some time on that website as I thought about this passage. One of the stories that struck me was Kristen’s. Kristen’s time of need came during the birth of her first child. After a smooth pregnancy, she experienced serious problems during delivery, which led to a massive hemorrhage. She needed transfusions immediately, and ended up receiving 28 units of platelets, plasma, and whole blood.
Her comments were interesting. “I just remember them bringing bag after bag after bag.” Her transfusions continued after being moved to the ICU. As scary as the whole experience was, Kristen looks back and knows that she wouldn’t have survived without those transfusions. “It’s been such a humbling experience to realize that the blood other people gave me saved my life.”
“The blood other people gave me saved my life.” I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Passover and ultimately Jesus’ sacrifice. “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (12:13). The blood saved God’s people in Egypt. The blood saves God’s people today. “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:27-28).
Bill T.
* * *
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14
There’s a key word in this passage about celebrating the Passover not only for the first time but for all time. It is “community.” Moses is to speak not to an assembly, which sounds like an elected body, or to a congregation, which sounds like a church. Moses is to speak to everybody about preparing for the observance as households. Households are loosely defined so there’s latitude to make them inclusive. If one family isn’t very large, or if there’s some singles here and there, join together for a No Leftovers feast. Cook now. Eat now. This is how the community should operate not only at Thanksgiving, but for Easter dinner. Do you know of a couple or some folks at loose ends? Invite them. If someone invites you, say yes. We are creating community.
Decades ago, when my young family was putting together a great family Thanksgiving for the first time (although in seminary we often invited other folks to our house who like us lived too far away to go home over the holiday weekend), I invited my parents to join us. They never made it. As they attempted to leave church, a young family they had been mentoring shyly asked if they would come for over a snack. Of course they said yes. You want to allow people to give as well as to receive. That’s what community is all about. What they discovered was this shy couple had prepared a huge feast. My parents couldn’t very well leave. They did the right thing and I told them so afterwards, as worried as we were (in that era before cell phones) about where they were and why they hadn’t arrived!
Moses speaks to the community, and in doing so creates community. Maundy Thursday we gather together in obedience to the mandate of the Lord. Let us in the process create community with our church neighbors, with our church friends, within families and with families. It’s not too late to invite someone over for Easter dinner, or to accept such an invite from someone else.
Frank R.
* * *
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14
CNN reported that more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents occurred between October 7, 2023, and September 2024 — up from 3,325 incidents the prior year. The early African monk Marcarius the Egyptian notes that we Christians are like Jews in celebrating Passover, moving on after our encounters with God. As he put it:
The sons of Israel, after having observed the Passover, leave. The individual person progresses, once he has received the life of the Holy Spirit and has eaten the lamb and has been anointed by his blood and has eaten the true bread, the living Word. (Pseudo-Macarius, p,236)
In this sense, we Christians are as Jewish as Benjamin Netanyahu and Dustin Hoffman. John Wesley reminds us that just as the Passover lamb was killed, not just looked upon but eaten, so “we must make Christ ours, so we do that when we eat, and we must receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him, as from our food and have delight in him…” (Commentary On the Bible, p.72)
Mark E.
* * *
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14
The scriptures that remind us of the grace of God to the enslaved Israelites are poignant. There is pain and fear in the community. Even Moses was uncertain he could do what God was asking him to do. Yet, Moses listened to the directions of God. Moses shared God’s direction with the people, and they listened to him. God promises to lead the people to freedom and Moses, does in fact, lead them out of Egypt.
The celebrations of God’s grace and deliverance continue to this day, celebrated on the calendar date and in the manner that God directed then. I have been honored to sit at a Passover table with Jewish friends and colleagues. I have shared in the meal, in the tell of the story and the history, in the hope for what freedom is still yet to come. How good is God! How good was God! How good God will be!
