Tag Archives: last supper

Preaching, Sermons

Everyone Eats at Jesus’ Table [OR Last Supper? Bacchanalia? Does it Matter?] John 6:35, 41-51

**sermon photo: X user @kylenabecker

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on August 11, 2024

[sermon begins after two Bible readings; Ephesians reading is at the end of the sermon]

1 Kings 19:4-8 [Elijah] went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

John 6:35, 41-51 Jesus said to [the crowd,] “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

[sermon begins]

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” He didn’t just say it once. He kept saying it. (Hence why this sixth chapter of John is often called The Bread of Life Discourse.)[1] Adding fuel to his carb-loaded speech, Jesus also said that that he was “living bread from heaven.” The crowd couldn’t understand. Generations of Jews recite a daily prayer in good faith that only God is God and God is One.[2] For Jesus to self-identify using THE divine “I AM” statement, the same “I AM” name used by God with Moses. Moses was to tell the people of Israel that, “I AM has sent me to you.”[3] When Jesus was feeding 5,000 of them a few verses ago in this same sixth chapter of John, the crowd of Jews were ready to enthrone Jesus as king. But calling himself “I AM?!!” That crossed the line. No wonder they were complaining. This was tough stuff. They couldn’t accept it from Jesus. But not because God wasn’t already a sustaining God in scripture.

The crowd knew the ancestral stories from past generations like God’s provision of manna from heaven for Moses and the people Israel, and like God’s provision for Elijah when he fell into despair after fleeing Queen Jezebel who wanted to kill him. He was full of fear and more than ready to die under that broom tree. He preferred a quiet death over the one that the Queen would inflict. God’s angels woke Elijah up from his nap and fed him cake baked on desert stones. Elijah’s story is a good reminder to sleep and snack when things seem at their most bleak. More importantly, it’s a reminder that God has long been a sustaining God through the covenant given to the Jews that expanded to become the covenant given through Jesus to Gentiles, non-Jews.

It’s the new covenant that is the sticking point for the crowds around Jesus. Three Sundays ago, the sixth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus met their 5,000 immediate needs and quieted their hunger pangs. Last Sunday, Jesus and the people talked about their ongoing need for food and the security it brings. It’s well known that you must feed people before anything else can happen. If people are hungry, they cannot absorb information. The arc of the Bread of Life Discourse started with their immediate needs and then moved towards their ongoing needs.[4] The third move from Jesus is about eternal life. In John’s gospel, eternal life is layered with abiding which is layered with believing which is layered with relationship. Jesus uses all these words – eternal life, abiding, believing, and relationship – to convey the intimate relationship that Jesus has with the Father who is the eternal One.[5] It’s their abiding relationship, their oneness, that we are also drawn into because of Jesus, the bread of life from heaven.

Some of you may know about a particular controversy during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris.[6] It was a raucous scene of colorful, flamboyant people sitting behind a long table. The central figure wore a crown and was the D.J. for a dance party. When I saw it, I thought, huh, the Last Supper, that’s a different take on it. I know enough to be dangerous when it comes to serious art and my mind connected the Opening Ceremony scene to Da Vinci’s painting, “Last Supper.”[7] Turns out, that wasn’t the intention of the producers of that scene. Their goal was an homage to the original Roman Bacchanalia festivals celebrating the Greek God Bacchus. But at the end of the day, it didn’t matter what their intention was because some Christians reacted strongly against the scene. Things got ugly across the social medias. The complaining was loud. The reaction that followed was neither patient nor kind. But I’d like to pause, two weeks after the Opening Ceremony, and wonder about the collective Christian imagination that did see the Lord’s Supper taking place on that Paris bridge. That colorful, joyous scene and all that followed was a missed opportunity to talk about what the Lord’s Supper does and why the bread of life is holy to those of us who receive it and are transformed by it, and that everyone is welcome at Jesus’ table.

Jesus said, “I AM the bread of life.” The same Jesus who came into the world that God so loved and explicitly said that he didn’t come to condemn the world.[8] But it didn’t take long for Jesus followers to begin condemning the world rather than loving it. I’m curious about what that means in terms of the people we can’t imagine he would include in his promises and how we justify our words and behavior condemning them. Our Savior is the bread of life, the “I AM” who abides with us, bringing us into full communion with the eternal One, transforming our hearts to love the world with his heart. Now that’s a promise to rest in, hope for, and act upon.

