We can learn a lot from our Jewish brothers and sisters.  
Paul writes in Romans 9:4-5
“They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
These are the people of the First Covenant. Tonight as we celebrate the New Covenant perhaps we need to remember that, as Paul writes in Romans 11:29, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Yesterday was the last night of Passover, the festival of freedom for the Jewish people and a celebration of the renewal of their covenant with God. Tonight, we celebrate, too, a New Covenant, but a covenant which embraces those same promises made in the First Covenant and acknowledges that we are adopted as heirs into that very covenant. Listen for the word of God in Luke 22 beginning with verse seven:

“Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.’ They asked him, ‘Where do you want us to make preparations for it?’ ‘Listen,’ he said to them, ‘when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, “The teacher asks you, ‘Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ” He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.’ So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

The word of God for the people of God
Thanks be to God

According to all the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Last Super was a seder, a Passover meal. Why on earth did Jesus pick this for his last meal with his disciples? Well, we might go back to the litany we read at first which contains the question that’s always asked on Passover night by the youngest child in the family, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” And then in the ritual or Haggadah he proceeds to tell what the differences are. The first difference the child says is, “On all other nights we eat either bread or matzo, but on this night only matzo.” What is matzo? It’s unleavened bread, bread that’s not been allowed to rise. It has no yeast in it. We might call it a cracker of a rather large size.

But why matzo? -- The people at the table reply, “This is the bread of affliction, the poor bread, which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.  Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in want share the hope of Passover. Now we are not all free. Next year may we all be free!”

It is, you see, a celebration of freedom which takes the bread of affliction, the symbol of slavery, and transforms it to the bread of freedom.

We all know the story, how Joseph and his brothers went down to Egypt to escape a famine and served Pharaoh’s court. But then there arose generations later a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph who enslaved the Israelites. And they were starved, and they were beaten, and when they became too numerous their sons were killed.

Moses, of course, discovers that he is one of them, even though he lives in Pharaoh’s court. And when he sees the affliction of his own people, he strikes back and kills one of the overseers, and all he succeeds in doing is having to flee for his life into exile. But while he’s in exile the God who says,  “I am who is” (in other words Reality itself) calls him. He calls Moses to lead the people of Israel out from slavery in Egypt. Moses leads all right, but it’s God who sets them free – not a warrior Moses, not armed revolutionaries, not hate filled people – but God, this God who is Reality.

And so the bread of affliction becomes the bread of freedom. In their last act before they flee from the Egyptians they don’t have time for the bread to rise, so they take with them unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, now the bread of freedom. 

So what’s the message of Passover? Very simple… God wants us free! God sets us free! Remember the Acts of God!

Now the message was the same in Jesus time. The Passover meal was still a celebration of freedom, except the Jews were no longer free. They’d had a series of masters finally ending with the Romans. Now they were victims of the Pax Romana, the Roman peace - built on occupation, taxation, and foreclosures on land for those who couldn’t pay. And for those who revolted there was crucifixion for the men and slavery for the women and children.

So how did the people of Israel react? Well, there were several different reactions as there were several different parties I’m sure you’ve all heard of. Of course, there were the Sadducees, the party of the High Priests like Annas and Caiphas. Their response was materialism and, yes, idolatry. You see they were the wealthy nobility, they collaborated with the Romans to hold onto their wealth and their position. Archeologists have found some of the houses in Jerusalem where the priests lived. They were palatial. Who needed an afterlife when you could have a present life like that? And they believed, of course reading carefully through the scriptures, that God wanted them to be rich. And they objected when the Pharisees pointed out what the prophets had to say about that. No! The scriptures can’t grow. They have to be limited to just “the Book” – the five books of Moses, they meant. They were very much into ritual not spirit, worship rather than service, in other words idolatry, not the God of Reality. They worshipped the god of prosperity, Mammon.

And then there were the Pharisees. Some like Rabbi Shammai reacted with nationalism and racism. They wanted to purify the faith, make the people better, make them follow the law more exactly except for the so-called “People of the Land.” They were too poor to keep the rules anyway. These are the folks whose ideas on racial purity made genealogies so popular they had to be included in Matthew and Luke so that everyone would know that Jesus had the right pedigree.

And then there were the Zealots like Judas, the Galilean, and probably Barabbas who was freed in Jesus’ place. Their answer was militarism and terrorism – no more waiting for God to free them. We’re going to do it ourselves! We’re going to find our own Messiah! And there were plenty of volunteers for Messiah. But the Roman cavalry took care of most of them. And when their militarism didn’t work out so well,  they resorted to terrorism and the Ish Sicarri,  the Men of the knife who slipped into the crowds of Romans and collaborators and killed as many as they could before they were taken down.