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
While there is some benefit to historical re-enactment, there are limitations as well. I’m part of the Church of the Brethren, historically known as the Dunkers because of our mode of baptizing believers by dunking them three times forward. If you’ve been to the Antietam Battlefield, the old Dunker Meeting House is one of our houses of worship. Though now the property belongs to the National Park Service, we hold a worship service there on the battle’s anniversary weekend every year.
The year I preached at the Annual Dunker Meeting House service, I had the chance to speak with one of historical re-enactors who had recreated the twenty-mile forced march in full pack and gear to re-enact the movement of Major General A.P. Hill’s division from Harper’s Ferry to the battlefield bringing the battle to a close. He was exhausted, and had a new appreciation for one crucial turn of the battle. However, what he could not recreate was having enlisted as an enthusiastic young man from a small southern town after which between battle after battle he might have walked as many as twenty miles a day for weeks on end. Short of living in an exhausted state for months with his life always in danger, he could not truly re-enact what it was like back then.
The communion service Paul outlines in this passage is found at the core of the service shared in many forms by many different denominations. We gather in varying services in various ways with varying frequency to relive moments whose significance only Jesus understood at the time, but we are recreating the fellowship shared at the Passover meal by disciples who had walked with Jesus for many months throughout the region. Love was shared, remembrance of things past, hope for a glorious future, and, for the most part, without knowledge of what was imminent. None of us truly sits with Jesus at the head of the table. Nor can most of us be sure how we would react if we were to face the same tests, unexpected and unprepared for, that they would all shortly face. Or maybe we have faced great difficulties and know how we’ve reacted in the past. Rather than attempt to settle exactly how communion should be observed (a thankless and a fruitless task), I invite us instead to recognize that while we cannot fully step into this historical moment in its fullest, we are nevertheless historical re-enactors within our limitations, who gain a growing appreciation for Jesus, and for each other.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John Armstrong wrote for Christianity Today on September 14, 2014, about the Lord’s Supper. He shared a story about the Due of Wellington. “After his defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the British general attended a small church where he came forward and knelt down to receive communion. An old man in tattered clothes knelt beside him. A deacon approached the old man, placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, and whispered for him to keep his distance from the duke. Overhearing this, the duke immediately clasped the old man’s hand and told him, ‘Don’t move—we’re all equal here’”
The bread and the cup represent the body and blood of Jesus. Paul indicates that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was for all people. The importance of the meal was also made clear. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (vs. 26). John Piper wrote, “The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to receive from Christ the nourishment and strength and hope and joy that come from feasting our souls on all that he purchased for us on the cross, especially his own fellowship.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Americans make their own gods. A 2017 Pew Research poll found that 1/3 of us have a god who is not the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible. We make God in our own image, and he better behave that way. In our lesson here, Peter and later all the disciples behaved that way (v.8). About that matter John Calvin noted:
In short, until a man renounces the liberty of judging as to the works of God, what exertions he may make to honour God, still pride will always lurk under the garb of humility. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVIII/1, p.57)
Famed modern theologian Paul Tillich was right: We need to make God our ultimate concern, let none of our own agendas get in the way of him and his plans for us:
… God is understood as that which concerns man ultimately… (Systematic Theology, Vol.1, p.220)
Mark E.
* * *
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
One of the most special moments for me as a local church pastor was kneeling at the feet of my congregation members and washing their feet. Many people are uncomfortable with this act of service. I can only imagine how the disciples felt. Here was the man they had proclaimed as the Messiah, the preacher and teacher, the healer whom they had followed for three years. How could he act as the lowest of servants and wash the muddy, dusty feet of his followers? And yet, Jesus serves.
Indeed, Jesus served during his entire ministry on earth — reaching out to the marginalized, the betrayed, the ill and infirm, to the hated and the neglected. Jesus served and loved and nurtured as well as proclaimed truth, interpreted scripture, and performed miracles. The service that Jesus offered was offered in love, in compassion, in kindness, in the giving of his energy and his wisdom to those around him. This is the example I follow when I kneel at the feet of congregation members — this love, this compassion, this service, and this grace. May it always be so.
Bonnie B.
