HOMILY

MANUNDY THURSDAY

MARCH 28, 2002

CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER

 In our first reading tonight we hear God’s words to Moses, on the eve of the Hebrews’ great exodus from Egypt, “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.  You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord.” or succeeding generations of faithful Jews “this day” means Passover, the commemoration of the miraculous act by which the enslaved Hebrews were liberated from captivity by the power of their God, our God. 

Jesus was a Jew.  So learned was he in the writings and customs of his people that he was called “rabbi” not only by his closest friends but by those who gathered to hear him speak and share his interpretation of the Law of Moses.  Naturally, he would celebrate Passover with his friends at what we know as the Last Supper.  If you and I were Jews, we would be gathered with friends and family this very night, the second night of Passover, for a Seder meal.  We would observe the traditional rituals and say the time-honored words found in the Haggadah, the prayer book for the Feast of Passover.  Jesus, at his Passover meal, did not have a Haggadah, as the Seder observed by our Jewish friends was not really put together until after the year 70 C.E.  God’s command to remember and celebrate the Passover by the sacrifice of a lamb (the pesach) by the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem was the major rite.  However, Jews like Jesus and his disciples would surely gather for a meal with special blessings and prayers throughout the week-long Passover season.

Because Passover coincides with our Holy Week and Easter celebrations only once in a while, I am thinking particularly of the Passover meal, the Seder, being shared in houses not far from us and all over the world as well. Our brotherhood and sisterhood with Jews connects us to the great tradition of God’s mighty works for all people, and this night is just as holy for Jews as for us.  It was at that Passover meal that Jesus pronounced the age-old blessings over the unleavened bread, the matzo, and the common cup of wine --“Blessed are you, our Eternal God, Ruler of the world, who causes the earth to bring forth bread.” and “Blessed are you, our Eternal God, Ruler of the world, Creator of the fruit of the vine.”  Just as the Passover meal is a thanksgiving, so our common meal is also a  thanksgiving, the Eucharist. 

The similarities between the Christian observance of the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion and the Jewish observance of Passover are worth our consideration and our ongoing exploration of ways to further our fellowship with our Jewish brothers and sisters.  However, in considering the events we Christians commemorate today, we have to understand that Jesus took the idea of exodus and salvation a further step for us.  He gave us himself, his body and blood, his spirit of life and love in the bread and wine of blessing.  We too are invited into freedom from slavery, not the actual, degrading slavery of the ancient Hebrews in Egypt but instead the slavery to sin and death that has marked humankind from the beginning.  When Jesus urges us to “do this in remembrance of me”, he is continuing the ancient history of the Passover in a new light and with a new intimacy between God and God’s people.  As Moses says, this night is different from other nights – “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.  You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord.” 

We continue to celebrate this day every time we gather as God’s people around the table and repeat the words of Jesus, say again the holy blessing, and share the bread and wine, in a mysterious way the body and blood of our loving Christ.  The line goes all the way back to that upper room in Jerusalem, mere hours before the betrayal, arrest, and death of Jesus of Nazareth.  He knew what was to happen as he gathered with his friends at that final table, and as he instituted, established, and gave us the Holy Communion.  We can never forget the poignancy of that supper.  We can never forget the miraculous intention of the words of Jesus as he held that break and broke it.  We can never forget the transforming power of that wine as he passed it around among his friends.  Tonight we shall invite him to return, as he does forever, to this table of supper, and welcome him into ourselves as friend, savior, God, and assurance of our sacred possibilities.  Jesus did all this for you and for me, seeking neither glory, fame nor popularity.  His supper was dangerous in a real sense, and he urges us to gather at the cross of his death as we eat and drink his being into ours, confident of the love and freedom that such a ritual promises. 

Tonight we are a miracle people, awed by the grace and generous self-sacrifice of God in Christ Jesus.  Our only realistic choice is to kneel before him and accept the gift of salvation and continue forever to keep this feast with unbounded joy and every bit of solemn expectation we can imagine.  AMEN.

                                                                        The Rev. Richard H. Downes

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