‘Mandatum’ is a Latin word that means ‘commandment.’
The Anglo-French rendering is ‘Maundy.’
We call this day, the Thursday before Easter, the day we commemorate the
Passover meal Jesus had with his disciples before he was arrested a crucified,
Maundy Thursday. English words ‘mandatory,’ and ‘mandate’ come from this
Latin word. Jesus sits at the table with
his closest followers, gives them bread, and says, “Take this,” and “Do this
in remembrance of me. It’s not a
suggestion. It’s a commandment.
Gathering for the Lord’s Supper is mandatory for his followers.
What exactly is the commandment? What does it
mean? And when does it take effect?
What exactly does Jesus command his disciples and us to
do when he tells us to take the bread and drink the wine? From the
writings of Paul and the practice of the very first Christians, we know all in
the church were invited to the table for the bread and wine. The Lord’s
Supper was not reserved for elites within the Christian community. There were not to be elites. Regardless of one’s social status, rich or
poor, powerful or unimportant, all were welcomed as one family at Jesus’ table.
The assumption is that anyone who desired to follow
Christ or claimed to be a follower of Christ would join with the church for
communal worship. There was no such thing as a solitary, individual Christian.
In the earliest Christian Communities, the Lord’s Supper happened within
worship. When Jesus commands, “Take this
bread, drink this cup, do this to remember me,” he’s commanding us to worship
with one another in the gathering of the church.
In the tradition of the
practice of the first century Church, when we gather for worship and come
around Jesus’ table, we are to welcome all as equals. Here, there are no
rich or poor. People of all racial and
ethnic backgrounds are welcomed in love.
Jesus commands it to be so. Come
to worship. Remember him by eating the
bread and drinking from the cup. And tell of the salvation he gives by
inviting people you know outside the church to come with you. This was recorded in the gospels. All four gospels were written with the
intention that they be read publicly and repeatedly for the purpose of telling
Jesus’ story and drawing lost people to him.
It’s Maundy,
mandatory: gather with the church family; worship; eat and drink; remember;
and, bring others with you.
What does it all mean?
Jesus says, “Take, eat;
this is my body.” It sounds bizarrely cannibalistic. In some worship traditions, believers are
certain the bread literally becomes his body as we eat it, and the wine
literally becomes his blood as we drink it. Such thoughts would not have
occurred to the disciples at Jesus’ table or to the earliest Christians. They were eating the Passover and as they
did, Jesus transformed it.
The unleavened bread
hearkened back to the meal the Jews ate when they were slaves in Egypt and the
angel of death killed the firstborn in each Egyptian family. Moses
instructed the people to kill the lamb and spread the blood of the lamb on
the doorposts of their houses. The angel
saw the blood and passed over the homes of God’s chosen. The lamb each
family sacrifice died in their place.
Jesus is the final
sacrifice covering not only Israel’s sins, but the sins of the world.
Remember, we’re commanded to take this supper. It means we are all sinners, every last one
of us. We are cut off from God because of the sins we have committed and there
is nothing we can do to atone for our mistakes. Sin has stained our
souls. Without Jesus, we’re eternally
lost.
But, we’re not “without
Jesus.” He has come, died on the cross, and rose. When he says,
“Take, eat, this is my body,” he means he is going to suffer violence on our
behalf. In Paul’s rendering of this passage, 1 Corinthians 11, Jesus
says, “This is my body that is for you.” Jesus is for us. He
- God in the flesh - came for our good, our benefit. However hard life
might be, and life can be pretty trying, God loves us. Jesus gives
himself for us. We’re not alone.
Nor are we trapped in
our sins. “He took a cup ... saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you;
for this is my blood of the covenant which poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). In Jesus blood shed on the cross,
sin loses its hold on us. All are
invited to drink, but Jesus knew not all would. Even though this is a
command, Jesus knew not all who heard it would obey it. Many people meet God, receive his invitation
to relationship through the forgiveness of sins, and reject that invitation.
