I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to be able to get together around the dinner table with my extended family or friends for a good meal and engaging conversation. Msgr. Carroll and I get along very well but it’s getting a little lonely in the rectory. Unfortunately, those family dinners aren’t going to happen soon due to the stay at home order as we continue to work together to overcome the coronavirus pandemic. But tonight, we gather together virtually around our Lord’s Table to commemorate the first Eucharistic Meal. Tonight, we begin our Triduum, the three holiest days of the Church calendar. The readings we have just heard provide us with some very important insights into tonight’s celebration and they speak down through the ages to us today even, and I might suggest, especially as we continue to struggle with this pandemic. Listen carefully. In the first reading, we hear God instruct his people on how they are to prepare for the first Passover. In the second reading, we hear the earliest written account of our Lord’s instruction at the Passover that he celebrated with his disciples in Jerusalem and the Gospel recounts a surprising event that occurred at that Passover meal. All three readings teach us about God and help us to understand the essential aspect of Passover in the life of every follower of Jesus and I would suggest that they help us to better respond to this pandemic that has turned our lives upside down. Allow me to offer you these reflections.
We’re all familiar with the story of the first Passover meal, when God’s angel passed over the houses of the Israelites as it struck down the first born of all of the Egyptians. This was the tenth and final plague that God visited upon the stubborn Egyptians to get them to recognize the one, true God and allow his chosen people to go and worship him. Central to this event was the slaughter of a lamb who had to be without blemish. The eating of its flesh and the sprinkling of its blood on the doorposts and the lintels of every house signified the trust that the Israelites placed in God who promised them protection from this last plague and, more importantly, salvation from slavery and deliverance to the Promised Land. It’s such a familiar story that we don’t often reflect on the stress and strain these events must have had the Israelites; we just think about them being freed from their slavery as they began their journey to the Promised Land. But, if we examine the scriptures a little more carefully, we see that they weren’t all excited about leaving Egypt.
At least there, they had water to drink and their gardens where they could grow their vegetables – the Bible even lists them: cucumbers, leeks, onions and garlic – and where they could fish the rivers and tend their herds and flocks properly.
As we continue to read the scriptures, we see that their wandering in the desert was a time when God tested them to see if they would remain faithful to him as he cared for their needs but didn’t indulge their every desire. Instead, they complained because they were being called to put their trust in him as they found themselves in uncharted territory as their lives were turned upside down.
Fortunately for them, God is all merciful and unconditional in his love and he has a desire for his people to come to the land he has promised so he put up with them and, with endless patience, continued to lead them to the Promised Land.
We can also learn a lot about God and his plan for us by a more careful examination of the setting for the Passover meal that Jesus was celebrating with his disciples. At that time, Jerusalem and, in fact all of Israel, was engaged in a very strained relationship with the Roman Empire, much like the ancient Israelites in Egypt. They were allowed to worship their God as long as they paid their taxes to the Romans and were submissive to their oppressive rule. It was an uneasy situation but at least there was a tenuous peace.
It was no accident that Jesus was born into that situation; it was all part of God’s plan. And, you’ll notice that Jesus, who found himself, along with his fellow Jews, under the oppressive power of the imperial Romans, didn’t call for rebellion against the Romans because the kingdom he came to establish is not an earthly kingdom; this is all the devil’s realm. His Promised Land is not here but hereafter. The Passover meal he celebrated with his disciples was the first step of his paschal mystery where he would offer himself as that sacrificial lamb without blemish to nourish us as we make our journey to the true Promised Land – heaven.
John’s Gospel account of the Last Supper – from which we heard a small portion this evening – doesn’t mention the breaking of the bread or the sharing of the cup; that was already a well-established liturgy among the followers of Christ by the time John’s gospel was written some 60 to 70 years after our Lord’s death and resurrection.
Instead, this gospel tells us about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and the protest that Peter makes; after all, it was the lowliest servant who would wash your feet. But, Jesus tying a towel around his waist and washing the feet of his disciples highlighted for the early Christians – and for us – how we are to live and act as we build up God’s kingdom here on earth and follow the way of the Lord to the eternal kingdom.
Again, Jesus turns the world upside down, just as the first Passover did for the ancient Israelites living in Egypt and Jesus’ re-presenting of the bread and wine as his body and blood did at the Passover meal he shared with his disciples in Jerusalem.
Yes, staying home from work, helping our children learn remotely, maintaining social distancing, living in dread of an invisible virus that has the power of sickness and death has turned our lives upside down. I invite you to reflect on the events we have just heard from sacred scripture in light of your current lives. I suggest that you see this as an invitation from God to examine how well you have put him and his ways first in your lives. As with the ancient Israelites wandering in the desert, he will always care for your needs – although he will not always indulge your desires. And, as he demonstrated so clearly through his son, Jesus, he will nourish us in our journey to the true Promised Land; that’s what we receive at every Eucharistic celebration. It’s no accident that we find ourselves in our current situation. It’s all, in some mysterious way, part of God’s plan for our salvation. Although I don’t agree with some who say that this pandemic is God punishing us for our sins, I do think we can use this troubling time to allow God to get our attention.
And, in response, we are called to put our trust in him and serve one another, humbling ourselves as Jesus did when washing the feet of his disciples. Tomorrow, we will experience, once again, the true depths of our Lord’s trust in God and his humility as he offered himself for us on the cross. On Sunday – Easter Sunday – we will rejoice as we celebrate the new life our risen Lord offers his faithful. Let us reflect on our lives and see whether we are more like the ancient Israelites who complained against God or the Jews who made uneasy compromises with the Romans, or like our Lord, Jesus, who humbly submitted to the will of his heavenly Father and, in doing so, brought salvation to those who followed him. We are called to follow Jesus.