2011-04-21 Sermon 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 Maundy Thursday

110421pm Maundy Thursday 1 Cor 11:23-34

The whole point of what Jesus did at the Last Supper – washing their feet, giving them bread and wine – was to show that what he was about to do he was doing for them, for all of us. Washing their feet was a sign that he came to serve, not to be served. Sharing the bread and the cup, identifying them as his Body and his Blood, was a sign that his life was about to be poured out in death as a gift – as a pure offering to God, and as a gift of life and forgiveness for them and for us.

This is why Paul was rebuking the church at Corinth. They had made church, even the Lord's Supper, a place to get what they wanted. It was all about me, not about each other. They had turned it on its head. So he says v.17-22. He goes on v.27-34.

Wait for each other. You don't come to the eucharist, you don't come to church, you don't come to Christ just for your own personal benefit, Paul says. We come as a body. The other week Gareth and Naomi and the children were on holiday up the Dales, and Hazel and I went for a day to meet them at Malham. We walked to the bottom of the Cove, then we decided to walk up and over, about four miles. The adults didn't go marching ahead leaving Lydia and Sebastian to fend for themselves. Actually, Naomi did very well to get up there at all being XX weeks pregnant, and it was slow going at the end! But when you go on a walk with a group, you don't rush ahead ignoring everyone else, you go at the pace of the slowest.

How many times have churches been divided because one group is in favour of a proposed change and wants to rush ahead, and another group is dragging its heels? If we're doing church properly, we will all be much more concerned with the well-being and spiritual health of our brothers and sisters than we are with whether I am getting what I want. When you come together, wait for each other.

One of the biggest challenges for the church today is to wait for each other. The church today is a global phenomenon. It has spread to every continent, almost every country, and Christianity shows remarkable adaptation to local cultures. The days when Britain and Europe were the 'fully missionalised countries', and Africa and the East were 'the mission field' have gone. Today the church is alive and thriving and growing far and wide. The days when British missionaries took the gospel and the BCP and Hymns A&M and choir cassocks to the Dark Continent have passed. Unlike some other religions, Christianity doesn't belong to one culture.

The difficulty is that as it adapts, it becomes less recognisable as the exported product. When is it an adaptation too far? What is essential to the gospel, and what is just local custom for a certain time and place? Earlier in this chapter there is an example. Paul says it's obvious that women should have long hair and cover their heads, and men should not. That may have been obvious in 1^st century Corinth, but to us, and to many cultures, that's not at all obvious, and to impose that would just be legalistic. But deciding what are matters that matter, and what are matters that don't matter; what is the difference between matters that make a difference and matters that don't make a difference – that's tricky.

When you come together, wait for each other. In their meetings they were acting without consideration for others. One went too far, another didn't go far enough. The question is, can we discern the Lord's Body among the many varied expressions of Christianity in today's world – or even locally – or even within our own church or with individuals?

Well, the good news is that everything is not relative. There is one thing that anchors all of this, one yardstick against which we measure everything that claims to be Christian, and that is the Cross. It is Jesus and him crucified, as witnessed in the Scriptures. v.23-26. The cross remains central, planted firmly outside Jerusalem 2000 years ago at a fixed place and time. This is the fulcrum, the pivot on which everything else turns. Do you believe in Jesus, the Son of God who died and rose again? Well then, 2 Kings 10:15 Is thine heart right, as my heart [is] with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give [me] thine hand.

The cross unites us, not just because of our faith, as if we are united by something we do, but because he did it for all of us. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you (Rom 15:7). Paul wrote that to Christians with deep-seated cultural differences, Jews and Gentiles. If they could be brought together in one Body, loving and serving and waiting for each other, then anything is possible by God's grace. What we celebrate tonight and every time we come to his table, is that gift which includes us all, the gift of his life poured out in death.