It’s a common custom in many cultures. Each year, people gather with family and friends for a holiday meal. In some cultures, that meal is related to the harvest. In others, the meal is connected with a significant historical event for that culture. In the United States, Thanksgiving is related to both the harvest and the survival of our pilgrim forebearers. In China, Vietnam, and other Asian countries, the Lunar New Year celebrates both historical cultures as well as the role the zodiac has played in the culture. For Jewish people, the meal is the Seder and is shared during the Passover holiday. The Passover is the event in Jewish culture that created an identity for the people which has endured over millennia.
Because Jesus and his companions were an itinerant bunch, they didn’t have a home where they could share the Seder while making their meandering trip from Galilee south to Jerusalem. A couple of folks from his group went ahead of the others and found a room they could use for the holiday dinner. It was in that room they celebrated the Passover Seder – the gathering Christians today call the Last Supper.
Like the American Thanksgiving meal, there are traditional foods served at the Seder: lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs….and, yes: wine. There’s lots of wine. Everyone drinks four glasses of wine. While there are prayers to be said and stories to be told, it’s not like a formal Christian church service. Remember: there’s lots of wine. It’s a happy, festive occasion.
As their teacher, Jesus took the role of the head of the family, the father, if you will. But he didn’t exactly follow the script. He added some unusual twists on this particular night.
Remember that occurred two thousand years ago. At that time, people walked and hiked barefoot or wore crude sandals. Their feet would have been in very bad shape by our standards today. On entering a home for a meal, a servant would wash people’s feet. After all, their feet would have been caked with dirt, dust, and even animal dung. But at this meal, it wasn’t the servant who washed feet. It was Jesus. More than that, it wasn’t that he washed their feet, but he used this as a teaching moment. He told his companions, “As I have done, so you must do!” Jesus was trying to bring home the point that his followers were to serve each other, care for each other, love each other. It’s this very tangible kind of love that would distinguish them from others. It was so important that he made it a command: Love one another as I have loved you.
During the meal, two other odd events occurred. A piece of unleavened bread, or matza, is broken and hidden by the head of the family. Later, the children are sent to find it and bring it back to the table. This is called the afikomen. This piece of “redeemed bread becomes part of the dessert. Jesus took the half piece of bread, the afikomen, said the prayer of blessing, and gave it to them saying, “This is my body.”
At the end of the meal, he took the fourth cup of wine, said the prayer of blessing. This is the cup that in the Seder represents the people of Israel becoming a nation. This is a cup of blessing for the future of the people. When Jesus took this cup, he invited his companions to drink while speaking of a “new covenant sealed in my blood for you and all people for forgiveness.”
In these actions, Jesus took the final actions that were part of the meal’s ritual and reinterpreted them. In these actions, he imbued an awareness of his abiding presence which would remain for all people and be marked by forgiveness. He began the meal with a new commandment to love one another and finished the meal by reinterpreting a familiar symbol to demonstrate that love includes God’s abiding presence with all people.
Two thousand years later, these symbols have become familiar and, for many, are stale and worn out. But the words and symbols from that Last Supper were a reinterpretation by Jesus of the traditional Passover Seder. Perhaps that’s something for us to consider carefully given our present global context of the pandemic which impacts all human beings on our planet.
Our lives have changed because of the current pandemic. The ways we do many ordinary things is very different right now. We’ve had to re-learn how to wash our hands, work, educate our children, and interact with others by keeping physical space between us. Church folks have made some adaptation to watching services online. I want to suggest that perhaps this is an opportunity to re-examine our faith and consider what changes need to be made in the way we live faith-filled lives. Today, what does it mean to love others as we have been loved by God? In what ways can we follow the example of Jesus to serve others? How can we today give of ourselves so that others can find life? These questions will help to lead us to new ways to understand what Jesus did at the Last Supper and to make his teaching real in our lives today.
Jesus was very clear in explaining who followed his teachings and who did not: you will know them by their fruit. Maundy Thursday reminds us that the words we say as people of faith mean very little. Instead, as we recall the Last Supper, we remember that we have been taught to love, to give our lives, to provide direct service to others (like washing their feet), and to do it as a living memory of Jesus. Doing these things is what it means to follow Jesus to the cross. That’s the only way to experience the joy of Easter.
Photo on Foter.com