Communion

Mark 14:22-25

Maundy Thursday is so named because on this day Jesus gave his mandate to the disciples, instituting the sacrament of Holy Communion with the Last Supper. In this reworking of the Passover seder feast, Jesus took the place of the paschal lamb, becoming the sacrifice that would cleanse all partakers of their sins. This sacrament would bind the participants together--with each other and with God--hence, the Church named it Holy Communion. 

Tonight, our parish associate and I will lead the congregation in the commemoration of this sacred meal, remembering Jesus’ final night with his disciples in song, scripture, prayers, and, of course, the sacrament. We will gather around our table and imagine what it would have been like for those first takers of Communion.

But, of course, we will not be able to really do that.

There is no way for us so many centuries removed from that night to recapture what it must have felt like. 

On the one hand, we know too much. We know how the story turns out--this night devolved into chaos as the disciples failed to stick with Jesus when the authorities hauled him off, leading to the kangaroo court that condemned him which culminated in Pilate stepping in to authorize Jesus’ execution, although the Gospels seem to indicate he never really did understood why Jesus had to die other than to keep peace among the denizens of Jerusalem. We know that on Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead, undoing all the horror, despair, loss, grief, and anathema that Friday was. We know too much to stick with Thursday as Thursday. We cannot really relate to what have been the most confusing moment for the disciples in their walk with Jesus--what was he doing? why? what does it mean? We know the answers. 

On the other hand, we know too little. We do not know as American Christians what it felt like to be those disciples. They had taken a tremendous risk in aligning themselves with Jesus. The church of the time saw him as a radical rabbi who seemed intent on nullifying the rule of the Torah, or reimagining it to the point that it would be incomprehensible. The church, in collusion with Herod, had already silenced John the Baptist, another radical voice of reform in their eyes. Moreover, as Jesus’ popularity grew, Rome took more interest. They sniffed sedition everywhere, and they were proactive in silencing it. They did not wait for the riots to begin, they got rid of the instigator. We also do not fully appreciate their hopes. The Gospels drop hints of why some of the Twelve were present--Simon the Zealot may well have thought he at last found a new revolutionary general, a newfound Maccabee (the radicals who withstood the Greeks when they threatened the Jews) who would liberate Israel from Rome; James and John may have thought they found a populist icon who would overthrow the elitist Temple authorities and maybe get the common folk more recognition from Rome (hence their request to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand); Peter may have had his eyes full of God and missed the reality of God altogether (no Messiah will EVER die under his watch); and so on. Do we really understand why they were in that circle? Too much time as the accepted dominant religion of our culture has gone by. 

That first Communion was unique. Our rite this evening will be that--a rite, a practice, well-worn with time and experience. 

But the radical nature of the feast has not changed.

In this meal, Christ still commands us--gives his mandate--to live by love. Love, he declares, is not what we assume it to be, but rather is the total self-emptying, other-centered, self-sacrificial love of the cross. On that first night, only he knew that. The others, though, got it when they awakened after the cross. 

We sidestep the full reality of love as Christ defined it. We act and live as if Jesus were simply using hyperbole to make his point. But Jesus left the table to ascend Golgotha. 

Where will we go after we leave the table?

Will it have made any difference whatsoever to us? Will we be any different for having sat with Christ?

Will we love as Christ loves?

If we want to understand that first night, we will.

May God go with us.