The Rev. Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia
April 12, 2001

The Next to Last Supper
Luke 22:14-30

Tonight we have heard both Paul and Luke recount Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. The readings call upon us both to look back and to look ahead—to remember and to anticipate. We remember The Last Supper in which our Lord instituted the Eucharist. We also remember the Passover, the Jewish celebration of liberation from Egypt that lies in the background of our own Eucharist. The two stories of the Passover and Last Supper are intertwined. Each of these stories calls us to make a story from the past our own story. But, this is night not merely for remembering. This night is not merely for looking back. This night is for looking ahead. It is a night whose intertwined stories are as much about anticipation as remembering.

Jews all around the world annually celebrate the Passover. We held our own Passover seder here at King of Peace this past Sunday. Passover is a central act of remembrance of the Jewish Community. The first Passover occurred on the night before the Israelites were set free from bondage to the Egyptians. The Israelites gathered in homes to eat the meal as prescribed by God. The blood of the Passover lamb was painted on the doorposts so that the Angel of Death would Passover the Jewish homes as it traveled through Egypt killing all the firstborn in the land.

The Passover is celebrated to remember how God worked mightily to set the Israelites free and lead them to the Promised Land. Through the Passover meal, the story of the Exodus from Egypt is retold. Each generation is called to make the story of the Exodus their own story.

The Eucharist, which reenacts The Last Supper, is the central act of remembrance of the Christian community. Jesus instituted the Eucharist the night before he died. Through the Eucharist, we remember Jesus as our Passover lamb, whose death and resurrection set us free from bondage to sin. Through the Eucharist, we retell how our Lord made a new covenant with us on the night he was betrayed. By taking part in the Eucharist, we don’t simply remember the meal, we take part in it. As each of us comes forward to receive the bread and wine, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. And in so doing, we enter in to the story and make Jesus’ story our own story. Through the Eucharist, our story as Christians is also renewed as each generation makes the story its own.

The parallels between Passover and The Last Supper are, of course, no coincidence. Jesus and his disciples gathered in an upper room to celebrate the Passover and that meal, now known to us as the Last Supper, is the meal we remember this evening. The two meals—Passover and the Last Supper—are not unrelated. The two meals are not just parallels. The two meals—Passover and the Last Supper—are all part of one story.

Looking more closely at the Passover can illuminate The Last Supper and our own Eucharistic celebration. An important part of every Passover seder comes when a child asks the central question of Passover, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The traditional response is, “On this night we remember we were slaves in Egypt…” Then the head of the Passover celebration goes on to recount the Exodus story.

The question, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” is a good one for Christians to ask as we explore the meaning of the Eucharist. Jesus himself provides the answer. The scripture records his reply at its place in the Passover order. That key question traditionally comes after the second toast of wine. And Luke records in his gospel the two toasts as well as Jesus’ words. After the second toast, Jesus, as the head of the Passover celebration, would be expected to tell the Exodus story. Jesus should have said, “On this night we remember we were slaves in Egypt…” But that’s not what he said. What Jesus did say was, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

The New Covenant. That’s what makes this night different for us. We remember that on this night Jesus created a new covenant. But the new covenant wasn’t a new idea. The prophet Jeremiah had anticipated the new covenant. The book of Jeremiah says,

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31-33)

“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Therefore, that night of the Last Supper was different from all other nights because on that night our Lord made a new covenant. Jesus sealed that new covenant with his own blood. The blood of the Passover lamb marked the Israelites as God’s own people, and protected them from the Angel of Death. In that same way, Jesus’ blood overcomes death and seals the new covenant that marks us as children of God.

But Passover and the Eucharist don’t just look back. The Passover does look back to the Exodus but it also points forward to the coming of the Messiah. While the Eucharist looks back to Jesus, who we know to be the Messiah, and forward to his return in glory.

Once again, the Passover can help us to better understand the Eucharist. During the Jewish Passover celebration, a glass of wine is set out for the Prophet Elijah. It is hoped that Elijah will come join the celebration. Setting out a glass of wine for Elijah reminds those at the table that another kind of deliverance is yet to come. As they are called to look back and remember the Exodus, they are called to look forward and anticipate the Messiah. The prophet Malachi wrote that Elijah would return before the Messiah comes, so at each Passover meal, a glass of wine is at the ready to welcome Elijah on his return.

A few years ago, my wife, Victoria, my daughter, Griffin, and I took part in a traditional Passover celebration with a Jewish family. It was the first time we had attended a Passover seder. At the end of the meal, a child is sent to the door to look for the prophet Elijah. Elijah is expected to return before the Messiah. That year, Griffin was the only school-aged child at the Passover seder. She was told about Elijah and how he was expected to return. Then Griffin was asked to go to the door  to check for Elijah. Griffin was scared and asked me to go along with her. Fearfully she opened the front door. She looked out tentatively at first, and then cautiously stuck her head further out the door. Finally she stepped outside and carefully looked the street up and down. Elijah was not in sight. We returned to the Passover table and let everyone know that Elijah had not come.

That night, as we were putting her to bed, Griffin asked, “Why do they want a child to go to the door to look for Elijah?” I hadn’t thought of it before, but when she asked the question, the answer was clear. I asked Griffin, “When we went to look for Elijah, did you think he might really be there this time?” Griffin said she did. I told her, “That’s why they send a child. Because, a child will look hard, and believe that Elijah will really come this time.”

Jews all around the world celebrated the Passover this week. Children once again went to the door and looked for Elijah. Would this be the year? The children looked hard for Elijah. Each child wondered if he or she would be the one to see him first.

What about us? Have we lost that sense of wonder? Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, we say that it is to celebrate the memorial of our redemption until our Lord returns. Are we anticipating his return? Jesus didn’t tell his disciples that this was his last meal with them ever. He said he wouldn’t partake of the bread and wine until they did so together in his father’s heavenly kingdom. Each time we celebrate the Eucharist it is to be the next-to-the-last-supper, the supper before our Lord’s return.

Has the Eucharist become The Last Supper for us? Or can we recapture the air of anticipation. What if we viewed the Eucharist as The Next to the Last Supper instead? Not a feast, not a meal, but an appetizer. The main course will come at the heavenly banquet. The Last Supper doesn’t come at the end of the story, because the end of the story has not yet occurred.

When we celebrate the Eucharist, the celebration should not just point back to Jesus’ meal with his disciples. The Eucharist also points forward to his coming again. That will be a Last Supper to remember. In the mean time, we wait, we watch, and we take part in the meal before the last. The foretaste of heavenly glory here on earth.

Amen.