The problem with these responses is that they enslave people just as much the Romans did. Materialism, racism, terrorism – they’re all forms of slavery.

And yet there was another way that some talked about – a way that pointed to The Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed – hope for all in love of all. Some Pharisees like Rabbi Hillel and Gamaliel preached that the law was summed up in the golden rule, that the people of Israel needed to be a light to the whole world, that Israel should be open to all. They even sought converts (which later on Paul evangelized.) It got to the point where they were so understanding, there were even beginning to think about Jesus’ idea of loving their enemies. There’s a wonderful Passover story that’s told many times around the seder table. It captures this spirit. The story goes that when the Israelites ran through the Red Sea to escape the Pharaoh and the waters closed over the Egyptians drowning Pharaoh’s army, the angels in heaven began to celebrate and cheer. But the voice of God came to them and said, “How dare you celebrate? These, too, are my children!”

So there’s this other way, this Kingdom of God that this young Jesus preaches. The problem is that this talk of Kingdoms is dangerous, talk of freedom is dangerous.

This “festival of freedom,” this Passover, set the Roman security threat level at “Code Red” every time. The potential for rioting was tremendous. It happened over and over again. They always brought in extra troops for the Passover. And Jesus’ entrance on Palm Sunday didn’t help much. He did his best. He came in on the donkey of peace not the charger of war as Dr. Fiedler pointed out, Sunday. Unfortunately the crowd still saw this as political bid for power. They were waving palm branches, and we who aren’t too up on our history may not understand, but if you look at Jewish coins of that era you’ll see. Since they weren’t allowed to put images of the king on their coins, they put palm branches. So waving a palm branch was kind of like waving the French flag in Nazi occupied Paris.

After week in Jerusalem some wanted to make him king. Others wanted him arrested. That’s why the meal was eaten in secret. You notice our scripture story begins with the disciples being instructed to look for this man carrying a water jar. Well, you have to understand in societies like that one, and even today in places like Dafur or Zimbabwe, a man carrying a water jar? It’s just not done. That’s women’s work. So he’d be easy to spot. So he led them to the upper room.

So Jesus celebrates his last meal in secret, trying to make these symbols of freedom mean something to his disciples. He tells them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Once again a Jew stands among other Jews attempting to transform the bread of affliction into the bread of freedom.

And these afflictions which kept them from the kingdom also keep us from the kingdom. They’re familiar to us – materialism, racism and terrorism. The thing is they are so tempting because they are based on natural and healthy needs, just twisted by our sin. Let me explain with help of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. You see, Maslow discovered that we all have basic needs. There arranged in a sort of pyramid. And when the ones on the bottom are filled we start on the next level and build on up.

One of our most basic needs is the need for safety and security and that’s really where materialism comes from. Most of us are lucky. Our basic needs for safety and security were fulfilled by our parents.  We learn to trust in the goodness of world and the goodness of God. Although later on when we become adults and we become responsible for ourselves, it becomes a little bit more scary. And what if we’re unprepared by our temperament or our education? What if we’ve been abandoned? What if we’ve been injured? Then fear dominates. And we come to believe that we can never have enough, never have enough stuff, never have enough power, never have enough status. And we’re easy to manipulate. Just look at most of the ads you see on TV. That’s what they appeal to – our fear of not having enough – our fear of not being safe.                   

And then there’s the response of racism and its close relative nationalism. It’s root is the need for belonging. We all need to belong to a family, to a larger group, to people that make us feel like we’re loved and cared for. But what if you’re from a broken home?  What if you’re one of those kids like me who just didn’t fit in? Or what if you try too hard to belong? Loneliness then seeks to be the chosen one, the chosen race, chosen nation – to be a little bit superior, so that we can exclude somebody else, ans say it’s all for us. And we become easy to manipulate. Just look at the racial epithets tossed at our congressmen and women over the last few weeks.

And finally, comes terrorism and its twin militarism. It’s root is our longing for meaning. Abraham Maslow calls it our desire for self-realization – to be able to use the gifts and graces we’ve been given to accomplish something, to live for something, and to pass it on to our children. But what if those dreams are frustrated?  What if loved ones are lost? What if we’re touched by death? And all of a sudden we’re empty.  Emptiness lashes out. Psychologists tell us that anger is one of the first stages of grief. And that anger is easy to manipulate into vengeance and violence. And pretty soon the Crusader General or the Ayatollah is telling you about a hero’s death and a paradise for martyrs.

