First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany

"The Last Supper That Wasn’t"

Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore, April 4, 2004

Spoken Meditation

A Creative Unitarian Universalist interpretation of Psalms 113 and 116

Sing praises to the Spirit of Life

Known by many sacred names that point to the same one eternal truth.
May those names be blessed from this time on and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to its setting, let us sing praises.
This truth stands high above all nations, glorified above the heavens.
What mortal being can reflect this truth that radiates from on high.
That Spirit raises the poor from the dust,
and lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of the people.
That Spirit gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.

I love this Spirit of Life, for hearing my voice and my supplications
The Spirit protects the simple; I was saved when I was brought low.
Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the spirit has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I walk with Spirit in the land of the living.

I kept my faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted;”
What shall I return for all this bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the names of the divine,
I will honor my spiritual vows in the presence of all people.
Spirit of Life, I am your servant;
the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice.
O Jerusalem, sing praises to the Spirit of Life.
 

Readings

From Exodus Chapter 12

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household … 

You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs …

This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord.For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

From Mark Chapter 14

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they would sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples say to him, “Where do you want us to go and get things ready for you to celebrate Passover?”

He sends two of his disciples and says to them, “Go into the city and someone carrying a waterpot will meet you.Follow him, and whatever place he enters say to the head of the house, “The Rabbi asks, “Where is my guest room where I can celebrate Passover with my disciples?”And he’ll show you a large upstairs room that has been arranged.That’s the place you’re to get ready for us.”

And the disciples left, went into the city, and found it exactly as he had told them; and they got things ready for Passover…

And as they were eating, he took a loaf, gave a blessing, broke it into pieces and offered it to them.And he said, “Have some, this is my body.”And he took a cup, gave thanks and gave it to them, and they all drank from it.And he said to them: “This is my blood of the covenant, which has been poured out for many!So help me, I certainly won’t drink any of the fruit of the vine again until that day when I drink it for the first time in God’s domain.

And they sang a hymn and left for the Mount of Olives.

Sermon

Understanding Jesus’ Jewish identity is crucial to interpreting the record we have of what he said and did.The numerous allusions, references and comparisons that show up in Matthew, Mark and Luke all portray Jesus as the new Moses of the first century.And central to that Jewish identity is the Exodus story celebrated, as we did last night, during our Unitarian Universalist Passover Seder.

The Exodus story is full of marvel and mystery.A little boy once returned home from Hebrew school looking a little confused.His father asked, “What did you learn today?" 

He answered, "The Rabbi told us how Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt."

"How?" exclaimed his father glad to hear his son was paying attention in class. 

The boy explained, "Moses was a big strong man and he beat Pharoah up.Then while he was down, he got all the people together and ran towards the sea.When he got there, he has the Corps of Engineers build a huge pontoon bridge.Once they got on the other side, they blew up the bridge while the Egyptians were trying to cross."

The father was shocked."Is that what the Rabbi taught you?"

The boy replied, "No.But you'd never believe the story he DID tell us!"

A fantastic story it is.Who would believe it?A Jewish baby left in the reeds by the river and discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter, is raised as an Egyptian prince.A burning bush speaks to him and tells Moses to lead his people out of Egypt.Pharaoh doesn’t think this is a good idea and refuses Moses request.The Egyptians are punished nine times for Pharaoh’s refusal.After each punishment Pharaoh weakens but then changes his mind as his heart hardens.The tenth punishment was particularly horrible, the death of first born, man and beast.Marks were made on the doors by the Jews with blood to signify that the shadow of death should pass over their household.With the last plague of punishment, Pharaoh finally relents and allowed the Jews to leave.Knowing that the Pharaoh may have second thoughts again, the Jews had to leave quickly, baking their bread without allowing it to rise.Sure enough, Pharaoh has second thoughts and comes after them.The sea parts, the Jews get across safely and the sea closes in again on Pharaoh’s chariots.Moses and the Jews are finally free but must endure the wilderness for forty years before finding their promised land.

