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Ep. 10- Maundy Thursday- Blood, Bread, and the Breaking of Evil's Power
•Be Rob•Season 2•Episode 10
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Evil presents a paradox at the heart of human existence. We yearn for a world filled with peace and justice, yet something within us perpetually generates destruction. This profound tension forms the foundation of biblical understanding about sacrifice and redemption.
The Bible identifies two dimensions of evil's impact: the direct injustice requiring repayment and the relational vandalism needing restoration. Ancient Israel's practice of animal sacrifice, though strange to modern sensibilities, offered a powerful symbolic solution addressing both dimensions. The animal died as a substitute (atonement), while its blood—representing life—cleaned away evil's contamination (purification).
What makes the biblical narrative revolutionary is God's commitment to eliminate evil without eliminating humanity. Rather than simply destroying a corrupted creation, God enters the story through Jesus, fulfilling ancient prophecies in unexpected ways. As Isaiah foretold, this king becomes a servant who suffers on behalf of others. Jesus' death serves as the perfect sacrifice that both pays humanity's debt and cleanses the relational damage caused by evil.
But the story doesn't end with death. Through resurrection, Jesus shatters evil's power, establishing new rituals—baptism and communion—that connect believers to his transformative life. These sacred practices aren't mere remembrances but gateways to the same power that conquered death.
On Maundy Thursday, we recall Jesus' mandate to love others as he loved us. This divine love manifests in forgiveness and blessing toward everyone—not selective grace, but universal compassion. When we participate in communion or share meals remembering Jesus, we transcend time, joining him in that upper room while he joins us in our present moment.
Looking for deeper understanding of biblical themes? Experience more videos exploring Scripture's unified story at jointhebibleproject.com, where you'll find free downloads, study guides, and opportunities to support this ministry making biblical wisdom accessible to all.
We all long for the world to be good, for people to live in peace, act with love and justice, but there's a problem. Something compels us humans to constantly wreak havoc and destruction instead, and we call this evil.
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And from the Bible's point of view, evil ruins things in at least two ways. There's a direct effect of our evil, like when someone steals from another person. They've created injustice. Therefore they owe something to make it right. But there is another indirect effect of evil, because they have also ruined the environment of the relationship, creating a lack of trust. There is emotional damage. It is like vandalism, and they need to make that right too.
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Now many people believe, hey, God is good, he should be the one to just get rid of all the evil in the world.
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But let's be honest. I mean the evil that I see everywhere out there. It's the same evil that's inside of me.
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We have all contributed and we keep doing it. So this kind of puts us in a bind. If God's going to rid the world of evil, he'll have to get rid of us.
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And this is what is so remarkable about the story of the Bible. This God is so good that not only is he going to rid the world of evil, he is going to do it without destroying humanity. So how is he going?
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to do that.
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Well, early in the story of the Bible, we are introduced to this practice of animal sacrifice, which, I know, it seems weird to us, but for the Israelites it was a very powerful symbol of God's justice and of His grace. So, remember, I'm a contributor to the evil that's in the world. I should be removed. But God is allowing this animal's life to be a substitute. It's symbolically dying in my place. The biblical word for this is atonement, which means to cover over someone's death. But there is a second part to this ritual, remember evil also causes this relational vandalism.
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In the Bible, this idea is described as polluting or defiling the land and making it unclean. So the priest would symbolically wash away the vandalism by sprinkling the animal's blood in different parts of the temple. So the animal's blood is cleaning things. Well, remember, this is a symbol, and it's a symbol that we're not used to. The blood represents life, and the sprinkling of the blood is this representation of how God is cleaning away these indirect consequences of evil in their community. In the Bible, this process is called purification, and so the temple and the land now become a clean space where God and his people can live together in peace.
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So this ritual makes things right between Israel and God, and more than that.
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the Israelites experience God's love and his grace through these symbols and by being forgiven. Ideally, this would compel them to become people of love and grace too.
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Right, that's the ideal, but it wasn't always happening.
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Right. So the prophet Isaiah, for example. He talks a lot about this. He opens his book by saying that the continual sacrifices of the Israelites had become meaningless because they were also allowing great evil in their midst, ignoring the poor and the oppressed. Even the Israelite kings were distorting justice. But Isaiah looked forward to a day when a new king from the line of David would come and deal with evil. But in a surprising way, the king would become a servant and not just serve but also suffer and die for the evil committed by his own people, and his life would be offered as a sacrifice.
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This is the promise Jesus believed he was fulfilling. He's the king of Israel, suffering and dying on the cross.
