Maundy Thursday (2022)

1 Corinthians 11:23-32

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we are at the night that our Lord and Savior will be betrayed, and He will offer himself up as the ultimate sacrifice to cover our sins and make atonement for us. He also gave the Lord’s Supper to us that we might know that the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation belong to you and that you have the forgiveness that Christ accomplished not only for the world but for you.

Tonight the disciples celebrate Passover. On that night many years ago in the land of Egypt, the Israelites were told to paint the blood of the lamb that on the doorposts and lintels of the house, and God when seeing that blood would pass over the house and not let the destroyer to enter into it.

On that night, God had sent that destroyer into the land of Egypt to punish the Egyptians for their sins, and especially for Pharaoh’s wickedness. Pharaoh had punished God’s people and held them captive as slaves but, after this night, he would let them go. For whoever did not have the blood of the lamb on the door posts and lintel of the house would lose their firstborn son, even Pharaoh.

There was great weeping that night in the land of Egypt as the Destroyer sent by God claimed many lives, but the destroyer did not enter into the homes where there was the blood of the lamb. The Israelites were commanded to keep this for all their generations that they might be reminded that it was the Lord that brought them out of Egypt and that He had spared them.

Now Jesus is observing the Passover a final time with His disciples, and this is the passover that He has waited for, for Christ came to this world not just to set us free from slavery to Egypt or as the people in his day were hoping for freedom from Rome, but Christ had come to do something far greater.

The Passover in Egypt foreshadowed something far greater. Egypt represents the world, Pharaoh, Satan, and all the people in that country were the children of Adam. The destroyer is God’s wrath that was being brought against this false ruler to throw him and His kingdom into hell. The world needed a lamb whose blood could cover us and keep us safe on that day of judgment lest we perish with the rest of the world, for God will not stop with the firstborn this time, but every man, woman, and child.

So we needed blood, and not just any blood, but blood that would be able to cover us and keep us safe, that could guarantee that this wrath would passover our houses and that we would be set free from this land of slavery, the kingdom of the devil, and be brought into that promised paradise. God in his great love offered up not just any lamb, but His only-begotten Son, who would shed his blood for you that you might be forgiven, and that you would be saved not just from temporal death, but eternal damnation. It is the blood of Jesus that covers us and keeps us safe from destruction.

That blood is not painted upon the door post and lintel of our homes, but Christ gives it to us to drink for our salvation. For the life of the creature is in the blood and so Christ is not only shielding you from harm, but giving to you the gift of eternal life. That is why Jesus tells the crowd by the Sea of Galilee unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you, and whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and i will raise him up on the last day.

Now the Israelites didn’t only use the blood of the lamb, they were also commanded to eat the lamb, and it would nourish them as they ate ready for God’s judgment and to leave the land of slavery. So Christ not only gives to the disciples His holy and precious blood, but also His body, that we may partake of that sacrifice that Jesus has offered up as your high priest, and receive forgiveness of sins, life, and nourishment for the journey ahead.

This is why Jesus was eager to give his disciples this night this holy and precious gift. To protect them and to strengthen them by what He would do for them on the Cross, the Sacrifice that He would offer up for their sake. Now the Lord’s Supper was not just given to them, but it was entrusted to them to continue this until the end of the age.

It has been what those who are devoted to the teachings of Christ have gathered around week after week for centuries. Because here at the altar is Christ who comes to you to give you the same gift that He gave to the apostles 2000 years ago that they might have their sins forgiven and strengthened for the road ahead. Jesus does that for you as well giving to you His body and his blood.

This is also why people are asked to wait, for as you heard in our text, that there is a threat attached to it as well. For it is not just bread and wine that you receive at the altar, but the body and blood of Christ, to receive it wrongly is to eat and drink judgment on yourself. This is why a person needs to be able to examine themselves and why pastors have been entrusted as stewards to carry out this important task lest people take it to their own harm.

That is why we ask folks to wait, and why you too dear Christian ought to examine yourself every time before you come up. Is there sin that you have no intention of letting go, do disagree with God’s word in any part, or are you refusing to forgive a neighbor and holding a grudge against them. If any of these are true then you ought to refrain. That is why we take the time to prepare people for the Lord’s Supper, to make sure they take it to their own benefit, and that they are in fellowship with what the Church teaches. But Christ does desire that people take it and that they take it rightly for it was given to keep God’s people safe.

For there is a great and wonderful gift here at the altar and, if you knew that Jesus was going to be nearby say in Green Bay or Madison, or even if by some strange reason was going to be down at Soldier field in Chicago, if you were told that He had a gift for you, would you make the journey? Would you want to receive a gift from Jesus? I hope so. Consider then what we have here tonight. That the Lord’s Supper has been instituted and if you have been examined, and we know that you will take it without any danger and in that common confession of faith you’ve been invited to the table. If that is not you tonight, then God willing soon.

Now what happens if you don’t feel any need? Or you don’t think you require these gifts, Luther says put your hand under your shirt and pinch, and you will see that you are still of the flesh, and in this world, you will find evil at work day and night. So how can you say you don’t need this gift that Christ has given to bring you through it? Why would you not wish to receive this gift that Christ has given?

My Brothers and Sisters this ought to motivate every Christian when you realize is there for you and he has a gift there for you at the table, and a gift that we wish to receive for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. For in this world we have many struggles and trials that face us, but there is Christ for you. There is the Son of God who has won for you forgiveness, life, and a place in His Heavenly Kingdom, there is the blood that will keep us safe from the wrath of God and there is the lamb that will strengthen us in this world as we await paradise. In Jesus name. Amen.