Easter 2020: Last Suppers
By Carley Eschliman
This year, it’s hard to celebrate Holy Week, the highest point of the Church calendar. Typically, I would be attending services Thursday, Friday, and Sunday with my congregation, participating in the sacred rituals that serve to set this time apart. Now, we are to engage in these rituals from inside our homes, join each other in prayer on Zoom, and look forward to the day in which we can be together—in person—again.
Today is Maundy Thursday, the Christian holiday that commemorates the ever-famous “Last Supper” that Jesus had with his disciples. The night of the Last Supper marked an end to Christ’s communion on earth with us, highlighted the betrayal of a supposed friend, and prepared Jesus for the cup He was about to drink: the bearing of the cross.
However, Maundy Thursday is also about the disciples, Jesus’ closest friends. During dinner, Jesus told his disciples explicitly that “one of you [the disciples] will betray me” [1] and that, taking the cup, He would “not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”[2] However, it’s doubtful whether the disciples registered what these declarations truly meant. To the disciples, this meal wasn’t the “Last Supper,” it was simply Passover.
This year, I have a better sense of what the disciples must have been feeling during this meal… and the weeks afterward as they retroactively processed the final words of Christ before His betrayal, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. Because, in recent weeks, I have had Last Suppers of my own.
As a member of the Class of 2020, the spring of this year was steeped with anticipation—for my final classes, for the joys of my final months with my closest friends, for graduation, and for (hopefully) gainful employment. Instead, I entered into a succession of Last Suppers—orchestra concerts, dinners with friends, in-person classes, and club meetings. These experiences, these unwitting goodbyes, have made this Maundy Thursday deeply personal.
But, I wonder if that’s all that Maundy Thursday is supposed to represent. Is this sadness and gravity of leaving one’s friends the only message we can glean from this shared meal in the Upper Room?
Although the disciples were unaware of the finality of this Passover meal, Jesus knew. He knew that that night, He would be betrayed by Judas and that the next day, He would face His death on a wooden cross.
During this final meal, Jesus engaged in two things that prepared His disciples for a new chapter in the life of the Church. And, today, as we prepare for a new season in the wake of COVID-19, I believe that these practices hold special meaning.
1. SERVICE THAT HONORS
Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. Obviously, foot-washing violates the 6 ft. distance rule, but the spirit behind this action is necessary for the times that we are in. By washing feet—a task typically relegated to servants or slaves—Jesus established Himself as a servant to those around Him. Along with cleaning the dusty, dirty, probably-stinky feet of His friends, foot-washing also served to bring honor to his disciples, as foot-washing was only done for those of high status at a dinner party. Thus, Jesus’ action was two-fold, one of service and honor.
As we go about our lives in the face of this pandemic, I believe that Jesus’ model is important to follow. Jesus makes it clear that when we serve—whether it be by checking in on a friend during a tough situation or making masks for health care professionals—we cannot separate our actions from the dignity of the person whom we are serving. True service is not simply completing a task for another, a method of bolstering our own self-image, or a way to occupy our time. Instead, Jesus’ model of service acknowledges the status and importance of those around us, even if they are in a position of need. In a time of great need for many in our communities, we must continue to look to Christ, humbling ourselves to various forms of foot-washing for our neighbors, communicating through our service how needed and valued they are in our eyes.
2. CREATING RITUAL
During this meal, Jesus established the practice of Communion, the sharing of food and drink that Christians continue to partake in two thousand years later. Jesus knew that the Last Supper signified an important ending; starting that night, His disciples and followers would enter into a time of great uncertainty and anxiety. Soon, they would ask the question that we too asked a few short weeks ago: “What should we do now?”
In His typical fashion, Jesus provided an answer to this question before it was even asked. When we are faced with times of great sorrow and unpredictability, Jesus invites us to remember that which is certain—God’s love for His people—through a simple, repetitive practice. We are to eat and drink and be together.
Today, as we face a time of anxiety and unknowns, we can create practices of our own that remind us of certain things. Days can start and end with gratitude, interspersed with reading and studying the Bible, the source of eternal stability in our lives. We can write prayers of lament—cries to God asking for His help in times of need—and prayers of joy. Through these small things, we can provide an answer for “What should we do now?” even when the future still is vastly unknown.
In a time of Lasts, Jesus’ actions during Maundy Thursday—His honoring service and call to ritual—can help reorient our anxious hearts and point us toward hope in a time that seems far from hopeful. But, for now, while we Zoom and pray and wait, we can trust that although we face many Lasts, God knows what newness follows.
SOURCES
Matthew 26:21, NIV
Mark 14:25, NIV