"Holy Thursday: Celebration and Commitment"

Holy Thursday

April 17, 2014

This Holy Thursday, I find myself mostly looking forward to the ending of Lent rather than dwelling on all the things it should be about.  Partially because I am too sick to go to Holy Thursday mass, which I can usually trust to reorient me.

The booklet talks about this day as special and blessed -- a gift.  "There are days and then there are days."

It's strange to celebrate though -- like Palm/Passion Sunday, really.  We start with the glorious gift and mission of the Last Supper.  Yet even there, Judas dips his hands in the water with Jesus and Peter misunderstands yet again basically everything Jesus has tried to tell him.  It's the legendary, true birth of the Church -- and all the members are so human.  Even Jesus is tired and sad.  Even He is disappointed that they cannot live up to His standards.

It's a wonder how we could ever imagine the Church as anything but a deeply flawed human institution when even this first night under the direct supervision of the Son of God the men of the Church got so many things wrong.

What I wonder tonight, however, is why two of the most joyous moments in Jesus's life are always paired with His fall.  Easter Sunday depends on the agony of Calgary.  You cannot have the joy of reunion without first the pain of parting.  But do the Eucharist and the washing of the feet, the arrival in Jerusalem, also depend on the cross for their meaning?

Well, the obvious answer is yes, because everything Jesus did does.  But the more I think about it, the more the answer is of course for Palm Sunday.  Because there are only two ways to go from that arrival in Jerusalem -- and for the celebration of Passover no less.  Jesus could ascend to political power as all the reigning elite both Jewish and Roman fear and start his rabble-rousing rebellion in the name of God.  Or He could be smacked down by the powers-that-be as an example to them.

Jesus didn't want that power, so the obvious end would be sacrifice on the cross.

What I wonder a bit more about is the Eucharist.  Could it be beautiful without the sacrifice of Golgotha?  Or would it be treated like the manna in the desert?  Eventually taken for granted?  Would it be like the Ark of the Covenant rather than bread blessed and broken for us all?  Is that what it took to convince all those men who love power and the idea of sitting at Jesus's right hand that the sacred rituals should be spread as widely as possible?  Even then, they didn't an assist from Paul of all people for the Gentiles.

But could the gift of God's true presence in the Eucharist be pure and holy without the sacrifice?  A freely given gift?  It wouldn't mean as much, if it weren't tied to our forgiveness, but I wonder what it would mean for us.  I think how easily, now I ponder it, the Eucharist could have become a thing only for the Elite of the Church of Jesus, how it could have been something that was hidden from everyday eyes and treated as great privilege.  Something too precious for common people to touch, unpurified and cleansed.

But no, the Eucharist is for all, freely.  Come just as you are.  We all say, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."  All of us.  There is no more inspiring or perhaps surprising sight than a long line headed for the altar to receive the Body of Christ was precious little fanfare.

It's for all, freely and daily if you choose it.  And that is remarkable.