LIving out the last supper

Grateful to the United Women in Faith at Central who gave me the honor of preaching for the UWF Sunday at our church.

Watch the sermon above (20 minutes) or read it below:

A reading from genesis 18, verses 1- 15, the Message version
God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them. He said, “Master, if it please you, stop for a while with your servant. I’ll get some water so you can wash your feet. Rest under this tree. I’ll get some food to refresh you on your way, since your travels have brought you across my path.” They said, “Certainly. Go ahead.” Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. He said, “Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make bread.” Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate. The men said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He said, “In the tent.” One of them said, “I’m coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.  Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies. Sarah laughed within herself, “An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?” God said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh… Is anything too hard for God?...” Sarah lied. She said, “I didn’t laugh,” because she was afraid. But he said, “Yes you did; you laughed.”

A reading from Luke 22, verses 14- 27, New International version
When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

The Word of God for the people of God, thanks be to God.
 
Throughout scripture we find so many parallels between food and spirituality. Christ tells his disciples that he’s not hungry, his food is to do the will of his Father. He says that those who hunger and thirst for justice will be satisfied. He does miracles with fish and bread and wine to show abundance.

I want to juxtapose these two passages and somewhat quickly walk through the differences we see. I know we just read a lot of scripture and quickly, so let’s take a magnifying glass to both passages. I hope you’ll be able to stay with me as I go back and forth between them. The first difference we see between the two texts is social hierarchy vs. mutuality.

In the Genesis passage, notice that Abraham, upon greeting the three men, who represent God, speaks specifically to one, naming him Master. Abraham also calls himself servant.

There is a clear hierarchy that Abraham lives by. In this instance, the visitors are above him. But in his house, there’s another hierarchy: Abraham is the master and Sarah is the master’s wife. They have servants. You all likely know of Hagar, Sarah’s servant who is forced to have Abraham’s child because both Abraham and Sarah stop believing in the promise of descendants (but that’s another story for another time).

From this passage and many others in the Bible, we see a clear demarcation of authority and we also see fear of that authority.
My sister is two years older than me. When I was a baby, my sister had just discovered how to write her name. She was so excited about this that she’d take a crayon and walk around our apartment and write her name on the walls. When my mom saw this, she would approach my sister and ask her: Anna who did this? She’d point at me in my crib and say, “It must have been Gena.”

Now this is not the best example of lying to an authority figure, because it’s a silly one, but I bet you could think of a serious situation in which you either lied or felt tempted to lie to authority so you wouldn’t get in trouble or, as is the case for so many gender and ethnic minorities, to stay safe.

Like Anna and like you and me, Sarah told a lie. She lies about laughing.

If you’ve ever done research on trauma responses, you’ll know the three most common responses: flight, fight or freeze. But there’s also fawn. Fawning is when someone unconsciously appeases others to stay safe. Sarah is fawning here. She lies because she fears the authority figure that predicts her future.

In the worldview of this supper, the social hierarchy pushes people away from each other rather than bringing them into closer relationship. Everyone knows their place at any given moment.
 
At the Lord’s Supper, however, Christ visually disrupts that idea of social hierarchy. We see that Jesus washes the feet of each disciple. In the Gospel of John, Christ says to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am. If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet.
Christ is saying, “This is what it looks like to be an authority figure: to serve, and love, and get dirty.”

This is not the way they were used to. This is not the way their ancestors taught them. This is not the way most of us are taught to see authority. The washing signifies a defiance of social norms. But the disciples don’t get it. Just like us. They start arguing about who will be greatest.

It’s an argument I often have inside my own head. As a writer, I am seeking bigger and bigger audiences. Usually the thought is something like: well if I had a bigger following I could sell more books, get more newsletter subscribers. And maybe that would lead to the next book deal, and then then the next big interview. How can I be a great writer for God?

Christ rebukes them, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:26-27).

The mustard seed is small, but so much can come from so little. The five loaves and two fish aren’t much, but they can feed a multitude. Can I be faithful to write what God has given me to write and to share what God’s given me to share with whatever size following I have? Can you be faithful to create whatever God has given you to create even if only a few will enjoy it?

Christ is saying, yes I know that your worldview says that the greatest is the one who is being served, but I am showing you a better way. The way of mutuality, the way of humility, the way where you don’t have to fear authority, but rather simply accept my love.
 
The second major difference we see between the two passages is that of hurry vs. slowness.

Verses 6-8 in Genesis passage says: {{Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. He said, “Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make bread.” Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate.}}

Our social hierarchies require haste and productivity. In order to please God, Abraham believes he must prepare the best meal as quickly as possible. This hurry is juxtaposed against a very slow dream that has been in Sarah’s heart for years. One that is now seemingly impossible due to her age. God has not been quick in fulfilling God’s promise to the couple.

Is there a dream deep inside of you that you feel God’s slowness about? Maybe it’s a miracle you’re hoping for, a goal you want to achieve, a prayer yet unanswered. Maybe you have a time frame in your head like I did.

2.5 years ago I lost my taste due to COVID. I had lost it once before for four months. So it was around four months into this second time that I’ve been letting God know that the time is past due to return it to me. Some days I barely notice anymore. But on the days when I desperately want comfort from a verb I used to find it in, I can get pretty depressed. Maybe like me, you are crying How long, Oh lord?”

