So you may have wondering, why did the pastor
choose that Bible passage? Why are we
talking about the Last Supper today? We
read that during Holy Week, or maybe Communion Sunday. But this is
Thanksgiving Sunday. Why are we talking about the Last Supper on
Thanksgiving?
Well, there is a reason. You know, part of that 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. And we say it twice every time we
take communion, too.
So, since we say it twice, it must be pretty important.
And yet, a lot of times, we just kind of gloss over it. I know I
often do. I’ve been reading that same communion stuff for years, and then
one Communion Sunday, 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.
I wonder what the actual words are that
Jesus said. I mean, what would he have had to be thankful for? The
meal? Well, maybe—we think it was a
traditional Passover meal—but I doubt it.
With all that was going on, I doubt that food was very much on Jesus’
mind. The time with the disciples? Maybe, but he knew that one of
them was going to betray him. And he knew 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—mocking, torture, and death. 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 an incredibly 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 have 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 have had to take power, power might have 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 do that, to
avoid what his destiny, 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 others,
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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