Maundy Thursday

Reception

Good evening, welcome to our chapel service for tonight. Today is technically Holy Wednesday. But, as was celebrated in Christ’s time, the new day began when the sun set, which should be fairly soon. As such, tonight the Jewish celebration of Passover begins, which will involve our Old Testament Lesson. And, moreso, I find it fitting to preach on the day to come during this Holy Week, in which tomorrow is Maundy Thursday. So, tonight’s lessons and preached word will be on the readings for tomorrow, that day to come. These readings mark the beginning of the Easter Triduum, or the Holy Three Days, which formally begin on the tomorrow evening and run until Sunday morning. Further, I do not think these readings or the holiday will be preached tomorrow, so I hope to bring this time of commemoration to you all tonight. This truly will be special!

The last month or so, I’ve been displaying the verses behind me, to make it easier to follow, while also splitting up the readings. Tonight, and as I did for the Hope Street Chapel Service two Sundays ago, I want to provide a tiny booklet for you all to follow along with. Not only for legibility, but also so you can take it out with you and meditate on these verses and the impact of God’s word in your life. And if you feel like joining in with me, any of the text in bold and italics is for you to join in or respond. We begin with the Holy Wednesday prayer, and as we transition into discussing Maundy Thursday and into the evening, we will end with the prayer for Maundy Thursday. So, now let us transition into the prayer and readings, as I invite you all to pray tonight’s collect with me if you are willing,

Collect for Holy Wednesday

Assist us mercifully with your grace, Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the meditation of those mighty acts by which you have promised us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Readings/Lessons

Old Testament Lesson

A reading from the Old Testament, the Book of Exodus,

Exodus 12:1–14 “Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household… Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it… It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”

The Word of the Lord,

Thanks be to God.

New Testament Lesson

A reading from the New Testament, the First Letter to the Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 11:23–34 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.”

The Word of the Lord,

Thanks be to God.

Gospel Reading

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, According to St. Luke,

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Luke 22:14–30 “And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly 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.” And he took a cup, and when he had given 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.” And he took 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 likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

The Word of the Lord,

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Exposition/Sermon

As one of C.S Lewis’ last works, published a year after his death, his Letters to Malcolm, imagine a dialogue between Lewis and a fictional ‘Malcolm’ on various topics on Lewis’ mind before his death. And to get us into a proper frame of mind, I begin where Lewis writes, “Here is big medicine and strong magic.”

Now, what is he referencing to is the Lord’s Supper, better called the Eucharist. The “thanksgiving” meal that is so essential to Christianity today. And by today, I mean the present, but also quite literally today, in this season. You see, we are entering Maundy Thursday, the first Holy Day which culminates on the morning of Easter Sunday, where Christ has his final gathering with his Disciples before he is betrayed, taken away, tortured, and killed.

It is called “Maundy” from the Latin mandatum, meaning ‘command.’ And when we hear that word ‘command,’ our brains turn to law, moreso to being submitted to a law, and it sounds oppressive. Especially as we come to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of our country in a few months, we see that hesitation to the law embedded in our history and culture. On paper, America is about freedom, not subservience. But let us look at the context, and why our commands from Christ are freeing, rather than taxing.

For one, the Law which is referenced so much in the Old and New Testament had become rather complex. Consisting of 613 laws, it was not something easily to be held to. In response, and to the improper use of said Law, Christ offers a summary of the law in St. Mark’s Gospel, 1) that the Lord our God is one, and 2) to love your neighbor as yourself. Now the terming of the feast day (church holiday) to come is after St. John’s Gospel, who documents Christ’s explication of the second statement, saying, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

You may ask yourself, is this a summary of the law or new commandment? Well, both in many ways. Christ as the fulfillment of the law still teaches it’s importance while showing to us, in his life, how it is to be lived. His life is our law. And there are two things He does, that the church commemorates on Maundy Thursday, that are commanded of us as an outgrowth of that great commandment.

So we gather here today overlooking our readings, and search for the background and establishment of the command for us to love one another as Christ loved us. Our first lesson documents the advent of the Passover celebration, the latter two on Christ’s Institution of the Eucharist on Passover in 33AD.

If you know me and my deep interest in the sacramental life of the church centered weekly around the Eucharist, you might foretell where this sermon is going and its applications. But stay steady. I have preached on the Eucharist many times, but never as intently on its application.