Materialism, racism, terrorism – there all rooted in rooted in fear, loneliness, and emptiness – the bread of our affliction.

So how can Jesus transform this bread into the bread of freedom? His answer is the New Covenant.

Now the new covenant was not a new religion. It’s simply incorporating the promises of the ancient texts for a modern day – Jesus’ day in this case. Jesus goes with the scriptures he has learned from the rabbis. And he thinks these very important because he says, in The Sermon on the Mount, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” He goes on to say “not a jot or a tittle” (that’s like the cross of a “t” or the dot of an “I”) will be removed until the scriptures are fulfilled. But which scriptures?

You have to be careful which scriptures you use. The Sadducees were very skilled at interpreting the Torah to prove that they should be rewarded with prosperity. The racist Pharisees who followed Shammai were good at quoting Ezra and Nehemiah because they talked about keeping the race pure. And of course, the Zealot terrorists could always go back to First Samuel where Saul is removed as king because he doesn’t follow the instruction to kill every man, woman and child who is against God.

Which scriptures is Jesus talking about fulfilling? And how will he go about it?

When Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, just before celebrating the Passover, he says to them, “I have set you an example.” Now I used to think of that as just showing us how we ought to be, but I think it’s more than that. I think he’s showing us how God IS. See how he lives.

We fear. Jesus trusts. He recalls scriptures like, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” He lives out his trust in God’s bounty with his disciples – feeding people, healing, serving. He tells them “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, your heavenly Father knows what you need.” And he sends the disciples out with nothing, and they find they have all that they need. Tonight he washes their feet and says do as I do.
                       
Those of us who have been on the Walk to Emmaus will tell you, “Shower someone with gifts long enough, and you will very likely transform fear to faith – faith not in the sense of believing a set of propositions, but faith in the sense of trusting the one who has given you so much.”

Tonight at this table let Christ transform your fear to faith.

We are lonely. Jesus’ love brings us together. He remembers Isaiah 25, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast.” He doesn’t quote it. He lives it. He goes all over Israel starting little Messianic banquets, starting feasts for people. And they include everyone – just like in Isaiah 55,
“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!”
And so they all come – saints, sinners, sick, sorrowful – no one is left out. And on this night, in this final feast, he shares his love, his very body, to make them one with him, one with God, one with each other. Now they belong to him and to each other.

Tonight at this table Let Christ transform your loneliness with love.

We are empty. Jesus fills us with hope. “The Lord is my light and salvation whom shall I fear?” says Psalm 27. And Jesus decides to become the salvation of his disciples. You see, his disciples are confronted with the injustice of Rome and they want to do something about it, but they want to do all the wrong things. They want to live by the sword. And what they want to do is going to get them killed. They will be crushed just like the Jewish rebels in 70 A.D. So Jesus gives his life that they might escape – literally gives his life for them. When the police come to arrest him Jesus say, “Take me, let the others go.” And in doing this he shows them how to resist evil with goodness. The violence stops with him.

How can he do this? With the help of a little more scripture – Psalm 16:

“Hope in the Lord
            For you do not give me up to Sheol,
                        or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
             In your presence there is fullness of joy;
                        in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”

He gives them a New Covenant sealed in His own blood, and by his wounds they are healed.

Tonight at this table let Christ fill your emptiness with hope.

But you know, the disciples didn’t understand what was going on. You can tell it if you read a little further after tonight’s scripture passage. The next thing that happens is that they get into an argument about who is greatest one in the kingdom. And when Jesus tells them things are going to get worse – you may wish you had a sword. They tell him, “Don’t worry we’ve got two right here.” Jesus says in disgust, “That’s enough!”

They don’t really understand until Good Friday is followed by Easter. And then it becomes clear.

He’s given them freedom from fear, from loneliness, from emptiness. But he’s also given them freedom for something – freedom for a mission – a mission of transforming this world of materialism, racism, and terrorism – to be examples as he was.

• To have a faith which gives rise to Sharing All we have – transforming others’ fear to faith
• To have a love which gives rise to Including All we meet –transforming their loneliness to love
• To have a hope which gives rise to Resisting All that’s wrong – transforming emptiness to hope

Tonight at this table pledge yourself to the faith that shares, the love that includes and the hope that resists evil.

And then freed FROM fear, loneliness, and emptiness FOR faith, love and hope, remember always that the greatest of these is love. That’s how we come finally to the name of this night, Maundy Thursday, from the word mandamus, which means “commandment” in Latin. The final word that Jesus gives his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

If we do this, the bread of affliction will once again be transformed into the bread of freedom.