Ann Barker, Maundy Thursday, March 20, 2008

Every summer, thousands of teenagers from churches around the country go on mission trips. They leave their homes for a week or two and travel to places that desperately need help and support of various kinds They help with building projects, teach Vacation Bible School, and get to know the people of those places. They give many gifts and receive many in return. There are often young people from other churches there as well. Everyone lives together, eats together, works together and prays together. In those circumstances, people grow close to one another very quickly. When the trip is over,they are eager to return home, but many have been profoundly changed by this time away, and they want to do all they can to incorporate it into their lives. They take pictures of the group to reinforce their strongly forged identity, grounded in shared experiences. They exchange cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses so they can stay in relationship with their new friends. They may even have a cool group T-shirt to wear to remind them about what they saw and did and learned, so they can share with others who might want to join them next summer. (P)

In tonight’s gospel, Jesus is about to end his “mission trip” to earth to help people in desperate need of love, healing and forgiveness. He knows he has come from God and is returning to God, which is as it should be, but he is sad to leave his disciples, whom he has worked with, slept with, eaten with, taught – and gotten exasperated with – for three years. He wants them to stay in relationship with him, so they can continue to grow in his love and in their ability to witness to that love to others. That is why, on his last night on earth, Jesus gives his disciples the gifts of identity, relationship and remembrance.(P)

In the reading from Corinthians about the Last Supper. Jesus gives thanks for the bread and wine, then shares it with his disciples. The bread, he says, is his body, which is for them. The wine is his blood of the new covenant, the covenant of reconciliation and forgiveness that God makes with humanity through Jesus’ death on the Cross and his resurrection. The disciples are identified as representative of the ones for whom Jesus gives his life, the ones he loves, in other words, all of humanity. Their relationship with their Lord will continue and grow if they receive this gift of love and compassion. Those who receive Jesus’ Body and Blood with grateful hearts become more and more like him. Those who cannot receive Jesus’ self-giving lose opportunity for closer sharing in the relationship God and Jesus enjoy and want to share with us.

As he shares the food, Jesus tells the disciples to do it remembrance of him. The Greek word for remembrance is more than a recalling of something that happened long ago. It is literally a re-membering, a bringing forward to the present the reality of past events. To share in the Body and Blood of Christ is to share in his real presence with us now. Sharing in Jesus’ Body and Blood strengthens us to be a gift to the world – to be the ones who proclaim Jesus’ self-giving life and death until he comes again to share his resurrected glory with us. (P)

In John’s gospel, Jesus’ sharing with his disciples is the washing of their feet. In a gesture of radical hospitality and love, Jesus is both the host and the servant at the meal. He washes everyone’s feet, even Judas’. As usual, Peter expresses the misunderstanding of the disciples. He does not want his Lord and Master to wash his feet. It is OK for Jesus to be the host, but not the servant. Yet Jesus says to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you will have no share with me.” In this gift, he is again offering them relationship with him and the Father. In order to belong to Jesus, to be in close relationship with the one they love, they must be willing to receive from Jesus, not just his teaching, but his love for them expressed in the self-giving of  a servant, as well as the welcome of a host. Their identity is formed and shaped by Jesus’ giving, not only at table but also on the Cross. They are to remember what he has done for them by serving one another in love. (P)

When people return from a mission trip, they often act and think differently because of their experiences. Jesus wants his time with his disciples to affect their actions too, so he gives them a new commandment – to love one another as he has loved them, not only among themselves, but also as a way to proclaim Jesus’ great love for all – to invite others into relationship with God. The commandment to love one another is of course not new; what is new is that God incarnate has revealed himself to us as one who loves and we are to love not just in theory but in the flesh as Jesus did. By following his example of radical hospitality – of welcome and service – we once again “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (P)

At the end of this mission trip, it is not the students who will leave, but the teacher, who loves them so much he will give up his life to deliver them from sin and death. God raises Jesus to new life so that we, too, may have new life in him. If we are willing to receive the gifts of love Jesus offers us, we share in the relationship Jesus has with the Father, because the Holy Spirit dwells in us. As we love one another in generous hospitality and service, as we feed others as we ourselves have been fed, we are drawn closer to one another and to the love between the Trinity that spills out onto us. (P)

Maundy Thursday is a time to reflect on who we are as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a time to recall his radical self-giving for us with gratitude and humility. And it is a time to remember that Christ is ever present with us, calling us to be his representatives in earth by loving others as he has loved us. May we be fed by his love and strengthened by his grace to proclaim his sacrificial death and the promise of eternal life we have been given through his resurrection until he comes. AMEN