Proclamation! For Holy Thursday 9 April 2020

Today Reverend Shelley leads us through the difficult events that start with the Seder supper shared by Jesus and his disciples and then as the night passes, the unexpected arrest of Jesus.

The readings for Holy Thursday are:

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for

you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the

whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb

for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole

lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in

proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without

blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You

shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled

congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood

and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with

unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but

roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it

remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your

staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. For I

will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in

the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will

execute judgments: I am the LORD. 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.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival

to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual

ordinance.

Psalm 116:1, 10-17

1 I love the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, *

because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.

10 How shall I repay the LORD *

for all the good things he has done for me?

11 I will lift up the cup of salvation *

and call upon the Name of the LORD.

12 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD *

in the presence of all his people.

13 Precious in the sight of the LORD *

is the death of his servants.

14 O LORD, I am your servant; *

I am your servant and the child of your handmaid;

you have freed me from my bonds.

15 I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving *

and call upon the Name of the LORD.

16 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD *

in the presence of all his people,

17 In the courts of the LORD’s house, *

in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Hallelujah!

The Epistle 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the

night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he

broke it and said, This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.;

In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, This cup is the new

covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me, For

as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until

he comes.

The Gospel John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to

depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the

world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas

son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing tha(continued)