Thursday: The Last Supper and a New Commandment

Sorry to be so long in posting again.  I have been pouting...  But more about that later.  Thursday of the last week was a full day, so many events, so little time.  For background you can read Mark 14:12-16 and 17-25.  How to cover so much - the betrayal, Gethsemane, the Last Supper - in a single sermon?  Make a wise choice and focus in on one aspect - what is the meaning of the Last Supper?

Most of the significant moments of our lives are accompanied by meals.  Think about it - holidays, birthdays, weddings, funerals, any other significant achievement.  Let's go out to dinner!  Food represents caring, sharing, comfort, and love.  It is the same in the Bible, food helps to define and expand our understanding of God and our (mankind's) relationship with God - manna in the dessert, Passover, Adam and Eve and the apple.

So what meaning is the Gospel of Mark giving to the Last Supper? First Mark echoes the feeding of the 5000 through verb choices - took, blessed, broke, gave - and descriptions.  Jesus takes what is already available and makes it more than enough, for all. Providing for the followers is never a question of whether or not resources are available, it is only a matter of distribution.  Next, the meal is connected to Passover, a meal that represents the birth of a nation, liberation from bondage, salvation from the tenth plague - a plague of death.  The blood of the Passover lamb saves them from the plague, providing protection against death, and the meal provides food for the journey. The Last Supper becomes the new Passover, giving birth to a "nation" (Christianity), liberating us from bondage to sin and saving us from death.  But it is also, and maybe more importantly, an act that allows and commands us to remember of God's saving acts.

The rubber hits the road when you seriously consider what it means for you. Through the sacraments God discloses things that are beyond our capacity to know by reason alone, but it is sooooo easy to fall into rote repetition of rituals.  It really is a re-presentation of God and God's power, an opportunity to consciously remember who God is so we can recognize God in our daily lives, and then choose to respond to and accept God's grace.

We were challenged this week to really think about what the Last Supper means to us.  One of the things I value most about being a Methodist is the emphasis on and individual relationship with God.  That is reflected in a quote often used by John Wesley:  "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."  We have to be careful and remember that there is a difference between a personal interpretation of the scripture in order to build a personal relationship with God and a personal theology.  So back to  my pouting.  You know, it just is so sad to see friends fall critically ill. It is frightening to feel your body deteriorating.  It is overwhelming to be bombarded by the media with the seemingly infinite amount of suffering and pain in the world.  It is excruciating to watch a child suffer and feel only inadequate and impotent.  But the Last Supper reminds me that God is always there to provide food and protection on my journey, to save me from the perils I face. The offer is always available, I just need to choose to accept it.

Wednesday: The Need for a Traitor

For Centuries, people have been trying to determine why Judas betrayed Christ to the Jewish officials.  Mark gives absolutely no hint of Judas’ motive in betraying Jesus.  He simply records it along with the response from the chief priests: “When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money.” (14:11)

The other Gospel writers were not content to leave the story there.  Matthew retells Mark by saying that Judas’ went to the high priests, he asked them “What will you give me if I betray him to you?”  They paid him thirty pieces of silver. John goes even further in explaining Judas’ motivation.  On a theological level, according to John he was under the influence of the devil.  On the night of Jesus’ death, John mentions the devil twice in connection with Judas.

John 13:2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

John 13:27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

Some believe that Judas is really representative of all the other disciples and their ambitions—that they all want, in some way, for Jesus to finally enact a violent revolution that will depose the Romans and begin a new era. Jesus had the popular support, but the disciples were probably wondering why he didn’t use it to his advantage and seal the deal. After all, what was all that riding down the Mount of Olives on a donkey on Sunday about if not a royal claim? By getting Jesus arrested, so the theory goes, it would finally force his hand. Jesus would have to fight back and the people would join him. In this theory, Judas was simply trying to get things moving.  Whatever his motivations might have been, Judas' betrayal is simply the worst example of how those closest to Jesus failed him dismally in Jerusalem.

Which brings me to the unnamed woman who annoints Jesus with her Alabastar Jar of nard.  Mark places her actions side by side with Judas' actions.  She is the example of the very best response of the disciples.  In case you missed it, she is the only one who seems to understand who Jesus is and what he needs to do.  She alone, of all those who heard Jesus' prophesies about his death and resurrection, believed him and drew the obvious conclusion.

Since (not if) you are going to die and rise, I must anoint you now before hand, because I will never have a chance to do it afterward.

 

 “She has done what she could, says Jesus, she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.”

She is, for Mark, the first believer.  She is, for us, the first Christian.  And she believed from the word of Jesus before any discovery of an empty tomb.

 

We are all very complicated beings.  We can conjecture all we like about the motivations of Judas, or the crowd, or Pilate, or the Temple officials or even the unnamed woman; but in essence, we can never really know what lies behind their actions.  None of us are ever motivated by just one thing.  Even the most philanthropic gesture is often motivated by multiple forces.

