“What Part to Play?”
Maundy Thursday 2006
Christopher H. Edmonston
Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church
Matthew 26 and 1 Corinthians 11
I.
I’ll only
make mention of this one time in a sermon while I am your pastor – and this is
the occasion I’ll mention it. But in the
last weeks, I have finished my Doctor of Ministry final project – what used to
be called a dissertation. It is all
finished. All I have left to do is
travel to
I make mention of this, because it has caused me to wonder – what part do I play next? Up until early last month, I had always played, at least in part, the part of a student for as long as I can remember. Indeed, as I mailed it to the prospective folks it had to go to for reading, proof reading, commentary, and defense, I felt this palpable question – what are you going to do now?
II.
After all, if Shakespeare was right, that all the world is indeed a stage and we are merely players – then what part am I going to play next? To be sure, Doctor Edmonston at 34 has its appeal, but to rest on that laurel and not wonder what part is to come next – to dare to not continue to seek God at His calling – to do nothing now seems shallow at best and more likely than not would be pure wastefulness of the good gifts that God has given and will continue to give.
Well, not knowing exactly what I was to do, I decided early on that I was going to read again – not academic books, but fun books, fiction, and biographies, essays, and memoirs. It has been great. I have read, since I turned it all in February and March, no fewer than 6 and 1/2 books – it has been wonderful.
III.
Right now,
I am reading a book called,
Earlier this week I came upon this passage, which I think bears relevance for the task this evening:
“Today was Lord’s Supper, and I preached on
Mark 14:22: ‘And as they were eating, he
took bread, and when he had blessed, he brake it, and gave it to them, and
said, Take ye: this is my body.’ Normally I would not preach on the Words of
Institution themselves when the Sacrament is the most beautiful illumination of
them there could be. But I have been
thinking a great deal about the body these last weeks. Blessed and broken. I used Genesis 32: 23-32 as the Old Testament
text, Jacob wrestling with the Angel. I
wanted to talk about the gift of physical particularity and how blessing and
sacrament are mediated through it. I
have been thinking lately how I have loved my physical life. In any case, and you may remember this, when
almost everyone had left and the elements were still on the table and the
candles still burning, your mother brought you up the aisle tome and said, ‘You
ought to give him some of that.’ You’re too
young, of course, but she was completely right.
Body of Christ, broken for you.
Blood of Christ, shed for you.
Your solemn and beautiful child face lifted up to receive these
mysteries at my hands. They are the most
wonderful mystery, body and blood. It
was an experience I might have missed.
Now I only fear I will not have the time enough to fully enjoy the
thought of it.”
Body of Christ, broken for you….
Blood of Christ, shed for you….
IV.
What part do you play? In the great drama of the Lord’ Supper, in the great story of Easter and Maundy Thursday, what is your role?
Are you the parent bringing the child to the table to receive the very mysteries of God himself? Are you the grandparent, the one who is aging right before our eyes watching a grandchild follow in your footsteps of faith – worried about having the time to fully enjoy the thought of that child of you child following in the footsteps of Christ? Are you the child, sitting in awe and wonder, drawing on the bulletin, wondering why everyone makes such a big deal about “big church” – do you have questions about the mystery of bread and cup?
Body of Christ, broken for you…
Blood of Christ, shed for you…
Take it one step further. After all, Matthew does. He paints for us the disciples of Jesus painted in three different shades. The first shade is the shade of preparation – “go and prepare and find the place and there I will celebrate the Passover with you”. And they go and prepare and they do a grand job. Is that your role? Are you the preparer?
Quickly the disciples become painted as the betrayers and the deniers of Jesus – Judas betrays and dips his hand in the bowl, but they will all take turns denying the Lord in their course. How often have we each played this role?
But perhaps the last shade is most common for the disciples – Jesus tells them that they will desert him in the garden. How might we have played that role, the role of deserters – those who just up and run away, maybe to nowhere else; but run we have in the past away from our Lord and most of us, me included, will on some future day run away from him again when he demands either too much faith or social capital. Are we painted like those disciples – the preparers, the betrayers, the deserters? Have we played that role?
Body
of Christ, broken for you…
Blood of Christ, shed for you…
What about the homeowner, the unnamed inn-keeper, the space-maker in this story. Have we made a place in our homes in our lives for the Lord? Here at the supper of Lord do we make space to carry the feelings and the taste of the cup and the bread back with us home, or do we forget as soon as we leave the conditioned air of worship and shut the car door behind us? Or, do we play the part of the Apostle Paul writing in First Corinthians – are we the proclaimers, the professors? – the part of those who pass on what has been handed to us? Does it become for us something like it was for him, a story and a compulsion that we just have to tell?
Body of Christ, broken for you…
Blood of Christ, shed for you…
Or maybe, you have played the part of Christ, of the one who will be betrayed. None of us will walk the precise path which Jesus walked, at least not the way he walked it. None of us are the Son of God, but we might have, or might be called to play at least part of his role in the drama of our lives. Have you ever been betrayed, ever been hurt? Have you ever been called by love to suffer for someone else – not with them – but for them, literally taking their pain away from them and placing it upon your back?
What part do you play? What part, from now on, to play?
Body of Christ, broken for you…
Blood of Christ, shed for you…
V.
By now you either become annoyed with my repeating this claim, this claim of Jesus that his body and his blood are yours to claim and be called into, or you have caught an inkling as to the destination we are seeking. For you see, whether you are the betrayer or the betrayed, the sacrificial lamb or the executioner, the preparer, the homemaker, the room provider, the deserter or the last disciple holding vigil on the last day – no matter what part you play, this supper is God’s gift to you.
It is the blessing before the brokenness.
It is the light before the darkness.
It is the gift before the cross.
Body of Christ, broken for you…
Blood of Christ, shed for you…
This is true by no means of our own, but by and through the grace of God which we cannot predict and cannot control – we might only receive.
It is for you, no matter what part you have played, no matter the part you are playing, and regardless of the parts you will be called to play tomorrow. You only need receive the grace of Jesus. You only need be present in His sacrifice. You only need offer yourself to Christ as both confession and profession. You only need to embrace with whatever faith one can muster, the mysteries of this sacrament and the fullness of God’s love and care.
Body of Christ, broken for you…
Blood of Christ, shed for you…
To God be the glory. Amen.