Guests

Have you ever had someone show up at your door unannounced? It is often disorienting and typically brings on sheer panic, right? I mean, I forgot to clean the bathroom today and what if someone needs to use it? Or, what if they want to come in to sit down for a while, I have a sink full of dishes and they might see them. Or some other cleaning thing you haven’t gotten to yet today…it causes us to stress out and be hesitant to let someone in if we have not had an opportunity to give our home the white glove treatment. Here’s the thing though…have you ever been the one who dropped in on someone unannounced? If you have done this yourself, are you really concerned about whether the person you are dropping in on got every last speck of dust off the living room coffee table?

No, probably not. You are there for a specific purpose and it does not matter whether there are dog toys all over the floor or if your host had just finished running the vacuum but did not get to scrubbing the toilet. You, as the drop in guest, desire to be in fellowship with the person you are seeing, right? I mean, you dropped in unannounced probably because you know that if you asked to come over, the answer more than likely would have been “no”. And no matter what the living room looks like, you are there to see the person you came to see, not cast a judgement on the state of their living room or bathroom…so, if we all can agree on that, I want you to think about our story for tonight for a moment to reflect on what we hear. The thing about this story, like so many others at this time of year, we have heard it so often, I wonder if there are parts of it that we just don’t think about...so, tonight, I want you to look at it from the perspective of the man who was presented with the disciples coming to him to say that...

Matthew 26:18 NIV

He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ”

I can hear some of your hearts already increasing their beat…imagine (maybe you don’t have to imagine) the panic in your heart as you realize who is coming for dinner, without any kind of warning…I know that saying that there was no real notice given is not entirely true, however for our time of reflection tonight, let’s consider that there is no advance notice that Jesus and the disciples were coming to this man’s home to have the most important meal in the Jewish calendar. Think about it this way, you are expecting your own guests for a very important meal and the Messiah tells you to prepare yourself because he is coming to your home that very night as well and he won’t be alone, he will be bringing 12 of his closest friends with him. How would you feel and react to someone representing Jesus saying these words to you?

There are many times when we expect guests to come and visit us…like for weddings, birthdays, dinner parties, housewarmings, the death of a loved one, and so on. For the ones that we plan, we probably have a guest list developed and have issued invitations. Tonight, Jesus is coming and he is coming to celebrate his Passover gift as the final sacrificial lamb.

Passover Traditions

As we think about all these things, I thought it would be helpful for us to spend just a few moments talking about the things that Jewish families still do to this day when it comes to the Passover meal. These are things that Jesus and his disciples would have done that evening. The most important tradition of Passover, a seven day celebration of the freedom from slavery in Egypt, is the meal that is shared on the first evening. It contains multiple elements but just a few very important ingredients that must be included. The Passover ritual is at the center of Jewish worship. Every element of Pesach (Hebrew, “Passover”) was designed to commemorate the Jews’ historic passage from slavery to nationhood under God. Often called, the seder meal with its accompanying ritual recalls the last meal the Jews ate in Egypt before beginning their journey to the Promised Land. Jews are commanded to remember their history of captivity and liberation on the night of the Seder.

The Ingredients: The Lamb

The first and most important ingredient in the Passover meal is a roasted lamb, which was to have been given as a sacrifice at the Temple. Today, this is not as possible for those who do not live around or in Jerusalem, but at the time of Jesus, this was a must. Seder participants are reminded that lamb’s blood was smeared on the doorposts of Jewish houses to protect Jews from the plague that struck nonbelievers the first Passover night. This paschal lamb was to be eaten with bitter herbs, as commanded in Exodus. In Old Testament times bitter lettuce, chicory, or endive were used; today Jewish families are more likely to use grated horseradish or onion. These herbs symbolize the bitterness of captivity under the Egyptians. For us here tonight, the lamb is Christ and I would say that he is still the most important ingredient for us as well. His sacrifice on the cross reminds us of the sacrifice of the lamb.

The next ingredient, almost as important to the meal is the bread...

The Ingredients: The Unleavened Bread

Since the first Seder was eaten as Jews prepared for flight, the theme of haste is woven into the feast. Unleavened bread of a cracker-like texture, such as matzos, was more suitable for a people in flight than leavened loaves, which require kneading and rising. Because the people who fled from Egypt did not have the traditional means of making bread, it was easy for them to create these flat loaves which could be eaten quickly and without needing to stop and allow the bread to rise. As we hasten to remember this night, we need to keep in mind that the bread that Jesus broke for us is the same kind of bread the Israelites took with them out of Egypt.

The third and equally important ingredient actually comes in several parts, but for us, it is one part and one part only…the wine

The Ingredients: The Wine

Each participant in the Seder meal has a wine cup. The host of the feast leans on cushions, recalling the ancient mode of eating in a reclining position. In front of the host is placed the Seder plate, with the traditional symbolic foods: three wafers of matzo bread wrapped in a napkin, the bitter herbs, the haroset or fruit pulp, the roasted lamb and hard-boiled egg, the sweet vegetables, and a dish of salt water for washing hands. Now, the best-known part of the Seder ritual is probably the “Four Questions.” The youngest male child of the house asks questions about the Seder, beginning with the words, “Why is this night of Passover different from all other nights of the year?” He asks about the use of unleavened bread, bitter herbs, the dipping of vegetables, and the cushions at the host’s chair. The host answers the child by reciting the history of Israel’s passage from bondage to freedom. And each time a question is answered the wine cup is refreshed, so there are four different “cups” used.

For us tonight, the ingredients take on a specific form, in remembering this meal, we remember that Christ is the final paschal lamb, the bread is for us the remembrance of his body being broken, and the cup is for us the remembrance of both the lamb’s blood as well as Christ’s life blood being shed for the forgiveness of sins for all. As we receive these elements tonight, I want for all of us to consider what they mean, individually but also as a whole meal.

But there is one more ingredient to this evening for us that we remember…even though we are not participating in the full Passover meal, we are remembering the full event tonight.

The Ingredients: A Hand Washing

I don’t know how many of you caught what I said a few moments ago…there is a dish of salt water on the dinner table to wash your hands. This was an ingredient that was part of the table and feast. The hand washing piece of the meal came as a surprise to me when I discovered the tradition this week. I have done a hand washing ceremony nearly every year on Maundy Thursday since starting in ministry. Originally, I did it because people did not want me touching their feet and understandably so. The feet have always represented one of the most intimate parts of the body. So to compromise, I would offer this as an alternative. Little did I know that the washing of hands is really a part of the custom and showed hospitality as much as the washing of the feet did. It makes sense when you think about it…we still tell our kids to go wash their hands before they eat...

For us tonight, as we move our service into the ritual of remembrance, I want us to look on this ritual not as a way to cleanse our hands but a way to remember the full ritual and meal that Jesus shared with his disciples then and with us as his disciples today…we are taking part in something so much greater than just bread and wine, it is a remembrance of all that Jesus did over those last few days and what his sacrifice truly means for us. Let us look on these ingredients of our evening as a way to receive Christ as a guest in our home and lives...

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