Maundy Thursday 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 John 13: 1-17, 31b-35

A meal can be used in many different ways. From a quick meal at the nearest takeaway to a lavish feast in the most opulent of surroundings. The quick meal can be a means to an end, a brief diversion from what you are doing before continuing again. The lavish feast may be a celebration of an event or recognition of an achievement gained.

In the epistle reading we are looking at a meal where Jesus is with his disciples. Is this going to be a quick snack or something more extensive? The answer is that there is no other meal that is so sacred, so fundamental, to the Church. These are the words that Jesus shared with those at table with him. They are the words of the most sacred act of worship in the Church, the words of the Sacrament of the Last Supper.

The words, their understanding, may be hard for us to fully appreciate perhaps, but as we sit to eat our slice of bread at the table we do not need to understand its chemical makeup to gain from it nourishment. We can look at the bread and wine of the Eucharist with similar understanding.

When Jesus broke the bread and handed it round he said, “This is my body”. However, when he said this he was still in his body. The bread and his body were very much different things. He also did not mean that this stands for my body. Partly true but very much more. As we take the bread and eat it we do so in faith and love. Not just faith and love of Jesus who died for us, but of a living contact with him. A non-believer would feel nothing but to a lover of Jesus it is our way into his presence. It is through our faith that we share in the Body and Blood of Christ.

The past few homilies have been looking at promises, at covenants. Under the old promises humans were for ever at fault. They could not hope to keep to the law in a perfect way and so they were always in default. They were very much dependent upon the free grace of God’s love. But we now have a new promise. We can approach God as our Father. This is possible through the shedding of the blood of Christ. The wine of the sacrament stands for the life-blood of Jesus through which this new relationship is possible.

The meal of the Last Supper is so full of emotion, of meaning, of teaching. Of all meals that we may share as individuals, grab at a drive-through, sit watching the television, or round the table at a silver service restaurant, none could possibly compare with the events at table with Jesus.

Collect for Maundy Thursday

God our Father,

you have invited us to share in the supper

which your Son gave to his Church

to proclaim his death until he comes:

may he nourish us by his presence,

and unite us in his love;

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.