A Seemingly Simple Meal

The scriptures referred to are Exodus 12:1-14, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and John 13:1-35.

Weird the significance little things take on. I was looking at the last pictures I took of my dad before his death. It was in one of his favorite restaurants. Breakfast was his favorite meal and since he could no longer drive, we would take him out to a different place every morning, either Bob Evans, or Steak N' Shake, or this place, whose name, if I remember rightly, was Chris'. I love these pictures. My dad's mouth is open. He is expounding on something, a genetic trait I believe. His chin is being cradled by his fingers, crooked and swollen by arthritis. The morning light coming through the restaurant's glass wall gives him an almost beatific look. But I was surprised by something I never noticed before. In his left breast pocket, peaking out of the jacket he was wearing, are 3 pens. I thought having multiple pens in the shirt pocket was my thing. But apparently I got it from my dad. Along with his obsession with always having a travel mug with ice water at hand. (Seriously, we found a dozen of them in his cabinets after his death. I have nearly 30 years to catch up to that number. Don't tell my wife.)

I didn't realize how much those meals meant to me till a year later when I passed a sign for Steak N' Shake, joked about going there for breakfast and suddenly got very emotional. My point is I remembered him vividly from those meals. And it was the little details that reminded me how connected we were. 

Tonight we commemorate the Last Supper. It was a Passover meal that Jesus transformed into what we variously call Communion, the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist. And yet what Jesus gives significance to is interesting for not being what immediately comes to mind. If you've ever been to a Passover seder you know that practically everything eaten and drunk has a significance. The karpas or vegetables symbolize spring; the marror and chazeret or bitter herbs represent the bitter conditions of the Hebrew slaves; the charoset symbolizes the mortar the Hebrews built with; the lamb represents the lamb whose blood was smeared on the doorposts so the angel of death would pass over the house.

Notice anything? The matzah, the unleavened bread which gives the feast its alternate name, is just that: humble flatbread, eaten hastily anticipating the rushed exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. It's just bread they didn't have time to make properly because events got ahead of them. It would be like commemorating Hurricane Irma with Pop-Tarts that weren't toasted because we had to evacuate fast. Yes, there is much made of the Afikomen, which is broken off from the middle matzah and hidden for later. It represents the future of freedom, according to some rabbis. Passover also includes drinking 4 cups of wine, seen by some as 4 expressions of redemption but mostly it's to lift the spirits. And there's a fifth glass left for Elijah should he come back and usher in the Messiah. As one Jewish comedian put it, every one of their holidays boils down to 3 things: they tried to kill us; we survived; let's eat!

By the way, much of this is not Biblical. It developed later. In Exodus, it simply says to take an unblemished year old male lamb or goat, kill it at twilight, put the blood on the top and sides of the door frame of the house, roast the lamb whole over a fire with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. What you don't eat, burn in the morning. In the future they are to remove all yeast from the house and the festival lasts a week. And they are to make sure they answer the children's questions and tell them the significance of the feast. (Exodus 12:1-28) Everything else, all the extra foods and all the specific symbolic meanings, evolved later. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that Jesus was not trampling on detailed symbolism when he gave the elements new meanings.

The focal part of the meal is the lamb, right? Its blood was the signal for death to pass the house over and it was the main meat at the meal. Jesus, having been called the Lamb of God by John the Baptist, should have made much of that. But he doesn't. Why not? Because he was the Paschal Lamb. With his death, no more lambs need be sacrificed. Nor any more goats, bulls, oxen, and certainly no people. No more blood should ever be shed. Jesus' death was the ultimate sacrifice, wiping out all sins once and for all. It could never be repeated.

By instead identifying himself with the bread, Jesus was showing himself to be as essential to our spiritual life as bread is to physical life. For most people meat was expensive and thus a rare treat. That's still true in many parts of the world. People might eat meat at major festivals but they ate bread daily. Bread was and is a major source of protein. Jesus was saying, “I am as essential to your life and health as bread.”

