Sermon - "A Last Meal”, by Pastor Ruth L. Foss, February 28, 2010, Suncook United Methodist Church, Suncook, NH

Pastor Ruth Foss
Suncook United Methodist Church
February 28, 2010
Isaiah 11:1-5 (NIV)
Mark 14:12, 22-25

“A Last Meal”

This week, we are beginning our Lenten Journey as we start our sermon series based on Adam Hamilton’s boor “24 Hours That Changed the World”, that Huntley and I have been talking about. We are looking at the last day, the last 24 hours, of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. I think it is going to be an eye opening journey for us and I am excited about what we will learn and hear over the next few weeks.

Before I begin, I want to recap what has gone on in Jesus’ life leading up to the last meal He shared with His disciples, this Passover Seder. Jesus had just come into the city with everyone cheering him on. They waved Palms and Cried out, “Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” They felt that Jesus was the one, the Messiah, the one who would deliver them from the oppression of the Romans!

He had just gone to the temple and was angered by what He saw there. He was angered because of how the people were treating the temple. They were exchanging, buying and selling, goods and it looked like some kind of market place instead of the House of God! He was angry enough that he flipped over the tables and chased the people away. He was angry with the religious leaders that allowed this to happen. They had allowed the temple to become a den of thieves and robbers. Well . . . this infuriated the religious leaders.

Each day that week, he chastised these leaders . . . telling them how bad they were . . . telling them how “unrighteous they were. They had spiritual pride . . . hard hearts . . . and their religious rules did nothing but alienate and discourage those who really needed it . . . those who were lost. To top it off . . . He told the people that these religious leaders were like “the blind leading the blind.” The leaders were so angry that by Thursday of that week . . . they knew that there was only one thing to do. They needed to eliminate this threat to their way of life. This Jesus needed to go . . . needed to be stopped . . . needed to be silenced! They plotted about how to put this man Jesus to death.

Now . . . here we are on Thursday of that week. Jesus and His disciples prepared for the Passover meal. He had two of His disciples, Peter and John, go and find a place where they could celebrate this meal. Now let me explain what this Passover Seder, this Passover meal was. Each year, the Passover Seder was celebrated . . . it was a time of remembrance for the Jews. They would celebrate and remember how God delivered the Israelites from the slavery and oppression of the Egyptians . . . Exodus 12 talks about how God told the Israelites to sacrifice and roast a lamb, to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs with the lamb. This is what the Passover Seder meal consists of. The Israelites were also told to put some of the blood of the lamb on the doorposts so that the angel of death would pass them by.

Isn’t it strange how this meal is to commemorate the escape from Egypt and the bondage and slavery to freedom and here Jesus is celebrating it . . . the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and brings people into a new life of freedom, of redemption from sin? The Israelites marked the doorposts of their homes so that they would be saved from the death that the Egyptians suffered and we mark the door posts of our hearts when we accept the redemption from sin and death that Jesus offers When we celebrate the Seder, when we reenact it with communion . . . we are reaffirming our acceptance of this gift of salvation . . .
We are having a new coat put on the door posts of our hearts. We are telling Jesus yes . . . yes we need your forgiveness . . . yes we want your grace . . . yes we want your love . . . we want to repent of our sins . . . show us the way. . .

Adam Hamilton talks about this night in his book . . . this night of repentance and restoration. But there is one thing that he says and it made me stop and think . . . it made me stop and fall to my knees thanking our Lord and Savior. You see . . . (and I’m paraphrasing) that although Jesus knew that Judas would betray him . . . that although he knew that the disciples would flee and desert him . . . that although he knew Peter would deny him. . . He still washed their feet. . . He still shared the bread and wine with them . . . this representation of His body and blood. Even though He knew all of this, He told them, “I no longer call you servants but I call you friends.” Jesus looked past all their sin and betrayal and called them friends. This gives me, it can give you, comfort in the knowledge that like the first disciples, we, Jesus’ new disciples, are offered this same love, this same redemption, this same grace, that was offered so long ago.

This was the beginning of a new age; no longer would the Passover Seder be seen as a reenactment of things gone by but the story of the liberation of all humankind from the bondage of sin and death. Not only the Jews but God gave salvation to all humankind. Jews, Gentiles, free and slaves, all were included in this redemptive act of God. It now was to commemorate the new covenant that God made, through Jesus Christ. It is a sign of God’s love, grace and the gift of redemption.

Adam Hamilton states that (and again I am paraphrasing) Jesus meant the new meal, this Communion Meal, to define who we are. We remember that it was Jesus who saved us; we remember that our freedom came at a cost that Jesus (God in flesh) suffered and died for us. We must envision ourselves at this meal with Jesus, we must envision ourselves at the foot of the cross knowing that Jesus did this for us . . . He did it for you and for me! This is the birth of our people, the people called Christians and we come to the table knowing that we were slaves to sin and death and leave the table a freed man or woman.

One man betrayed him, one denied him and all ran away in fear but Jesus still called them friends. Jesus is calling to you and to me . . . calling us friends. Through this meal that we share we are reminded of the sacrifice that was made for us. Through this meal we are connected to all believers. This was a radical new way of celebrating this meal, this Passover Seder. But was a meal that changed the world . . . a meal that would forever change our relationship with our Risen Lord. We are the branches of Jesse that bear the fruit. We are no longer judged by what is seen but what is unseen. We are given the gift of a Spirit of wisdom and of might . . . a Spirit of counsel and of understanding . . . a Spirit of the fear of the Lord. We are the feet that bring the Good News . . . the news of peace and salvation. We are no longer servants but friends.

Amen.

March 1, 2010
Mark 14:12, 22-25
Isaiah 11:1-5
Isaiah 52:7 (Call to Worship)
Deuteronomy 16:1-8
Exodus 12:1-28
Deuteronomy 11:16-21
and sermon, “A Last Meal”
by Pastor Ruth L. Foss
the first in a series of sermons, based in part on the book,
“24 Hours That Changed the World”, by Reverend Adam Hamilton
http://thewell.cor.org/resurrection-resources/24-hours-that-changed-the-world.html
by Pastor Ruth Foss
https://twitter.com/PastorRuthFoss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
http://pastorruth.posterous.com/
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
February 28, 2010


All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 19,910+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.