For the first time in 24 years, God gives this elderly couple a time frame. This slow dream will be fulfilled in a year’s time. It’s hard for me to imagine waiting 24 years for something. But maybe it’s not for you.

On the other hand, we have this view of a very slow meal given before a very quick end to Christ’s short life. Typically, Christians don’t sit to eat a Passover meal, but if you ever have, you know it’s SLOW.

The Seder meal has “a 15-step choreographed combination of tastes, sounds, sensations and smells that have been with the Jewish people for millennia.” Not only did the preparation need to be meticulous, but the ceremony was step-by-step intentional to remember the story of their ancestors’ exodus out of slavery. Even the way the food is eaten and the wine drunk is slow.

We see in both Luke and Mark that the wine was drunk “while reclining” which was a sign of true freedom because in ancient times, only free people had the luxury of reclining while eating. And the logistics of doing so is that you eat slowly. In that slowness there was liberation.

What feels like it’s happening too slowly in your life? Are there ways you are trying to force it to happen more quickly?
 
Finally, the third difference we see in the text is exclusion vs. inclusion.

At Abraham’s meal, the preparers of this meal are not allowed to eat with the consumers. The visitors eat it alone. Abraham gets water for the visitors to wash their own feet. The bread is made by Sarah alone (though we might infer she had help from her servants). Abraham chooses the calf without Sarah and without the visitors. We see no mingling.

The discussion of the future—how life will come through birth—is done outside of communion. Sarah must eavesdrop to know what is being said about her own body. God must do some type of mindreading to acknowledge that Sarah’s silent laugh is heard. There is an expectation that because of the social hierarchy, neither connection nor communion should take place. Everyone not only knows their place, their place is separate from each other.

So let me ask you, what place does our social hierarchies say you should live in? Do you function in this role separately from others? Or do you, too, break social norms like Christ?

In one gospel account, the disciples ask Jesus where they will eat the Passover meal. He tells them to find a man in town who will lead them to the owner of a furnished guest house. There, the disciples are to prepare the meal, which will take time. This detail cannot be overlooked: the preparers of the meal are also the eaters of the meal.

Unlike Abraham’s Supper, the Lord’s Supper likely included many women. While there are none named in the text, written by men in a world where women were not seen as equals, Jesus, again and again throughout his life gives authority to women. He changes his mind after the Cannanite woman confronts him on his perspective that his healing was exclusive. He lets Mary of Bethany and another unnamed woman wash his feet (separate accounts) with perfume. And when we think of what he’s doing here in the Last Supper, we see that he’s showing us they too were leaders in their own right. He reveals his risen self first to Mary Magdalene, known as the Apostle to the apostles.

And not only were women likely at the Last Supper, so was Judas. Judas’ presence at the Last Supper tells us that even those who betray God are welcome at God’s table and worthy of God’s service.

I think of the Civil Rights Movement. Rosemarie Freeney Harding said in her book Remnants, “Nonviolence in the Movement meant that there was room for everyone—every ethnic group, every race, males and females. You constantly made room for the oppressor. The very way in which you were protesting was a form of reconciliation. That was the significant thing about the Movement. Its mode, its approach, contained the seeds of inclusiveness, openness, and forgiveness. This made for a very different kind of revolution.”

Here at the last Supper, all are co-laboring for this meal together. All are in communion. Maybe this is why Jesus tells them to do this again and again in remembrance of him. Don’t just lay out a meal and feed the belly. Dine together, wash each other’s feet, listen to each other and co-labor both in the sowing and in the reaping, the cooking and the eating. Food can go beyond the physical and into the spiritual. Do this all, altogether in remembrance of Christ.

The two suppers offer us two worldviews.

One that allows social hierarchy to rule the day, to make us fear our authority and make us feel like we must be effectively productive and do our work alone without communion. This worldview allows us to see human beings on a ladder of authority. This worldview has us asking the same questions the disciples were asking: who is the greatest and how can it be me?
The other worldview offers us a completely different way of looking at life: seeing leadership as service, slowness as resistance in a dog-eat-dog world, and inclusion as the best way to live. We prepare the meal in community and we eat the meal in community, a cycle of giving and taking where no one person is exploited nor exalted. This worldview has us asking a more important question: who isn’t sitting here yet and how can we invite them to come and eat?
On this day, Women’s Ministry Sunday that celebrates and supports the leadership and gifts of women, I want to point out just how maternal Christ’s actions are here. Saint John Chrysostom, an early church father said, “As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ increasingly nourish with his blood those to whom he has given life.” To love with motherly love often comes intuitively even to women who aren’t literal mothers. Mothering as a verb goes beyond identifying as a mother. Here, at Christ’s table, we are all mothered into a love that gives its very blood and life for our thriving.
As the bitter wine infuses our taste buds and our saliva absorbs the bread, we are re-membered to the Body of Christ, where the question, Am I great enough? becomes unequivocally irrelevant.

May it be so. Amen.
 
As you go out may you remember Rosemarie Freeney Harding’s words:
May we all be instruments of grace. The more we give, the more we share, the more we use, the more God makes. There is no scarcity of love. There is plenty. And always more.

Go and be abundance in this world in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.