On Ash Wednesday,
I said that by the end of Lent
you’d probably be tired of hearing
the lyrics from
“Following” by the musical group
Ordinary Time.
We’re almost done with it,
though none of you has said anything.
Week by week I’ve prayed
“There’s a hook in this meal
To receive is to follow.”
Almost every week
I’ve wanted to point to the altar.
But it seemed weird
to point to what I meant
in the middle of a closing prayer.
Another line in that song,
hits home tonight, too.
Concluding the verse on the crucifixion,
which I’ll be preaching on tomorrow,
the lyricists write
“Broken to feed
a much deeper need than we knew.”
We’re not reenacting
the Last Supper tonight.
This is not like
a Christmas or Epiphany pageant.
Nevertheless,
we remember.
We’ve started The Three Days,
the Triduum,
and we do this
in remembrance of Jesus.
As we walk through Holy Week
remembering Jesus’ last week
in the gospel texts appointed for each day
we have two major events happening
on this Maundy Thursday.
Jesus gives the new commandment
to love one another
and washes the disciples’ feet.
But John doesn’t have a Last Supper
with an institution narrative!
So we hear Paul writing to the Corinthians
about what he’s learned
through Jesus’ body the church.
Paul is writing to the Corinthians,
worried about their liturgical practices.
The liturgical practices he’s concerned with
aren’t about whether to use incense or not.
This wasn’t a conversation
about substantial bread or wafers
or which direction to face
during the eucharistic prayer.
Specifically,
he’s worried about disunity
when they gather to celebrate Communion.
All through his letter
Paul has been concerned
with disunity of the body.
What we hear tonight from First Corinthians
goes hand in hand
with Jesus’ new commandment
to love one another.
It also sits so well
with Jesus being broken
to feed a much bigger need
than we know.
Richard B. Hays says,
“Paul’s vision of community
comes into conflict
with the Corinthians’ conventional social mores,
which require distinctions of rank and status
to be recognized at table:
the more privileged members
expect to receive more and better food
than others. …
“Paul appeals to the tradition
of Jesus’ institution of the meal
in order to highlight Jesus’ death
and to remind the Corinthians
that they are to remember him as they eat together;
this memory should bring a halt
to their selfish behavior.”
This is the epitome of
living into Jesus’ vision
of our loving one another.
That within 25 years of Jesus’ Resurrection
the Good New of his salvation
has spread to Corinth.
That’s 800 miles from Jerusalem!
Jesus’ message of salvation
has broken containment
from just Jewish communities
in Jerusalem and Galilee.
It’s Good News
but it’s hard to hear
or at least act on fully.
In 25 years
the new converts
haven’t quite gotten the reality
of what God’s reign is like.
They like their order.
They like their hierarchy.
They have a hard time realizing
that loving one another
as Jesus has loved us
means we eat in common.
Paul writing to the Corinthians
is writing to remind them
of the faith they’ve claimed as their own.
As he’s concerned with their liturgical practice
he points us all back
to the great, deep needs
that we have as frail humans.
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
On the night when he was betrayed,
Jesus did what we’re about to do.
This is the night of Jesus’ betrayal.
He took bread and wine
and told his followers that it was his body
broken, given for them.
Broken and given to meet a need
bigger than they even knew.
In writing with his concern
about Corinthian liturgical practice
Paul is telling them
that there’s a hook in this meal.
This meal of Bread and Wine
done in memory of Jesus
isn’t just hanging out.
It’s not merely a dinner party.
The hook in this meal
is that to receive is to follow Jesus.
Paul writes that whenever we receive
as often as we eat this bread
and this cup,
we proclaim Christ’s death
until he comes again.
The hook in this meal
is that to receive is to follow.
The needs that are met
bigger than we even know
are met in this same
bread and cup.
When we take Jesus into our bodies
through this holy Bread and Wine
he becomes one with us
and we with him.
We’re not left on our own
as we follow him
when he doesn’t always say where.
When we take Jesus into our bodies
through this holy Bread and Wine
we become one with one another
through Jesus.
God’s grace
suffuses us
as we follow Jesus.
We’ve started down this road
of the Three Days.
The night in which Jesus is betrayed
is upon us.
We’ve shared food together –
in common –
at our table fellowship.
We’ll share more food together –
in common –
in Christian table fellowship
as we eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood.
Tonight we get glimpses
of where following Jesus leads:
to serving one another,
to not elevating ourselves over one another,
and loving one another
as Jesus has loved us.
It’s not always easy,
but we’re not on our own.
O Holy Christ,
Your burdens are light
But your blessings are heavy
Almost too weighty to bear
There’s a hook in this meal
To receive is to follow
And you won’t always say where
What fool would dare follow you?