A death to be remembered

Sermon for Maundy Thursday

1 Corinthians 11:23-32  +  John 13:1-15

This evening, the world is bracing for more death. The world is living in fear of more death. The world is trying to convince Christians that even we need to abandon spiritual concerns for the moment and focus on earthly concerns, earthly wisdom, earthly solutions. It’s as if the world were crying out, “Fine if you want to pretend that your God is real. Fine if you want to delude yourselves into believing that He hears your prayers or intervenes to save. But now, now it’s time to stop pretending for a while—for as long as we tell you you must. Now it’s time to live in the real world and listen to our experts. Stop pretending that your God can help you. Stop pretending that there is anything more important than preventing a COVID19 death.”

Dear Christians, at this time, when the world is fixated on preventing one kind of death at all costs, we turn away from the world in defiance and turn in faith to Jesus, who was fixated on enduring one kind of death at all costs. At this time, when the world is doing all in its power to run away from death, we are gathered together—especially today and tomorrow—to remember death: the death of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The preparations for Jesus’ death took place in eternity, on God’s part. But on man’s part, they took place on Maundy Thursday as Jesus’ disciples followed their Master’s directions to find that upper room where they met to celebrate the Old Testament Passover one last time.

There was a death to be remembered in that very Passover meal: the death of the Passover lamb at the time of Moses. The firstborn of the Israelites were saved from death, not because the Israelites were more worthy, but because they took refuge under the blood of the lamb, smeared on the doorframes of their houses. And as they hid inside those houses covered in the blood of the lamb, they escaped the destruction that happened all around them. It was the lamb’s death, and its application to their homes, that saved them.

So, too, it would be the death of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus, that would save any and every sinner to whom it was applied, through Baptism and through faith. That’s why Jesus and His disciples celebrated one last Old Testament Passover, in order to make the connection and the transition to Jesus’ own sacrifice later that day (remember, it was already evening, so it was already Friday according to the Jewish reckoning).

Something else was to be remembered that night. After the Old Testament ritual part of the supper was finished, Jesus got up and performed that foot-washing we heard about in the Gospel this evening. You see, not only were they to remember His death later that day, but the deep, sacrificial love that led Him to that death for them, the deep humility of their Master that led Him to lower Himself to the form of a servant, to serve them, to wash their feet. Just their feet. They had already bathed in Baptism and believed in Him, and so they were already clean (except for Judas, who didn’t believe), that is, they were already forgiven and in good standing with God. But they still needed the humble, gentle cleansing of their weaknesses and their daily sins. They needed to remember that, if Jesus was willing to forgive their daily sins, they—we! —must also be willing to put up with and to forgive the weaknesses and missteps of our fellow Christians, with all the humility and with all the gentleness of the one we call our Master and our Lord.

After the foot washing, Jesus and His disciples sat down for another supper. The Old Testament ritual was to be carried out quickly, with their sandals on their feet and their staffs in their hands; the purpose wasn’t to fill up on food, but to make the connection to the Passover in Egypt. But then followed a more relaxed meal. It was after that second supper that Jesus instituted yet another meal, a new Meal, a new Supper, not the Old Testament Passover, not a regular meal, but a special meal by which we are to remember Him and His death.

St. Paul described the institution of that meal in this evening’s Epistle. It includes bread. But in Jesus’ Meal, the bread is more than bread. It’s the true body of Christ which was given on the cross later that same day as the tangible payment for the world’s sins. In the Supper, that body is “broken.” Notice, it wasn’t broken on the cross. In fact, they were careful not to break a single one of Jesus’ bones, according to the prophecy of the Passover lamb. But in the Supper, the body is “broken,” that is, handed out and distributed to those who receive it one by one.

This new Supper also includes wine. But in Jesus’ Meal, the wine is more than wine. It’s the true blood of Christ, also called the blood of the New Testament or the New Testament in His blood. The same blood that was shed on the cross later that day, that poured forth from Christ’s dead body, together with water, as we’ll hear tomorrow in St. John’s account. Blood that was shed on purpose, by design, to be the one-time, actual payment for the world’s sins. That blood is applied again to each one who receives it in the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of sins.

So, you see, in the new Supper, there is an emphasis on death. It’s all about the atoning death of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but for the sins of the world. It’s all about the application of His death to the members of His Church. That’s why it’s foolishness for Roman priests to be out there celebrating the Mass all alone, as some are doing right now, with no other communicants present; it does no one any good if they don’t receive it. That’s why coming together to receive it is so important.

And, as St. Paul writes, it’s all about doing this in remembrance of Jesus, especially the remembrance of His death. Not just remembering it for ourselves, but as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. That’s another reason why coming together to celebrate this Sacrament is so important, because it’s a proclamation of death—not a private, but a public proclamation of the Lord’s death, on the cross, for the sins of the world, that all may know about it, that it really happened as the Bible says it did, and that there are still Christians who believe in Him. The Son of God truly came and truly died, in order to give us life. And we, His Christian people, do still believe in that Lord Jesus, that He died for our sins, that His sacrifice is the source of our life, and therefore His death is a death to be remembered forever. Amen.