FIRST AND LAST

               There is something special about first times: first fish caught, first time to drive, first kiss.  Likewise, there is something special about last times too: the last time you play for the school team, the last time to attend a class in High School or college, the last time to sleep in your old room, or the last time you see your parents.

               This “last supper” was special to the disciples because Jesus spoke of the bread as his body and the cup as his blood and then said, “do this in remembrance of me.”  Those words were full of meaning for them.  Certainly it meant, remember our days in Galilee the excitement as God’s Kingdom of love and power seemed to be breaking in everywhere --   the healings, the defeat of demons, even restoring life to the dead.

               Certainly it meant to them, remember his teachings.  And so they remembered the crowds of thousands, and also the small groups pressing close to Jesus to catch his every word.  But as time went by, and Jesus was crucified, then resurrected, it meant more precisely and simply just what he had said, “remember me!”    

               The last supper was both a last and a first event.  It was the last time they would eat the Passover with Jesus, but it was the first time that their breaking of bread and drinking from the cup would focus on him.  It was the first of weekly, even daily, times of remembering him.  Now I am asking you to simply remember him.