How then should we act? The Ephesians reading offers us life-giving actions to practice. Apparently, the Ephesian church needed a lot of practice to live in unity across their different perspectives. Perhaps they are a good example for our times, our nation, and our world, especially when some Christian siblings and sometimes even we think that defending the faith means holding people in contempt rather than compassion. This sounds incredibly appealing for what ails us. Hear my paraphrase of the reading:

Be angry but don’t sin. Work honestly to have something to share with those in need. Speak no evil. Speak only grace-filled words that build up. Put away bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, slander, and all malice. Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgive as Christ forgives you. Imitate God, you beloved children, and live in love as Christ loved us – Christ who gave himself up for us.

Those words make a wonderful world sound possible. It also sounds a little like a kindergarten lesson that never quite stuck in our time of cheap talk and online bullying at every level of society including political discourse.[9] It’s one thing to talk theoretically about Paris and it’s quite another to practice what we’re called to be as Jesus followers. The practice starts here. In our congregation. With each other. Saying things that we need to say across our differences. Speaking truth from each perspective and hearing each other in love. Our Augustana congregation is a kind one. The welcome people experience here is real. People comment on it. It’s observable. But kindness serves truth, not the other way around. The goal isn’t to avoid conflict. The goal is to consider different perspectives as information so that anger doesn’t win the moment. That takes practice.

Righteous anger feels so good that it’s hard to know when the line crosses into condemnation and evil. It’s why Christianity is a group project across many denominations. We’re bound to each other but also freed by Christ to faithfully fail, forgive ourselves and each other, and faithfully try again as we practice speaking truth in love.[10] God doesn’t need defending. God’s big enough to handle whatever the world throws around when we know not what we do.[11]

We need God’s love just like the rest of the world.

Thank God that Jesus IS the bread of life, abiding and eternal, and there IS plenty enough to share.

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[1] Karoline Lewis, Professor and the Marbury E. Anderson Chair of Biblical Preaching, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast about Bible readings for Sunday, August 11, 2024. #977: Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 19B) – Aug. 11, 2024 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[2] The Shema: An affirmation of God’s singularity, its daily recitation is regarded by traditionally observant Jews as a Biblical commandment. myjewishlearning.com/article/the-shema/

[3] Exodus 3:14

[4] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast about Bible readings for Sunday, August 11, 2024. #977: Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 19B) – Aug. 11, 2024 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[5] Ibid., Lewis

[6] Jack Izzo, 7/30/2024, Olympic Opening Ceremony Featured da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’? (msn.com)

[7] Isabella Mayer, Art in Context: The Last Supper Da Vinci – A Glimpse into The Last Supper Painting, August 1, 2023. The Last Supper Da Vinci – A Glimpse into The Last Supper Painting (artincontext.org)

[8] John 3:16-17

[9] Ibid, Skinner.

[10] Ephesians 4:15

[11] Luke 23:34 [Jesus from the cross] “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

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Ephesians 4:25-5:2 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil. 28Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Preaching

Wally’s World [OR Into This World, This Demented Inn] Luke 2:1-20

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church for Christmas

Luke 2:1-20  In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

[sermon begins]

 

Generally speaking, we tend to think of full things being good things.  Full refrigerators. Full bellies. Full bank accounts. Full lives. But full is not always good news.  When you’re a laboring woman, “no vacancy” at a full inn is not the news you want to hear.  The inn was full in Bethlehem.  Mary “gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the inn.”[1]

The Bible story doesn’t talk about the innkeeper.  The one who has to deliver the bad news isn’t mentioned at all.  But we imagine him.  We are entertained by children playing the innkeeper during Christmas plays.  One such story has made its way through the preaching circles over time.  James Harnish, long-time pastor and writer, tells it this way:

“It’s the story of a nine-year-old boy named Wally.  Wally was larger and slower than the other kids.  All the kids liked him because he had a gentle heart and looked out for the smaller kids on the playground. Christmas was coming, and the children were preparing to act out the Nativity story.  The teacher cast Wally in the role of the innkeeper because he would only have to remember one line. All Wally had to do was stand at the inn door and say, “No room. Go away.” Christmas Eve came and the play was going well.  The shepherds didn’t trip on their bathrobes, and the wise men didn’t lose their gifts.  The angels were managing to keep their wings attached and their halos in place.  Mary and Joseph arrived at the inn and knocked on the door.

