Text: Psalm 78:1-25: 78:0 A MASKIL OF ASAPH. 1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle. 10 They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. 11 They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
12 In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. 13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. 14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. 15 He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. 16 He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers. 17    Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. 18 They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. 19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness? 20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel, 22 because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power. 23 Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, 24 and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.

Luke 22:14-30: 14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” 23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
28 “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, 29 and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Sermon:

Time.

Time defines our existence here on this world. The Hebrew Bible begins with the word, “bereshit,” “In the beginning.” When we learn a woman is expecting a child, we immediately ask, “what’s the due date?” We eagerly await the child’s arrival, counting down the days and the weeks. The day of the child’s birth becomes a special day for that person: the birthday. Historians categorize people by the era of their births: Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers, and so forth. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Time defines our lives.

Time also confines us. We say of a child, “he has all the time in the world.” Years stretch into decades as the child grows. Then, at the end of life, the decades shrink into years, the years into months, and the months into days before time ends in the hour of our deaths. Time limits our existence much as it defines our existence.

God, however, does not face these restrictions. Scripture tells us, “... with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). St. Augustine, one of the most influential Church Fathers, stated of God that

...you are infinite and never change. In you ‘today’ never comes to an end: and yet our ‘today’ does come to an end in you, because time, as well as everything else, exists in you. If it did not, it would have no means of passing. And since your years never come to an end, for you they are simply ‘today.’ ... And so it will be with all the other days which are still to come. But you yourself are eternally the same. In your ‘today’ you will make all that is to exist tomorrow and thereafter, and in your ‘today’ you have made all that existed yesterday and for ever before. (St. Augustine, Confessions)

Here’s the question of the night: What happens when an eternal, infinite God intrudes in the confines of time?

Scripture tells us what happened in the Gospels. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus was born on a certain day in time, circumcised 8 days later, and lived with Joseph and Mary in His infancy and childhood. After 12 years had passed, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Jewish festivals; He would mark His years by the festivals for the rest of His earthly life. Luke tells us that at the age of 30, Jesus was baptized by John. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness undergoing temptation. Then, Jesus began His ministry.

However, as with us, years shrank into months; months disappeared into weeks. Then, in the last week of His life, Jesus entered Jerusalem to a raucous crowd. The week became days; and then, in our Scripture tonight, Luke tells us that “the hour came.”

It is time.

Now, Jesus had dealt with time His entire life, including His ministry. He spent time alone in prayer; He spent time with His disciples, teaching them. Yet, one of Jesus greatest teachings on time came early in His ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus told the people, “don’t worry about tomorrow, today has trouble enough.” In that sermon, Jesus taught His disciples to pray. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus mentions time only twice. In the last line, Jesus taught His followers to pray, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.” Forever. Forever implies eternity, and our time constraints prevent us from understanding eternity.

However, Jesus mentioned time earlier in that prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

The people of Jesus’ time understood the line quite well. Each day, men worked for their daily wage. Each day, men bought the food required for the next day. Each day, women cooked just enough food for that day. “Daily bread” didn’t bother first-century Jews. They were happy to receive their daily bread.

Jewish history said more about daily bread. For 40 years, God sent a daily supply of manna for the people to eat. “Men ate the bread of angels” for 40 years. God’s explicitly told the people, “Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat” (Exodus 16:16) — but just enough for one day (except for the day before sabbath, on which one could gather twice as much). The people were forbidden from taking more than they needed for each day. If they gathered too much and kept it overnight, the manna “stank.”

Jewish history also demonstrated an unfortunate fact about time: the nasty human tendency to forget the mighty acts and blessings of God. Jesus and His disciples celebrated Passover in an occupied city because the Jews had forgotten the works of God and turned to idolatry centuries before. Although Jesus’ generation never succombed to the temptation to idolatry — no generation after the Exile ever did — the damage was done. History reminded the Jews of the consequences of forgetting God’s blessings, including the blessing of daily manna, daily bread.

Let’s shift forward in time a couple of thousand years. Today, we live longer lives than first-century Jews. Any of us here over the age of 33 have already outlived Jesus’ earthly life. Any of you over the age of 56 have outlived Julius Caesar. Anyone over the age of 77 has outlived Augustus Caesar.

Life seems much more stable today. Daily bread? My family could live over a week on what’s in our pantry (not to mention our refrigerator!). My family lives within walking distance of 2 grocery stores and 5 restaurants. Most of us enjoy steady paychecks and expect to have long careers. If we live long enough, we have retirement plans to pay us when we decide we’re old enough to quit working for a living. “Daily bread” is foreign to us.

