Maundy Thursday, April 13, 2006

"Why is this night different than all other nights?" That is the question the youngest child asks to begin the Seder celebration in a Jewish household. Among some other Jewish religious celebrations, Passover is celebrated not in a temple, but at home among one’s family. In fact, the night the death angel passed over the homes of the Jews as God broke the bonds of their captors, the people were gathered in families as God had commanded them. They had marked their doorposts with the blood of the lamb as a sign of their salvation. On that first Passover night, God shattered the bonds of the oppressor and set the people free. That night was different from all other nights. A night to remember. Therefore, from that day to now, faithful Jews celebrate the Passover to remember, as God commanded them to do.

When Jesus gathered with his disciples, they gathered as a family. That most sacred meal was their last together. Though his own heart was heavy as he faced the coming suffering and death, he knelt at their feet to perform the most menial task that none of them had considered doing. He bathed their dusty, road-weary feet as they reclined at table.

Tonight in many Christian churches, priests and pastors will kneel to wash the feet of men, women and children, as a visible sign of Jesus’ love re-enacted. In a beautiful painting by Ford Madox Brown, young, strong Jesus is kneeling before white-haired Peter. Jesus’ left hand cradles Peter’s right foot, while his right hand is cupped around the arch, as if tenderly massaging the older man’s tired foot. On Peter’s face there is a mixture of embarrassment, with something akin to reverence. The Savior of the world, kneeling down to bathe his followers’ dusty feet. What an image. One cannot escape the symbolism that Jesus is going to minister to even the most unlovely parts of his followers.

Completely at peace in his relationship to his heavenly Father, Jesus is showing us the depth of his love for that small band who had been with him for three years. He knows their weaknesses (the dirty feet), but Jesus also knows the power of God to change the human heart.

The foot washing has become a symbol of baptism, even as the supper is the symbol of Jesus’ body broken for us. By washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus is also modeling for us the extent to which we are to love each other.

Finally, when he is finished, Jesus gives the disciples and us a new commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you....By this will all identify you as my disciples – by the love you have for one another."

And then, in the ultimate demonstration of self-giving love, Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross and gave his life that we might know the depth and power of God’s love.

One of the most beautiful films I have ever seen was Oscar winning; I encourage you to rent it (this weekend, from Blockbuster) and enjoy it. Babette’s Feast: Babette, a refugee from the French Civil War, finds here way to the home of two elderly single women whose father, a pastor, founded a small Christian sect. After their father died, the little group of believers dwindled too, until there was only a handful of members left. Their lifestyle was quite austere, with little change from day to day. Babette stayed with the sisters, working as their servant in exchange for lodging.

One day, word came that she had won a large sum of money in the lottery. It was assumed that she would return to France, but before she did, she wanted to give a dinner for the sisters and their church friends.

She began to order the finest foods for the feast. Live quail and turtle, fine wines...such food the sisters had never dreamed of. The disciples of the long-dead pastor decided that would attend the dinner, but will keep their minds only on higher things as if they had no sense of taste. They would just go through the motions of the dinner.

One of the followers brings a guest: General Lowenheilm, who is quite overwhelmed by the feast, and by the course after course of fine food and wine. He reminisces aloud about a famous Parisian chef, a woman, who years before was known for her exquisite culinary artistry. She had made dining a love affair in which there was no distinction between the spiritual and other appetites. Surely, the general remarks, these are the same delicacies he had enjoyed at the fabled Café Anglais.

As the little band of disciples dine, gradually warmed by the wine and the general’s comments, they too begin to really respond to the banquet that had been laid out before them. Old misunderstandings and quarrels are healed; past sins genuinely forgiven around the table. The general’s words express the healing love they have experienced: "Grace," he says, "makes no conditions; it takes all to its bosom and proclaims amnesty. That which we have rejected is poured out on us."

The evening ends with the little bland of disciples joining hands in the moonlight in the village square, dancing with spontaneous joy.

Back inside the house, the sisters thank Babette and discover that, indeed, she is the fabled chef of the Café Anglais. To their amazement, they discover that Babette will not be leaving them for Paris after all. She spent her entire lottery winnings on the sumptuous dinner she gave for her friends. She has given everything she had to those she had come to love.

When we gather at this table, we gather at the feast prepared for us by our Savior, who has given everything, even his life blood, to those he came to love. He invites us to come to the table not because we deserve to come, but because he has loved us and commanded us to love one another too.

We come because we love the One who first loved us.

This is the joyful feast of the people of God