Right on cue, Wally shot back, “No room. Go away.” Joseph pleaded, “But sir, we have come a long way, and we are tired from the journey.” Again Wally called out, “No room. Go away.” With all the dramatic emotion the nine-year-old Joseph could muster, he pleaded, “But please, my wife is having a baby. Don’t you have a room where the baby can be born?”  There was silence as Wally stared at Joseph and Mary. Everyone in the audience wanted to help Wally remember his forgotten line.  Finally, the teacher called in Wally’s line from backstage.  The young Joseph put his arm around Mary, which was a feat of dramatic training for a young boy. Sadly, they began to walk off the stage. But it was more than Wally’s kind heart could take. He shouted after them.  “Wait! You can have my room.”[2]  [end of Harnish story]

Wally’s story inspires a bit of wondering, kind of like that television show, “What Would You Do?”[3]  What would we do as the innkeeper?  He is sometimes imagined as an over-worked, short-tempered guy who snarls at the holy family.  Other times he is depicted as humble and hospitable, offering the holy family what he has to offer.  Regardless of tone, the end is the same.  There is no room.  But then there’s sort of a room…out in the back with the animals.

The question of Jesus and roominess has been on my mind about this Bible reading.  Whether or not we cotton to the idea of an innkeeper – it’s fairly easy to become sentimental about Bethlehem.  There are times for sentiment.  Give me a candle, a dimmed sanctuary, start singing Silent Night and watch out.  All I’m saying is that there may be room for more than sentiment in this beautiful, 2,000 year old story.  In the Bible story, there is political unrest, a registration is ordered by Emperor Augustus while Syria is governed by Quirinius.  The Emperor’s order results in a massive migration of people that uproots the holy family and sends them to Bethlehem where Jesus is born and laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn.

No room.  Full.  This makes me wonder about room for Jesus in our lives and in our world today.  Room in the schedule.  Room in the mind.  Room in the heart.  Room for compassion in the face of suffering.  Room for Mary’s vision of God scattering the proud, casting the powerful from their thrones, and feeding the hungry.[4]  Room for the glory of God.[5]  Room for the peace proclaimed by the angel and the heavenly host.[6]  Room for peace between nations, for peace between peoples.[7]

Roominess may be as much in short supply in our time as in the holy family’s time.  Luke uses the word “room,” the Greek word kataluma.[8]  This same word translated as “room” in Luke chapter 2 is translated as “upper room” in Luke chapter 22, describing the place where Jesus shares the Last Supper with the disciples at Passover.[9]  Shares the meal that prefigures the meal we share in Holy Communion today.

Might Luke’s double use of kataluma mean that Jesus claims room where there once was none?  Claiming room in spite of what was originally offered as available.  Showing us from manger to upper room, from cross to grave to new life, that there are no lengths to which God will not go to get to us despite our best efforts to the contrary?  Thomas Merton, a 20th century American monk, says it this way: “Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for Him at all, Christ has come uninvited…It is not the last gasp of exhausted possibilities but the first taste of all that is beyond conceiving.”[10]

You see, while we like to imagine ourselves as the innkeeper, as a gatekeeper of sorts, Jesus arrives uninvited.  We can say, “No room, go away.”  We can even be prompted by the people around us to say, “No room, go away.”  We can point away from ourselves to an outlying manger that is removed from our everyday lives.  We can think ourselves tucked into secure space away from a meddling God.  Here’s the good news.  Jesus is born anyway. Jesus, Emmanuel “God with Us,” arrives on the scene.[11]  Jesus arrives in our world, our demented inn, as “a Savior who is the Messiah.”[12]  Arriving in “mean estate,” of lowly birth and social class, God slips into skin and vulnerability.[13]  With his fragile humanity, Jesus pursues a relentless ministry of love and life at the cost of his own.

Celebrating Jesus’ birth, we remind each other of God’s promise to come to us whether or not we think there’s room, of God’s promise to come to us uninvited through no virtuous merit or roominess of our own.  We remind each other that God is born as this child, Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; as this child, the Word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary.[14]  Thanks be to God and Amen.

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[1] Luke 2:7

[2] James Harnish. When God Comes Down. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2012), 37.

[3] John Quinones. “What Would You Do?”  abcNEWS: http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo

[4] Harnish, 35, regarding Luke 1:51-53

[5] Luke 2:14

[6] Luke 2:14

[7] Marty Haugen. “Litany and Prayers” in Holden Evening Prayer. (Illinois: GIA Publications, 1986), 10.

[8] Harnish, 34.

[9] Harnish, 34.

[10] Harnish, 35, from A Thomas Merton Reader, edited by Thomas P. McDonnell (Doubleday, 1974), 365 and 367.

[11] Matthew 1:23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

[12] Luke 2:11

[13] Hymn fragments from “What Child is This,” #296 in Evangelical Book of Worship. (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 2006).

[14] Ibid.