Maundy Thursday

One of my Holy Week traditions is to watch the 1973 movie Jesus Christ Superstar

          I remember as a teenager going to see the movie while we were on vacation

I hate to admit this --- but Jesus Christ Superstar has influenced my theology in many ways.  But that is a discussion for another day!

One of the reasons I love that movie is it gives me a chance to see some of the wonderful places of Israel --- since that is where the movie was filmed

One of my favorite locations is used early in the movie are in a bell shaped cave

          It was filmed at Beit Gurvin --- a truly remarkable place

As the disciples join Jesus for The Last Supper, --- as they make their way to the meal they are singing the most ridiculous song.

          Always hoped that I'd be an apostle

          Knew that I would make it if I tried

          Then when we retire we can write the gospels

          So they'll all talk about us when we die 

I always chuckle when I hear this song, because they had absolutely no idea what was about to take place

I want to invite you to join me as the disciples gathered with Jesus for this last meal.

Let your imagination put you in that "upper Room"

Maybe like Palm Sunday, the disciples were in a buoyant, expectant mood,  singing crazy songs ---- while Jesus was mired in a more somber apprehension of what was to come.

No doubt they sang from the Psalms, most likely the collection of Psalms known as the Hillel which consists of Psalms 113-118.

These Psalms are sung for joyous occasions, but especially during the pilgrimage festivals which includes Passover.

Can you picture them singing?

          What did their voices sound like?

          Did Jesus or one of the others lead?

          Did they harmonize?

How do you think "Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints” or

“This is the day the Lord has made” resonated with Jesus and the disciples?

Can you marvel over what was going on?

When I picture this scene --- I have no doubt but that Jesus must have had a catch in his throat as he stared at the bread and wine ---- knowing what was going to happen to him the next day --- that his body was going to be broken --- knowing his blood was about to be shed

Can you imagine that?

          It is haunting to me

                   But it is also lovely, gripping, and poignant.

When the disciples ate that last supper, what do you think they were thinking?

You understand --- they had no idea about what was going on

          We have the advantage of history --- they were in the moment and filled with     other expectations

Austin Farrer, in The Crown of the Year put it beautifully:

“Jesus gave his body and blood to his disciples in bread and wine. Amazed at such a token, and little understanding what they did, Peter, John and the rest reached out their hands and took their master and their God. Whatever else they knew or did not know, they knew they were committed to him… and that they, somehow, should live it out.” 

I like that.

We are mystified, but we know we receive Jesus himself and are thereby committed to him, come what may.

As N.T. Wright rightly suggested, when we eat and drink at the Lord’s table, “we become walking shrines, living temples in whom the living triune God truly dwells.”

While we as the church often include or exclude certain people and feel noble about it, Jesus was utterly inclusive; he makes a shrine – a temple -- happen for everybody, even those who don’t believe or have a clue.

As Jürgen Moltmann writes in The Church in the Power of the Spirit: 

“The Lord’s supper takes place on the basis of an invitation which is as open as the outstretched arms of Christ on the cross. Because he died for the reconciliation of ‘the world,’ the world is invited to reconciliation in the supper.”

In a wonderful ON BEING interview last year: Father Greg Boyle, whose ministry with gang members in California is impressive and moving said:

“We’ve wrestled the cup out of Jesus’ hand and we’ve replaced it with a chalice because who doesn’t know that a chalice is more sacred than a cup, never mind that Jesus didn’t use a chalice?” 

He went on to tell how he asked an abused orphan and former gang member in his program, “What did you do for Christmas?”

The young man said he cooked a turkey “ghetto-style,” and invited six other guys to join him.

When he named them, Boyle recognized them as members of warring gangs.

As he pondered them cooking together on Christmas day, he wondered,

“So what could be more sacred than seven orphans, enemies, rivals, sitting in a kitchen waiting for a turkey to be done? Jesus doesn't lose any sleep that we will forget that the Eucharist is sacred. He is anxious that we might forget that it’s ordinary, that it’s a meal shared among friends.”

Come, let us share in this meal --- as friends