It is perhaps not widely known, but the Community Blood Center has a website that contains stories of blood recipients. I spent some time on that website as I thought about this passage. One of the stories that struck me was Kristen’s. Kristen’s time of need came during the birth of her first child. After a smooth pregnancy, she experienced serious problems during delivery, which led to a massive hemorrhage. She needed transfusions immediately, and ended up receiving 28 units of platelets, plasma, and whole blood.
Her comments were interesting. “I just remember them bringing bag after bag after bag.” Her transfusions continued after being moved to the ICU. As scary as the whole experience was, Kristen looks back and knows that she wouldn’t have survived without those transfusions. “It’s been such a humbling experience to realize that the blood other people gave me saved my life.”
“The blood other people gave me saved my life.” I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Passover and ultimately Jesus’ sacrifice. “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (12:13). The blood saved God’s people in Egypt. The blood saves God’s people today. “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:27-28).
Bill T.
* * *
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14
There’s a key word in this passage about celebrating the Passover not only for the first time but for all time. It is “community.” Moses is to speak not to an assembly, which sounds like an elected body, or to a congregation, which sounds like a church. Moses is to speak to everybody about preparing for the observance as households. Households are loosely defined so there’s latitude to make them inclusive. If one family isn’t very large, or if there’s some singles here and there, join together for a No Leftovers feast. Cook now. Eat now. This is how the community should operate not only at Thanksgiving, but for Easter dinner. Do you know of a couple or some folks at loose ends? Invite them. If someone invites you, say yes. We are creating community.
Decades ago, when my young family was putting together a great family Thanksgiving for the first time (although in seminary we often invited other folks to our house who like us lived too far away to go home over the holiday weekend), I invited my parents to join us. They never made it. As they attempted to leave church, a young family they had been mentoring shyly asked if they would come for over a snack. Of course they said yes. You want to allow people to give as well as to receive. That’s what community is all about. What they discovered was this shy couple had prepared a huge feast. My parents couldn’t very well leave. They did the right thing and I told them so afterwards, as worried as we were (in that era before cell phones) about where they were and why they hadn’t arrived!
Moses speaks to the community, and in doing so creates community. Maundy Thursday we gather together in obedience to the mandate of the Lord. Let us in the process create community with our church neighbors, with our church friends, within families and with families. It’s not too late to invite someone over for Easter dinner, or to accept such an invite from someone else.
Frank R.
* * *
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14
CNN reported that more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents occurred between October 7, 2023, and September 2024 — up from 3,325 incidents the prior year. The early African monk Marcarius the Egyptian notes that we Christians are like Jews in celebrating Passover, moving on after our encounters with God. As he put it:
The sons of Israel, after having observed the Passover, leave. The individual person progresses, once he has received the life of the Holy Spirit and has eaten the lamb and has been anointed by his blood and has eaten the true bread, the living Word. (Pseudo-Macarius, p,236)
In this sense, we Christians are as Jewish as Benjamin Netanyahu and Dustin Hoffman. John Wesley reminds us that just as the Passover lamb was killed, not just looked upon but eaten, so “we must make Christ ours, so we do that when we eat, and we must receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him, as from our food and have delight in him…” (Commentary On the Bible, p.72)
Mark E.
* * *
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14
The scriptures that remind us of the grace of God to the enslaved Israelites are poignant. There is pain and fear in the community. Even Moses was uncertain he could do what God was asking him to do. Yet, Moses listened to the directions of God. Moses shared God’s direction with the people, and they listened to him. God promises to lead the people to freedom and Moses, does in fact, lead them out of Egypt.
The celebrations of God’s grace and deliverance continue to this day, celebrated on the calendar date and in the manner that God directed then. I have been honored to sit at a Passover table with Jewish friends and colleagues. I have shared in the meal, in the tell of the story and the history, in the hope for what freedom is still yet to come. How good is God! How good was God! How good God will be!