For, in doing so, we turn to what Passover was in our Old Testament Reading of Exodus. The story centers the Jewish “exodus” (or departure) from their slavery in Egypt. God appoints Moses to lead them out, sending ten plagues to convince the Egyptian leader, Pharaoh, to let Moses’ people go. Exodus 12 chronicles the last plague, where the Angel of Death is sent to kill the firstborn child of each household. Moses’ people, the Jews, are told to sacrifice a lamb and spread its blood on their doorpost, for the plague to “Pass over” them, where we get the English word for the holiday.

The church, multiple times, connects the Paschal (Passover) lamb with Christ. In my church, for example, at the breaking of the bread, it is customary to repeat Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 5, that “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.” And in the words of St. John, John 1:29 “‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”

Christ is this lamb, without blemish, unlike us. And as is in bold in our booklet, this “blood shall be a sign for you” and this day shall be kept as a “memorial day… a feast to the Lord.” Christ came into Jerusalem, into the Promised Land Moses was at one time promised, not just to celebrate Passover but become our Passover. As the lamb in the Exodus story was a way for God to be both just and merciful on behalf of the Jewish people, offering a temporal salvation through the sacrifice of the lamb, so does Christ offer an eternal salvation through the sacrifice of Himself.

And we get an opportunity to participate in this sacrifice in the Eucharist, that which is instituted and written of in our New Testament and Gospel Reading today. It is in that desire that Paul writes to the Philippians to want “to know Christ… to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Such, it is right for us to pray a prayer as such after this communion: “O Lord and heavenly Father, we, thy humble servants, entirely desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this, our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching thee to grant that, by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins and all other benefits of his passion.” That in our sacrifice, in light of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice re-presentation to us in the meal He instituted, we may obtain a guarantee of the remission (forgiveness) of our sins given to us both physically and spiritually.

And it is a command and an invitation. As the theologian Jurgen Moltmann writes, “The Lord’s supper takes place on the basis of an invitation which is as open as the outstretched arms of Christ on the cross. Because he died for the reconciliation of ‘the world,’ the world is invited to reconciliation in the supper.” For this sign of his blood has become that new commandment, or as bold in the New Testament reading, the new covenant in Christ’s blood. That when we participate together, we proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes, we proclaim the beauty of this Passiontide and Eastertide season, Christ’s suffering and resurrection.

The reason for the importance of the Lord’s Supper is clearly not just because it was his last meal, or last moment with the Disciples, but because it was instituted for us to take. In a Greek word scantily used by Christ, he not only “earnestly desire[s]” to eat of the Passover with His disciples, but begins to offer Himself as Passover when he commands them to “Take this…”

Let us finally turn to the last verses of our Gospel Reading, connecting to but after the Institution of the Lord’s Supper. Where Christ tells the Disciples, “For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”

Should this not turn us back to that great commandment, to love one another as Christ loved us. He, the greatest to ever live, lived His life in servitude, demonstrating to us what a life reconciled to that original nature meant for us means. Suffering with Christ, serving with Christ, living with Christ. That is our calling. The calling He calls us to. It is not to overstep our ego, but to live as Christ did, loving mankind often over ourselves.

And Christ finishes with this great line, “I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.” Likewise, in our sacrifice in praise and thanksgiving, that is, our living as Christ did, we are offered the benefits of His once-for-all sacrifice in participation at His table in His kingdom. We get to eat of the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ.

Now, we’re not doing the Eucharist tonight, but to those that wish to, many churches in the area offer a Maundy Thursday communion, and we offer one on Easter Sunday.

So we return to C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Malcolm, where we finish that opening quote in its wider context:

I find no difficulty in believing that the veil between the worlds, nowhere else (for me) so opaque to the intellect, is nowhere else so thin and permeable to divine operation. Here a hand from the hidden country touches not only my soul but my body. Here the prig, the don, the modern , in me have no privilege over the savage or the child. Here is big medicine and strong magic...the command, after all, was Take, eat: not Take, understand.

The veil has been torn, the Kingdom has come, Christ has been proclaimed. Christ has been given to us in His sacrifice on the cross and weekly with our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in the Holy Eucharist.

So, finally, what does this mean for us? What does this mean for you all?

[Expository Ending]

1 Cor. 10:16: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”

Collect for Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose most dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it in thankful remembrance of Jesus Christ our Savior, who in there holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Benediction

Let us end tonight in a benediction, from the words of St. Paul,

1 Corinthians 16:23–24 “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

Go in peace to love in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.