Ecce homo
Slaughter a lamb and take some of its blood, apply it to the doorposts of every house. The blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you … The Lord Jesus said, “This is my body that is broken for you. This is my blood, which is shed for you.” Eat this bread and drink this cup, and proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
– From Exodus 12 and 1 Corinthians 11
Jesus came from God and is returning to God. He has done only what his Father was doing, he has said only what his Father was saying. God’s Spirit flowed through Jesus when he told his disciples that night, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” But in spite of his unity with God, and even in the midst of his disciples, tonight Jesus is lonely. The human Jesus stands alone.
Behold the man.
John wrote, “He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.” Leaving them would break his heart. John leans up against Jesus, and Jesus wraps his arm around him. They have become friends, and friends are friends forever when the Lord’s the Lord of them.
But events are crashing down around them. Even as Jesus calmly washes his feet, John remembers the words of Passover, “Eat with sandals on your feet and staff in hand. Eat like those in flight.” His heart beats fast, he feels afraid. Then Jesus tells them all, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you, and I will return to take you with me.”
Can we just believe him now and be freed from fear of what is coming?
In this last moment, Jesus shows us how. “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” Even as the lambs mutiny against the shepherd, the shepherd will not resist evil with evil.
We too can stay busy washing feet.
The final act of tonight’s Passover celebration will be prayer together in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas will rejoin them there. He will kiss Jesus, and soldiers will storm the flock and take their shepherd away. The disciples will resist at first, but Jesus will stop them. There is only love here.
The battle Jesus fights is with principalities, with power, with Sin and Death and Satan. Our job is just to love.
Surrender, sacrifice, suffering … loving “like a brother” means all those things, doing what Jesus did in my own life, in my own battles, in my own fear, in my own pain. “Not my will, but yours be done. Let it be done unto me.” To speak those words of Jesus, and speak them from my deepest heart. Learn from him to trust our Father.
Jesus is going to his death. Silently Jesus walks with soldiers, silently we follow. “This is my body, this is my blood.” Take and eat. Take and drink.
O Lord Jesus, in these days of killing let your love and peace flow in my heart. Your life defeats the death that threatens and surrounds me, laying siege. Make me patient, let me wait on you with confidence and hope. For you are near. Always, you are near.
http://www.davesandel.net/category/lent-easter-devotions-2018/
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1697
