Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle B

MARK 10:35-45
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE LAST MEAL JESUS ATE WITH HIS APOSTLES? TRADITION HAS IT THAT THIS WAS THE SEDER, OR PASSOVER SUPPER. EVEN IN THE TIME OF JESUS IT WAS SURROUNDED WITH RITUAL. THAT IS WHY JESUS TOLD HIS DISCIPLES TO GO AND PREPARE THE SUPPER, SINCE THERE WAS A LOT OF WORK INVOLVED. IF YOU'VE EVER GONE TO A CHRISTIAN VERSION, OR PARTICIPATED IN THE SEDER WITH A JEWISH FAMILY, YOU WILL REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE PRAYERS; THERE IS THE MATZO, A SORT OF CRACKER, WHICH IS PLACED IN A SPECIAL CLOTH WRAPPER, AND REMINDS US THAT THE JEWS LEFT EGYPT SO RAPIDLY THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO ALLOW THEIR BREAD TO RISE. AND THEN THERE ARE THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS; THE MIXTURE OF FRUIT AND NUTS, TO REMIND US OF THE MORTAR USED BY THE JEWISH SLAVES TO ASSEMBLE THE BRICK BUILDINGS FOR PHAROH; THE PARSLEY DIPPED IN SALT TO REMIND US OF THE TEARS OF THE JEWISH SLAVES; THE EGG, WHICH IS A SYMBOL OF SPRING AND NEW BEGINNINGS; THE SHANK OF LAMB, WHICH REMINDS US OF THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB, AND THE BITTER HERBS, WHICH REMIND US OF THE BITTERNESS OF SLAVERY.
JESUS INSTITUTED THE HOLY EUCHARIST AT THE PASSOVER MEAL. SO WE MIGHT ASK THE QUESTION, WHY DID HE CHOOSE THE BREAD TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO HIS BODY? AFTER ALL, THERE WERE OTHER CANDIDATES. IT WOULD HAVE SEEMED OBVIOUS, SINCE JESUS WAS GOING TO BE OUR SACRIFICE, FOR HIM TO CHOOSE THE LAMB; LAMBS WERE SACRIFICED ALL THE TIME AT THE TEMPLE, AND IN FACT JOHN THE BAPTIST HAD REFERRED TO JESUS AS THE LAMB OF GOD. WELL, IF NOT THE LAMB, WHY NOT THE EGG? AFTER ALL, THE EGG, SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, HAS BEEN THE SYMBOL OF A NEW BEGINNING. IT IS A SYMBOL OF EASTER, OF SPRINGTIME, OF NEW LIFE. AND JESUS CERTAINLY CAN LAY CLAIM TO ALL OF THOSE MEANINGS. THE MIXTURE OF FRUIT AND NUTS SYMBOLIZED MORTAR FOR THE JEWS, AND JESUS COULD HAVE USED THAT, SINCE HE HAD INDICATED THAT HE CAME TO BUILD THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, AND HAD TOLD PETER THAT UPON THIS ROCK HE WOULD BUILD HIS CHURCH. AND I SUPPOSE IF WE STRETCHED OUR IMAGINATION WE COULD FIGURE OUT SOME WAY JESUS MIGHT HAVE USED THE PARSLEY IN SALT WATER, OR THE BITTER HERBS. BUT HE CHOSE THE MATZOH, THE BREAD.
SO WHY BREAD?
WE ARE SO FAR FROM JESUS' TIME THAT WE CAN BARELY UNDERSTAND WHAT BREAD WAS TO THOSE FIRST CENTURY JEWS. WHETHER IT WAS LEAVENED OR UNLEAVENED, IT WAS FLAT. IT WAS USUALLY BAKED ON A FLAT STONE LAID OVER COALS RAKED FROM A FIRE. IT WAS MADE FROM WHATEVER GRAIN WAS HANDY – WHEAT, BARLEY, OATS, OR A MIXTURE. AND SINCE THE GRAIN WAS GROUND BY HAND, YOU COULD USUALLY BITE INTO SOME PIECES OF GRAIN THAT HAD NOT BEEN COMPLETELY TURNED INTO FLOUR. AND IT WAS CHEAP, AND NOT THOUGHT MUCH OF. BECAUSE BREAD WAS THERE TO SERVE AS A PLATE, AS A NAPKIN, AS A FORK OR SPOON. IN FACT, IN REALLY RICH HOUSEHOLDS, THE BREAD THAT HAD BEEN USED MIGHT NOT EVEN BE EATEN – IT MIGHT BE WADDED UP AND THROWN TO THE DOGS. REMEMBER THE RICH MAN IN THE STORY OF LAZARUS? THE BREAD WAS UNIQUE AMONGST ALL THE PARTS OF THE PASSOVER MEAL – IT WAS THE SERVANT OF THE MEAL.
