"For You" - Maundy Thursday 2026

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

Over the past several weeks in Lent, we have gathered in this sanctuary on Wednesday nights and have heard our confirmands read inspired dramas based on scripture that place us, in some small way, in the front row or on the sidelines of the passion narrative in a very interesting way.

We followed up these dramatic readings with questions and answers, thinking more deeply about the events surrounding Jesus's being handed over, such as the betrayal by Judas, Peter’s denial, Herod and Pilate’s involvement, and even considering the inner conflicts that some of these characters no doubt shared.

During Lent, we join in walking with Jesus through the scriptures as He makes his way to Jerusalem, inching ever closer to the cross he will take up for us.

We reflect in our hearts and minds along the way, through the many miracles we behold as we hear the scriptures, as the dead are raised and those who could not see or hear have their eyes and ears opened to behold the truth and the light that has come into the world.

On this Maundy Thursday evening, we take our last moments of reflection for this season of Lent.

During this time, we should prayerfully consider everything that Jesus conveys to us through the Gospel, especially tonight, thinking about his ministry, his words that call us, the broken sinner, to the good news of the kingdom of God, and the mercy He has for us. The mercy he offers you.

Jesus offers mercy and forgiveness on this night, on the night He was betrayed in the sacrament He institutes for his church, for the forgiveness of sin–in the Lord’s Supper.

He offers Himself fully to us, both body and blood, that we would, as the psalmist says, “Lift up our cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.”

That we would be brought to remembrance of His great love and grace, and what He has done for us, and take comfort in His eternal promise.

Long before Jesus sent his disciples to prepare the Passover feast, God, in the fullness of time, had been preparing a way so that the whole world might be delivered from true bondage. The bondage of sin, death, and the devil.

This evening, let us remember that it was for love that God made a way for our deliverance through his Son. Fulfilling his covenental promises of old, and establishing a new one.

Long ago, through the prophet Jeremiah, God said, “Behold the days are coming when I will make a new covenant, with the house of Israel and the House of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Jesus establishes this new covenant of forgiveness of sins in His own body and blood when He says to his disciples: “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:27-28) This is not a covenant like the former that was handed down to Moses, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12)

Jesus unbreakable covenant, “this is for you,” is meant for all of us who believe in him for salvation.

Every Sunday, when we partake in the Lord’s Supper. We come to the table with our hands open to receive the forgiveness Christ offers us. This table has been prepared for you by Jesus 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 acknowledges to them that he would certainly be betrayed.

He knew Judas would betray him, that Peter would deny him three times, and that the rest would run. He would remind them later that evening that they would all fall away according to the scriptures, quoting what was spoken by the prophet Zechariah, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” (Zech 13:7)

Jesus knows our sinful condition. He has come for us to save us from it. He reminds us of this when he says in Luke's gospel: “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!

Receiving the Lord’s Supper 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. A communion of saints.

Jesus gave us His church through this covenant—a church of Word and Sacrament, where the Holy Spirit cultivates faith within us through these salutary gifts. Because God can take ordinary things, like “words” and “supper,” and do extraordinary works with them, such as working salvation and forgiveness of sins.

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 “where we are freed from our bonds.” (Psalm 116:14)

Our confidence is in the body and blood of Christ, not in ourselves or in 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

Our Gospel Hymn “Let us Break Bread Together” #212