Sermon Title: Our Journey to the Table
Sermon Date: April 2, 2006
Mark 14:22 - As
they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God's blessing on it.
Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take it,
for this is my body."
23And he took a cup of
wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from
it. 24And he said to them, "This is my blood,
poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his
people. 25I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine
again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God." 26Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
Message
This is an important story.
In the Gospel of
Matthew, Jesus looked at the disciples and told them that one of them would
betray him. They were sad and each one
said, “Surely not I, Lord.”
Jesus told them
that the one who dipped his hand into the bowl with him would do the betraying
and that it would have been better if he had never been born. Then Judas said too, “Surely not I,
Rabbi?” And Jesus answered, “You have
said so.”
Then he took the
bread and broke it and told the disciples to take and eat. This was his body. Then he took the cup and asked them to drink
from it. He talked about not drinking
again until he would drink with them in his Father’s kingdom.
In our reading of
the Gospel of Mark, the story of the Last Supper as part of the Passover meal
has a larger place. Again Jesus said
that one would betray him but Judas is not mentioned by name. Jesus said again that it would have been
better if the betrayer had not been born.
The Gospel of
Luke explains about the preparation of the Passover Meal. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus words about being
betrayed are said following the taking of the bread and the cup. They began to question among themselves which
of them might be the one. Then a dispute
broke out as which one of them was the greatest.
Then there is the
Gospel of John in which what we call “the words of institution” are not spoken,
but implied. John has a different reason
for writing that the other writers. He
focuses on Jesus preparing the disciples for his death. He seems to be less interested in the sharing
of the meal and more about what other events happened at the meal.
You see, the
Passover meal was in progress and Judas had already agreed to betray
Jesus. Even knowing this, Jesus wrapped
a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet
of the disciples. The job of a servant,
not a teacher.
Jesus knew that
not only was he washing the feet of those who loved him but he was also washing
the feet of the one who would betray him.
And he told the disciples he knew that one of them would do this thing. Peter asked John to ask Jesus which one he
means.
“It is the one to
whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then he gave it to Judas and when he ate,
Satan entered him. Jesus told him to do
this thing quickly and Judas left.
Why are the
stories different? Well, they weren’t
all written at the same time or by people who were actually in the room. And quite frankly even if they were, each of
the disciples could have written a different account of what happened. We all see things differently but one
absolutely certain part of the story is that Jesus knew he would be betrayed
and yet he still wanted to share this moment with each of them, warts and
all. He wanted this night to be
remembered by his disciples. Even today
Jesus wants this experience to be full of meaning and power in our lives.
Do you remember
the first time you took communion? Do
you remember when the plate of bread passed by you and you, for the first time,
picked up a miniscule piece of bread and waited for the pastor to say, “Do this
in remembrance of me” and you put the piece of bread into your mouth?
Do you remember
the first time you picked up a small cup of grape juice and also waited until
the pastor said, “This is my blood” and you drank?
I don’t but what I do remember is the desire to
participate. I wanted to reach out and
be part of the service of communion on the first Sunday of the quarter. I watched as those around me took and ate,
took and drank. I remember wanting badly
to be part of what was happening.
In our passage
today the disciples do not know that what they are doing will be part of
Christianity for thousands of years to come.
Remember they are participating in the annual Passover meal, a high holy
day for the Jewish people.
The word “Passover”
comes from Exodus when God led Moses to free the Hebrew people from the
Egyptian oppression. The Lord said that
the firstborn of every household would die and instructed the Hebrew people to
put lamb’s blood on their doorposts.
This way God would pass over the houses of the Hebrew people who had
followed God’s instructions. Thus they
celebrate “Passover.”
The rules
continued in Exodus 12 and today the Jewish people still abide by the rules set
by God so long ago as well as additions to the meal that serve as a reminder
for all the people endured.
When they gather around the table, “Four Questions”
are asked by a child:
Here are the answers to the questions:
I share this with you as a reminder of our own Jewish roots. What we today call “communion” or the “Lord’s Supper” was part of the Passover meal. Jesus used the wine and bread from the Passover meal to begin one of our most important rituals in Christianity today. By coming to the table, by taking part we too remember.
The Jewish people come together at the Passover Meal in remembrance of the stories of their past. The Exodus from Egypt. The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The Holocaust. Freedom from slavery.
When we come to the communion table, we too come in remembrance of our own stories.
The stories of Christianity – Jesus, the disciples.
The stories of our American Baptist heritage – Adoniram Judson, our first foreign missionary in 1810, who waited six years for the first convert in Burma. Thirty years after his death, Burma had 63 Christian churches, 163 missionaries, and over 7,000 baptized converts. (http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=43)
The stories of those who taught us and led us to our own faith stories – a teacher, a friend, a camp leader, a pastor.
Our own stories that we ourselves have shared with others.
These stories have changed the world in which we live. These stories have made us who we are today and who we will become over time. They are vital to us on our journey to the table.
My friend Stephanie Allen, a doctoral student at
Ashland Seminary in Hebrew Studies, says:
“The story of Passover is told
every year so that people don’t forget just as we celebrate communion every
month so that we don’t forget, but what is it that we are to remember? This is not simply remembering any story, but
THE STORY. In Judiasm a Haggadah simply
means story and you would normally preface a Haggadah by which kind it is such
as The Hannuka Haggdah or Rosh Hashana Haggadah, but at Passover you simply
state that it is the Haggadah meaning that it is THE STORY. For the Jews it is THE Story because it
illustrates their mark of freedom.
Communion is Our story for the same reason. Communion is Judiasm because it is Christ
saying “I am your scapegoat, sacrifice, firstborn and freedom all rolled into
one. It is for you that I died so you
don’t have to wait in celebration of Passover because communion is that story
finished.”
What
does communion mean to you? Think about
it for a moment. What does the
experience of the Lord’s Supper mean to you?
Do
you sometimes find yourself distracted by the difficulties of life and simply
take part, thinking little about what happened to Jesus shortly after those
words were said? Or are you in awe of
the moment? Are you awed by the
knowledge that after they sang a hymn, Jesus went to pray, then he was arrested
and died only hours later?
If
you are not awed by this experience, ask God to create awe in you. Ask God to rekindle the flame of passion you
felt for Jesus when you first invited him into your heart.
If
you have not yet given your heart to Jesus, ask God to help you find the
courage and awe to do it. For this
experience will change your life. This
experience will change your life forever and ever.
In
a few moments we will take part in a ritual that began thousands of years ago,
yet still offers power and grace in our lives today. Jesus has set the table and invites all who
know him as Lord to participate. Let the
mystery and awe begin in you.
Prayer:
God, it is easy for the
flame of passion to go out in our lives.
We get busy. Life gets routine. We forget how much we loved you when we
first gave you our hearts. Rekindle the
flame in us today. Create in us clean
hearts. Create in us a new thing that
will carry us on to the days ahead.
Amen.