MAUNDY THURSDAY

This is the day when tragedy strikes.

Jesus goes into Jerusalem to eat The Passover Meal with his disciples.  They are directed by Jesus to an upper room where they prepare the meal.

When the hour is come, Jesus ends the meal with the breaking of bread and sharing of wine, which prefaces the Christian Church's practice of The Eucharist, or Holy Communion.  All the disciple share, but Judas, who Jesus sends away after he takes the bread.  The Gospel of John tells us that, "When Judas had taken the morsel of bread, he went out, and it was night."

So, The Scriptures tell us that the meal lasted until dark.  "And when they had sung an hymn, they went out."  Judas has already gone, and we know it is night: both physically and spiritually; it was night.

While praying in The Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is arrested after being betrayed by Judas.  He is then taken before the Sanhedrin where he is abused and questioned all night.  They are trying to prove he is blasphemous.  During that time, the disciples gather and Peter denies Jesus three times when people try to get him admit he is Jesus' disciple.

And the night gathers...and the night grows darker.  And, the dawn promises to bring no light.

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