Maundy Thursday

Grace and peace to all of you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

On this Maundy Thursday evening, we take our last moments of reflection for this season of Lent. During this time, we should consider everything that Jesus conveys to us through hearing the Gospel, especially tonight.

We might think more deeply about the Lord’s Supper and the promises God makes to us and for us. Long before Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare the Passover, God had made a promise through the words of the prophet Jeremiah, as we heard read tonight.

Through the prophet, God said, “I will make a new covenant,” which should remind us of Jesus’ words on the night this new covenant was established when he stated, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” These precious words are meant for all of us who believe in the name of Jesus for our salvation.

Every Sunday, when we partake in the Lord’s Supper. We come to the table with our hands open to receive forgiveness. This table has been prepared for you by Christ himself, to say to all of us who have sinned against him in thought, word, and deed, that “This is my body, and this is my blood, given and shed for you.” It is truly for you!

When we consider those present with Jesus, remember that none except Jesus were without sin. He knew Judas would betray him and that Peter would deny him three times. Jesus knows our condition. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). This is his mission: he has gathered them at His table, along with all of us, so that we may receive the promise of His mercy, renewing the heart of a sinner with the promise of grace.

We contribute nothing to this! This isn’t a work of piety to show Christ how Christian we are. This work of Christ Jesus unites us to Himself and each other as a church. One covenant, one body in Christ, fully forgiven, restored, and free to serve and share this with our neighbor.

Jesus gave us His church through this covenant—a church of Word and Sacrament, where the Holy Spirit cultivates faith within us through these vehicles. God can take ordinary things, like “words” and “supper,” and do extraordinary works with them.

But this is no ordinary supper. In it, Jesus is present in the word and the elements. This supper feeds and nurtures the broken and poor in spirit. It forgives and bestows grace on those burdened by sin, bringing all to renewal. It strengthens you and keeps you in His grace.

In the supper, we are assured that our Lord Jesus Christ will always be with us. He is always with us in the bread and the wine, or as Luther put it, “In, with, and under the bread and the wine.” He is present and immediate to us, sharing all of himself, body and blood, so that we may endure and abide in Him and He in us, through all times in our lives, good or bad.

We should consider and reflect tonight that through this means of grace, our full assurance of faith is present with us in the sacrament. For it is through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that the condemned and lost sinner is found and restored. It is through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that sin is forgiven and lawless deeds are remembered no more.

Our confidence is in the body and blood of Christ, not in ourselves or showing ourselves to be faithful. In the Lord’s Supper, it is Christ who is faithful to you through His words, in which He instituted and said: “This is my Body and this is My blood, given for you!” Amen