Maundy Thursday sermon

Maundy Thursday 2009
This is
People frequently see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. The power of separation at work in our souls all to often blinds us to the obvious and renders us deaf to the clear voice of God speaking to us throughout our lives.
The apostles embody this experience for us. It is not unique to them.
They certainly had all of the advantages of knowing Jesus personally, hearing his words, observing his actions. Despite those advantages they missed the obvious. They lived from a place of self delusion that inhibited their ability to receive the gift that God had given them.
At the Last Supper, Jesus told them plainly- in the familiar language of sacrifice used in the Passover meal, what was about to happen. Jesus was truly present to the apostles that evening. But, the apostles were not present to Jesus. They were stuck in the fears of past events. They were stuck in the anxiety of future possibilities.
And so, as Jesus explains his imminent betrayal and sacrificial death, the apostles are some where else. They are lost in their ambitions for greatness. They are asleep in the terrible dream of power that weaves a spell of illusion for most human beings most of the time. They are stuck in the question: what’s in it for me? They are trapped in the demand of self will that says: me first. Do it my way.
Because they are stuck, they miss the moment. They miss the last moment of peace and companionship with Jesus before his arrest. They are not seeing him for who he is and so they are not present to him. They miss the blessing in the moment which is the grace of God fully present to them.
Jesus knew all of this. He knew they were not present to him. He had lived on this planet for 33 years and he knew how the dream of power and the voice of demand obscures the grace of God in the present moment of their lives and of ours.
Jesus’ solution was to transform the Passover meal from a memorial to an ever present reality. Jesus says: this is. This is, here and now as I say these words, this is my body. This is, here and now as I say these words, this is my blood.
This is- here and now in this present moment- the only moment of time we can truly experience as real. This is everything that I am truly present for you.
The implied question is: are you truly present to me? After the resurrection the apostles would teach the profoundly transforming truth called the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In a single moment of time, the Holy Spirit transcends time and Jesus is as present to us as he was to his apostles that evening. He gives himself for us and to us in the bread and wine on the altar even as he gave himself to us and for us on the cross the perfect sacrifice for the terrible pain and distortion of separation.
In the sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus asks to wake up. Pay attention. Look. Listen. Be present to the moment as the timeless touches time in a single eternal moment of grace. That single eternal moment of grace is the fulness of the co-eternal Son, Jesus Christ, giving himself to us in the bread and wine so that we might be transformed and be as present to him, to each other and to our selves as he is present to us.
This is the acceptable time. This is the hour of salvation. This is the only moment that has any eternal significane: now.
Receive the gift of God in the conscious awareness of this present moment when God the Father speaks the word, when God the Holy Spirit manifests the word, and God the Son is the eternal word for us here and now in the bread and the wine.
Jesus said: this is my body. Jesus said, this is my blood. Jesus says to all of us and to all people everywhere: here in this present moment this is divine grace touching your soul.