A NEW MEAL FOR A NEW COVENANT
Sermon
A Meal For The Road
14 Sermons On The Lord's Supper
Those observing their first communion should know that the
Last Supper is better called the First Supper! "Now on the first
day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus saying,
'Where will you have us eat the Passover?' " (Matthew 26:17) Some
understand the Last Supper to be tacked on to a Seder or Passover
celebration. John takes exception. He makes a good case for
calling communion the First Supper: "Now before the feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew his time was running out, he rose from
supper, girded himself with a towel and began to wash the
disciples' feet." (John 13:3-5)
Why does John contradict the other record? What point is he
trying to make by disassociating the Lord's Supper from the old
Passover?
It is generally agreed that John's gospel was written later
than the others and that though it displays more freedom in
interpreting Jesus' teachings, paraphrasing and even adding to
what Jesus had said, it is by far the most perceptive in catching
the spirit of Jesus' teachings and, even more importantly, the
most telling in terms of what Jesus and his ministry meant for
future generations of communicants.
81
John, like an art lover standing back to view a work from a
slight distance lest he miss the total effect from standing too
close, scans the life of Jesus and concludes, "The true light
that enlightens everyone was coming into the world." (John 1:9)
John, perhaps with Jesus' "You don't put new wine into old
wineskins" (Matthew 9:17) ringing in his ears, insists that this
is a unique and unprecedented meal that Jesus was instituting,
just as the "Love one another" commandment at the end of the meal
was new. It was not tacked on to the Seder. What Jesus brought
was not to be seen as a revision of something already in place.
It was a new sacrament for an entirely new covenant -- a new meal
for a new age. This new covenant supersedes any previous
covenants, and yet itself will never be superseded!
Without a doubt, when John read the account of the other
gospels about how Jesus said, "This is the cup of the new
covenant sealed in my blood." (1 Corinthians 11:25) he recalled
Jeremiah 31:31 about a new covenant:
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant ... not like the covenant which I made with those
whom I led out of Egypt, the covenant which they broke, though I
was their husband ... but this is a new covenant I will make: I
will put my law within them, will write it upon their hearts, and
I will be their God and they shall be my people. No longer shall
each one teach his neighbor and kin saying "Know the Lord," for
they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest
... for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no
more.
-- Jeremiah 31:31-34
John knew that a brand new covenant demanded a brand new meal,
and so he carefully disassociated the Lord's Supper from an
observance of a Seder. He let the Synoptic Gospels' account of
the "cup of the new covenant" and the bread of the broken body of
Christ stand, offering no new words of institution, as we say,
but he added the foot washing and the New Commandment. Why?
Because John wanted to go farther than Jeremiah, who, inspired
as he was, could only have guessed what God's ultimate objective
might be -- in abrogating the former covenant and instituting a
new and better one. The former covenant was designed for toddlers
-- those who must be "led by the hand." (Jeremiah 31:32) The
later covenant is designed for the growing faithful, those who
will gladly present their hearts for tablets, their minds for
light, and their very souls to receive and reflect God's grace.
Then, and only then, will those observing their first or their
hundredth communion be prepared to do what God has longed to see
his children do from the beginning of creation: serve and love
one another!
Our very discomfort with John's implication that foot washing
should be a sacred rite of the new covenant people is, perhaps,
an indication of how far we have yet to go to obey the highest
and best commandment. "Love one another as I have loved you."
(John 13:34) -- the verse I would give you on your first
communion.
Jeremiah stopped short of a community where love reigns as
God's objective and the universe's ultimate destiny. His vision
is remarkably advanced, given the depressing historical
circumstance from which he spoke at the beginning of the Exile.
It is the Prophet of Lamentations' most hopeful vision: people
with the ethics of God's kingdom implanted in their hearts,
content to be God's loyal people -- inspired in their
communications, living in the reality and consequence of God's
grace, with every vestige of wavering faith dispelled!
But John went even farther and became explicit about the "law
written on their hearts." He reflected on the teachings of Jesus
and their impact, and asked, "How is this still living Savior's
presence manifest to me," And only one word came persistently to
mind? Agape! It was the agape of God that caused God to make
everything that was made. It was agape that moved God to enter
the human arena as a brother and Savior. And it is agape that
sustains communicants now and beckons them "beyond the camp."
(Hebrews 13:13) In the beginning was agape, and agape became
flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
83
It is only logical that in his old age, writing his first
epistle, John should have come to the simple and penultimate
conclusion: God is love. "Little children, love one another, for
love is of God. By our love others know that we are born of God
and know God. For God is love." (1 John 4:7-8)
How does that love look in practice? John could well have been
speaking to first communicants when he described agape love. Such
love, he said, does not become enamored with the world, has no
room for hatred, does not close its heart against a brother or
sister in need, is not satisfied just to talk about love but
seeks to express it in word and deed. It is even prepared to lay
down its life for a brother or sister, if love should demand it.
(1 John 3:14-18)
The new meal for the new time nourishes communicants for such
agape living. It blows air upon the spark of Christ that is
within you. It connects you again to the vine from which alone
you are nourished. It takes us scattered grains of wheat and
makes us into one bread.
The Jewish Seder is rich with significance for the children of
Israel. It marked their beginning as a people of God and stood
forever as a sign of the liberation from bondage in Egypt. But it
could not begin to contain the new powers and the affirmations
that emanated from the Upper Room, any more than an old wineskin
can contain new wine.
