Maundy Thursday RCL B 2021

Maundy Thursday RCL B 2021

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Sullivan

John 13:1-35, Exodus 24:1-11

A Participation in the New Covenant

So often, wethe church, come to the service of Maundy thursday and think, ah yes, Maundy Thursday, the day about the disciples abandoning Christ, and they are right to do so. Some of us, hopefully, also think, Ah yes, Maundy Thursday, the day about the Last Supper, and are right to do so. Even more hopefully there are those who think, Ah yes, Maundy Thursday, the day about the institution of the sacrament of Holy Communion, and of course, there is no error here. But how many of us think, Maundy Thursday, the day when we are reminded that even though Christ knows we will abandon Him daily, He nevertheless gives Himself to us. Where His flesh, blood, Soul, and Divinity are shown to be dedicated to sinners who will abandon Him not only in the time of His most dire need, but also in our time of need, and also in our time of plenty, and in all times. Where Christ truly loves the unlovable, not when it was most convenient, but when it costs Him the most. ASupper where grace is made the main course, and it’s name is Jesus Christ.

Illustrative of the concepts here, is this story. In more ways than one, this is a story about the concept of following Jesus. It’s also a story about abandoning Jesus. But most of all, its a story about Jesus. Perhaps it’s one that you’ll recognize. The story is this; Let’s say there is a pastor. And one day, this pastor takes a wife. But not just any wife. He took a wife with a history. She was a woman of the night so to speak. And everyone knew. And so when this pastor married her, they thought to themselves, both fellow clergy and the layman over whom he served, how can this man, who is supposed to be of the highest reputation marry such a woman, doesn’t he know the kind of life she’s lived? And yet, this pastor, without shame loved her with all his might. But soon enough she started to venture out onto the streets when he wasn’t around, being unfaithful to him, breaking their marital covenant, returning to that life she used to live. And yet, the pastor instead of divorcing her, took her back. And again this happened, and again, and again, and again. It was clear that she didn’t really care for him. She just wanted the security that her marriage to him granted her. And so, she not only continued in her unfaithfulness to him, but she went so far as to sell herself into slavery, becoming the property of a man who was not her husband. It was clear that she did not care to return to him, having gone even to the length of selling herself into the ownership of another man so that he could not come and take her back up again. And so he bought her back. You say to me, “no. This cant be. Surely he knew that she would just return to the streets and be unfaithful to him again, sell herself to another again, costing him more and more.” Yes. And he will again buy her back. He will again seek her who does not wish to be found. And he will make to her vows that he knows she will not repeat back to Him.

I ask you today, who is the pastor, and who is the wife?

Today we hear of the last supper, that is, the last supper that Jesus sat down to eat with His disciples before He would be captured by the authorities through the betrayal of Judas, handed over to the Romans to be tried, and ultimately put to death by way of crucifixion. While Jesus went with His disciples from the upper room where they ate this last supper into the garden of Gethsemane, if you recall that story well you will know that while they were with Him physically in the garden, their hearts wereelsewhere, and it didn’ttake very long after Jesus’ arrest for them to take their bodies with them as well. For this reason, at the end of the service as is a custom in churches all around the world on this day, we will “strip” the altar as a sign of Christ’s abandonment, first by His own friends and disciples, and then by the Father in heaven on the cross, which He suffered for our sake. But while this is the last supper that Jesus has with His disciples being truly with Him until He returns to them in the resurrection, it is first and foremost, the first “Lord’s Supper.” But wait, what is the Lord’s Supper? Is it the whole meal? Is it any meal with Bread and Wine? Is that the meal that Jesus had His disciples prepare for Him? Is that the Lord’s Supper? No.