Who could believe this amazing story?Every first century Jew did.Every first century Jew knew this story by heart as it was retold every year as part of their Passover celebration as it is today.So when the Gospel writer Matthew put pen to parchment, he knew the associations to make to tell the story of Jesus’ life that would reach his audience.John Shelby Spong, the retired Episcopal Bishop, in his book, This Hebrew Lord, does a fine job of highlighting some of these associations to frame Jesus as the new Moses.

Those associations begin with the birth narratives, which today we recognize as fictional constructions.Jesus comes through the begetting lineage of David.Herod’s order to kill the first-born sons parallels the Pharaoh’s order when Moses was born.Mary and Joseph’s escape to Egypt with Jesus establishes yet another parallel with Moses’ connection to Egypt.

The baptism of Jesus recapitulates the second section of the story, parting the waters a little differently.Instead of a burning bush, a bird communicates the heavenly blessing and mission to Jesus.Instead of 40 years of wandering, Jesus spends 40 days in the desert to be purified for his ministry.The trials and tribulations of the Jewish people become the temptations Jesus suffers and overcomes.

Feeding people is important for both Moses and Jesus.The people are hungry and thirsty and need to eat and drink.They doubt Moses and God’s power.Then water springs from a rock and manna appears from heaven.Jesus takes a few fish and feeds thousands with more left over than he started with!With each comparison, the Gospel writer tries to one up Moses making Jesus do something even more amazing.

The two stories come together and meet during the Last Supper.Jesus and his disciples have traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus instructs his disciples to conduct that meal on the first day of Passover, the day before he was put to death.The gospel writers call the celebration a Seder but the actual description of the event doesn’t include some of the commanded elements.Yes, they reclined, ate unleavened bread and drank wine.But this was common for other special meals.The Gospel writers didn’t mention eating bitter herbs symbolizing the bitterness of slavery or charoset, the mixture of apples, walnuts and cinnamon symbolizing the mortar used between bricks, or other unique aspects commanded to be part of a Seder meal.

Scholars have long debated whether or not Jesus actually celebrated a Passover Seder before he died.These elements may not have been mentioned because they were assumed as part of the description of a Passover meal.What we do read is the variation Jesus makes as part of the meal having to do with bread and wine.And those changes, too, need to be put in context.

During a Seder, these words are said:

"Barukh attah Adonai Elohenu Melek ha-olam
ha-motzi lechem min ha-arets

"Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the ages, who brings forth bread from the earth" 

"Barukh attah Adonai Elohenu Melek ha-olam borê' p'rîy haggâphen

"Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the ages, who creates the fruit of the vine" 

God is blessed and the bread is broken.God is blessed and the wine is drunk.Jesus changes this ritual to a blessing of the substance which then becomes a substitute for his presence.You may remember my discussion, two weeks ago, of Jesus’ fondness for challenging the assumptions of his disciples.Here we have another example, perhaps the biggest reversal, the crescendo of his teaching.

“Have some, this is my body.”“This is my blood of the covenant, which has been poured out for many!”

Because this was so different from what was expected, it got Jesus’ disciple’s attention and may be the reason this became the core ritual of the Christian tradition.The disciples may not have fully grasped at the time what this reversal meant, we may still not comprehend what Jesus meant in all its aspects today, but his disciples held on to this ritual tightly and preserved it faithfully.Jesus leaves behind a koan for us to mull over.Sometimes actions speak louder than words and ideas.The ritual, like a great work of art, conveys a truth not to be captured in words.

Jesus sums up his teaching in his new method of blessing the bread and wine.Up till now, the Jewish relationship with the law has been external.We bless God, he gives us bread and wine.God gives us the law and we follow it.We break God’s law and we are punished.This only requires obedience--not interpretation or critical thought.

Jesus’ teaching didn’t work that way.He did things the Pharisees recognized immediately as breaking the rules.He plucked grain and healed on the Sabbath thus breaking the law against working on the Sabbath.He ate with the wrong kind of people.He broke dietary laws claiming what comes out of the mouth defiles you--not what goes into it.He required his followers to think about their actions rather than just following the rules.

