Eating in a hurry.
That turn of phrase raises all sorts of memories and questions.
Lessons in manners, to chew food slowly, to taste it, not gulp it down.
“I hate to eat and run.” A modern turn of phrase.
Time is short. Having to be somewhere else.
Or for tonight, anxiety and danger. Eat hurriedly to get away while we still can.
That is the Passover lesson tonight from the Exodus reading.
The people and the livestock of Egypt have lost their first born, those with the Passover blood on their homes were passed over by the Lord’s avenging angel.
People were going to be angry. The Hebrews would be easy targets for that anger, so eat in a hurry and be ready to run. Pharaoh is coming to get you.
This last night of Jesus being with the Disciples has a similar weight of time, of finality, of that moment when everything changes.
Pharaoh is on the way, not literally, but people like Pharaoh were on the move. His kind of people.
There is a meal, but without the urgency and hurry of the Passover.
There is rather an intense focus on these final moments being used well.
There won’t be any running or narrow escape on this Passover.
The Lamb is waiting to be sacrificed, to be harvested.
The Lamb gives weight to these final actions and words.
Love one another.
Wash one another’s feet.
Love one another like Jesus has.
That is the perpetual ordinance for those who are washed in the blood of this lamb.
Do it now.
Before Pharaoh finds us once again.
And then he is gone, this night, taken.
How often do we miss out on the precious beauty of final things?
We can’t see the future, so we miss the chance of savoring each moment as a chance to love one another. Savoring the finality of each moment is beyond our capacity, so we usually miss our last chance.
Shoot. Let’s be honest. We usually blow it.
So, is there a lesson on this night of hurried meals and weighty final moments?
Is there a lesson on this night of intense clarity and focus washing over us, bathing us where we are the most worn and vulnerable?
What really matters? In this life, what really matters?
Jesus. His words and his actions. Jesus. He is showing us.
Grasp this moment, do it now, bless one another before…before…