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Saturday, September 2, 2017

The Promise of Communion

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, September 3, 2017.  The Bible verses used are Luke 22:7-23.


            As many of you know, the events described in our Bible reading are what we now refer to as The Last Supper.  It’s what we commemorate whenever we celebrate Holy Communion, which we’ll do in a little while.  None of the disciples knew it was The Last Supper, of course.  They thought they were simply celebrating the Passover meal, in accordance with the Jewish faith.  But of course, Jesus knew.
            Jesus sends Peter and John on ahead to get things ready.  He sends them to a certain place and a certain man.  Now, some people think Jesus must have made arrangements with this man ahead of time, others think it was a use of divine power.  However, it happened, though, the arrangements were made.  Jesus and the disciples go to what Luke describes as “a large room upstairs”, what we now refer to as The Upper Room, to share their Passover meal.
            Now if this truly was the Passover Seder, as many believe, there would’ve been a lot more to it than just bread and wine.  According to Wikipedia, there’d be two types of herbs, charoset, which is a paste of fruits and nuts, a vegetable (usually parsley), a roasted lamb, and a hardboiled egg.  The bread, which of course would’ve been unleavened, would be on a separate plate.  There were four cups of wine, which were drunk at specific points during the meal, each of which had a special significance.
            So Jesus and the disciples are ready to start the meal.  Jesus says, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”  Then he takes the cup of wine, and he says, “Take this and divide it among you.  For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
            And the disciples go, “Huh?”
            Well, Luke does not say that, but don’t you think that’s the likely response?  I mean, is that not how the disciples usually react when Jesus says something like this?  Maybe not, maybe they understood what Jesus was talking about.  But I doubt it.  I mean, they did not say anything.  They did not want to appear stupid.  But I doubt they had a clue what was going on.
            Then Jesus takes the bread.  He gives thanks, he breaks the bread, he gives it to the disciples, and he says, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
After supper, he takes the cup, and he says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
            And the disciples go “Huh?” again.
            Luke goes on after that.  He talks about the betrayal of Jesus, which we talked about last week.  Then he talks about a dispute arising among the disciples about which of them was considered to be the greatest.  By the way, I would think that would’ve really frustrated Jesus, don’t you?  I mean, after all he’s tried to teach them, and after he’s just said he’s going to be betrayed and die, here they are, arguing about which one of them is the greatest.  I would think Jesus would’ve just buried his head in his hands at that one.
            But it’s strange, don’t you think, that for all the emphasis we as Christians place on our commemoration of the Last Supper, what we call Holy Communion, what we’re going to celebrate here in a little while, the gospels really don’t make a big deal out of it.  They mention it, but really it’s just one of the many things we’re told about Jesus in the last week of his life.
            The thing is, though, that it was not long after Jesus’ death that the celebration which we now call Holy Communion became a big deal.  There are mentions of it in the book of Acts and in Paul’s letters.  What may have happened is that, at the time it happened, the disciples really did not understand what Jesus was doing, but that later, they came to understand it.
            I’m no Jewish scholar, but what I read is that the bread at a Passover Seder is meant to symbolize the three great patriarchs of the Jewish faith--Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Each of the cups of wine has a meaning, too.  In the Last Supper, Jesus took the last one to symbolize his blood.  The last cup of wine, according to what I read, symbolizes the world to come and the redemption of the Jewish people at the end of the world.
            So it would seem that, by calling the bread “his body” and the wine “his blood”, Jesus was telling the disciples that he truly is the divine Son of God.  He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.  He is greater than the great heroes of faith at the beginning of history, and he is the one who will redeem his people at the end of history.  His body was given as a promise of God’s blessing.  And his blood is poured out as a new covenant, that his death is the promise of our redemption by God.  And while the disciples did not understand all that at first, they did later on, after they thought about all that had happened.
            So what does all this mean for us today?  After all, we’re going to take Holy Communion in just a few minutes.  We do it every month on the first Sunday.  How does it change anything about it to know all this stuff about the symbolism of bread and wine two thousand years ago?
            Well, I hope just knowing some of the history behind it will help give it some meaning.  But it’s more than that.  Because Jesus is still truly the divine Son of God.  He is still the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.  He is still greater than the greatest heroes of faith at the beginning of history.  He is still the one who will redeem his people at the end of history.  He still died as a promise of God’s blessing and the promise of our redemption by God.
            We refer to Holy Communion as one of God’s “means of grace”.  In other words, Holy Communion one of the ways in which God’s Holy Spirit comes into us.  This is part of the reason why we refer to it that way.  By sharing in Holy Communion, by doing this in remembrance of him, we acknowledge the promises made in the Last Supper.  In fact, we more than acknowledge them, we claim them.  We say, yes, I accept that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise of God’s blessing.  Yes, I do believe that Jesus is the divine Son of God.  He is the Savior.  I believe that his life, death, and resurrection are the promise of our redemption and salvation by God.
            And it’s okay if we believe that without understanding all of it.  The disciples did not understand it all at first, either.  Maybe some of them never did, we don’t know.  But Jesus gave the disciples the bread and wine even though they did not understand.  Jesus gave them the blessing and the promise of redemption by God even though they did not understand.
            It’s okay if we don’t understand everything.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to try.  It’s good to understand as much as we can about Holy Communion and about all the other rituals we perform as Christians.  It’s good to study the Bible and to read commentaries and to do all the things we can to understand God and God’s word.
            But the thing is, that’s a process that takes a lifetime.  And even after we take a lifetime, we still don’t come close to understanding all there is to understand about God.  It’s impossible for us to understand all there is to understand about God.  The only way we could do that is if we were on God’s level, and we’re obviously not.  We’re obviously nowhere close.  And we never will be.
            But it’s okay.  When we take communion, and when we do it with the desire to know God, God’s Holy Spirit comes into our hearts.  And then, we don’t have to understand.  All we need to do is follow.  All we need to do is follow where God’s Holy Spirit leads us to go.  Do what God’s Holy Spirit leads us to do.  Say what God’s Holy Spirit leads us to say.
            How do we know when we’re following God’s Holy Spirit?  When we’re doing what Jesus told us to do.  When we love our neighbors as ourselves.  When we love our enemies.  When we pray for those who persecute us.  When we go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Left to ourselves, a lot of times, we don’t want to do those things.  But when we follow God’s Holy Spirit, we will do them.  And we’ll do them willingly, because we know we are pleasing God when we do.
            As we come to take Holy Communion today, please think about these things.  Claim Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s blessing for your life.  Claim Jesus as the Divine Son of God and as the Savior.  Claim the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as the promise of your salvation by God.  Feel God’s Holy Spirit entering your heart.  Then, let’s re-dedicate ourselves to following God’s Holy Spirit and doing those things Jesus told us to do.


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