During that Last Supper, I interpret Jesus saying, “Take my presence, my teaching, my actions inside you, chew on them, swallow them, digest them and then transform them into your being.”Without his leadership in the flesh, his disciples would need to internalize his teaching to make sense of it.I can imagine Jesus intending this message, “You have seen me and you have heard me, from now on you will have to find me within.In this reversal of conventional blessing, you will discover God in the bread of the earth.You will discover God in the fruit of the vine.”

Moses led his people out of physical bondage to physical freedom.Many misinterpreted Jesus as the new Moses who would free the Jews from Roman domination.That wasn’t Jesus’ mission.He was not a Maccabee ready to lead an army.

Jesus took the Exodus story and transformed it into a journey from inner bondage to inner freedom.To make that journey one needs to internalize that which is true and allow it to become part of you.Both Moses and Jesus are essentially describing different levels of the same journey to freedom that we all seek throughout our lives.

That movement from bondage to freedom is the universal struggle of being human.We are in bondage from the very beginning of our lives to the very end.We must eat, drink, breathe and stay warm to survive another day.From birth, we must learn to see, hear, talk, walk, to control our bowels, to build up our muscles, and to educate our minds--or perish.The journey from bondage to freedom is played out over and over again: from slavery to freedom, from poverty to wealth, from weakness to power.

But external liberation isn’t necessarily followed by internal liberation.Abundance can degenerate into addiction.Power can degenerate into domination.To find inner freedom, ignorance must be transformed into wisdom, indecision must be transformed into commitment, doubt must be transformed into confidence.That transformation is accomplished through the power of love.That power can be tapped by remembering Jesus’ love in the ritual of communion.It can also be tapped through the ritual of Passover.

I’m asked sometimes how Unitarian Universalists can celebrate Passover without being Jews.I explain: for the same reason we can celebrate communion without being Christians.The symbolic messages in these acts transcend their traditions.We must honor them and practice them in a respectful way that does not defile them.And we can find new meaning and inspiration in them that may go beyond the original form.These rituals are not dead and frozen relics of the past.They live and grow in the present moment.

Our Passover celebration is a wonderful example of this continuing growth and change.We are careful to observe all 15 parts that a Seder should contain.But we add things, too, like the orange on the Seder plate.There were no oranges on Seder plates in Biblical times or even 50 years ago.The tradition is only maybe 25 years old, the product of a sexist remark by a rabbi saying that women belonged in the pulpit like oranges on a Seder plate.Suddenly, oranges started appearing on Seder plates.The story of liberation adds a new symbol.

Rituals and traditions are not static but live and breathe and find meaning in us.I’ll be conducting a new ritual of communion this Saturday at 3:30pm with origins that reach back over 400 years reframed in a new ritual by my UU minister in Oakland, California about twenty years ago.Meg Bassinson will help me reshape it again.My hope is what we come up with together will communicate in action just want Jesus wanted to convey as he broke bread and drank wine for the last time.

Do you understand?It wasn’t the last supper.Seders have continued.Last Suppers recast as Holy Communion have continued.Who knows what ritual is being invented right now will take life and continue for many more generations to come.

May we celebrate them all as continuous transmissions of the human journey from bondage to freedom.

May we penetrate their sectarian form and language to find the universal truths they convey.

May we have the courage to create new symbolic rituals to celebrate those great truths and bring them to life.

Benediction

Passover Seders usually end with these salutary words:

To the coming year in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, just to physically be in Jerusalem again will not solve all problems.Jerusalem is still a place of hostility, hatred, death and injustice.The inner journey must match the outer journey.

So I’ll end with a larger vision of the harmony I’d like to see between Jews, Christians and Muslims in the coming year, cast in words from a poem by Judy Chicago:

And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong,
And then no person will be subject to another’s will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life’s creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.

May this be why we gather to bless bread, bless wine, bless each other and ask for a blessing from all that we deem holy.

Copyright © 2004 by Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore.All rights reserved.