Do This In Remembrance of Me
Each time we gather for the Eucharistic feast, we hear Jesus’s words, “Do this in remembrance of me,” twice: for the bread and for the wine. A few weeks ago, I almost stopped as I said those words. I was suddenly overcome with a thought: it sounds as if Jesus thinks that people, including his closest family and disciples, might actually forget him after his crucifixion the next day. Every mention of “disciples” means us, the readers and hearers of these gospel stories. The thought that he would think that we would forget him, that I would forget him, was terribly sad. That even his Body, the Church, might actually forget him was unbearable. And then I thought, day by day, we probably do. There are so many different people, politicians, commercials, corporations, all demanding our attention all day every day on the computer screens we carry with us everywhere we go – it is a very real possibility that remembering Jesus gets crowded out much of our life. All of this was going through my mind as I held the Host up in the air for all of us to see. It felt as if I might break down and cry. That moment has stuck with me ever since.
I bring this up because this story of a wedding feast may really be about just that: Holy Eucharist, Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper. We know that in all the chapters in John about the Last Supper, there is no mention of the bread and wine. Instead, Jesus washes people’s feet, and then offers a long farewell speech and prayers asking for his Father to protect those who follow him, who become his Body in this world, here and now.
Jesus, his mother, and the five disciples he has gathered over the previous two days, arrive in Cana of Galilee where a wedding feast is under way. They were invited to join in the celebration which often went on for several days. Almost immediately, the wine runs out. Perhaps these seven additional guests were not accounted for, which may explain why the mother of Jesus expresses her concern as she mentions the need for more wine to her son. The English translation of his response comes across as harsh, “Woman, what concern is that for you or me. My hour has not yet come.” But the sense of it in Aramaic may simply be, “It’s all right. It’s not time for me yet.” The hour and time for what? In John’s narrative “the hour” always refers to the hour of his glory – his crucifixion, death, and resurrection. [i]
What happens next echoes the parable of the father who asks
his two sons to help with some yardwork, in which the son who says, “Not now, I
can’t help right now,” Jesus who appears to blow-off his mother’s concern,
immediately takes over and instructs the servers at the wedding feast to fill
some jars with water. Six jars each holding 30 gallons to be exact. That’s 180
gallons of water. The empty jars were for the ritual of washing one’s hands
before meals. How many people could wash their hands with 180 gallons of water?
This is one big wedding party!
Jesus then instructs the servers to take a cup out of one of the jars and take it to the chief steward, the person in charge of the wedding feast. He takes a drink, and immediately calls over the bridegroom who has no idea that the wine has run out, probably no idea that Jesus is there, and no idea that there now seems to be 180 gallons of more wine. The chief steward compliments the bridegroom saying, “Most people serve the good wine first, and once people have been drinking for a few days and are drunk, bring on some cheap stuff – maybe Boone’s Farm, or Thunderbird. But you have saved the best wine for last!” Neither the chief steward nor the bridegroom has any idea what has just happened. Only the servants do. And, of course, those of us reading this.
Jesus’s mother and five disciples see this as a sign. Note, the text says a sign, not a miracle. We are not told how it happened. Just that there was no wine, and now there was lots of wine. Good wine. Perhaps an old vine Zinfandel!
In chapter six there is a similar story, but this time with bread. Jesus instructs his now twelve disciples to feed a crowd of 5,000 men, along with the women and children traveling with them. “Six months wages would not buy enough bread for all of them to get just a little!” they cry. Just then a boy with five barley loaves and two fish offers what he has for the cause. Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and instructs the disciples to give it away. When everyone has had their fill, he tells them to gather up the leftovers. To everyone’s astonishment, they gather twelve baskets of bread! This, in John, is followed by a long discussion that Jesus is the bread of life. In both of these stories, John suggests that Jesus does not “institute” the Eucharist on the night before he is executed. Jesus institutes the bread and wine every moment of his life. Jesus says, “I am the Bread of life. I am the vine.” The opening verses of John proclaim that Jesus, the Word, is the source of all life, all material, all creation. Including bread. Including wine. [ii]
The wedding feast and the feeding of the 5,000 are signs, not miracles. Signs of what it means to follow Christ. What it means to “Do this in remembrance of me.” Gail O’Day and Susan Hylen write that, “To share in the Eucharistic meal is not to “remember” or commemorate one particular event, but is to share in all of Jesus’s life, including ultimately his death. Participation in the Eucharist creates a relationship between Jesus and the believer that contains within it the promise of new life… By placing this story of an enormous amount of good wine for the wedding reception into the life of Jesus, John suggests that participation in the flesh and blood, bread and wine, belongs to all the days of Christian life, not just ‘special’ days, because it embodies the possibility of new life with Christ. The Eucharist is a meal of celebration, of sharing in the abundant presence of God in the world.” [iii]
Several things in all of this. As in the Eucharist in which we share, Jesus who is an invited guest becomes the host. He does this without pomp, without asking for recognition. In fact, the people amazed, the chief steward and bridegroom, have no idea who or even what has taken place. Only the servants who did what Jesus asked them to do. Begging the question, what does Jesus ask us to do each and every day of the week? Also, he sees a need – for more wine, to extend the joy and love of this wedding day, or hungry people following him by the sea Galilee – and then fills that need. What needs do we see that we can we address each day of the week?He takes, blesses, breaks, and gives away the little he has at his disposal and gives it all away. One meaning of these signs he does with wine and bread, is that first change that is affected in us by the touch of Christ upon our lives. Then there is the reminder that there is always more and better to come!
To do this in remembrance of him, then, is not just to remember the Last Supper, but to allow our fellowship with God, made known in Christ, to touch every moment of every day of our lives, and to remember that “you have kept the good wine until now!” That is, the best is yet to come: new and abundant life in and with Christ. The story concludes saying that those five disciples “believed in him.” Meaning that they commit themselves to Jesus in personal trust as the example of what we are to do and say every day of the week. The Eucharist binds us to him and to one another as a Community of Love: Love of God and Love of neighbor. As we sing, “all are neighbors to us and you.” And that is good news!
[i] John 2:1-11
[ii] John 6:1-71
[iii] O’Day, Gail
R., and Hylen, Susan F., John (John Knox Westminster Press, Lexington: 2006)
p.79
Jesu, Jesu, fill us
with your love,
show us how to serve
the neighbors we have from you.
1 Kneels at the feet of
his friends,
silently washes their
feet,
Master who acts as a slave to them. [Refrain]
2 Neighbors are rich and
poor,
neighbors are black and
white,
neighbors are nearby and far away. [Refrain]
3 These are the ones we should serve,
these are the ones we should love.
All are neighbors to us and you. [Refrain]
4 Loving puts us on our
knees,
serving as though we are
slaves;
this is the way we
should live with you. [Refrain]
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