On Service as Communion

Then an argument broke out among them
about which of them should be regarded as the greatest.
Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’;
but among you it shall not be so.
Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest,
and the leader as the servant.
For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves?
Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves.”
      Jesus to his disciples at the Last Supper, Luke 22:24-27

Happy Palm and Passion Sunday!
Jesus had entered Jerusalem some days earlier as the Messiah, riding humbly on the colt of a donkey, as the prophets instructed, not as the Davidic king as people had hoped. He spends days preaching in the Temple yard about the hypocrisy and lack of humility of the Jewish religious leaders, and yet here are his disciples arguing about who is the greatest!

All the synoptics have a similar scene in Galilee, and Matthew and Mark also have James and John asking for elevated status only to get a similar lesson from Jesus: the greatest must be the servant of all. Luke puts this scene at the Last Supper. John’s gospel doesn’t have a Eucharist scene at the Last Supper but does have the great lesson on service when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.

I suspect Luke puts this passage at the Last Supper for a similar purpose, to stress the connection of servant leadership with Eucharist. The Eucharist brings us into communion with our God and, in our sharing, with each other. Service to others isn’t just a good thing to do. It is also an act of communion with our God.

Service will be celebrated Holy Thursday (April 14) at Immaculate Conception.
A potluck supper starts at 5:00pm with Mass at 7:00pm.

The Good Friday celebration of the Crucifixion will be at St. Therese at 7:00 p.m.

Easter Vigil at St. Therese will be 8:30pm Saturday,
and Easter Sunday Mass at St. Therese will be in the parking lot at 11:30am
followed by an Easter egg hunt and other festivities!