Exodus 12:1-14; John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Along about the time of the Last Supper, the rabbis were deep into a practice called midrash. It was the creative, thoughtful practice of storytelling meant to enhance and illuminate the Hebrew scriptures. Midrash stories served like sermon illustrations in a way.
And one of the stories that was being told and retold dealt with the bloodiness and violence of the first Passover. The story goes that in the Exodus, when the Hebrews had crossed the Red Sea but the waters came down and crushed the Pharaoh’s chariots and chariot-drivers, that the angels in heaven rejoiced at the destruction of Israel’s tormentors.
But God chastised them and said, “Are you to sing while my children are destroyed?” The angels fell silent and hung their heads in shame.
In the same sensitive spirit, at the Passover meal, a drop of wine is removed from the glass as the people name the ten plagues that struck Egypt. With each drop removed, they symbolized the blood and pain of the past. And with each drop, they reduced their joy… Drop by drop, they acknowledged that their freedom was won at the great cost of others.
And so it is tonight that we bring all of these memories forward and join them with our own memories. Here we re-member these experiences together with the experiences of our own lives. We join these stories with our current stories…stories of the year of the corona-virus… stories of our own living and aging and waiting…stories of our own journeys that dirtied our feet and clouded the water in Jesus’ footwashing basin.
This is a night to remember. “Throughout your generations,” the writers of Exodus said, “You shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.” This is how you should eat it. For without this remembrance, we forget about God, forget who we are, and forget how we should live.
And now to our remembrance we will add this night. We will tell of that Maundy Thursday service we held over a live-stream. We will tell of how we gathered here at the table with him…and broke bread with him…in our own homes.
We will remember how God told us to eat that night. We will remember how Jesus told us to break the bread and pour the cup. And we will remember how he told us: “I have set you an example…that you also should do as I have done to you.”
Join us this evening for our live Maundy Thursday service at 7PM on our Facebook page. Begin by eating a supper first in your own home, perhaps a spaghetti supper. Then let us remember together.