A Maundy Thursday sermon by Mr. Nathan Jennings, Assistant Professor of Liturgics, given in Christ Chapel on April 13, 2006

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed took bread; and giving thanks, he broke it and said "Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying "This cup is the New covenant in my blood; as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you show the Lord's death until he comes again.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you
Saint Paul received from the Lord. The Lord handed himself over to him. And Saint Paul delivers the Lord to us, Saint Paul hands Jesus over to us. To hand down or to pass down - this is the meaning of tradition. To hand over also means to betray -- to sell out.

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed: took, gave thanks, broke, & gave
On the night he was betrayed. On the night he handed himself over. Today is the day. This is the day. Jesus hands himself over to his own disciple, Judas, and Judas hands Jesus over to the authorities. Jesus freely hands himself over for the life of the world. To a world that does not ask for him and that is not thankful when they receive him, Jesus hands himself over and gives thanks.

Jesus hands himself over to his own disciples. Jesus hands himself over to us. Today we dip our bread in his cup, in the same cup in which he dips his own bread. Jesus turns and looks at Judas "go, do what you must do." Are you Judas today, O disciple of Christ? Am I? Will I betray Jesus today? Will one of us sell out Jesus today?

Judas received his thirty silver coins. And we are so pious. "Thirty coins!" we say to ourselves. Thirty coins. He sold the Son of the Living God for thirty round pieces of silver! Surely not I Lord! Surely not us!

What price will you accept today for Jesus? What price will I accept? What price will we accept? What will we sell Jesus for today? Surely, for most of us, far less.

How often are we afraid that we will loose others' esteem if we do not sell out Christ? How often are we more concerned with seeming cool, intelligent, liberal, conservative, or whatever, rather than with witnessing to Christ? How often do we sell out Christ so that we will not look too pious? God forbid, we seminarians think, God forbid we look or come across as too pious! I'm cool -- I am cool -- let me show you how cool and impious I can be. We sell Jesus very cheaply indeed.

Or perhaps we will not sell Jesus today, perhaps we will not betray him. Perhaps we will simply be like Peter, perhaps we will simply deny him. Or perhaps we will not deny Jesus today; perhaps we will simply flee and hide altogether with the rest of the disciples. Seek safety, rather than witness.

No, no that is not us, not right now, not as we gather here in the presence of God in the name of Christ. No, right now, you and I, together, we are the beloved disciple.

Recline with me now upon Jesus breast. Today we are the beloved disciple. Today we recline with Christ, today we touch Christ. Tomorrow, we stand with the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the cross. Today, we recline.

And will we stay up one hour with Christ tonight, or sleep with the rest of his disciples? Yes, we will stay up. We will give Jesus one hour tonight.

On the night he was betrayed Jesus took bread and in the same way after supper he also took the cup
Jesus takes common elements of human sustenance. Jesus takes that which God has made and human hands have formed -- in his hands they become for us a share in his own body and blood.

When God becomes human in Jesus, God takes on what God has already made and what humanity has deformed through the fall.

In the bread and wine of Eucharist Christ takes the good things God gives us, the good things God intended us to make and bring before him in thanksgiving, and the pain, death and hell that we have brought into our world -- Christ takes all these things in his hands and offers them to the Father.
On the night he was betrayed Jesus gave thanks
When he takes our being and our condition into his own holy hands he lifts them up and gives thanks to God the Father. And he teaches us to pray in him, to call God "Our Father."

We reached forth our hands in the Garden of Eden and grasped at what was not our own and we did not give thanks. God reaches forth in Christ for what is God's own and gives the thanks we failed to give and can no longer give in our fallen condition.

In Christ, we may hope to leave behind our ingratitude, and learn the freedom of thanksgiving.

On the night he was betrayed Jesus broke bread
After he gives thanks he breaks the bread. God's good creation is broken out for distribution and abundance. What human hands can make -- human culture, art, craft, technology -- all this is broken for redistribution to those who need.

And that unique thing that we have brought into our world: sin -- and all that it entails -- pain, death, hell -- that also is broken in the crucified hands of Christ. It no longer has hold over us. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

He did not simply give himself -- he gave himself up to death, even death on a cross. He does not simply give himself to you -- he dies for you -- he cancels the affects of the human condition -- in his body on the cross -- in his hands at the breaking of the bread and the great thanksgiving.