Before we feel guilty about this and think that worrying about the future is a modern phenomenon, let’s return to the hour of Luke’s passage. The hour has come. In this hour, Jesus breaks the bread: “This is my body, which is broken for you.” Jesus passes the cup: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Do the disciples understand the immediacy of the moment? Of course not! Immediately after this intimate moment of time, the disciples resume the tiresome yet incessant squabbling over who will be greatest when Jesus initiates His kingdom — as they’re certain He will do tomorrow. After all, why else did Jesus ride into town as a king? The disciples worry about the privileges of a non-existent future while Jesus tries to focus their attention on the very current betrayal.

Jesus’ hour has come; He will share His last meal with the disciples. He will eat nothing else until after His resurrection. This meal must carry Him through the worst torture imaginable — and then carry Him into death itself. “Daily bread” certainly applies to Jesus’ meal.

“Daily bread.” We try to ignore it, but “daily bread” still applies to our lives. All of us have seen people whose lives were stable and settled one day, only to face catastrophe the next. As August came in 2005, hundreds of thousands of people here in the South confidently knew their lives were secure, their homes were safe, and their futures were certain. August ended two days after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. 90,000 square miles of the South qualified for federal disaster status. Over 1,600 people were dead, most of the population of New Orleans and southern Mississippi were homeless, and the billions of dollars in damage will affect our region’s economy for decades to come.

On a personal scale, we all experience the “daily bread” issue. Our jobs were secure, we thought, until we receive the notice that the company has been sold. Our health was excellent, we thought, until the chest pains strike or we gasp for a breath that won’t come or the test results returned positive for cancer. Our children are secure, we think, until we receive the call from school or the police station.

And, just as frightening as any of these events — perhaps even more frightening — our lives are settled until God calls us to a greater calling. Suddenly, the future clouds as we consider the implications of this call. The future we had planned so carefully disappears as we embark on the road of obedience. The road signs of life so eagerly expected — steady job, big home, fancy cars, everything this society uses to define success — evaporate before our eyes.

Daily bread means a lot more under those circumstances. God often gives no guidance beyond the daily call. This frustrates us if we’re accustomed to planning ahead. We’re taught almost from birth, “plan ahead.” “Save for a rainy day.” God’s call throws all those plans out the window.

So we’re left with “daily bread.” Actually, it’s all we have. The road of obedience has no exits, no stops along the way. Once we embark on the road of obedience, we’re committed. We travel each day as far as God cares to take us, and no further. Jesus knows our feelings, for He left the splendor of heaven to travel the road of obedience. As an encouragement to us, Jesus told one would-be follower, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). You can’t get any more “daily” than knowing you’ll sleep wherever the road ends that day. Jesus knew only that His road would end on a hill outside Jerusalem.

“Daily bread.” How many of us have hoped that whatever we gleaned from the Sunday service would do us the rest of the week? The spiritual life is a daily life. The spiritual life requires daily time with our Lord, praising Him for His goodness and asking His guidance. Each day, we must approach the throne of grace and ask for “daily bread.”

So tonight, we approach the table, seeking our daily bread in Holy Communion. As we come to daily bread, we come in hope: Hope that assures us of an eternity far beyond the trials of this time in life. We come in freedom: Free from the guilt of sin, as the Body was broken for our salvation. We come in peace: Peace with God the Father, Who has forgiven our sin as we confess His Son as Lord of our lives.

Someone here tonight may come for daily bread in fear: Fear that God knows what you’ve done. Forgiveness is given to all who ask, so ask now and then come for daily bread.

Someone may approach this table for the last time in their lives.

And, someone here tonight may well approach, expect daily bread — and instead receive a calling. This calling will immediately throw you into crisis as your future flies away. I can help you here, because I’ve been there. My advice? Come anyway. Receive the bread. And, as quickly as you’re called, obey. Your future would never have gone according to your plans. God knows we’re lousy at planning the future. Had the disciples’ future arrived as they had intended, they would have ruled a short time in a sin-sodden world and then died. As it is, they reign for eternity, St. John tells us in Revelation, in a re-created world ruled from a city so beautiful it defies description.

The future for the disciples actually held the ultimate in extreme moments. The future for the disciples held the shame of Jesus’ washing their feet, the terror of the Garden, the agonizing guilt of betrayal and cowardice, and the consuming emptiness of watching their Lord hang from a Roman cross.

I believe I can offer you far better than the disciples’ future. This table — the bread and the cup — demonstrates the ultimate in love. The love of God is as eternal as His nature. This room, this universe, cannot hold it. Tonight, this table shows His love; this table is for you.

Tonight, the bread is broken; in this moment of eternity, the cup is poured. Tonight, the time is here, the hour has come. Dear Christian, come and dine.