Sermon, Maundy Thursday, April 18, 2019

Sacred Meals

Exodus 12:1-14

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.

4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Luke 22:7-23  

⁷Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ⁸So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” ⁹They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?” ¹⁰“Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters ¹¹and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ ¹²He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.” ¹³So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. ¹⁴When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. ¹⁵He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; ¹⁶for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; ¹⁸for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

²¹But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. ²²For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” ²³Then they began to ask one another, which one of them it could be who would do this.

Turkey. Dressing. Mashed potatoes and gravy.

Green bean casserole with crunchy onion bits on top.

Sweet potatoes with miniature marshmallows.

Cranberries. Pumpkin pie.

If we don’t have most of these things at our house in November,

my husband doesn’t think it’s really Thanksgiving.

The thing that makes it a holiday is the food—

the same food our mothers cooked all the years we lived at home,

when the family came from near and far

and there was busy-ness and activity

and too many cooks in the kitchen

and too many football games to watch

and too much food for one day, even with all those people.

The stories, the rituals, the food, the memories

all come together to make a holiday what it is.

Tomorrow night Jewish families around the world will gather

for a Passover Seder meal: lamb, gefilte fish,

matzo ball soup, potato kugel, wine,

and the food particular to the Passover story:

horseradish, charoset, salt water and bitter herbs,

a hard-boiled egg, matzo.

  

Families will gather to tell the story,

part of which we heard from Exodus this evening,

the story of God saving the Israelites from destruction.

They will remember Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh;

and the plagues, one by one;

and the angel of death passing over the homes

with doors marked in blood of a lamb;

and the quick escape that did not allow for bread to rise,

and the walk through the parted waters of the sea.

“Why is this night different from all other nights?”

the youngest child will ask.

The answer comes in story, in ritual, in food, in memory.

For 8 days people gather in various ways for story, ritual,

and food,

to remember what God has done for their salvation.

Tonight we come for the same reasons:

story, ritual, food, memory.

While the Seder dinner we know today is probably not exactly

the same as the way Jesus celebrated it 2 millenia ago,

or the Israelites observed it millennia before Jesus,

the tradition of gathering together for a sacred meal

to tell the story with the whole body is ancient,

and it’s what we still do today.

Jesus and his disciples gather for the Passover meal.

They share ritual, story, food specific to the occasion.

And we know at this event Jesus adds to their memory:

taking bread and wine, naming it his body and blood, 

commanding them to eat and drink in remembrance of him.

That’s our part of the story, our part of the ritual.

As Christians we do not celebrate Passover;

but we do celebrate what God has done in Jesus for our salvation.

The disciples were there in the moment with him,

and couldn’t really see all that he meant in those new words. 

But we come to this worship, to this table,

full of the memories of the story

and the ways it has taken shape in our lives.

Different communion tables,

different worshiping communities,

different times of danger and need for reconciliation, different breads and wines and juices.

We bring with us the sacred memories of communion

in holy times—baptism, wedding, funeral, Christmas, Easter;

and memories of times we didn’t know

if we deserved what was offered,

or if we wanted it.

That’s probably true of all these sacred meals—

sometimes we don’t want what’s served,

or we don’t want to deal with that one relative

who’s sure to be there,

or the trouble of getting there is almost not worth it.

But it’s all part of the ritual.

We drag ourselves across town or across the state

or across the aisle and hope for the best.

And that is surely what we get at this communion table—

the best God has for us.

For at this table, through this ritual, in these stories,

we get Jesus:

healing for what is ailing,

mending for what is broken,

new life for what is dead.

Because we know the rest of the story,

we remember that this meal will be Jesus’ last,

and will be followed by death.

But because we know the rest of the story,

we know that will be followed by life.

And we know all the things we carry with us, carry in us,

the good and the bad, the light and the heavy,

all these things come to the table with us,

and all are taken with Jesus the rest of the way

through death and resurrection.

That’s the promise of this table, carried to us in story,

in bread, in wine.

We come to this meal, week after week

(thankfully it’s a very simple preparation),

because we need the ritual, the story,

the bread of life and the cup of salvation,

and the promise that comes with them.

This is death and life, the salvation of God in Christ Jesus,

for you.

Amen.