lenten blog | March 28, 2024

A new commandment.  A new sacrament?

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for March 28th:  Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; and John 13:1-17, 31b-35.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today is Maundy Thursday.  This evening we will gather as the church community for a worship Service.  This is the night when Jesus would have gathered with His disciples for the Last Supper.  According to the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, this is when Jesus instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Over the shared loaf of bread, Jesus pronounces “This is my body,” and over the shared cup, “This is my blood.”  Then Jesus adds, “Do this in remembrance of me.”  Christians have done just that for almost 2,000 years now, and it is an integral part of this evening’s worship. 

The tradition is clear that all the disciples were present at the Last Supper, which means that Judas, the one who is about to betray Jesus, was there.  Judas received the bread and the wine as did the others.  Judas participated in the communion of the followers of Jesus with Jesus.  This is an example that the Sacrament of Communion is not meant to be reserved only for the ones judged worthy enough to share in it.  Communion is food for the soul and sometimes that nourishment is needed especially by those who hunger, who lack spiritual nourishment.  Communion may be offered in the hope that it may feed the soul and make a person stronger, healthier, better able to choose and do what is righteous.  We believe that in the sacrament we receive Jesus.  Jesus never hesitated in reaching out to those who were judged sinners.  Jesus lived a ministry that actively sought out the ones excluded in the name of God.  Why would we treat Communion any differently?  This is why we practice Open Table, which means that if a person feels called to come forward to share in the holiness of the sacrament, then it is offered graciously whoever they are and wherever they may be on their spiritual journey.

During this evening’s worship, we will also share in the readings of the Tenebrae Service.  Tenebrae is derived from the word “darkness.”  On Advent Sundays, we light the Advent Wreath.  Each Sunday an additional candle is lit, culminating on Christmas Eve when the Christ Candle is lighted, symbolizing Jesus’ birth as the light of the world.  During the Tenebrae worship, following each reading that tells of Jesus’ Passion and death, a candle is extinguished until the church is left in darkness.  The light that came into the world when Jesus was born is doused as Jesus suffers and dies.

Liturgy is a word derived from the Greek words for “work of the people.”  Through the liturgy of Maundy Thursday, the people of God come together to work out the mystery of Jesus’ sacramental presence in Communion and also to mediate upon His absence through the infamy of the cross.  Our time together in Christ helps to feed the soul, helps us to not think of these events as 2,000-year-old history, but as the ever-present mystery that is our faith.  It is an emotional connection to Christ that the liturgy feeds as we move from the promise of Communion to the darkness at the end of Tenebrae.

I mentioned above that the Synoptic Gospels record the institution of Communion at the Last Supper.  John is different.  His similar “living bread” dialogue is found in the context of the miraculous feeding of the crowd in chapter 6.  There are no words of institution at John’s Last Supper.  Instead, John includes the otherwise unrecorded account of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples.  In this context, Jesus states for us in today’s Gospel passage:  “‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’”  That “new commandment” (Latin – mandatum) is the source of the name Maundy Thursday.  Jesus’ new commandment is to love one another, crucially however, “as I have loved you,” which mean selflessly and proactively.

John is the latest of the four canonical Gospels.  He may well have known the tradition of the Last Supper and Communion.  By choosing to locate his Communion dialogue in the midst of Jesus’ public ministry rather than at the end of His life, and to have it situated among the crowds rather than insulated among the disciples, is a conscious redirection of the tradition, one that builds upon the nuance of Judas’ receiving of Communion in the Synoptics.  Furthermore, the example of washing the feet is to elevate service as a Christian sacrament.  I use the term informally, but the two formal sacraments are heightened and specific and identifiable vehicles that bring Christ and Christian together.  John may be saying the same about Christian service.  John may be acting to correct an imbalance already appearing near the end of the first century where Jesus’ presence is felt to be more sacred in the sacraments of worship than in the sacrament of humble service, to the point that Christian identity is not limited to Baptism and Communion.  Rather, the Johannine Jesus states, “‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’” 

Lent is quickly coming to its climax; Easter follows.  This evening’s liturgy introduces us to the holiest part of Holy Week, which is the holiest week of all Lent, and it solemnly acknowledges the close of Jesus’ life, while it also points to how Jesus’ life continues in and through us as we are fed by Communion so that we may exercise our faith in Christian service.  All are welcome to join us this evening at the Sunderland Church at 7:00pm.  If you cannot be with us in person, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom login.   
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.