 

The Good News, in this otherwise bleak scene in Jerusalem, is the power of God's will to work around us, through us and often despite us.  Ultimately, God used Judas, the temple officials, Pilate, the even the Romans to do God's greatest work for humanity.³

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son

that whoever believes in him should not perish

but have eternal life.

Mission: Juxtaposition

I have been struggling, feeling quite inadequate after the pastor's eloquent post last week.  I will probably have the same problem next week, so don't expect anything prompt.  Here is the old college try on last week's sermon, Tuesday: Conflict and Confusion.

As I listened to the sermon last week, a pattern started to take shape for me.  On Sunday Jesus showed what kind of a king he is, entering Jerusalem at the same time as Pilot, but in completely opposite fashion.  On Monday Jesus goes to the temple, the symbol of religion and worship, but also representative of the government and commerce.  Jesus condemns the economic oppression by upsetting the tables of the money changers and ordering them out of the temple.  On Tuesday Jesus continues the conflict and clarifies some of the confusion.

The account of what happens next comes from Mark 11:27-13:37.  Christ has returned to the temple where he caused the crisis intending to get in all the teaching he can because he knows that his time is short.  He is determined to help them understand exactly what is important.  The questions of the people reveal what they find important, while the answers of Jesus define what God finds important.

The chief priests, elders and teachers of the law question Jesus' authority.  Jesus asks them to identify John's authority, but they cannot.  He then tells the Parable of the Tenants, condemning them for trying to keep that which belongs to God for themselves.  They next try to trap him, asking whether it is right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar?  Material things are important to them.  Jesus answer - God values his creation, your heart, body and soul.  Curses!  Foiled again!  The Sadducees, who don't believe in the resurrection, try to trip him up with a question about the resurrection and how it will redefine what was done in this life while following the Law.  Jesus' answer shows them that God was, is, and will be a living God.  The most important reunion at the resurrection is not husband with wife, but individual with God. And finally the scribe asks, apparently earnestly, of all the commandments which is the most important? The answer Jesus gives is one that all Jews would recognize as a part of the Shema: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

This was a high stress situation.  Each group reveals what they value in their question.  When Jesus answers, He turns the tables on them while revealing what God values.  Lent is traditionally a time when we examine our lives and beliefs.  So, what is important to me?  What is it that I value most?  And most importantly, how do I reveal what is important to me?  I would like to think I'm like the scribe, earnestly seeking answers.  In reality, I'm probably closer to the first guys, trying to maintain a safe status quo.  There are so many things pulling us this way and that.  Jesus is creating a different way of relating to God, it won't be easy, but because of Easter we can choose to stand up and show what is important to us.

Separation of Politics and Religion?

This week a lesson from our pastor:

On Monday, during the last week of Christ's life, he entered into the Temple, going up the stairs through the Hulda gate and up another flight of stairs to the platform on which the Temple was built. It had to be one of the most magnificent experiences in the lives of these Galilean disciples.

Imagine their surprise, then, when Jesus did not look about with awe but instead marched straight to the portico and without warning started flipping over the tables of the moneychangers. Jesus did not separate politics and religion.

In Jesus’ day there was no such separation in the popular mind, either. That’s more of a modern phenomenon, compartmentalizing life into specific parts that should never intersect with one another. While the Temple was the symbol of Israel’s religious devotion and worship, it was also the symbol of government and commerce. The high priests were more than just religious leaders, they were also agents of the government—appointed by the king or, by the time of the first century, the Roman emperor. The priests were usually chosen from among the wealthy aristocracy, which meant that they would remain loyal to the government because their own pockets were getting filled. To that end, the Temple (like many ancient temples) also acted as the national bank. Money flowed into the Temple as Jewish males both in Israel and around the world paid a Temple tax for its upkeep and operation. More importantly, the Temple was also the central repository for all the taxes that Rome collected. From there the tribute would be sent to the emperor, while any excess was assumed to be a bonus paid to the collecting officials.

So here was the ambiguity of the Temple—the symbol of worship on the one hand and the symbol of injustice on the other. It is this ambiguity that Jesus attacks.

So where is the ambiguity in the life of modern day Christians?  In what places do we worship God and any other places serve the powers of economic oppression?  Bankruptcy, home foreclosures, and the number of people being driven to poverty are increasing daily.  Truth is that what we are seeing in our culture is the very real emergence of economic slavery. People are being enslaved by crushing debt under which they can find no way out.

I really believe that’s where God is calling us as  a church.  Our vision can no longer be small—to simply be a nice worshiping community of nice people.  We must be willing to confront the economic forces that are turning the table on so many of God’s people.