Holy Thursday Homily 2017
Eucharist and Charity, One and the Same.
One of the favorite graphics that is used in media is a timeline. Usually, the main events in history are listed to help us see what has effected the vision of a group of people. As Americans, we might have on our time line things like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Great Depression, 9/11. The listing of all these things might relate how all these great events shape our outlook as present day Americans. Connections might also be drawn between events showing how one event shaped another.
Tonight, we offer worship that is pregnant with signs, symbols…connections. We could say that there are parallels drawn that are very important to our identity Christians. How well do we understand? What do the liturgies mean to me this year? If we think we have it all figured out then the Paschal mystery is not that much of a mystery. Two connected events that are outlined for us tonight occur within Scripture readings. In the first reading we have the story of the first Passover. As Christian people, we do not often thing of the linkage between the first Passover and the Last Supper. Maybe we contemplate it once a year. Interestingly enough, Passover in 2017occurs in the exact same week as Easter. Of course, this does not always happen, but this spring it does. On Monday and Tuesday Jews throughout the world gathered in their homes to share the Passover meal to begin a week-long observance.
When Jesus joined his disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago it was to partake in the Passover celebration. Jesus lived as a Jew his whole life so for many reasons it is good to remember what Passover is all about. Passover is about celebrating freedom. The Israelites moved from being a people in bondage to being a nation that could chart its own destiny. God intervened to set the people free. The Egyptians stubbornly refused to free the Israelites until the Angel of Death struck Egyptian households. Children died of a terrible plague. But the Jews smeared blood on the doorposts of their households. Their children were spared. Death passed over them. The Jews then left on a journey through the desert that helped give them their identity.
The Eucharist that we partake in tonight is our Passover. Jesus took the old ritual practice. He transformed it. The bread and wine on the table became his body and blood. Because of Jesus, death now is not the final word. We are not enslaved to sin anymore. We have been set free from sin and death. We remember that we are now part of the chosen people of God. In the Christian mindset, there is a connection between Passover and Eucharist.
A second parallel that we see in the liturgy tonight should be the one between foot washing and Eucharist. We need to be reminded that these are not unconnected rituals. We tend to have a broad understanding of what the foot washing means while we have a narrow concept of what sharing the Eucharist means. When we observe the foot washing, we equate this to service. We sense that all Christians should go out to help others. We should feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, take care of the sick, do a multitude of charitable actions in imitation of Jesus. We understand that when we contemplate Jesus assuming the job of a slave, washing feet. We know he says, “As I have done so must you do.”
But when it comes to Eucharist we limit our understanding. When Jesus says participate in this meal in remembrance of me we think he is only talking about eating and drinking his body and blood. Somehow, many Catholics think that if we are here on Sunday once a week to participate in the Eucharist that is all that is necessary, but that is not what Eucharist means. We are to be willing to break our body for others. As disciples, we are to put our blood sweat, tears into helping the poor. We are to see the symbolism of Eucharist in its broadest sense.
We have a way of expressing our frustration with other people who do not seem to understand a concept we are trying to teach. We often say he/she just does not get it. Jesus would probably say that about us when we partake of Eucharist, but do not seek to do more and more to show reverence to neighbors in need whether they live here or across the world. Jesus would probably say, “They just don’t get it.” He would say I am sure, “It is all right to show reverence for my true presence in the Eucharistic elements, but after that go out to show reverence to your brother and sister in crisis wherever they may be.”
Or as the poet James Blaisedell wrote:
Beneath the forms of outward rite
Thy supper, Lord, is spread
In every quiet upper room
Where fainting souls are fed.
O Master, through these symbols shared,
Thine own dear self impart,
That in our daily life may flame
The Passion of Thy heart.
Please note these are notes, grammar may not be perfect!