Sharing God’s Presence – Matthew 26:17-30

Lectionary Readings for November 01, 2020           22nd Sunday After Pentecost, All Saints Day, Year A
Revelation 7:9-17      v12 They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Psalm 34:1-10, 22      v1 I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.
1 John 3:1-3    v1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!
Matthew 5:1-12         The Beatitudes / The Sermon on the Mount 

But today we’ll focus on Matthew 26:17-30, Jesus Celebrates Passover with His Disciples

Peace Quotes

“Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one.” ~ Nikolai Berdyaev

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.” ~ Emily Dickinson

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.           God loves me.            God has plans for me.

Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading

Today is the first Sunday of the month and as such, many Christian churches around the world will celebrate Communion though they might use a different title such as Holy Communion, the Last Supper, the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist. Regardless of the title used, this is a special time when we express our faith in God using some of the most basic and ubiquitous nutrients of human history: bread and juice.

What we call Holy Communion today is an adaptation of the Jewish Passover meal that Rabbi Jesus shared with His Disciples. Another day I’ll explore how some people connect the ancient Jewish Passover meal with a Christian understanding of the person and life of Jesus.

The Last Supper, Jesus’ last meal with His Disciples, is one of the few stories that is recorded in all four gospels. But each gospel writer tells their version of the story a little differently. Mark 14:12-26 offers us the shortest version, Matthew 26:17-30 version is remarkably similar to Mark’s. True to his novelistic style, Luke 22:7-39 offers us far more details about the evening’s conversation. In all three, Jesus shares the bread and wine with Judas. Finally, John 13-17 gives us a more mystical account with details scattered over FOUR chapters yet, never mentions wine.

Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we read today’s Scripture.

Read Matthew 26:17-30.

This is a fascinating passage for a variety of reasons. But before I continue I must admit my bias. I firmly believe we were created to be in relationship with God and each other from Day 1 and throughout time. For me, everything about our faith revolves around relationship which means I understand everything through that perspective, that lens.

Recall Jesus’ words: “Take this [bread] and eat it, for this is my body. … Each of you drink from [this cup of wine], for this is my blood, which confirms the new covenant between God and his people.”

Today’s passage is a matrix of connections between the mundane (food and humanity) and the Divine (God as Father and Son, as Creator and Wisdom).

As I mentioned before, of all the various foods, beverages, and objects at His disposal, Jesus chose bread and wine as metaphorical analogies to help His disciples better understand who He was and the significance of His ministry.

Some variations of bread and wine can be found in nearly every culture around the world. Humanity has been making both for 1,000s of years. I find it beautiful that no matter where we go in the world, Jesus used two elements which we can find nearly everywhere – bread and juice –  to celebrate this profound sacrament of our faith.

For me, that speaks to the universal invitation God offers humanity to be in relationship with God. In the coming months, I hope to use a variety of breads in our communion services, and when we do, I’ll explain how each variety can help us better understand our relationship with God.

To this day, bread makers and winemakers are proud of their products and protective of their processes. They have relationships with their ingredients, their processes, and the people who consume their products. They intentionally select specific combinations of ingredients to produce what they have in mind. And they get their hands messy, sometimes elbow deep in dough or grapes. Have you ever watched a bread or winemaker serve their product? Often, they intently watch the person eat or drink, waiting for the looks and sounds of joyful appreciation. With so many options of ingredients and techniques, there are countless variations, countless expressions of what is possible.

For me, that emotional and physical connection to the ingredients, the products, and the joy of sharing speaks to God’s intimate involvement and delight with creation and more specifically with who we are as God’s precious children.

This also speaks to the countless variations of human beings: heights; hair, eye, and skin colors; personalities; skillsets; and one of the most mysterious variations of all… why some people get along fabulously with each other while others do not get along at all – chemistry.

Based on the Christian belief that God created the universe and everything in it, all those variations give me a glimpse of God’s sense of creativity. Think about all of that the next time you walk down the bread isle in the grocery store!

As for the “bread and flesh” concept, here’s the way I figured it out when I was 7 or 8 years old and learning about nutrition. When you eat bread and drink juice, your body breaks those down, absorbs the nutrients, and miraculously converts them into new flesh and new blood so that your body grows and can heal itself. OK, got it – even though I still don’t understand exactly how that works. When Jesus says, the bread and wine are flesh and blood, He understood they are essentially the same; the atoms and molecules are just rearranged.

That made sense at age 8 and it still makes since nearly 45 years later. Jesus, the human form of God’s presence, was made of the same stuff I’m made of. Jesus got hungry, just like me. Jesus ate, just like me. Jesus had taste buds and loved good bread and juice, just like me. With so much in common, it’s easier to imagine having a personal relationship with Jesus. All of that causes me to ask, what else do we share in common? What emotions? What hopes? What dreams? What frustrations?

In Luke’s version of the Passover meal, the Last Supper, Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Do this… Do what? It’s too easy, too convenient to think that Jesus simply wanted us to have a quick snack and remember His name before we go back to life as usual.

Do what? And just what should we remember? Recall that last week we talked about the Great Commandments (Matthew 22:34-40) Jesus shared with His disciples: Love God, love yourself, and love others. Our answer lies in those precious instructions.

We can start “remembering Jesus” by following Jesus’ example. In response to God’s love for you… In response to your relationship with God, love others to the point of sacrificing your own comfort and security so that others may come to know God and enjoy a loving relationship with Him. Jesus did that repeatedly.

There are so many ways to do this. Saying a kind word to… anyone! Helping someone with a task. Volunteering with our food pantry. Ringing the bell for the Salvation Army as an excuse to greet 100 or more people with a smile and kind word. Calling a friend who doesn’t get out much. Mailing someone a greeting card just to say, “Thinking of you.”

This is how we “remember” Jesus. This is how we make the body and blood – the presence – of Jesus present to those around us.    Amen? Amen!