On the night he was betrayed Jesus gave
On the night he was handed over to suffering and death -- on this day that he is handed over -- Jesus does not betray us. He does not give us up or sell us out or deny us. He gives. He gives that which is broken -- God's good creation -- the work of human hands -- his own body and blood.

The world cannot steal from God again as we once did in the garden of Eden -- we cannot take what is God's alone -- for we cannot steal what is freely given -- God gives us his own body -- the fruit of the tree of life.

On the night he was betrayed Jesus said "Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me." And also "This cup is the New covenant in my blood; as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me."
This last night Jesus lies at supper with us, his chosen band and complies with the Law of the Covenant of Moses -- keeping the feast of that rite. And it is in so doing that he establishes the new rite of the New Covenant and gives himself with his own hand.

Today we celebrate the institution of the rite of our New Covenant with God as we await the celebration of the new Passover of our God -- the new Passover in which this very rite grants us a share.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you show the Lord's death until he comes again
Those who share this bread and drink this cup show the Lord's death because they share in the body that has died for us. And what is the condition of our receiving this bread and this cup?

Nothing less than sharing in that death -- nothing less than joining ourselves to the death of Christ -- through the waters of baptism -- through the willingness to have our blood poured out, our bodies broken, for the sake of Christ and his Church -- through the hope that allows us to make such a decision -- the hope that he will come again.

And until that day, we take, we give thanks, we break, we give:

The Church continues this pattern:
In the Eucharist, she takes God's creation and the work of human hands, gives thanks, breaks the elements, and they become for us the body and blood of Christ. These holy gifts for holy people, she then distributes to her members

But the Church also does this at the cosmic level. Joined to Christ as her head, she serves with him as a priest forever -- a cosmic priest. She takes the cosmos -- created by a loving God, broken by a fallen humanity, and she gives thanks -- in every corner of the world, in every age she has lived. She gives thanks to God the Father, as the body of God the Son, and sacrifices God's good creation back to God on the altar of heaven in Christ. All that is evil is purged. All that is good remains -- as through fire. For with the cross of Jesus Christ she breaks the cosmos to its core. Then she opens out her hands to the poor, and finds, lying in the palm of her hands, the abundance of a God who creates out of nothing. And as she divides the loaves and fishes of the cosmos -- broken, healed, made whole and yet divided -- she distributes the abundance of God to the human world -- and beyond that with saints and angels, Cherubim and Seraphim -- to the whole cosmos.

And so we are taken up into the cosmic sacrifice, the cosmic temple cult, the cosmic worship of the triune God within the life of the Triune God.

What now shall we do?
Now we go out from this place, to do the work that the Father has given us to do in the body of his incarnate Son -- breathing in the rich winds of his everlasting Spirit. We are heirs through hope of the everlasting Kingdom.

So what do we do? How do we do these works that have been ordained for us to do before the foundations of the world?

We take, we give thanks, we break, and we give.

We take what the world gives us: the good the bad, the sinful and the virtuous, the fortunate and the unfortunate, the dirty and the clean, the broken and the whole, the bitter and the sweet, -- for there is nothing new under the Sun: Except this one thing: The God-man -- the God incarnate -- Jesus Christ

And as we take, we lift up our hearts and we give thanks for all things -- in all ways, in all places -- for all things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own do we give thee

And we find the miracle -- God is present in our thanks -- we are present in God -- our gathered disparate bodies become the living body of the incarnate holy One of Israel.

And with our great high priest we break: we break what the world has given us:

We break the powers of hell and the prison of death: we open prisoner's doors and set the captives free, we grant them sweet release: we break the cycles of poverty we break the wheel of fortune and the evil that it causes among the lives of men and women.

We break the holy and the good and the pure and open them out so that their sweet fragrance fills the world about us. We break open the good the true and the beautiful so that their riches can be plumbed and delved and their rewards meted out to the meek and lowly in heart.

And in so doing we give: we give our selves: our souls and bodies as a living holy and reasonable sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. We give out our bodies and our lives with Christ our God for the life of the world.

And in so doing, we find ourselves well fed, well nourished, well clothed, well shod, prepared for the journey -- and eyes on the infinite goal of communion in God forever.

Step up, then, to your neighbor: Take their dirty feet in your hands; give thanks to the God who made your neighbor; break yourself in the humility of such a task; give this gift to your brother or sister in Christ.

Then step up to the altar: take, give thanks, break and give.

Then leave from this place: take what God gives you, give thanks in all things, break apart the sin of this broken world, give everything that you have -- go and follow Christ!

Take, thank, break, give. Amen.