1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Did you know that every major religious tradition on earth has some version of the Golden Rule in it? Down through the ages, people all around the world have acknowledged that we should do to others what we would have others do to us. There seems to be ingrained in human nature some innate sense of basic goodness and justice. We are taught not to lie, not to steal, not to kill, but deep down, it's like we already know these things. We may violate them and and often do, but the knowledge of them is still there within us. Plato was very intrigued by this, and developed a theory to explain it. He believed that our souls existed prior to becoming embodied as human beings, and that in that pre-birth state we perceived eternal forms of goodness and justice. So when we learn such values as human beings, we are not actually acquiring new information, but rather remembering what we already know. It’s an act of recollection. And Plato did not see such recollection as diving back into the past, but rather bringing the past into the present, reclaiming it for the here and now. It was an active way of remembering, and he had a special word for it: he called it anamnesis.
Now, thank you for bearing with me. I’m sure you’re not interested in pursuing philosophy tonight, and neither am I. I’m only telling you this because that word anamnesis is the very word used in the Gospels at the Last Supper, and the word Paul uses in our second reading: This is my body that is for you, Do this in anamnesis of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in anamnesis of me. There is a kind of memory where we go back into the past and remember people we have known and things we have done. We look at old photos, maybe, or picture in our minds events that once happened. We use our memory to travel back in time. And that’s lovely — but that is not what is happening in this service. The goal is not to picture ourselves in tunics and sandals and envision being with Jesus in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, but we are not here tonight to travel back into the past: we are here to bring the past into the present. Anamnesis: every time we break bread in the Eucharist, we make the sacrifice of Jesus present, here and now. As Paul says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
This is a crucial point. Our faith is not nostalgia. Jesus died once, but the self-giving love of God revealed in that death is an ongoing reality, just as real and present now as it was 2,000 years ago. The only reason we are here right now, the only reason we’re alive, is that God continually pours out life, love, and mercy upon us. I can’t emphasize this enough. If we want to know what God is like, this is what God is like: God is the one who breaks his body and feeds us with it; God is the one kneeling on the floor and washing our feet; God is the one dying on the cross and forgiving those killing him. Every time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we remember — anamnesis — that this is who God is and what God does, just not back then, but now and always.
Liturgy, what we are doing right now, is one important way to connect with that truth. But in the Gospel tonight Jesus reminds us that we should also connect with it by following him and being like God, giving ourselves away in love to others. The particular way Jesus demonstrates this in John’s Gospel is by washing his disciples’ feet and telling them to do the same. But again, our goal is not to dwell in the past and literally imitate the ancient Middle Eastern practice of washing feet, but to find ways to live like that in the present. For Jesus says, For I have set an example, that you should do as I have done to you — his own beautiful variation on the Golden Rule.
If tonight’s worship does its job, we won’t see, hear, taste, and smell what happened at the Last Supper. But we will remember what Jesus did and what God is truly like, and we will be inspired and empowered to imitate Jesus and connect with God by giving ourselves away in love. I think about this a lot, or at least I try to. When I devote time and energy to listen to someone, I am following Christ. When I go out of my way to help someone, I am following Christ. When I give myself away in preaching or teaching, I am following Christ. All of us, in our various vocations and circumstances, can follow Jesus and give ourselves away in love. Think of how you already do that. Think of how you want to do that. Just think about it at all. We can easily forget about it and get distracted by all sorts of things, but deep down we always know the truth. Tonight, we recollect that truth. The God revealed by Jesus Christ is a God of self-giving love. We are fed by that love and washed in that love every single moment. Our happiness lies in experiencing and sharing that love. Remember that.
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