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[0:00] Why is this night different from all other nights, Mr. Deacon?! Last night we celebrated a Seder meal.

[0:10] ! I've always thought that the meal celebrated by Jesus with his apostles was the Seder meal.

[0:42] Then in preparing for this sermon, I learned that there may have been more than one meal celebrated prior to the Passover. So today, you know, they've pinned it down and they say the Seder dinner is the night before the Passover.

[0:58] But even the Gospel writers differ in how they refer to that meal. Some of them call it the Seder or that it was on the night before he was betrayed.

[1:11] And some of them just say that it was a Passover meal. Luke's Gospel makes it clear that Jesus and the apostles were gathered for the Passover.

[1:23] That's all we know. That's all we need to know. And that's our connection with the Old Testament and the Gospel.

[1:36] Now the Seder meal, we listened in the Gospel and they talked about a glass of wine here and a glass of wine there and a glass of wine here. Well the Seder meal, they have four cups of wine.

[1:47] So it was confusing. Actually in Luke's Gospel, we only heard about three of them. But the Seder meal has four glasses of wine set at the table.

[2:01] We need to know that because we'll be looking at the glass of wine that makes this night different from all other nights. For us as Christians.

[2:16] Not for the Jewish people, but for us as Christians. Jesus raises the first glass of wine and says he won't share this cup again until he shares it in the kingdom.

[2:28] As we find throughout the Gospels, the apostles really didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Now we know today he was predicting his death on the cross.

[2:43] There were also a lot of other things that happened in the Gospels that the apostles didn't seem to understand until the Holy Spirit came to them at Pentecost.

[3:02] Now there's been some theological disagreement about whether it could all have happened in one night. Let's calculate it.

[3:14] The Passover meal had to be eaten prior to sundown. Now it could have finished an hour or two or three before sundown.

[3:25] So they weren't cutting it close. And we know Jesus had to be taken down off the cross prior to sundown the next day.

[3:36] If you believe it was all in one day. Anybody ever pull an all-nighter? Come on. Yeah, right? Cramming for an exam.

[3:49] Right? Or a New Year's Eve celebration. We've been up 24 hours, haven't we? Plus we hear in this Gospel later on that the apostles were tired.

[4:01] They fell asleep in the garden. So it was a long time. They were out there a long time. Add the before sunset time and the whole thing could have been 26, 27, 8 hours from the Seder meal, from the Passover meal, from the betrayal until he was taken down off the cross.

[4:22] So for myself, it could have all happened in one day. And a lot of things happened around that table.

[4:33] A lot of things. Jesus says that someone will betray him. And they all wonder if it was them. In Luke's Gospel, Judas is pretty quiet about that idea.

[4:49] Although we know that he'd already cut the deal with the chief priests, the deed was done. As Jesus predicted.

[5:00] The apostles also started gossip and wonder. Who is the greatest? And we know this is an important part for Jesus.

[5:13] He said the least is the greatest. And the greatest is the least. This lesson for the apostles is also for us. There's a lot of meat in here for us, too.

[5:27] It's about servant leadership. Servant leadership. As our parish, we're fortunate, even as an interim rector, to have a rector who knows and understands servant leadership.

[5:44] We pray for the new rector. We always pray each week that God will send us a new pastor, new rector. And we pray that he be a man of servant leadership.

[5:55] Especially today as we recall what Christ calls us to. That servant leadership. We pray for the servant leaders in our parish that the Holy Spirit sends us.

[6:11] The wardens, the vestry, and all the ministerial leaders of our parish. As Jesus gave this instruction to the apostles. The life of the Lord, the young rector, and the rest.

[6:21]  The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. lip. The end. lip. lip. lip. lip.