Notice something else about Passover. While on the original Passover the blood was put on the doorposts, by Jesus' day the blood was sprinkled on the altar at the temple. Plus kosher meat has to be totally drained of blood. So there is no blood anywhere at the site of the Passover meal. And it certainly wasn't drunk. That would be repugnant to Jews.

Jesus takes a glass of the Passover wine, probably the last one, the one poured after the meal is eaten. He says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25) Covenants were sealed with blood. As Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.” Or that last phrase could be translated “by means of” or “by reason of the life.” Jesus' blood would make atonement for all of us by reason of the life in him, divine life, eternal life.

In the Passover meal both the death of the firstborn and the life of the firstborn are commemorated. In the Eucharist the death of God's unique son means life for all of us. How much of this did the disciples comprehend at the last supper? Not much. Jesus said enigmatic things often. Sometimes they could get him to explain them afterward. But after this Jesus reveals that one of them will betray him. And all thought of getting him to explain what he was saying about the meal is forgotten. Only after the resurrection do they remember and understand what is going on. 

And I bet their theology of the Lord's Supper was nothing like our elaborate explorations of the topic. This doesn't mean that either they or we are wrong, no more than an understanding of nutrition science means that people without such detailed knowledge can't work out what is and is not a healthy diet. Indeed, a lot of present day research is just finding out exactly why, say, the diet of the peoples of the Mediterranean is so healthy. We are not so much discovering something new as uncovering new things about an old truth.

That's why I prefer the idea of Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist. He is there in a special way we cannot define. Yes, at a specific time Jesus said, “This is my body,” “This is my blood.” But God the Son does not live in time; he lives in eternity, where there is no past or future. It is eternally now. This is, not “was” my body; this is, not “was” my blood. At the Eucharist, eternity touches time. Jesus opens the window to the timeless truth that we are dependent on him for life, as we always have been and always will be. It is also a foretaste of the future wedding supper of the Lamb, mentioned in Revelation 19:9, the banquet of the endless Messianic Age.

The physical act has no meaning apart from its spiritual significance, however. It is not just another meal as Paul takes pains to point out to the church at Corinth. It is important to examine ourselves and recognize the Lord's body and blood in what we are about to incorporate into our bodies. (1 Corinthians 11:27-29) There is a deeper meaning to what we are doing. Not only are we making Christ a part of us, he is making us a part of him.

When we come together to partake of the body and blood of Christ, we are incorporated into the body of Christ. We are not only fortified individually but as a group who are bound by love of Jesus and love for one another. Jesus' death not only reconciles us with God but reconciles us to each other. Paul says Christ's “purpose was to create in himself one new humanity” out of our divided world and break down the barriers of hostility which separate us. (Ephesians 2:14-16) Just as Jesus was not interested in only healing people's bodies, his sacrifice was not merely to heal our souls. They are entwined, as are we, his creatures. We are all related through the same woman and through the same man. We are all one family. Our divisions are as vehement and as tragic and as stupid as any feud within a family. Jesus came to end that. So we come to the Lord's table to break bread and drink wine together as God's family, as Christ's body, as the Spirit's temple. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

Which is why we wash each other's feet. This is not a familiar part of life today as it was in Jesus' time. We don't usually walk in sandals through dusty roads and mucky streets with open sewers. We don't have slaves to do the nasty job of cleaning dirty feet. When Jesus did it, it startled and shamed the Twelve. They knew it had to be done. Any of them could have done it. But none did. So Jesus did what was unpleasant but necessary just as he would the next day. And Jesus said, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:15-16) And as Paul said, “Bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2) The way of Jesus is the way of taking care of each other in love, even when it requires sacrifice and dealing with the mess of human community.

Tonight we go back to that evening, in an upper room with Jesus and his friends. With them we celebrate the feast of liberation. With them we hear his puzzling words about what seems to be ordinary bread and wine. With them we participate in the new covenant instituted by Jesus. With them we wonder if we will betray him. With them we are conscious of the sacrifice of the lamb and how our deaths are averted by it. With them we anticipate the wedding banquet of the Lamb in the kingdom of God to come.

This is strong food for thought. This is a heady wine to drink in. Taste and see that the Lord is good.