Maundy Thursday, 2022

SERMON 7: MAUNDY THURSDAY "The Eternal Passover That Jesus Desired to Eat" Luke 22:14-23 During this season of Lent, we've tried to be realistic even as we learn again to trust our God. The realism has to do with evil: the evil that betrayed and condemned and crucified Jesus long ago, and the evil in our world and our lives also today. In the face of that evil, we trust our God, and the plan he carried out in the Lord Jesus. We can say to Satan, to the world, and even to ourselves, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." This evening's service is a break in the action, in a way. It's because of the gift that the Lord Jesus created that night long ago in the upper room. Tonight is not a night to be somber, but to be quietly joyful. It's a night to marvel at what happened when Jesus ate the Passover meal with his apostles, and to marvel at the new gift that has come down through the ages also to us. Jesus said to them that night, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." That was a particular ritual that happened at a particular moment in a particular place. I want to suggest to you-and I'll explain this as we go-that it was an eternal Passover that night. By "eternal" I mean that it was not isolated, disconnected, alone, or even limited. The Passover gathered up and brought to fulfillment so many things from the past, and the past gave meaning to that night. That present moment long ago, however, was part of the most significant "present moment" in the history of the world. History was turning a corner that night. And perhaps most obviously to us from that Passover ritual came a new gift for the future, and a gift that would last until tonight, and until the Lord returns in glory. That all happened the night that Jesus was betrayed-past, present, future. So, consider with me this evening "The Eternal Passover that Jesus Desired to Eat." If you listen, you can almost hear the past rushing into the upper room that night. In our calendar reckoning, Luke is telling us about an evening that happened about the year AD 30. The first Passover event happened more than 1400 years before. That time gap is about six times longer than the United States has existed. But the point is this: beginning with the first events in Egypt, with Moses and Pharaoh and the ten plagues and God's rescue, every Passover throughout the centuries had been pointing to, leading up to that night-to that eternal Passover that Jesus desired to eat. Quickly review with me. The descendants of Jacob, whose name God changed to "Israel," had become a nation; twelve tribes. They were enslaved by Pharaoh, king of Egypt. If you asked the man on the street how the Egyptians could do this, the answer would be, "The Egyptian gods were stronger than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The true God changed that perception. The blood of the lambs marked Israel's homes and the angel of death spared them. With an outstretched arm God brought the Israelites out of slavery, to the edge of death at the shore of the Red Sea, through the death of the waters that drowned the Egyptians, and out into a new life on dry ground. The Passover meal began as a remembrance of that-and down through the centuries, the people were supposed to remember. But they didn't always remember very well. The history of God's people was up and down, for sure. And the time came when they finally succeeded in breaking their covenant with their God. He was eager and willing to be their God. But they wanted to be his people at the same time that they were the people of the Baals, and the people of Molech, and the gods of the nations around them. And a covenant with the true God is exclusive-he brooks no rivals. Israel broke the covenant. That covenant that Israel broke was in need of something greater. And in hindsight, we can see that God always planned it that way-those past events were always pointing forward to something greater. And so that night in the upper room, with sin and evil all around and with quarreling disciples seated with their master, the past came rushing up to them to cry out, "How long, O Lord? How long until you deliver us again? How long will your people wander? When will you do a new thing!" And the answer was, "Tonight. Right now." That particular night long ago remembered the past mercy of God and magnified it. On that particular night Jesus confronted the slavery of all of the gods of the world and even Satan himself. He faced that slavery, took hold of it, and did not let go. On that night Jesus freed sinners of all the ages and invited them to the table. It all came together in the eternal Passover that Jesus desired to eat-right in that present moment. In a way, we can say that evening, and the hours that followed were the turning point in all human history. Jesus embraced the old, even as he created something new. Not utterly new, with no connection to the old. But larger, new in the sense of "renewed," larger and stronger and more beautiful. Jesus begins that turning point in history with the old ritual that the disciples had probably known their entire lives. He takes a cup that is part of the old ceremony, and he blesses it and asks them to divide it among themselves. And then he says: "That's it. I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes, until the great and last day." Turning from the old, Jesus then gives them something new-really new. None of the Gospels tell us how the disciples reacted when Jesus said completely unexpected things. The Gospels don't tell us, so we shouldn't speculate; it's not important. But it was new. "This bread is my body which is given for you. As you have remembered deliverance from long ago, now you will have a new deliverance to remember. Do this in remembrance of me." It was new. "This cup being poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood, through my