The Last Supper

Scriptures: Maundy Thursday, A.D. 2016 C

Homily:

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Never underestimate the power of a good meal.

Religion and food are well-nigh inseparable, intertwined as they are with life, joy, gratitude, and the most basic foundations of human experience. When people share a meal, they share a bond. That’s why so many studies of family wellness focus on the dinner table, and why so many first dates involve eating out. Food binds relatives, neighbors, cultures, and faith. And so it ought to be no surprise at all that the central story of God’s people should be shared around a table.

Every year, in accordance with the Hebrew Scriptures, the family of Abraham shares the Passover meal to tell again the story of how God liberates His people Israel from slavery in Egypt, and brings them safely to the Promised Land. Special foods are eaten during this meal to help tell the story. Flat bread is used to indicate the rapidity of their liberation from Egypt—so quickly that their bread had not time to rise. Wine is shared to celebrate the joys of freedom and abundance, and to commemorate important eras in the history of God’s people. Most importantly, lamb is eaten, for it was with the blood of lambs that the Israelites marked their houses as willing members of the Lord’s chosen people. God, after all, does not force us to be His, but welcomes all who turn to Him in free assent to His love and grace.

The Passover meal has existed from the days of Moses to tell the story of God and Man, of who we are as people of God, and of how far God is willing to go to bring us home in Him. But it’s not just an old story, mind you. The Passover meal, shared in this ritual and religious manner, binds us spiritually to the original Passover, the original Exodus. We too are liberated from Egypt. We too are led through the Red Sea to the Promised Land. Thus is every generation that shares in the Passover bound to their ancestors, bound to God, and bound to the glorious promise given to us and to all generations to come.

And along with this meal, along with this reaffirmation of God’s Covenant with Israel, came the promise of a New Covenant to come, a Covenant for all of mankind. In the New Covenant, all the nations of the earth would be brought into the people of Israel. The family of Abraham, the people of God, would be broken open for the entire world. And this is why Jesus came to Jerusalem for His last Passover meal.

Jerusalem in the time of Christ finds herself in something of a furor. The people of God are experiencing both great suffering and great hope. On the one hand, Israel has been conquered by the mighty Roman Empire, which jealously and brutally suppresses any hint of insurrection against her rule. On the other hand, the time of ancient promise has finally arrived. After centuries of waiting, the Messiah, God’s Anointed King, is prophesied to arrive in accordance with the Scriptures. And when He comes, both Israel and Rome expect war.

Many are convinced that Jesus is this Messiah, come once again to set His people free. His fame has grown continually for more than three years now, and just last week He very publically raised a man from the dead not two miles from Jerusalem. This has caused pandemonium in the streets. When Jesus rode into the city in order to celebrate the Passover—as had been His custom from His youth—the people welcomed Him as the rightful King and heir of King David. The Romans and their collaborators now seek to arrest Him before He can cause any more trouble, but they must do so quietly, away from the crowds, lest they start a riot.

Yet Jesus appears unflappable. He calls for no insurrection, raises no sword. Instead, He instructs His nervous Apostles to go and find a room prepared for the Passover meal, which has been their custom to celebrate together in Jerusalem. And as they gather for the meal, with all its familiar words and rituals, its tastes and scents maintained in familiar form for more than 1400 years, Jesus does something unexpected. He changes the script.

First off, He calls out Judas, the Apostle who has conspired to betray Him, conspired to lead the Temple authorities to Him by night, so that they might arrest Jesus surreptitiously. Judas, sputtering denials, flees into the night. The remaining Apostles, reeling from shock, must be terrified. Judas has betrayed the Lord! One of their own! Surely he has run to bring the authorities. Surely they too must flee, lest Jesus be caught and killed. But the Lord remains calm and collected.

Much to the Apostles’ surprise, Jesus rises quietly from the table and washes their feet. This, mind you, is servants’ work, not something fit for their Master and Rabbi, let alone the Messiah. Peter protests, but Jesus insists. In washing their feet—an act that is humble and uncomfortable and intimate and dirty and loving all at once—He sets for them an example. This will be the sign of His disciples, a New Commandment for the people of God: to love one another, as Jesus has first loved us.

And now at last it is time for the Passover, for this old, familiar meal with all its comforting promises and joys. But Jesus continues to surprise. He holds high the flat bread, and rather than tell the story of liberation from Egypt, He says instead, “This is My Body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” Again, He holds up the Cup of Blessing. “This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood,” He proclaims, “shed for you and all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of Me.”

Wonder of wonders, Christ here proclaims the long expected New Covenant! He reinterprets the Passover, remakes it, breaks it open, so that it no longer tells the story of one nation liberated from slavery; but in Him, in Jesus Christ, it becomes the story of all nations liberated from slavery to sin and death! And the bread is now His Body and the wine is now His Blood. And from now on, whenever we eat of this bread and drink of this cup, we shall join in the great Passover of our Lord from death to life eternal.

Notice that no mention is made of lamb. This is to be expected. From the moment of His Baptism, John proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus is God’s Passover Lamb. His Blood now saves us from destruction and slavery. His Blood now marks us as God’s own chosen people.

As I said, there is a rhythm to the Passover meal, a set script that has evolved over time. And in this script are four cups of wine enjoyed. They represent the four great eras of God’s people: one for Abraham, one for Moses, one for the return from Exile, and a fourth and final cup for the Messianic Age, the life of the world to come. After the third cup, the Cup of Blessing, which Christ has declared His Blood, the time has come to sing the great hallel, Psalms 113-118, then raise the last cup, toast the Kingdom to come, and finish the meal.

Together the Apostles sing the hallel, expecting that they have reached the climax of the meal—when suddenly, abruptly, Jesus stops. He lifts no fourth cup. He does not complete the meal. Instead He stands up and walks out, out of the room, out of the building, out of the city. And the Apostles, swirling with wonder and tension, with fear and with hope, follow Jesus out into the night and down through the Kidron Valley, the valley of the shadow of death. And while they cannot imagine what will come next, one thing seems most certain: this Passover meal has not yet ended.

Indeed, it has only just begun.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.