The Last Supper

Sermon given March 25th at Sydenstricker UMC

Click here for audio

^NRS Genesis 40:1 Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³ and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he waited on them; and they continued for some time in custody. ⁵ One night they both dreamed-- the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison-- each his own dream, and each dream with its own meaning. ⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh's officers, who were with him in custody in his master's house, "Why are your faces downcast today?" ⁸ They said to him, "We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them." And Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me." ⁹ So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰ and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and the clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand." ¹² Then Joseph said to him, "This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days; ¹³ within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But remember me when it is well with you; please do me the kindness to make mention of me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this place. ¹⁵ For in fact I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon." ¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, "I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, ¹⁷ and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head." ¹⁸ And Joseph answered, "This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; ¹⁹ within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head-- from you!-- and hang you on a pole; and the birds will eat the flesh from you."

^NRS Matthew 26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." ²⁷ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; ²⁸ for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."

You might ask why I choose this passage from the Old Testament today. I love prophecy. I love to hear it interwoven into the fabric of God’s message for us all. Joseph has been thrown in prison, falsely accused and shares his time with two other prisoners, one good and one not so. Sound familiar? It should because it becomes a very different story when on the cross. Joseph becomes if you will the salvation for the Hebrew people during a time of great famine. He has been enslaved because God has given him the power of interpreting dreams and his brothers did not like his interpretation very well. Joseph must interpret the dreams of these two and he does. One, the chief cupbearer, is told he has three days and then he will be restored by the King to his job. The other, the baker, is told that in three days he will be put to death. I cannot help but wonder at the three days. In three days, Jesus was put to death and rose again because God intended it that way. In three days, Satan who held great power would lose all of his power at the hands of the resurrection. Jesus becomes the cup of God’s redeeming power and it is through the cup that we are reminded of the sacrifice of blood. It is through the giving of His body that Satan’s power is taken away. Hmmmm! Could it be, cupbearer restored as the cup restores our lives, baker put to death as the body of Jesus is given to death for us?  

This weekend we celebrate the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem where He has come to die. He arrives in great fanfare with palms, the ancient symbol of victory, waving and people shouting. In short order they will give Him up to be crucified. But before that happens He will share a meal with His disciples. A meal like no other that has come before Him and a meal shared by millions after. For those who know the history of this event you know that it happens on the Thursday night before Passover, which this year began at sunset on March 30^th and will continue to sunset April 7^th. This event celebrates the story of the passing over of the Hebrew people in Egypt by God. That significance for us is important to our understanding of the communion table today. Jesus and the disciples came together for the purpose of sharing a meal. As we understand it, it was one day prior to the beginning of the Passover celebration. What we find intriguing in all this is the Passover requires a sacrifice of an unblemished lamb around twilight and the blood spread on the doorposts of the entranceway into their homes. If we follow the custom of Passover with the life of Jesus, we begin to see parallels between this ancient story and the events of Easter. We come on Easter to celebrate the sacrifice of the perfect human, known to us as the Lamb of God that occurred on the day, which celebrated the passing over of the Hebrew people, his body removed and buried at twilight as Passover began, with his blood on the wooden cross, the new entranceway to heaven.

But on this night, the day before, the disciples came together for a meal. They had no idea of the events that would transpire over the next 24 hours, but Jesus did. And his knowing created anxiety for Him we can be assured as He focused His attention on the teaching of the disciples. For He knew that they would soon be alone in their ministries and it was important that they understood what they were to do. And it was also important that they understood who they were to be. Do you know what your purpose is and who you are to be? Jesus brought them together and scripture tells us that they broke bread together and shared grapes from the vine together in their drink. And we also know that the custom was for the leader to bless the bread and wine. Jesus did that and we will share in that celebration a little later.

But what purpose did the table have? The most important reason for the disciples to be there that night was for Jesus to finish the teaching of their role and purpose. And so He brought them together. Each one would develop a new role as a result of their teaching and Jesus example. Judas thought to force Jesus hand, Peter denied him and the others dispersed among the city in hiding. All thought themselves at this point that they were being loyal to God. Jesus knew that of each of them on this night would betray Him in the events that were about to transpire.

There are three important reasons for the gathering that night. The first is that we now have a service where we can be in communion with Jesus. A place where the Holy Spirit is present in the elements, where the Holy Spirit is present with the participants and where we can come and seek and receive forgiveness for the sins committed in our lives. A place where we gather as a community sharing in the joys and sorrows of each others lives. A place where we come to support each other and lift each other up for the good of the community, the church as defined and led by God. When we come together to this table, we come remembering the sacrifice that God made for us and we restore the relationship with God that we desire to have.

When we come to the table we come together reminding ourselves of Jesus life, death and resurrection. In those moments when we participate in the table, we reflect on what it meant to be Jesus and what his life means to us. I believe that Jesus intended this as one of the major focuses of the table. It tells us in scripture that he took the towel and water and began to wash their feet. In the first century when folks would gather at the table for a meal, they typically would have walked to the location and their feet would be dusty. The host would provide servants or children to wash the feet of the honored guests. If you have ever participated in a feet washing, you know that it is easier to wash someone else’s feet than to have yours washed. It can be a humbling experience. But what is important is the lesson that Jesus teaches. If the leader can become the servant, then what does leadership really mean? Peter struggled with this aspect of the washing. Jesus wants us to know what our purpose is and how we are to live our lives. Serving others! Simply said, it means that we are to spend our lives witnessing our faith through our actions, words and deeds. In those examples that we set for the world, they will see Jesus in each of us. We are to reach out to the world by leading as servants, not asking others to do menial chores, but rather leading others through example to do them. Not asking others to sacrifice of themselves for others, but rather leading the sacrifice of ourselves as an example to others of how we shall live. I spent most of my life leading others by my example of working towards the American dream, big house, nice cars, and a nicer paycheck. Then Jesus said to the disciples, come, follow me. And each of us begins to focus our attention on being there for one another. It doesn’t mean that prosperity is not still attainable for Christian people. It simply means that it becomes secondary to fulfilling the service to others through witnessing and living the will of God.

We come to the third aspect of what the purpose of the table is. It is to remind us of the greater commandment of Jesus. ³³ Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' ³⁴ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." ³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward." We are to leave this place today and every time we participate in the table remembering that we are to love one another. It is important that we focus on the loving grace that comes from God and then share that with the world around us. No longer focused on differences or on how others might not share the same ideas that we have, but rather focused on how we can share with them through our own lives the wonder and beauty that God has created. The world is all about focusing on the betterment of humanity one individual at a time, whether all get to share it or not is not the important point, rather, who has the most toys when they die is. With God, we focus on the betterment of humanity one person at a time as a result of community and the greater good is when no one hungers, no one suffers alone and no one goes without essentials. Some years ago I shared a class with a young man from Nigeria. He was asked if there were rich people in his community. The question rocked him a bit and he pondered it in front of us. What he said next reminded me why we come to this table. HE said that when no one hungers and no one is without the necessities of life, then the community is rich. But if even one is hungry, then the village is poor. You see in his way of life, there is only community, not individual. Jesus is reaching out to each of us today asking us to join together in this place in order that we become community. He is asking us to come together as a community that focuses on service to others, a community that focuses on sharing the message of God and a community that loves one another. Let us join together in the way of God, in his grace and love, spreading his message through our actions, words and deeds and sometimes using words.

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and he started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Once again she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!" Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?" She replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." But before her son responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected." This story highlights a beautiful illustration of what communion really means. It is a meal with God. And God is present with us as we gather together to enjoy this meal of bread and juice.