Receiving and Handing On

Rebecca Sheridan
Thursday, March 28, 2024
1 Corinthians 11:23-26

    A few years ago, I got into a cooking show called the Great American Recipe.  In each episode, cooks from across the country with ethnic backgrounds from every continent except Australia and Antarctica share recipes handed down to them from past generations as well as newer family favorites.  What I like about the show is that these people are not professional, culinary trained chefs but home cooks, and the diversity of food we enjoy in this country is really highlighted.  For example, in one episode, the challenge is for these cooks to prepare a “grab and go” meal.  When I hear “grab and go,” I think, “sandwich.”  But there were breakfast burritos, kabobs, sushi and even a Hawaiian dish called “musubi” recipes shared by these creative chefs.  The winner has the honor of having his or her recipes published in the Great American Recipe Cookbook, enabling them to pass down these time-honored family recipes to many.
Who we are – our culture, our family traditions, even our faith, often involves food.  Tonight, we remember the great movable feast where the Israelites had to grab and go lamb and unleavened bread at the first Passover in Exodus.  Jesus along with his disciples celebrates this festival, continuing the tradition, at the Last Supper.  We celebrate Holy Communion tonight to remember both the Lord’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt and our salvation through Jesus the Lamb of God who is slain for us.  Paul writes, “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you.”  Tonight, of all nights, let’s take a few moments to remember all that we have received from the Lord.  Like great recipes we pass along from generation to generation, how has the faith been passed down to us?  We remember the saints who have gone before us who we will join one day around God’s heavenly throne.  What about their example have we learned that we want to carry with us?  Beyond favorite recipes, what faith traditions like Holy Communion, special prayers, worship itself, do we want to then hand over to our children and grandchildren?  More generally, how do we hand on the love, forgiveness, and faith we have received from Christ our Lord and Savior?  For busy families of faith that are often on the go, tonight is an opportunity to slow down, give thanks for all God has done for us through Jesus, and remember.  We wash feet.  We give and receive forgiveness.  We eat the bread and drink from the cup – God’s salvation for us and a foretaste of the feast to come.  Just like Paul, we receive, and we hand on, the faith of our Lord.
    Here’s a powerful thing for us to contemplate tonight as we think about receiving and handing on the faith – this is the night in which Jesus is betrayed.  Betrayal can also be translated, “handed over.”  Jesus allows himself to be handed over to death for us. Jesus receives all our sins on the cross, and then hands over his very life for us, so that his eternal life becomes ours.  Whatever we need to leave at the foot of the cross, at the altar tonight, we come forward to give to Jesus, who graciously receives us.  Strengthened by his body and blood, we leave this place tonight ready to pass on this powerful faith to others, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.