Holy Thursday - "Do this in memory of me"

 

John 13: 1-15

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041422-supper.cfm

I remember clearly a number of years ago considering an important question as part of a psychological exam on self-understanding.

The question to be considered was basically: “What inscription would you like written on your tombstone?” How do you want to be remembered?”

That, at least for me, was a tough question to ponder but I think it does give us pause about how we should live our lives.  It would be something for anyone of us to consider.

The terrible conflict between Russia and Ukraine at this time will have history remembering the leader of Russia as a ruthless dictator, only bent on nation building and one who has no care for humanity.  Such a dark and sinister image will forever taint him as a pariah on the world stage unlike the hero he weirdly imagines. Who would want to be remembered in that way?

I frankly am not sure what exact words I would want written yet but I am sure I would want to be more aligned with Christ than with the evil one! What I can say is that I would want to be remembered well and for good things and not be labeled for the mistakes or sins of my past. Nor, I imagine, would any of you. Still, let’s consider for a moment how Jesus might have answered that question. 

In fact, we have that answer tonight in our Gospel in two important ways.  On the night before his death, at the young age of approximately 33, he told his disciples:

First: “I have given you a model to follow – so that as I have done for you, you should also do”

What did he just do?  He washed the feet of sinful men.  He did the work of a slave and made himself lower in importance than those whose feet he was washing. These men were not perfect by any means.  They were naïve, somewhat impulsive, well-intentioned but not strong. They were excitable, some were concerned more with their own position in the group, but they were chosen by him. So as God he humbled himself and washed their feet. Then he reminded them that what he just did was done as a model, as a way to mark they are his disciples.

Secondly, he said according to Paul in our second reading.  On that night, he broke bread with them, took it and said: “This is my body,” then a cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood . . . Do this as often as you eat and drink it in memory of me.”

Jesus wants to be remembered both for what he showed us and for what he gave us.  For what he did and for what he said and for who he is – Lord and Savior who came among us in the flesh as servant.

What he showed us was a life lived out in total surrender to the will of God his Father.

What he gave us was a meal, simple food and drink, a written word along with himself as the food we eat. So that wherever and whenever we gather the Church around this table we see who we are in Christ and we are sent forth to wash each other’s feet. That simplicity of substance was transformed through his divine will to be his own flesh and blood given for us and consumed as our food for this journey in life to the next.

And so he is remembered, his legacy has changed the world for all time with a promise of hope as a light shining in darkness. Good overcomes evil, love changes hatred to peace.

One thought that has given me some real pause to think is what happens to us when we consume this sacred bread we believe is truly the Body of the risen Lord.  Not as he walked the earth, for that would be impossible, but as he now is outside of space and time: risen, alive and transformed in some mysterious but tangible presence.

We receive not a thing but a person. The Eucharist is not an “it,” the Eucharist is a person; a real and living presence. So, this Person – enters our body and as food touches every part of our being; God takes us over. He enters our muscles, enters our heart, our blood, our human cells, our breath, our brains, our arms and legs, hands and feet.  He totally unites himself to us body and soul. 

Knowing that really means that he wants us to work with him and he wants to work in and through us. To speak with his words, to walk his walk, to think as he does, to act and to love as he does.  So we need to forget something of what we are and become more of what he is.

This night he gave the Church the priesthood so that a human minister might represent him in the community and bring his grace, mercy, good news, and food to the hungry.

God in Jesus did not want to disappear and be only a memory of human history, he wanted to remain present and active and in the total sacramental life of the Church he continues to heal, to forgive, to unite, to send on mission, to speak and minister.  And not just once or occasionally but as often as we do this in memory of him.

Let us never forget who HE is for the world

And because of that, who WE are called to become as his disciples.

Both hearing his word and strengthened by his body we are sent out on a mission to bring Christ  to the world and transform it from a community of individuals seeking a shepherd to a gathering of a family formed in his likeness. As he has done so we must do in his name.  That example and the Spirit working through us will transform the world. 

Something more was needed that would not only remain but continue to remind those who gathered in his name, that would bring them to Christ and then connect them to one another. 

His answer was a meal, food, and a certain indelible action that would bring home to us the truth of his existence but also prove to us his overwhelming love and mercy. 

O God, who have called us to participate

in this most sacred Supper, 

in which your Only Begotten Son, when about to hand himself over to death,

entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity,

the banquet of his love, grant that we may draw

from so great a mystery,

the fullness of charity and of life. 

Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, 

who lives and reigns with you in the unity

of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. 

(Collect of Mass)