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
While there is some benefit to historical re-enactment, there are limitations as well. I’m part of the Church of the Brethren, historically known as the Dunkers because of our mode of baptizing believers by dunking them three times forward. If you’ve been to the Antietam Battlefield, the old Dunker Meeting House is one of our houses of worship. Though now the property belongs to the National Park Service, we hold a worship service there on the battle’s anniversary weekend every year.
The year I preached at the Annual Dunker Meeting House service, I had the chance to speak with one of historical re-enactors who had recreated the twenty-mile forced march in full pack and gear to re-enact the movement of Major General A.P. Hill’s division from Harper’s Ferry to the battlefield bringing the battle to a close. He was exhausted, and had a new appreciation for one crucial turn of the battle. However, what he could not recreate was having enlisted as an enthusiastic young man from a small southern town after which between battle after battle he might have walked as many as twenty miles a day for weeks on end. Short of living in an exhausted state for months with his life always in danger, he could not truly re-enact what it was like back then.
The communion service Paul outlines in this passage is found at the core of the service shared in many forms by many different denominations. We gather in varying services in various ways with varying frequency to relive moments whose significance only Jesus understood at the time, but we are recreating the fellowship shared at the Passover meal by disciples who had walked with Jesus for many months throughout the region. Love was shared, remembrance of things past, hope for a glorious future, and, for the most part, without knowledge of what was imminent. None of us truly sits with Jesus at the head of the table. Nor can most of us be sure how we would react if we were to face the same tests, unexpected and unprepared for, that they would all shortly face. Or maybe we have faced great difficulties and know how we’ve reacted in the past. Rather than attempt to settle exactly how communion should be observed (a thankless and a fruitless task), I invite us instead to recognize that while we cannot fully step into this historical moment in its fullest, we are nevertheless historical re-enactors within our limitations, who gain a growing appreciation for Jesus, and for each other.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John Armstrong wrote for Christianity Today on September 14, 2014, about the Lord’s Supper. He shared a story about the Due of Wellington. “After his defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the British general attended a small church where he came forward and knelt down to receive communion. An old man in tattered clothes knelt beside him. A deacon approached the old man, placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, and whispered for him to keep his distance from the duke. Overhearing this, the duke immediately clasped the old man’s hand and told him, ‘Don’t move—we’re all equal here’”
The bread and the cup represent the body and blood of Jesus. Paul indicates that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was for all people. The importance of the meal was also made clear. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (vs. 26). John Piper wrote, “The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to receive from Christ the nourishment and strength and hope and joy that come from feasting our souls on all that he purchased for us on the cross, especially his own fellowship.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Americans make their own gods. A 2017 Pew Research poll found that 1/3 of us have a god who is not the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible. We make God in our own image, and he better behave that way. In our lesson here, Peter and later all the disciples behaved that way (v.8). About that matter John Calvin noted:
In short, until a man renounces the liberty of judging as to the works of God, what exertions he may make to honour God, still pride will always lurk under the garb of humility. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVIII/1, p.57)
Famed modern theologian Paul Tillich was right: We need to make God our ultimate concern, let none of our own agendas get in the way of him and his plans for us:
… God is understood as that which concerns man ultimately… (Systematic Theology, Vol.1, p.220)
Mark E.
* * *
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
One of the most special moments for me as a local church pastor was kneeling at the feet of my congregation members and washing their feet. Many people are uncomfortable with this act of service. I can only imagine how the disciples felt. Here was the man they had proclaimed as the Messiah, the preacher and teacher, the healer whom they had followed for three years. How could he act as the lowest of servants and wash the muddy, dusty feet of his followers? And yet, Jesus serves.
Indeed, Jesus served during his entire ministry on earth — reaching out to the marginalized, the betrayed, the ill and infirm, to the hated and the neglected. Jesus served and loved and nurtured as well as proclaimed truth, interpreted scripture, and performed miracles. The service that Jesus offered was offered in love, in compassion, in kindness, in the giving of his energy and his wisdom to those around him. This is the example I follow when I kneel at the feet of congregation members — this love, this compassion, this service, and this grace. May it always be so.
Bonnie B.
