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A Whole Lot of Everything: Sermon for Maundy Thursday 2019



Matthew 26:17-30

On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ”

So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were eating, he said,

“Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?”

He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!

It would have been better for that one not to have been born.”

Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?”

He replied, “You have said so.”

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.”

Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying,

“Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

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.”

When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.



Sermon:


When I was a teenager, one of the more exasperating experiences I endured was going out to eat with my mom. To be clear, I loved and love my mother, and, of course, I really appreciated going out to eat. But my mom had, what I thought at the time, a most annoying habit: she would stare at other people wherever we were and watch them eat.


It didn’t matter if we were in a fine restaurant, a fast food place, a church dinner; we would catch mom almost, it seemed to us, miss putting the fork with the food into her mouth because she was so caught up in watching others. In fact, she would look past her own plate, her own family, who were there right in front of her to the people sitting in the next booth, or across the dining room.


Well, of course, ‘what goes around comes around.’ And, the fruit doesn’t fall too far from the tree. I catch myself doing the very same thing.

I watch someone eating, wondering, ‘what did they order?’ Or, I start to make up stories for the people around me, trying to imagine their back-story; who they are, where are they from, what are they talking about? Are they good or ‘bad?’ Are they rich or poor? Where are they from? And on and on.


One of my favorite bands, Dawes, shares this wonder with my mom and me.

And in the song, “A Little Bit of Everything,” writes this:


‘An old man stands in a buffet line,

he is smiling and holding out his plate,

And the further he looks back into his timeline,

That hard road always had led him to today,

And making up for when his bright future had left him

Making up for the fact that his only son is gone,

And letting everything out once, his server asks him,

Have you figured out yet, what it is you want?


I want a little bit of everything,

The biscuits and the beans,

Whatever helps me to forget about

The things that brought me to my knees,

So pile on those mashed potatoes,

And an extra chicken wing,

I’m having a little bit of everything.’


One thing we have in common as human beings; we all need to eat and drink. And we human beings spend a lot of time in not just eating, but also in preparing food, purchasing what we need to survive and thrive.


And even if we might actually eat by ourselves, other human beings are part of the story. Whether it be eating a burger at a fast food joint, whether it be at a fine 5-star restaurant, or a greasy-spoon diner, or a family dinner, or a church supper, or standing in line at a food bank, we are around others who are doing the very thing we are.

And just maybe, we connect with others through food; and maybe in that connection, we are, in a small way, sharing our lives with theirs.


Meals, eating with others, can also carry significance of meaning. Take for example, some of our holiday meals and celebrations. At Thanksgiving, we gather to give thanks to God for what God has done and how God has provided for us in the past year.


Likewise, when we share a birthday cake and sing happy birthday, and as we blow out the candles, we give thanks for all the years that beloved person has been with us.


Sometimes, when there is a party or celebration, it is about looking forward to the future; celebrating what is to come; for example, a wedding banquet, where the couple newly married gather with family and friends, ask for God’s blessing on their future life together.


And of course, sharing a meal, sharing food is about having the nourishment to live, to get through the day, to have the needed energy for the next and the next and the next day. We die if we don’t eat. And we don’t thrive without enough to get by.


Have you ever noticed how much ‘eating’ there is in the Bible? Food; eating, providing, growing, sharing; is a big part of the story. God provides food for the future of creation. God provides for the day at hand. And God provides food for remembrance and celebrating what God has done in our history. And, most importantly, God is present in all of it!


We read and hear of how God provides for God’s creation. In Genesis, after human beings are created, God says, “See I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.”


God even shares in that food that is provided. Also in Genesis, we hear of how God, along with 2 angels, visit Abraham. And what does Abraham do? He provides a feast for the visitors.


And then we read in Exodus of how God commands the people of Israel to prepare a meal that will, at the same time, help them be ready for their future and help them remember and celebrate the saving action of God is saving the people from slavery in Egypt. The Passover.


And this feeding, this eating, this providing is in the New Testament as well, in the person and life of Jesus Christ.


Jesus provides food for the day. He teaches us to pray, ‘give us this daily bread.’” Which he also provides; think of the amazing story of how Jesus provides enough food for thousands; taking just a few fish and loaves and providing enough and then some for those who had followed him out into the wilderness.

He is also so present with people at mealtime. Jesus, it seems, shares food with a lot of folks; friends and disciples, rich and powerful, sinners, outcasts, nobodies . . . Nobody is outside the circle of Jesus’ table fellowship.


And then, he also gives us a foretaste of the feast to come; something we celebrate tonight and every time we gather at the Lord’s Supper; holy communion.


The scholar, Stanley Saunders, shares these thoughts about the meal we hear about in the gospel of Matthew:


Before there was church, there was table, where sinners and saints, disciples and outcast, believers and betrayers gather to remember, to anticipate what is still to come, and to embody together the restoring and unifying power of God.

Betrayal, judgment, and the breaking of Jesus’ community intertwine with promise, forgiveness, and hope.

And then, there is this. This meal Jesus shares, is not just with the insiders, those who are faithful followers. Saunders writes:

Jesus signals his embrace of a diverse community that includes those who will desert and betray him—not only Judas, but the whole group of Jesus’ closest followers.

Here at the Last Supper, there is only a body of broken and breaking people in the presence of the redeeming and reconciling Lord.


Do you ever stop and think about the fact that Judas, the one who betrays Jesus, is at the table along side of Jesus, and all the other disciples? And, as I read this, it seems to me that Jesus loves Judas, that the meal shared, and the body and blood are for him just as they are for all!


Dietrich Bonhoeffer noticed, and says this:


Judas, one of the twelve, chosen by Jesus, granted community by Jesus, loved by Jesus—does all this mean that Jesus wants to show and prove all his love even to his betrayer? Does it mean that Judas should know that there is basically nothing in Jesus to betray? Does it also mean that Jesus profoundly loves God’s will, even as that will comes to fulfillment in Jesus’ own path of suffering, and that he also loves the person whose betrayal opens up that very path, and indeed, the person who for a brief moment holds Jesus’ very fate in his hands? Does it mean that Jesus loves Judas as the one through whom the divine will comes about, and yet knows: Woe to the one through whom it happens? That is the great, unfathomable mystery—Judas, one of the twelve.


Tonight, we, as with all those who have gone before us, and those who follow after us, gather at this table. We remember the saving action of God in Jesus. We are given the food of forgiveness and salvation, and love. And we are given a foretaste of all that is to come.


Tonight, we remember the hard road that has led us to today. We remember the road that leads Jesus to the cross. Tonight, we are given a meal that is more than just a little bit of everything; it is everything; the very love and life of Jesus Christ given for you and shed for you.

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