death." It was new. And the old Passover meal has now passed away, and in the most important way of thinking, the old Passover can't be observed again-at least, not by the disciples of Jesus. When Christian congregations have a Seder meal in our day, they are not celebrating the Old Testament Passover. It isn't possible for Christians to do that. Something new has come. Yes, we can remember and rejoice in God's faithfulness of old. We can see connections that came together in that eternal Passover that night. But something new has come into the present, that night long ago. As the letter to the Hebrews especially says over and over, this new deliverance, the new deeds of Jesus are one-and-done, once and for all, unrepeatable and unrepeated. Jesus will be the lamb, whose blood is over the people, and whose death protects the people from God's wrath, from the angel of death, from every evil. His death, one-and-done, once and for all, enables the people to leave slavery behind, and to be God's people in freedom and mercy. Jesus is the new and greater Passover lamb. And there's even more. Jesus is not just the lamb who protects from death. He is the deliverer, the leader, the one infinitely greater than Moses whom God chose to deliver Israel. Jesus is both sacrifice and deliverer, and in that present moment that began on Thursday evening, Jesus performs a new exodus. Jesus goes ahead of his disciples, ahead of his enemies, ahead of everyone into death, the death of the cross. He goes ahead of us so that we don't have to die for our sins. But he also goes through death, through the sea, and he comes out onto dry ground, to a new life that leaves our sins drowned and death permanently undone. That year the old Passover ritual would have ended at 6:00 pm on Friday evening. What Jesus is doing did not end at all. He rose to life, as the Lamb who was slain but who lives. He is Lamb and Deliverer. And he did it for his disciples, and for you, and for the whole world. That present moment was the turning point of all of history. The past rushing forward, and Jesus took it and fulfilled it. This was the eternal Passover that Jesus desired to eat, so he could do something new, for us and for all people. Well, you know what's coming next, I suspect, but that's OK. Past. Present. And future, right? Centuries of longing and promise rushed forward to the eternal Passover that Jesus desired to eat that evening. And all of history changed as he did something new. That night and on Friday, and on Sunday when Jesus stepped out of the grave onto the dry ground of new life for us and for all people-he was Lamb and Deliverer, all for us. One and done; once and for all. But the events of that night were for the future, too and in saying that, I'm thinking about two specific words that Jesus said. The two words are these: "until," and "remembrance." Twice Jesus says, "until": "For I tell you I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." And two verses later, "For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." That's the first word: "until." And the second word is "remembrance": "Do this in remembrance of me." We'll take the second word first. "Do this in remembrance of me." Even though the unique, eternal things that Jesus will do are one-and-done, once and for all ... the new meal that he gave to his disciples is a gift that he keeps on giving. The events of that night push out, they come running out into the future and around the world as the gospel goes out and is believed. And that new gift-meal has come from the upper room through the cross and out of the empty tomb to us. Jesus lives. And the living Jesus gives us to eat his true body and to drink his true blood. And he tells us, "Remember." Not "recall," something that you might only do in your head. But remember, something you do in your heart-and believe. Remember-and give thanks. The gift is real-your remembering does not make it real; my remembering does not determine whether the living Christ gives his body and blood for us to eat and drink. We don't make that happen-the living, ascended, reigning Jesus does that. But remembering in faith, in humility, in need-remembering is how all of God's gifts are received to our benefit, to our blessing. Remembering is faith, faith that says, "Yes, Lord. The new gift is here again for us, protecting us from the death of our sins. The new gift is here again for us, strengthening us as we draw together in love for one another. We remember you, Lord, and so we eat your body and drink your blood and we are one body in you. Yes, Lord. The new gift is here again for us, and it will be ... until." That's the second word. The gift of Jesus stretches out into the future until it is fulfilled in the reign of God, until the reign of God comes in all its glory and power. And so, the Lord's Supper is a temporary gift; it is, as we sometimes say, a foretaste of the feast that is coming. A banquet, at which death will be swallowed up forever, a banquet with a table at which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are sitting, at which a believing criminal is sitting, at which all who remember and believe will be sitting. By God's mercy, you will be sitting there, and so will I. Past, present, and future. That was an eternal Passover that Jesus ate with his disciples that night. The past fulfilled, the present changing all of history, the future reaching out even to today. One last question to ask. Why did Jesus earnestly desire that night? There are probably many answers, but I'll offer only two. Jesus earnestly desired it because he loves his Father and was eager to do the Father's will and to carry out the Father's plan. And Jesus earnestly desired to eat that Passover that night because he loves sinners. He loved his disciples. He loved his enemies. And he loved you, and he loves you still. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen