As families celebrate ritual meals: Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, etc., so too we celebrate ritually the fellowship in Christ which unites us all. We tell our story in the scriptures and in the breaking open of the word. The lessons taught and learned by our forebears in faith become our own lessons, our own stories.
We nourish each other with sacramental bread and wine, become the very presence of the Lord, and “Do this in remembrance of me” once again draws us into a mystical union of minds and hearts. Our meals, both secular and sacred, are a celebration of our past, strength for our present, and a promise of our future.
Not only did Jesus nourish us at that Last Supper, but he also gave us the command that we nourish and serve each other, and in this way carry on his work–the mandatum to love one another as he has loved us–symbolized by the washing of the feet.
Jesus in effect asks us to climb down the ladder, not up it. Doesn’t that turn around the usual way of thinking and acting? Downward mobility! Taking up the tools of pitcher, basin, and towel to achieve your goals. Such is the call and final teaching of the Lord.
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.'” (Matthew 26:26)
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