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In fact, jesus himself used Isaiah's words when he said that he came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many, and that word ransom refers to his sacrifice of atonement. And so all over the New Testament we hear about how Jesus' death was an atoning sacrifice for us. It covered the debt that humans owe God for contributing to all of the evil and death in his world. But the New Testament authors also talk about Jesus' death as providing purification, and so we hear about Jesus' blood as a symbol of his life, having this ability to wash away the vandalism that evil has caused in us and around us, so we can now live at peace with God.
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So that is the meaning behind Jesus' death, but there is more to the story.
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Yeah, the New Testament makes this powerful claim that Jesus' death was not final. He rose from the dead, and so he is the sacrifice who broke the power of death and evil, which means that he lives on to offer his life to anyone who will accept it. He is the perfect sacrifice to which all the previous sacrifices were pointing all along.
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So, because of Jesus, the early Christians stopped participating in the ritual of animal sacrifice.
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But they were given new rituals. There are two that Jesus taught his followers to perform. The first is called baptism. Just as Jesus died, so going into the water becomes this personal connection you now have to his death, and in coming out of the water you, so to speak, come back to life with Jesus. So baptism is the sacred ritual that joins your story to Jesus' death and his resurrection. The second ritual is called the Lord's Supper, which is a reenactment of Jesus' last meal with his resurrection. The second ritual is called the Lord's Supper, which is a reenactment of Jesus' last meal with his disciples. He used bread and wine to portray his coming death as a sacrifice. So now followers of Jesus take the bread and the cup regularly to remember and to participate in the power of Jesus' death and in his life.
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So these rituals remind us of God's love and encourage us to live a life of love and grace.
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But they do more than that. They connect us to a new life source. The very power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that can deal with the evil in our own lives and transform us into people who lead lives of love and peace fits into that overall storyline, we also make theme videos where we take one biblical theme and we trace it from the beginning of scripture all the way to the end.
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We're a non-profit and we wanna give all these videos away for free, so you can join us in making them by going to jointhebibleprojectcom. You could give a one-time gift, a monthly gift, a few dollars, a lot of dollars.
Speaker 1:
Anything will help and we'd love you to join us in making these If you go to our website, you can download a full resolution version of this video. Play it in your church or school or whatever. We also have study guides to help you get through the content with other people. It's all for free at jointhebibleprojectcom.
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Hey guys, it's B-Rob, it's the Food for Thought podcast, Food for Thought, faithcast, and you heard him? Thebibleprojectcom. We give all the glory to God there, but you can find those cats at thebibleprojectcom. That's a good clip. That's good informational stuff.
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We are looking at Maundy Thursday, where Jesus and his disciples are reclining around a table in a quiet upstairs room near the heart of Jerusalem. They're enjoying good wine, I'm sure the aromas of roasted lamb, herbs and bread mix with the smoke of oil lamps and everyone feels the uniqueness of the moment the Passover meal feels the uniqueness of the moment the Passover meal. As they share this Passover meal, each participant eats and drinks a story they belong to. In a way, this ritual is like transcending time to enter into the first Passover moment in Egypt, while bringing the story into their present world. And during this sacred meal, jesus offers a new mandate. He has a new command and we guys, guys, we often celebrate this Maundy Thursday employing the Latin term mandatum, which means mandate or commandment. Jesus says In John 13, verse 34, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. This, my friends, is a new chapter in Israel's long story and he invites them to eat and drink this new chapter with the story along with the old, and drink this new chapter with the story along with the old. Jesus will instruct his followers to continue remembering him when they have meals like this, which includes remembering his forgiving, nonviolent way of love toward everybody in the world Everybody, sinners, broken, sick, everybody. It doesn't say some, it says everyone in the world. We are made to love, we are made to forgive, we are made to bless others, just like Jesus does. We are made in the image of God and we eat and drink his story. Every time we participate in the remembrance celebrations, like communion meals, lord's Supper celebrations, the Eucharist and sharing meals with others. We are joining him in this upper room moment as he joins us in our own moment. To love one another in Jesus means willingness to give our own lives in love for all. He died for everyone and Jesus demonstrates the next day, good Friday. And what does this mean for Jesus? To give his life for others? How does his death bring life to humanity? We'll take a closer look at the clip, listen to it again and I think you'll find what you're searching for.
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Guys, this is a prayer For Monday, thursday for guys. This is a prayer for Monday, thursday. Lord, we come to you today, almighty Father, whose most dear son, on the night before he suffered, instituted this sacrament of his body and his blood. Lord, mercifully, grant us that we wait. May receive it in thankful remembrance of Jesus Christ, our Savior, who is in these holy mysteries and gives us a pledge of eternal life, right there in your word, Lord, and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. It's in Jesus' holy name we pray, amen. Thank you, guys. Hallelujah, so good, so good. Well, guys, like I said, we're almost there and it is Holy Friday, so hang on, We'll be right back.
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