As we all slowly and carefully emerge from this yearlong coronavirus pandemic, I’m really looking forward to getting together with my family for Easter. Due to our age or jobs, all of the adults have been vaccinated so we’re finally feeling safe to gather around the dinner table, once again. I imagine that more and more of you are able to safely do this, as well. This year of social distancing has driven home the importance of real flesh and blood contact, and reminded us how much we cherish sharing a meal with our loved ones, hasn’t it?
Tonight, we gather together, either in person or virtually, around our Lord’s Table here to commemorate the first Eucharistic meal; it is, indeed, a meal that has been cherished by Christians down through the ages even until today. 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 to us today, I might suggest, in a very special way as we continue to struggle with this pandemic. I hope you listened carefully. In the first reading, we heard God instruct his people on how they are to prepare for the first Passover meal. In the second reading, we heard the earliest written account of our Lord’s instruction at the Passover meal that he celebrated with his disciples in Jerusalem and the Gospel recounted 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 not only in the life of Jews but in the life of every follower of Jesus and I would suggest that they help us to better respond to this pandemic that continues to grip us. 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 prelude to the moment when the beloved people of God passed over from slavery in Egypt back 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 on 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 in Egypt, 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 examine the scriptures, we see that their wandering in the desert was a time when God tested them to see if they would continue to trust God and be faithful to him as he cared for their needs, even providing quail and manna from the heavens and water from a rock. We also read that the people often resisted and complained when they were called to put their trust in God. 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 caught up in a very strained relationship with the Roman Empire, much like the ancient Israelites had been in Egypt. The Jews living under the power of the Romans 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 they had brokered a tenuous peace.
It was no accident that Jesus was born into that situation; it was all part of God’s plan. And, you will notice that Jesus, who found himself – along with his fellow Jews – under the thumb of the imperial Romans, didn’t call for rebellion against them because the kingdom he came to establish is not an earthly kingdom. 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 to nourish us as we make our journey to the true Promised Land – heaven – where we will enjoy an eternal banquet in the presence of God.
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 because 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. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I won’t have the privilege of emulating our Lord in that sacred act tonight – next year!
Yes, avoiding large crowds, maintaining social distancing, living in dread of an invisible virus that has the power of sickness and death has tested our faith in God, just like the ancient Israelites. I invite you to reflect on the events we have just heard from sacred scripture in light of our current situation. I suggest that we can see this as an invitation from God to examine how well we have put him and his ways first in your lives. As with the ancient Israelites wandering in the desert, he will always care for our needs. He even offers us the Body and Blood of his Son for our spiritual nourishment during our journey to the true Promised Land; that’s what we receive at every Eucharistic celebration and commemorate in a special way tonight at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Those of you who are joining us virtually surely yearn for that time when you are able to join us in person, I’m sure. Just as you can’t enjoy a good steak virtually, so you can’t receive our Lord’s Body and Blood except in person. I look forward to the time when you will, once again, come around the Lord’s Table with us.
And, as with the ancient Israelites and Jesus himself, it’s no accident that we find ourselves in our current situation. It is all, in some mysterious way, part of God’s plan for our salvation and we can use this troubling time to allow God to get our attention and, unlike the complaining Israelites or the conniving Jews, to humbly place ourselves before God and his will for us.
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 – Good Friday – we will hear, once again, about the true depths of Jesus’ 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.