THE SEDER MEAL USED FOUR CUPS OF WINE. THE FIRST TWO ARE CONSUMED WITHIN THE MEAL; THE THIRD RIGHT AFTER THE GRACE AFTER THE MEAL. THIS THIRD CUP WAS THE ONE JESUS OFFERED AS HIS BLOOD. (HE AND HIS DISCIPLES NEVER DRANK THE FOURTH AT THE MEAL; THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DRUNK AFTER THE PSALMS OF PRAISE, BUT IN THE SCRIPTURES, IT SAYS THAT AFTER THEY SANG THE PSALM OF PRAISE, THEY WENT OUT INTO THE NIGHT. JESUS DRANK THE FOURTH CUP ON THE CROSS. BUT THAT IS ANOTHER STORY).
SO WHY THE THIRD CUP?
WINE HAD A DIFFERENT MEANING THEN THAN IT DOES TODAY. EVEN OUR ELDER BROTHERS THE JEWS USE A VERY REFINED SWEET WINE FOR PASSOVER. BUT IN JESUS' TIME, THAT WAS NOT WINE. WINE WAS MADE BY FILLING AN ANIMAL SKIN WITH GRAPE JUICE AND LEAVING IT OUT IN THE SUN. IT WOULD NATURALLY FERMENT, BUT IF YOU'VE EVER TASTED FRESHLY FERMENTED GRAPE JUICE, IT ISN'T VERY GOOD. BUT WHEN THE AVAILABLE WATER WAS LIKELY TO BE CONTAMINATED BY WHATEVER HAD BEEN DUMPED INTO IT, THIS FERMENTED GRAPE JUICE CAME IN HANDY, SINCE WHEN YOU MIXED IT WITH WATER, YOU DILUTED THE TASTE OF THE WINE TO WHERE IT WAS TOLERABLE; AND YOU ALSO KILLED THE GERMS IN THE WATER, SO YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO DRINK IT WITHOUT GETTING SICK. WE ACT THAT OUT EVEN TODAY AT MASS, WHEN A LITTLE WATER IS ADDED TO THE CUP OF WINE. THE WATER IS US, AND THE WINE REDEEMS THE WATER, AND THE THIRD CUP WAS THE CUP OF REDEMPTION IN THE SEDER.
SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TODAY'S GOSPEL? I THINK ONE OF THE REASONS JESUS CHOSE THE BREAD OF THE PASSOVER TO BE HIS BODY IS TO SYMBOLIZE THAT HE CAME TO SERVE, AND NOT TO BE SERVED. AND HE CHOSE THE THIRD CUP BECAUSE THAT WAS INDEED THE CUP THAT SYMBOLIZED REDEMPTION AT THE PASSOVER MEAL.
AND WHEN HE GIVES US HIS BODY AND HIS BLOOD IN OUR HOLY COMMUNION, HE OFFERS TO TRANSFORM US, BUT TO TRANSFORM US INTO SERVANTS, SERVANTS WHO ARE CALLED TO SERVE EACH OTHER AND THE WHOLE WORLD. BECAUSE THE SPIRITUAL FOOD WHICH IS HIS BODY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM THOSE WHO EAT IT INTO ITSELF. AND WHEN WE PARTAKE OF THE WINE, WE DRINK OF THE THIRD CUP IN THE SEDER MEAL, THE CUP WHICH RECALLS REDEMPTION, THE CUP WHICH PURIFIES AND MAKES HOLY THE WATER INTO WHICH IT IS MIXED. AND WE ARE PROMISED THAT OUR HAPPINESS WILL LIE IN THE DEGREE TO WHICH WE DEVOTE OURSELVES TO SERVICE. THERE IS NO SHORT CUT, NO OTHER WAY TO GET THERE.
AND WHEN WE LEAVE MASS AFTER TAKING PART IN THE EUCHARIST, WE SHOULD RECALL THOSE WORDS OF JESUS: “WHOEVER WISHES TO BE GREAT AMONG YOU WILL BE YOUR SERVANT; WHOEVER WISHES TO BE FIRST AMONG YOU WILL BE THE SLAVE OF ALL.”