Some of you may have wondered why we read the story of the
Last Supper today. After all, it’s not Easter or Lent or anything.
It’s not even a communion Sunday. This is Thanksgiving Sunday.
So why are we talking about the Last Supper rather than about
Thanksgiving?
Well, there is a reason. You know, part of the Bible
reading from Mark is somewhat similar to what we say every time we take
communion. In fact, some of you probably recognized it. And there’s
one line in there that’s said twice. We say it twice every time we take
communion.
So, since we say it twice, it must be pretty important.
And yet, a lot of times, we just kind of gloss over it. At least I
do. I’d been reading that same communion stuff for years, and then one
day, all of a sudden, that line just bam hit me right between the eyes.
Some of you may know what it is already, but here it is: “when he
had given thanks”.
“When he had given thanks”. That line appears twice.
First, we’re told, “While they were
eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and
gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” A little
later, we’re told, “he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave
it to them, and they all drank from it.
‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he
said to them.”
Now, think about what’s going on here.
Jesus is eating the last meal he will ever eat on this earth. After
he eats this meal, he goes to Gethsemane. He gets arrested. He gets
beaten. He gets spat on. He gets tortured. And then, he gets
killed.
And Jesus knows all this is going to
happen. None of it catches Jesus by surprise. In fact, he’s told
his disciples what’s going to happen. In fact, he’s told them one of them
is going to betray him in order to make it all happen. And yet, knowing
all this, Jesus takes bread and gives thanks to God. And then he takes a
cup and gives thanks to God.
What do you suppose Jesus actually said?
I mean, what would he have had to be thankful for? The meal?
It was not much, and it was the last meal he was going to have. The
time with the disciples? One of them was going to betray him. They
were all going to fall away and abandon him. Do you think Jesus was
really feeling thankful at that moment?
It’s hard to imagine that he was.
And yet, he gave thanks to God. And I don’t think Jesus just did
that because it was what he was supposed to do. I mean, Jesus did not do
a lot of the things that the Pharisees and the other religious leaders thought
he was supposed to do. I think Jesus meant every word he said. I
think Jesus was sincere in his thanks to God.
But what would he have said? What
would Jesus have found to be thankful for? I know the Bible says we’re
supposed to be thankful in all circumstances, but this is really taking that to
the extreme. In these circumstances, about to be betrayed and tortured
and killed even though you’d done nothing wrong, would you be able to find
anything to be thankful for?
I doubt if I would. In fact, I’d
probably have been pretty upset with God. I might have been pretty angry
with God, if you want to know the truth. Here Jesus was, having done
nothing wrong, having done everything he was supposed to do, and this is the
reward he gets for it. It’d be pretty hard to be thankful right then.
But Jesus knew what was going on.
Jesus knew things had to be done this way. In fact, Jesus knew this
was part of the reason he’d come to earth in the first place. Jesus knew
this was his mission in coming here. He had come here to be punished, not
for his own sins, but for our sins. He came here to take the punishment
that belonged to us, so that we would not have to take it ourselves. And
he knew the reason he was doing it. He
was doing it out of love. Jesus took that punishment on himself and away
from us because he loves us that much.
This was a very hard thing God the Father
was asking Jesus to do. He was tempted not to do it. There’s the
story about the devil tempting Jesus while he was fasting in the desert, but I
have to think Jesus was tempted time after time after time to not go through
with this. There were all kinds of ways he could’ve avoided it.
He could’ve used his power to wipe out the Pharisees and the
Romans and everyone else and establish an earthly kingdom. That’s what
some people wanted him to do. And it had to be really tempting, because
think of all the good Jesus could’ve done for people if he’d been an earthly
king. He could’ve solved the problems of slavery and of poverty and of
oppression. He could’ve made things fair for everybody. That had to
be a tempting thing for him to do.
And in fact, he might not’ve had to use his power to do that.
The people might’ve done it for him. He was already a celebrity and
a star for all the miracles he’d done, all the healing, that sort of thing.
If he’d done a little more of it, and especially if he’d healed the right
people, some of the movers and shakers, they might’ve established Jesus as an
earthly king by themselves. Jesus might not’ve had to take power, power
might’ve been just given to him. That had to be tempting, too.
Or, Jesus could’ve cut a deal with the Pharisees. You
know, just back off a little bit. Acknowledge the authority of the
Pharisees. Stop healing on the Sabbath. Stop speaking out quite so
forcefully. He could still go around and help people, but just don’t make
such a big deal out of defying authority when you do it, you know? Just
kind of lay low and keep quiet for a while.
There were all kinds of things Jesus could’ve done. All
kinds of ways Jesus could’ve avoided going through with this. He was
constantly tempted to avoid it, to not do what he came to earth to do.
But on this night, this night of the Last Supper, Jesus knew he was going
to go through with it. He was going to resist temptation. He was
going to do what he had come here to do. The love that Jesus has for us
was so great that he was going to be able to do it, no matter how hard it was
going to be for him.
And maybe that’s what Jesus was thankful to God for.
Jesus was thankful that God the Father had helped him resist temptation.
He was thankful that he was going to be who he was, who he had always
been. He was going to be Jesus, the Christ, the Savior, the Messiah.
He was going to truly be God the Son, no matter how hard it might be.
And he was going to show that God truly is a God of love.
The Bible tells us that you and I were created in God’s
image. So, if God is a God of love, then you and I, God’s people, are
supposed to be a people of love. And once again, we come back to what
Jesus said were the two greatest commandments, the ones all the law and all the
statements of the prophets depend on: that we love God, and that we love each
other.
Jesus’ love for us made him do some very hard things.
And you and I, if we love each other, are going to be asked to do some
very hard things, too. We’re going to be asked to do things for people
when we’re tired and we don’t really feel like doing anything for anyone.
We’re going to be asked to give to people when we’re not sure if we have
enough for ourselves. We’re going to be asked to respond with love when
people treat us badly. We’re going to be asked to be there for people
when it feels like we have all we can do to take care of ourselves.
We’re going to be tempted not to do those things. And
there will be any number of ways we can avoid them. We’ll be able to come
up with all kinds of excuses for why we should not have to do things for
people, why we should not have to give to people, why we should not have to
respond with love, why we should not have to be there for people. We’ll
be tempted all the time to not do what we were put on this earth to do.
Jesus resisted temptation because he loved us. And if
you and I truly love each other, and if we truly love the people who are out
there beyond these walls, you and I will be able to resist temptation, too.
We are not Jesus, and we are not perfect, but we can still resist
temptation. We can do it the way Jesus did it--by keeping the love of
other people front and center in our lives.
And when we do resist temptation, we can be thankful to God,
the way Jesus was. We can be thankful that God has helped us resist
temptation. We can be thankful that he was are who we were created to be,
who God has always created us to be. We can be thankful because we are
truly going to be God’s people, no matter how hard it might be. And we
can be thankful that we are a people of love, serving a God of love.
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