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"What’s Really Hidden in Da Vinci’s Last Supper?"
It is one of the most famous paintings in the world. It is
found in the chancels of churches, in dining rooms the world
over and even in the Haven Hall. Even if you are not an art
lover, and the very words “Italian Renaissance” have the power
to make your eyes begin to glaze over, still when you imagine
the Last Supper, it is probably Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting
that comes your mind most of all.
Of course the painting has become even more famous or perhaps
the word is infamous in the last couple of years as Dan Brown’s
fiction The Da Vinci Code has drawn it to the attention
of the world. It is this painting that supposedly contains
a secret that is meant to turn our world upside down.
So on this Maundy Thursday, I would like to invite you to
take another look as I share what is really hidden about
Da Vinci’s Last Supper. Now don’t get too excited. Don’t
reach for the hook to remove me from the pulpit. What I
have to share with you isn’t a deep dark secret and some
of you in the room may have even have seen if for yourselves.
What is really hidden in the Last Supper is nothing more
and nothing less than an invitation, an invitation that
is as old as our Gospel from Luke’s pen this evening.
Da Vinci’s famous painting simply entitled Last Supper
is in fact a mural that covers an entire wall. This famous
wall is found in the refectory, that is the dining room, of
an old monastery in Milan, Italy. It was completed in 1498.
I traveled there with a friend from the Seminary in England.
We waited for a little over two hours to see it. And to tell
you the truth, at first glance it was almost disappointing.
It was only about half restored, and as per my usual luck,
it was partly covered with scaffolding. It wasn’t until I
decided to go all the way across the room for the long view
that I discovered the secret that I want to share with you
tonight.
If you look at the painting from across the room you
discover that the beams in the ceiling of the painting
are in fact the very beams in the ceiling of the room in
which it is painted. What is more, as you look at it more
closely you will find that Da Vinci could easily have
landed a job in interior design today, because his painting
actually gives the illusion of doubling the size of the room.
What this optical illusion does most of all, is to draw your
eye toward the side of the table that is empty. Suddenly it
hits you why that side is empty. It is meant to be occupied
by you and me. As you look, you can almost hear the words
“come take your place at the table.”
Da Vinci’s painting contains the invitation that Jesus gave
to his disciples all those years ago as he invited them to
share what would in fact be his last meal before the cross.
He invited them, his closest followers, to partake of his
very body and blood as he invites us to do the same tonight.
For me, it sort of begs a question though. Why did Jesus
have to issue an invitation? And I am afraid that the
answer is chillingly simple. We cannot come into His
presence without it. He is perfect, we are not. The
only way that we can be where he is, is if he invites us in.
On this Maundy Thursday I want you to remember that fact.
No one in history and no one in this room tonight has the
right to come to the Lord’s Table. It doesn’t matter if
you are a lifelong Lutheran. It doesn’t matter if you
endured two years of Confirmation torture studying a
Catechism that you haven’t opened since. It doesn’t
matter if you have spent your life in a church work.
Not one of us has the right to come to the table.
We come to the table because Jesus invites us to
partake of the privilege of being in His presence
at his table. It is this invitation that we celebrate
tonight. We gather, in awe, that the Son of God
himself invites us to partake of this meal. And we
celebrate it, not as we might see it, but rather
in the manner in which he himself gave it to us.
Hear the invitation again…Come! Come if you are weary
from the day’s activities. Come if you are distracted by
the busyness of the world around you. Come if you are
distracted by some problem that has been burdening your
heart. If you have not quite been living up to what He
asks of you. If you have done things or spoken words
that hurt others, if you have harbored attitudes and
secrets, if you have broken His commands in your rush
to do things your way…Come.
Come to the table and receive gifts from the hand of
your Savior. And just what is it that we take away
with us? Some years ago two young girls were excited
about being confirmed and receiving the Lord’s Supper
for the first time. When the big day arrived, they
went to the altar to receive the Sacrament. But
strangely they came away from the table disappointed.
They were disappointed because they didn’t feel any
differently.
The gifts of the table are not based on our feelings.
They are based on Jesus’ promises. He promises us
tonight as he told the disciples long ago, that we
receive his very body and blood in, with, and under
the bread and wine. Da Vinci has even captured this
in his painting as the figure of Christ points to the
loaf with his left hand and to the cup with his right.
Jesus promises that here at the table we receive the
benefits of all that he accomplished on Calvary’s
cross. He promises that we receive the benefits of
his Easter resurrection from the dead.
Here at the table come into Jesus’ presence in a real,
tactile, physical way. In this supper He forgives our
sins. At this table we are join all the saints on
earth and in heaven and we are in fact the closest
that we will ever be to loved ones who have gone
before us into heaven.
We come away from this table tonight with our sins
forgiven and our faith strengthened. And we come
away with one more promise. The secret of Da Vinci’s
painting is that he has managed to capture Jesus’
invitation to you and me. And this invitation to the
table is a reminder of another invitation and another
table…one we take part in when we see Jesus face to
face and we hear, with our own ears his voice, his
voicing saying: “Come!”
In Jesus’ Name! Amen.
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