The meal that they prepared, the meal they knew they were going to have, was the Passover meal. This meal was a very normal thing for the O.T. Jews. It was an Annual ritualistic meal for the remembrance of the first Passover which took place in Egypt. In order to redeem the Israelites from the strong grip of Egyptian slavery the Lord sent the Angel of Death to come and strike down the firstborn of every house, except those who hadsacrificed a substitutionary lamb, painted its blood on the door frame of their house, and eaten it hastily with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This meal then, was commanded to be repeated on a yearly basis, for the remembrance of their redemption from slavery in Egypt. For theremembrance of the angel of death and the wrath of God passing over them through the substitute of the sacrificedlamb. For the remembrance of salvation through Judgment.

This was all normal for the disciples. But what was certainly not normal was when Jesusheld up some bread and some wine and said this is my body given for you, my blood shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins, do this in remembrance of me.Please note, Jesus was not changing the Passover celebration. Neither was He adding to the Passover Celebration. The chief part of the Passover meal was not bread or wine, but was the Lamb. Christ was doing a new thing, presenting a new covenant, and in His blood no less. This was something that for Jews was definitely included in the list of things that ought never even be spoken, a thing which drove many disciples away from Him in John 6, a thing that many Christians even today reject as idolatry and blasphemy, that Christ would, has, or even couldgive us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink and have it be for the forgiveness of sins is repugnant not only to the modern mind, but to all human minds that ever have lived and ever will live. This was a new thing, but it was not by any stretch of the imagination a normal thing. The Lord’s Supper is not a part of Passover, nor an addition to it, but itis the fulfillment ofPassover. It is what Passover looked forward to. The Lamb of God sacrificed once and for all and eaten, for the forgiveness of our sins, that death and wrath pass over us, that we be freed from our slavery to sin and the devil. The new covenant cut in His blood, given for us to drink as a testament that God will forever be for us, that we are His.

This Passover celebration was at the centre of the Old Covenant. And as we’ve seen in the O.T. Reading, that was a covenant that was focused on what we do, it was focused on Laws, and the doing of those Laws. All the commands you have spoken Lord, we will do, the Israelites vowed. A vow too great for any sinful man to bear, and yet they vowed it. And they took the blood of the sacrifice and poured it upon the altar, and upon themselves, as an ancient middle eastern way to pledge themselves and Godto obedience to these vows upon pain of death if they were to break them. This was a matter of life and death based upon perfect obedience, and they had sealed their own curse, in vowing themselves to an obedience that they could never actually muster.

And the disciples, the disciples had vowed time and time again what is very much the same vow; “Lord we will never betray you, we will never abandon you, we will carry our crosses and follow you, we will drink the cup of wrath that you drink, and sit on your right and your left.” They had not yet understood. Christ didnot come to take us with Him to the cross, to take us with Him to drink the cup of wrath. He cameto do it in our place, because we couldnot. The disciples understood this to be as the Old Covenant was. They understood this to be a give and take relationship, where we participated in our salvation. Where failure to do the commands of Christ would forfeit one’s salvation. But this was not the Old Covenant, and Christ did not come to replace Moses and thelaw, but to fulfill it. He did not come to make salvation possible upon condition of obedience. Neither did He come to do away with wrath and judgment. Rather, He came to take it upon Himself, that all that would be left for us would be grace, acceptance, and mercy. He came, as both God and man, to die under the full force of the Law, the one who knew no sin, becoming sin for us that in Him and in participation with Him through the eating of His body and the drinking of His blood, we might become the righteousness of God.

In the Lord’s Supper, Christ hands us a new covenant, He hands us the Lamb of God who is sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins and dies in our place, He hands us Himself, who’s flesh we eat, and who’s blood is now poured out upon the cross at golgatha, and upon us, into our mouths. My friends, today as you partake of the Sacrificed lamb of God, know that God’s wrath has passed over you, and has fallen upon Jesus Christ, the God whom you sinned against, who is your eternal and perfect substitute. And all of this He does for you, knowing that shortly after you go out from here you will again abandon Him just like the disciples, you will again break His law just like those of the Old Covenant, you will again fail to watch and pray, and yet again and again and again He will hold out His flesh and His blood and say take and eat, for my body was given for you and my blood was shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, this, is the New Covenant, this, is the New Supper, this, is theLord’s Supper, Amen.