Uplifting the Cup

Maundy Thursday Meditation – March 20, 2008

Psalm 116: 12 – 19

Christopher H. Edmonston

I.

“Do this in remembrance of me.” That is what is he said, our Jesus. That we should remember Him and we should share this meal. This is what he asked for on this night so very long ago.

He washed their feet as a servant.

He sat as a man of faith presiding over a Passover meal.

He told them that some-one of them was going to betray him.

He told them that he would die.

And then he asked to be remembered. “Do this in remembrance of me.”

And not remembered like “win one for the Gipper.” No melodrama. No inspiration final speech that would trump and replace what he had said in the months and years leading up to the pivotal moment of his earthly ministry and his teaching.

He does not gnash his teeth. He does not demand a memorial awards show in his honor every year.

He simply tells them what he knows to be true: that this supper will come to represent the sacrifice he is preparing to make for everyone, every man, woman, and child who has ever lived. A sacrifice sanctified by his body and his blood. A sacrifice sacrificed for forgiveness and for life forever. And then he asks to be remembered.

“Do this in remembrance of me.” Those are his figurative last words to his disciples before his crucifixion. These are his parting words to the church assembled at table in the full presence of the Lord.

II.

It strikes me that among the most basic human concerns that we all share is this one: how will we be remembered? Who among us does not want to be remembered well?

On of the most interesting activities I have led on retreats with adults is having the people write their own obituaries. It is a humbling endeavor. Obituaries generally don’t list assets or property. They usually don’t list favorite movies or favorite songs. They are not concerned with the cars we drive or the type of television in our living room. They typically list the people, achievements, and accomplishments by which we are most likely to be remembered; they are concerned with family, community, and church.

In so far as this meal is the obituary act of Jesus, then we can learn a great deal about him by understanding what he offers as a means of remembrance, as a method of obituary.

He is sitting with his “family” – his disciples, brothers in faith, presumably with the remainder of his closest followers in the streets nearby.

His act is an act that feeds the community around him – it’s a supper, a meal of remembrance that allows us to join alongside each other and our neighbors. There is no community that is not enhanced by the sharing of a meal, by the breaking of bread, through what our forefathers and mothers have called ‘table fellowship.’

His actions are become for the church sacramental. They are a continual giving of himself as a sign and seal of God’s gracious love. An example for us each time we gather in this sanctuary, around this table of communion and Eucharist. And when we share this supper to remember Jesus time and time again we take our proper places in the continuity of witness, and we stand alongside brothers and sisters in the church visible and the church triumphant, saints of every time and place. We break this bread, we pour this cup, and the Holy Spirit connects our memory to the memory of those before and those who will come after. Indeed I might be so bold as to say that long after the homes we have lived in have crumbled, long after our portfolios have exhausted, long after our businesses and practices have changed hands over and over again there will be somebody in this place tearing a loaf of bread and blessing a cup. It is sacrament because it allows us to become a part of Jesus’ obituary-meal. And in a sense as we sit at table with Him and His Holy Spirit we become a part of His obituary even as he is most assuredly a part of ours.

And so Jesus makes a way, on the night before his scourging and his crucifixion to leave us a ceremony and a sacrament that emboldens family, community, and church.

III.

If you really, really think about this – that this is Jesus’ final action before his exit to the garden, before his long wait for his arrest, and before his suffering and his death – when you really think about what he does at this Maundy Thursday Passover meal it becomes apparent that his capacity to forgive and to bless truly are marks of his deity.

Imagine it – knowing what the days to come will hold, and sticking to the plan.

Imagine it – seeing the face of your betrayer, and doing nothing to cease the betrayal. He even will accept the kiss of Judas before all is said and done on this Thursday night and on Friday morning.

Imagine it – having your last action, before an unjust, undeserved, and unmerited death being an action of blessing and an action of love instead of one of anger or revenge.

Can you doubt the hand of God upon Him who poured himself in this meal before he was poured out on the cross? I cannot. And neither do the saints and brethren of our faith who pay witness with us through this meal tonight.

As so often is the case, perhaps the Psalmist captures the interior attitude of our Savior the best, at least in the spiritual, not literal sense. Our Lord who could have been torn with anxiety over his fate, instead says through his actions: What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. O LORD, I am your servant. I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the LORD.

These are such fitting words from Psalm 116. These are words that wonderfully capture the poignant blessing of this night and of this Holiest of weeks.

IV.

This action of blessing though the supper, through uplifting his cup, invites us to his table. Just as his death is a death that claims us all, and sets apart all of our deaths, so too is this supper a meal that claims us all and calls us to itself. We are here as table guests of the Lord: paying witness to his limitless mercy, unimaginable courage, and limitless faith. And we do it all not for our own edification or gain, but in remembrance of Him who was, and is, and will be the alpha and omega, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

He asked that we do this in remembrance of him. Let us be about doing it. Amen.