God honors that response and those who meet Him and choose to turn away
from Him, are cut off, separated from God by their own choosing. Those who obey and turn to Jesus and take the
bread and drink the cup are forgiven. Our sins are washed away and we
become new creations.
We’ve said what Jesus
commands. We are commanded to worship with God’s church treating all
people as equals, as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to come and
worship, take the bread and cup and receive forgiveness, and to tell the story
of salvation to others who have not heard.
We have said what Maundy
Thursday means. God is for us because God loves us. Thus our sins are forgiven. That which
would cut us off from God has been removed.
In Christ, we have access to God. Nothing stops us from living in
relationship with God as His sons and daughters.
When does this story take
effect? That happens when we respond to the grace of God, the Holy Spirit
speaking to our hearts, and step to God in faith. The original disciples
took this step after they met Jesus in resurrection. Shortly after this Passover meal, the last
supper, Jesus would be arrested, and his disciples fled in terror.
They abandoned him and went into hiding.
However, when he rose
from death and they met him and touched his resurrected body, they were
changed. From fear to courage, they went through dramatic
transformations. Tradition tells us that
the disciples became so determined to tell the world about Jesus that most of
them ran afoul of the Roman Empire. Under the governance of Rome, the law
dictated that all subjects acknowledge the emperor as divine. “Caesar is Lord,” was the decree. The disciples could not abide by such a
sentiment because they knew that Jesus is Lord. Most of them died deaths
as gruesome as Jesus because they would not recant and acknowledge the divinity
of Caesar. They didn’t care what Rome
did. They believed and insisted that
Jesus and only Jesus is Lord.
We mostly likely won’t
be threatened with death as our forebearers were. It doesn’t happen that
way in our culture. So how will we know
we have obeyed the command of Jesus? Obviously we are all here in this
worship service, singing songs of faith, confessing our sins and turning to
Jesus as we prepare to take the bread and cup. In that sense we are
actively obeying his command.
How we will know this
obedience has taken hold in our lives once Holy Week has passed and we are away
from the church family? We become self-giving, following the example
Jesus set. We look out for others and give
of ourselves for their benefit. This happens
100’s of ways, from donating blood to investing in someone else’ life to giving
generous monetary donations to works that help people who need it. The
giving of ourselves happens in relationships with people we’ve know all our
lives and in interactions with strangers.
We become love-banks extravagantly doling out the love of God to
everyone we meet.
In addition to becoming
self-giving, we also become storytellers and the story we share is the Good
news of forgiveness of sins people can have in Jesus. God is building the
kingdom of God through His church. Every
time we share the story of Jesus, a brick is put in place. Every time we invite someone to church, a
brick is put in place. Every time we help someone see what the life of a
disciple of Jesus looks like, a brick is put in place. God is building the Kingdom. He works through the work of the church and
the witness of individuals in the church; people like you and me.
Are we saying all that
stems from the dinner we call the “Last Supper,” a simple remembrance in bread
and wine? Yes, that’s exactly what has been said.
Tonight, perhaps you
needed to put it all together, the connection from what the 12 went through
that night to the life of faith you are currently living.
Or, perhaps, you’re in a
different place. You needed to be reminded that yes, you are a sinner, and yes,
your sins cut you off from God. However, Jesus has covered your sins and
opened the way. The pathway is clear for
you to walk into God’s loving embrace.
Tonight, maybe communion is time for you receive forgiveness and begin
truly living as God’s daughter or son.
Or, maybe you’re getting
a sense of this entire story for the very first time. You never knew what
it all meant, but now you do, at least a bit.
Now that you know, you realize how much you need Jesus. Tonight,
for the very first time, you want to ask Jesus into your heart to be your Lord
and Savior. You can do that as you come
to eat and drink.
Everyone is invited to come and meet Jesus in this bread and
cup. Take a few moments in silent preparation. Pour out your heart to God and ask Him to
reveal his love to you.
After we’ve had silent
contemplation, join in as we gather at the tables to receive what Jesus has for
us.
AMEN
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