HOLY
THURSDAY 29 March 2018,
••
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 •• Psalm 116 •• 1
Corinthians 11:23-26•• + John 13:1-15 ••
Title:
“Power Struggle.
Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper”
[__01__] There was a power struggle at the Last Supper,
at the Lord’s Supper. There was a power struggle. And, in our lives each there
is an exertion, endeavor, to exercise of our will each day in our relationship
to choose express – for example -- GRATITUDE rather than GRUMBLING … in the
choice to LISTEN rather than to LAMENT.
Our Lenten fast of 40 days give us
this option and opportunity to follow Christ, but I think that – sometimes –
following God’s alternate route is different than our own WAZE/ways or device.
It is not easy to be in a power struggle
for power, for freedom.
[__02__] On November 4, 2012, the New York City Marathon
was scheduled to commence with its usual shotgun start early Sunday morning and
line of runners on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island.
The NYC Marathon – just in case you
are college-Final-4-basketball-immersed – is the 26.2 mile race through Staten
Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan, with a finish line in Central
Park.
While it is an outdoor day time event,
it does require electricity, organization and there was a power struggle in New
York City in November 201, because Con Edison and all the utilities due to
Hurricane Sandy (or Superstorm Sandy as the meteorologists prefer) a few days
earlier.
There were many victims. Thousands
were without power, without electricity. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and many
wanted the marathon to occur… believing it would unite and excite city.
After much deliberation, the runners
did run… a marathon of sorts …but there was no official marathon due to the
many obstacles to recovery.
In this, there was a power struggle,
in New York City politics. And, in any power struggle, we may be concerned our
relationships.
We may wonder if we have “followers”. The mayor had to decide if people like his
decision or not. Would the marathon be popular or not?
In a power struggle, how do I make a
difficult decision of my own free will in whatever race or walk I am completing
or competing in. Full marathon. Half marathon. Or a regular day’s work.
[__03__] The
Gospel of the Last Supper [Jesus
and his disciples the night before he dies] reminds us that POWER can CORRUPT and POWER
can CONNECT.
Power can be corrupting, toxic,
poisonous.
Power can be connecting, beneficial,
inspiring. [like .. electricity…that brings us together.]
[__04__] 1st. [►POWER
CAN CORRUPT] Power was a
corruption for Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. It was a corruption, intoxicating,
poisonous not because Judas was executing a coup
d’etat in which he [Judas] would land on the throne in the palace.
Rather, power was corrupting for Judas
because of his expectation of what Jesus, the Lord and Messiah, would do after
being arrested.
Judas had a game plan that involved,
in theory on paper, good things for the disciples, the Jewish community
currently subordinated to the Roman Empire, and of course, good things for
Judas himself.
That is, Judas was playing and
gambling that if Jesus were arrested, then Jesus – who is the Messiah and would
not dash his foot against a stone – would then assert positively assert
himself, and take over.
In this regard, Judas was not just
betraying Jesus but was trying to betray the Roman Empire, but his plan did not
work.
There is a power struggle between
Judas and Jesus.
And, there is a power struggle
whenever we expect that our salvation and success and happiness is based on
simply a competition or perhaps the working out of our own pre-defined plans.
Jesus, did he not, lay down his life
also for Judas? Did he not lay down his
life for those who accused him and crucified him?
His response: “Forgive
them Father they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
There is a power struggle when we
endeavor to express our CONTRITION … our CONFESSION. There may be a power
struggle when we try to forgive someone else.
It’s not easy.
The power can corrupting. It can be
difficult.
There is another way.
[__05__] 2nd.
[►POWER
IS CONNECTING, A CONNECTION]
Starting shortly after college, I
visited annually – almost every summer -- friends and family who had a place on
the water in New England. They also have a lovely sailboat. I know nothing
about sailing, only how to tow the boat back in after an incorrect calculation
of the wind, current et cetera, et cetera.
On this boat, aboard this vessel, my
friend’s father treated all of us as his sons and daughters, as family.
So, for the weekend, he had about about
20 grown children instead of 5. And, we were hungry … maybe even power hungry.
[We were also actually hungry and ate them out of house and home.]
He treated us as though we knew something
about sailing. Early on, he asked me to wheel,
focus on that island up ahead and went below deck. He expressed full confidence
in all of us.
The power was a connection, it was inviting.
His relaxed demeanor, his expectation
that we all – and that I too – would respect his boat, but this was not written
down. It was, at times, expressed in actual words but also in attitude.
We might recall that for the disciples
at the Last Supper, they had no LECTIONARY – neither 1st reading nor
2nd reading – no NEW TESTAMENT. Nothing was written down. Yet, they
were already the Church, the Body of Christ. The Gospel was being written in
their hearts.
Jesus was also expressing his
confidence in them, even though they would later desert him, abandon him.
As an analogy, do we not receive this
in love from others who place confidence in us, faith in us, sharing their
destinations and hope with us.
The power is connecting.
[__06__] Jesus
is making his disciples and you and me – part of the destination, part of the
plan which involves not only the struggle for power but the transfer of power.
Yes, he is our Savior an Lord, but he
also promises us that he is the vine and we are the branches (John 15)
and that we can do great things in faith, hope and love by our connection to
him.
He is trying to transfer his power to
us. The sacraments – Baptism,
Confession, Holy Communion, Matrimony, Holy Orders – all the sacraments – are
on one level a humble recognition of our fragility, our brokenness … yes our
actions maybe be rusty or corrupted at times.
Yet the sacraments also remind us of a
transfer of power, a restoration of energy, of grace in our hands and feet, even
though our hands and feet also may be wounded.
The sacramental experience reminds us about
running a race – in connection with Christ – just as Paul reflected in his words
to Timothy that Jesus’ body and blood are given to us, poured out for us so
that we may also long for his presence and that death leads to new life.
Paul writes: “For the
time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the
race; I have kept the faith. From now on, the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me
but to all who have longed for his appearance.” (2
Timothy 4:6-8)
Jesus’ appearance, His presence is our
power, our connection.
[__fin__]
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