Sermon for Maundy Thursday
April 1, 2010
Texts:  Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 116:1-2,12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26;
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Faithful Jews around the world celebrated
The beginning of Passover this past Monday.

When Jesus gathered with his disciples,
The night before he died
They, too gathered to celebrate a Passover meal.

You may remember the story of the Passover,
A portion of which we heard in the Exodus reading tonight.

God’s chosen people, the Israelites had gone to Egypt,
For food during a famine.
In doing so, they encountered their brother Joseph
Who was an official of Pharaoh.

This was the same brother Joseph
That they had sold into slavery, when he was a teenager.

He recognized them and after several tests,
Invited them and his father to live in Egypt,
Where there was plenty of food.

At first the Israelite people were well treated,
Because of the esteem in which Joseph was held.

But as the generations passed,
They were enslaved by subsequent Pharaohs
Who no longer remembered Joseph.

God chose to free the Israelites by enacting ten plagues
Upon the people of Egypt,
So that Pharaoh would recognize the power of God
And free God’s people.

The text we read tonight from the book of Exodus
Recounts the story of the night when the last of the ten plagues was enacted.

God instructed the Israelites how to prepare for the night,
How to mark their own homes with the blood of the lamb
So that when God passed throughout Egypt, killing all the first born,
God would have pass over the homes of the Israelites.
In the sorrow and mourning that follows this night of death,
Pharaoh will release the Israelites to leave Egypt.

The conclusion to the text we read from Exodus instructs God’s people
That they are to observe the Passover as a perpetual ordinance.

When faithful Jews gather for a Passover Seder,
They follow God’s instructions.
They do not just enact or remember the night of the Passover,
They relive the event.

The youngest child at a Seder asks four questions
Which get at the heart of the fundamental question
Why is this night different from all other nights?
Note the emphasis on the word ‘is’. 
Not why does this night seem different, but why is it different?

The questions the child asks are:

Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our food even once,
But on this night we dip them twice?

Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either leavened bread or matzo, But on this night we eat only matzo?

Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables,
But on this night we eat only bitter herbs?

Why is it that on all other nights we dine either sitting upright or reclining,
But on this night we all recline?

At the Passover Seder, participants live the experience of the Passover.
They are participants in the history of the Jewish people

When Jesus and his disciples gathered on the first night of Passover,
Which was a Thursday that year,
In Jewish tradition, they also re-lived the experience,
The experience of slavery and their own escape from slavery

That night when Jesus drank wine
And broke unleavened bread or matzo with his disciples,
Their experience was a re-living the Passover.

It was in this context of real experience
That Jesus took bread and told the disciples,
“This is my body, given for you.”
And then lifted the cup of wine
And said “this cup is the new covenant in my blood.”

Just as Jesus and the disciples re-lived the Passover,
At that last meal together,
Jesus was giving the disciples the instructions and a means
To re-live the experience of his presence.

In the future, each time the disciples gather for a meal
They will do so with the understanding
That they are re-living the experience of that last meal with Jesus.

When they break a loaf of bread to share at the table,
They will remember Jesus’ body,
Broken for them,
And they will experience Jesus’ presence with them.

When they share a cup of wine,
They will remember Jesus’ blood spilled for them,
The blood that makes a new covenant between God and them.

This is the same new covenant
That was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah 500 years earlier,
In which God promised to write God’s law on the people’s hearts
And to remember their sins no more. 

Our experience of Holy Communion is based on this same last meal
That Jesus shared with his disciples.

When we celebrate Holy Communion together,
We are not just play acting a 2000 year old scene
Or engaging in some routine ritual.

And, although remembrance of Jesus certainly plays a role,
When we come together at the Table,
We are not just remembering,
We are actually experiencing Jesus’ presence among us.

Just as Jews today relive the Exodus at a Passover Seder,
We relive the event of the Last Supper,
Each time we gather at the Table of the Lord’s Supper.

We, who are Jesus’ disciples in this time and place,
Have the witness of the original disciples,
As recorded in the Gospels and in Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians,
That Jesus actually said the words,
“This bread is my body, given for you”
And “this cup is my blood, shed for you.” 

We eat and drink with the deeply felt, shared realization,
That Jesus is truly present with us,
When break bread and share wine together. 

On Holy Thursday, we are called to remember
That we share bread and wine with all of Jesus’ disciples,
Of every time and place,
Going way back to that First Night of Passover
On the last night of Jesus’ life on earth.

If you take a look at the picture of Da Vinci’s last supper,
You will see the original disciples gathered on only one side of the table.
Imagine how that leaves room for you and those gathered here to join in.

Just as the Jewish people at a Passover Seder
Participate in the release from slavery,
Performed by the God who couldn’t bear to see them in bondage,
You, who will come to this Table this evening,
Are a participant in the release from slavery to sin
Accomplished by the Son, who gave his life that you might be made free.

You are not a spectator or an actor
You are member of the communion of saints.
You have a place at the Table.

The blood of the lamb,
Smeared on the door jamb
Is a sign of the Israelites’ release from slavery.

The cup, with its blood of the new covenant
Shed by the lamb,
Who is the Son of God
Is a sign of your release from sin.

On this night of all nights,
When you come to the Table,
Sharing bread and wine,
With those you are close to
And those you barely know,
Remember who you are and whose you are.

Take a deep breathe,
Utter a prayer of thanksgiving,
Visualize your place at the Table of that last supper,
And feel the presence of the One