Perfect

       They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I can't help but read today's passage from Luke and shake my head. First, it is Advent and we are reading abut the last supper. The last supper. One thing that comes immediately to mind is the betrayer, Judas Iscariot. He is present and accounted for. We accept that. We might counter that in our mind by thinking that the rest are true blue, faithful followers and believers. The other eleven 'get it'. Perhaps something we gloss over in our brains is that after the solemnity of the breaking of the bread, the passage states that a dispute broke out ( a pleasant table fight? ) about who is the greatest. The eleven faithful ones are arguing. No Jesus loves ME best or  perhaps, 'no I am more faithful'.  It is disconcerting to say the least.  If it says anything, it speaks to how honest a portrayal Luke is giving of the faithful and humanity.

         Recently I was privy to a family argument in which one character seems particularly malicious, manipulative and deceitful. It may be some kind of illness but the fact remains that the drama had unfolded.  These were people that loved each their other and I believe had a strong sense of family. yet there they were going at it, perhaps not unlike those eleven apostles.

         One of the things that came to my mind in reading Luke today was a summary judgment that the Roman church hasn't apparently changed much since it's inception if that is what the last supper was. It is all excruciatingly human and it probably says something more negative about me than the Roman church.

         Excruciatingly human.  When we accept our faith, whether that be The Way, Buddha or Moses, and whether we accept Islam as the true path, all of that must be tempered by an important fact that is highlighted in today's passage from Luke. We are not perfect.  The Apostles are not perfect. The arguing family ? Not perfect. No one here is close to perfection and most if not all of us are damaged in some way. To expect perfection in everyone is the height of arrogance.  At the very least it fails to look into oneself because we would be judging others as faulty with the assumption we are somehow better.  We are all damaged, hurt and imperfect. We still however, strive to be faithful and we still know the path, whichever path it is we choose. 

          So this morning I am not looking for a perfectly faithful, unerring person in the mirror. I am looking at someone who looks to walk on the correct path and move forward, warts and all.  I know I am loved and know everyone else is loved too. Does God love anyone more or less in their imperfections?  I think an attempt to understand and the decision to move forward in love is just about all we can expect. We can hold expectations high and that also is a good thing but we just have to know we will all fall, not unlike Jesus when he stumbled carrying his own cross.

        So, simply love. Try our hardest to be loving and faithful. Do not expect perfection.

Luke 22:14-30

 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’Then he took a loaf of 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.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!’ Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.

 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

 ‘You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.