The Gospel for December l0, 2004
Luke 22:14-30
When the time came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, ‘I have ardently longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; because, I tell you, I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.’ Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you. ‘But look, here with me on the table is the hand of the man who is betraying me. The Son of man is indeed on the path which was decreed, but alas for that man by whom he is betrayed!’ And they began to ask one another which of them it could be who was to do this. An argument also began between them about who should be reckoned the greatest; but he said to them, ‘Among the gentiles it is the kings who lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are given the title Benefactor. With you this must not happen. No; the greatest among you must behave as if he were the youngest, the leader as if he were the one who serves. For who is the greater: the one at table or the one who serves? The one at table, surely? Yet here am I among you as one who serves! ‘You are the men who have stood by me faithfully in my trials; and now I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father conferred one on me: you will eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Study
The words that Jesus used are fitting for what has been memorialized as the "last" supper. He didn't pull any punches. This was really IT. What is amazing is that Luke's writers move from His finality and disclosure that one right there with them was to betray Him -- right into a disciples' argument about who is the greatest among them!
Jesus rolls into his first-shall-be-last theme, but puts icing on the cake: the remaining eleven (or was it all of them?) would be judges on thrones in the kingdom.
A Reflection
This text packs so much into so little room that we must wonder as to the importance it was given by Luke's writers. And it's almost trivialized by the argument among the twelve -- or was Judas strangely silent? -- about who was the greatest.
Jesus had just told them that He would never eat with them again, and they... they want to talk about who's the greatest among them? It seems a bit surreal to me.
But look at us.
We're told, and I think that most of us believe, that we could die at any second.
The opportunities to leave this world are numerous and random: heart attack, aneurism, accident, violence; the list of potential causes of our deaths seems without limit. The people who went to work in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, fully expected to have another routine day followed by a trip home and a routine night in the bosoms of their families.
Our daily behavior belies our stated system of belief. There are a very few people who act out the behavior principles that Jesus taught us. I'm thinking of one now. He's a healer and an enabler. I wish I could be like him. Screwtape keeps that from happening, and I know that I'm helping Screwtape -- and I hate it.
The disciples who argued over who's the greatest: they were just like us. We know better, we know the right thing to do, but we press on with "my" agenda, not His. Yes, we ate with Him. Yes, we heard Him preaching in the streets. Yes, sometimes we fed Him when He was hungry and the other redeeming things.
But. When we wonder who's the greatest among us, all of those good works come crashing down around us, shards of our egos to cut our bare feet as we stand before Him, naked, ashamed, vulnerable, guilty.
"We are not worthy to gather up the crumbs under thy table, O Lord, but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son, and to drink His blood ..." that we may not be ashamed when we stand before Him.
A Collect
O Lord Jesus Christ, who in a wonderful Sacrament hast left unto us a memorial of thy passion: Grant us, we beseech thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of thy redemption; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
8:53:23 PM 
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