The new time requires a new meal: "For this is my blood of the
new covenant," Jesus said. And that is why the Last Supper is
really the First; not just yours but the church's, as well.
84
Last Supper is better called the First Supper! "Now on the first
day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus saying,
'Where will you have us eat the Passover?' " (Matthew 26:17) Some
understand the Last Supper to be tacked on to a Seder or Passover
celebration. John takes exception. He makes a good case for
calling communion the First Supper: "Now before the feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew his time was running out, he rose from
supper, girded himself with a towel and began to wash the
disciples' feet." (John 13:3-5)
Why does John contradict the other record? What point is he
trying to make by disassociating the Lord's Supper from the old
Passover?
It is generally agreed that John's gospel was written later
than the others and that though it displays more freedom in
interpreting Jesus' teachings, paraphrasing and even adding to
what Jesus had said, it is by far the most perceptive in catching
the spirit of Jesus' teachings and, even more importantly, the
most telling in terms of what Jesus and his ministry meant for
future generations of communicants.
81
John, like an art lover standing back to view a work from a
slight distance lest he miss the total effect from standing too
close, scans the life of Jesus and concludes, "The true light
that enlightens everyone was coming into the world." (John 1:9)
John, perhaps with Jesus' "You don't put new wine into old
wineskins" (Matthew 9:17) ringing in his ears, insists that this
is a unique and unprecedented meal that Jesus was instituting,
just as the "Love one another" commandment at the end of the meal
was new. It was not tacked on to the Seder. What Jesus brought
was not to be seen as a revision of something already in place.
It was a new sacrament for an entirely new covenant -- a new meal
for a new age. This new covenant supersedes any previous
covenants, and yet itself will never be superseded!
Without a doubt, when John read the account of the other
gospels about how Jesus said, "This is the cup of the new
covenant sealed in my blood." (1 Corinthians 11:25) he recalled
Jeremiah 31:31 about a new covenant:
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant ... not like the covenant which I made with those
whom I led out of Egypt, the covenant which they broke, though I
was their husband ... but this is a new covenant I will make: I
will put my law within them, will write it upon their hearts, and
I will be their God and they shall be my people. No longer shall
each one teach his neighbor and kin saying "Know the Lord," for
they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest
... for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no
more.
-- Jeremiah 31:31-34
John knew that a brand new covenant demanded a brand new meal,
and so he carefully disassociated the Lord's Supper from an
observance of a Seder. He let the Synoptic Gospels' account of
the "cup of the new covenant" and the bread of the broken body of
Christ stand, offering no new words of institution, as we say,
but he added the foot washing and the New Commandment. Why?
Because John wanted to go farther than Jeremiah, who, inspired
as he was, could only have guessed what God's ultimate objective
might be -- in abrogating the former covenant and instituting a
new and better one. The former covenant was designed for toddlers
-- those who must be "led by the hand." (Jeremiah 31:32) The
later covenant is designed for the growing faithful, those who
will gladly present their hearts for tablets, their minds for
light, and their very souls to receive and reflect God's grace.
Then, and only then, will those observing their first or their
hundredth communion be prepared to do what God has longed to see
his children do from the beginning of creation: serve and love
one another!
Our very discomfort with John's implication that foot washing
should be a sacred rite of the new covenant people is, perhaps,
an indication of how far we have yet to go to obey the highest
and best commandment. "Love one another as I have loved you."
(John 13:34) -- the verse I would give you on your first
communion.
Jeremiah stopped short of a community where love reigns as
God's objective and the universe's ultimate destiny. His vision
is remarkably advanced, given the depressing historical
circumstance from which he spoke at the beginning of the Exile.
It is the Prophet of Lamentations' most hopeful vision: people
with the ethics of God's kingdom implanted in their hearts,
content to be God's loyal people -- inspired in their
communications, living in the reality and consequence of God's
grace, with every vestige of wavering faith dispelled!
But John went even farther and became explicit about the "law
written on their hearts." He reflected on the teachings of Jesus
and their impact, and asked, "How is this still living Savior's
presence manifest to me," And only one word came persistently to
mind? Agape! It was the agape of God that caused God to make
everything that was made. It was agape that moved God to enter
the human arena as a brother and Savior. And it is agape that
sustains communicants now and beckons them "beyond the camp."
(Hebrews 13:13) In the beginning was agape, and agape became
flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
83
It is only logical that in his old age, writing his first
epistle, John should have come to the simple and penultimate
conclusion: God is love. "Little children, love one another, for
love is of God. By our love others know that we are born of God
and know God. For God is love." (1 John 4:7-8)
How does that love look in practice? John could well have been
speaking to first communicants when he described agape love. Such
love, he said, does not become enamored with the world, has no
room for hatred, does not close its heart against a brother or
sister in need, is not satisfied just to talk about love but
seeks to express it in word and deed. It is even prepared to lay
down its life for a brother or sister, if love should demand it.
(1 John 3:14-18)
The new meal for the new time nourishes communicants for such
agape living. It blows air upon the spark of Christ that is
within you. It connects you again to the vine from which alone
you are nourished. It takes us scattered grains of wheat and
makes us into one bread.
The Jewish Seder is rich with significance for the children of
Israel. It marked their beginning as a people of God and stood
forever as a sign of the liberation from bondage in Egypt. But it
could not begin to contain the new powers and the affirmations
that emanated from the Upper Room, any more than an old wineskin
can contain new wine.
The new time requires a new meal: "For this is my blood of the
new covenant," Jesus said. And that is why the Last Supper is
really the First; not just yours but the church's, as well.
84
