Thursday: The Way to Gethsemane

continuing this week's reflections by Ray Anglesea


Two smells on the way to Morning Prayer this morning; the smell of newly cut grass amongst the yellow daffodils many shades of green in the Cathedral gardens and the smell of freshly baked bread from Durham’s new Mediterranean Bakery and Deli, “Ciao Ciao.” In the bakery window are displayed delicious breads - feta cheese and mint, wholemeal, olive and rosemary and a hot cross loaf. The smell of Mediterranean bread reminded me of holidays on the Vendee’s golden beaches, camping in the pine forests south of La Rochelle and the morning walk to the boulangerie to pick up baguettes and croissants to have with freshly ground steaming coffee. Why is it that bread which we take for granted as being little more than the boring stuff holding together cucumber and tuna can somehow come become a feast when eaten in the morning sun? Perhaps because when we make time we discover the importance of the simple things in life.

In the Lord’s Prayer which will be said in churches throughout the land tonight we ask God to “Give us this day our daily bread”....................bread.............the most basic of food...............we are simply asking that God to give us life. When Jesus was starving in the wilderness, the first temptation he had was the offer of bread. Centuries before, out in the desert, where we were on Monday, the migrant tribe of the Hebrews received manna from heaven; the gift of food from God to keep them alive on their great trek. Bread by which they will survive, bread by which they would live, bread received as a gift of God.
In tonight’s meal of the last supper as the Passover meal is re-enacted we remember and celebrate this great gift of God which he has given to his church. Holy Communion, The gift of bread and wine. We ask in this meal, this service, this mass or eucharist that God would give us eternal life, that God would keep us in eternal life, for after all life is a gift of God. This life, this grace, this bread is to be broken and shared with others. Simply by sharing food we are sharing friendship, we are sharing in God’s friendship. God after all loves unconditionally ..........he wants to share his life with us...........he asks us to feed on him.

But Jesus tonight at his farewell meal with his disciples in that upper room, shot through with foreboding, pathos and drama, what Yeats would call in another context “a terrible beauty,” turns everything on its head. It is not bread that gives life, the baguette, the sliced bread, the Mediterranean feta cheese and mint loaf, but Jesus: he himself is the bread of life, he is the one who gives life, and he is the one who provides the grace to share his love with each other and with strangers. Jesus at this meal of bread and wine is playing out, acting out in symbolic form something that we are to have access to for all time. He himself who is all grace, all love, and all life becomes in this meal the servant and slave. He gives himself to us; he gives his body willingly to be broken like bread, for the great tomorrow.

What happened in the past, in that upper room we make effective in our halls, cathedrals and chapels tonight. In this communion service we take a historic journey backwards crossing all ages of faith, as we remember the event when God acted to save his people. There was no time for the captive Israelites to bake bread in the normal way with yeast and leaven, so it was therefore called “the bread of affliction.” The bread was chosen to make present and for them to remember the bitterness of the slavery of the Israelites and the miracle of their deliverance.

But God will act again. The service of Holy Communion also points to Good Friday, the very next day, and to Easter, Resurrection Day. The cross of Calvary would give way to the third day conquered by goodness, death conquered by resurrection. When the Lord broke the unleavened bread and took the cup, he was giving new significance to the bread and wine with the words “this is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed for you” At his last homily before he was murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador said “May this body broken and this blood shed for human beings encourage us to give our body and blood up to suffering and pain, Christ did not do this for self but to bring justice and peace to our people. Let us be intimately united then in faith and hope at this moment of prayer.”
In this meal tonight in the eating and drinking of the bread and wine, Christ grants communion with himself. God acts in our service tonight as he does every communion Sunday by giving life to the body, the fellowship of our local churches, the renewing of each member. The bread we receive has been broken, the wine out poured. The road from the Last Supper, passes through Gethsemane, Calvary and the garden of that first Easter.

By his action tonight Jesus demonstrates that we are loved by him forever, that we will be with him forever, in bread and wine he gives himself to us. Christ gives himself with his own hand. All we need to do is extend our hands to receive what is given – peace, forgiveness and love.

We are not alone. Jesus never promised an easy journey, through Gethsemane and onward to Calvary. But he did promise bread for the journey and in that bread, his presence, every step of the way.