Obeying orders

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Luke 22.1-2

Today is Maundy Thursday (from the Latin mandatum, meaning "command"). Jesus gave instructions to the disciples on how they were to prepare the Passover Feast. At the event itself he gave them a new command: to love one another in the same extravagant way that he was loving them, washing their feet and laying down his life. Jesus is the fulfilment of Passover, which celebrates God's redeeming of Israel from slavery in Egypt and anticipates his redeeming of the whole world from sin, So any who ignore the event or work against Jesus - like the chief priests and teachers of the law - deny its very purpose and in so doing rule themselves out of benefitting from both the celebration and what it signifies.

All the more reason for us to "keep the feast", embrace its significance and encourage others to join us...