Maundy Thursday [1 Corinthians 11:23-30] (14-Apr-2022)

     

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

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.”

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

In Joshua chapter 4, there is a very interesting event that takes place, just after the people of Israel cross over the river Jordan. The people of Israel had been rescued for Egypt, and then spent many years wandering in the desert, and then they reached the other side of the river Jordan, where Moses died. And then, after Moses’ death, Joshua was given command of the people. And in a similar way to how Moses parted the Red Sea to let the people go through, on a smaller scale, Joshua together with the whole people of Israel cross over the River Jordan, with the overflowing waters of the river stopping and drying up on either side of the people. The priests stood in the middle of the river bed with the ark of the covenant and the river stopped flowing, while the people all crossed over.

Now, this was an amazing event that took place. And in chapter 4 of Joshua, God commands that one man from each tribe should take a stone from the river. We read: Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean to you’? then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

So you can see here: not only did God allow the people of Israel to pass through the river, but that He also wanted them to remember it, and He commanded them to put together this pile of rocks so that people would ask about it and talk about it and keep the memory of it in their minds. So there is the event, but there is also something established to remember the event.

This is something that happened with the Jews about all kinds of things. There were all kinds of wonderful events that happened in the life of the Jewish people, but then they also remembered these events and did something and held a festival to celebrate it. Sometimes, these festivals were commanded by God. Sometimes, there were certain days, where certain things had to be done or not done in order to remember the occasion.

In the New Testament, there is a certain freedom with many of these things. In Colossians, St Paul writes: Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. What St Paul is saying is that there is no longer any law when it comes to celebrating occasions and keeping church festivals. But at the same time, over the centuries, Christians followed this same principle which came from ancient times. In history, there was an amazing person that lived and breathed and walked, who died and who rose again from the dead, and who now is still alive, and keeps sustaining and building his kingdom and his church here on this earth. His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is the Son of God and the Son of Mary, who is both true God and true man in the one person. On one hand, there are many events that happened in his life, but also like the ancient Jewish people, out of Christian freedom, the church throughout the centuries has always celebrated these various events in the life of Jesus, and remembered them all throughout the year.

Here we are in the middle of what we call Holy Week. In the life of Jesus, there was an actual Holy Week, which began on Palm Sunday. There was an actual event, but every year, we remember it. Tonight, we celebrate Maundy Thursday. Tomorrow, we commemorate Good Friday, the day when Jesus died on the cross. On Sunday, we remember the day when Jesus rose from the dead.

If we take the Apostles’ Creed, it gives us a short summary of the life of Jesus. It says that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day, he rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sits and right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

So, also, just as the people of Israel crossed the Jordan, and then remembered it by making a pile of stones, so also with the life of Jesus, we also remember all these different things. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit—we remember this on March 25, nine months before Christmas, the Annuniciation, where the Angel Gabriel went to the Virgin Mary. He was born of the Virgin Mary—we remember this event at Christmas. And so forth. Here at this time of the year, we remember the suffering and death of Jesus, and his wonderful resurrection from the dead.

So—what is it that we remember on Maundy Thursday? On this day certain things happened, and we are here, as it were, looking at our little pile of rocks like the people of Israel at the river Jordan, and we should ask the question: What do these stones mean to you?

Actually, there were many things that happened on Maundy Thursday. First of all, this was the occasion when the Jews celebrated the Passover. We read in the Old Testament about how God rescued the people from Egypt. Each family killed a lamb, and painted its blood on the frames of their doors. Then they ate a meal with unleavened bread, and God let them out to the Red Sea, the Egyptians followed them, and Moses parted the Red Sea in a wonderful miraculous way by the power and command of God, and the people were led through the middle of the sea and saved from the Egyptians.

Then many, many hundreds of years later, the Jews would have been celebrating this festival every year. At the time of Jesus, he would have also celebrated this festival every year. On Maundy Thursday, we remember this as the last night before Jesus died, when he gathered his disciples together in an upper room. He told his disciples to go and meet a man with a water jar who would lead them to this particular house, when everything was prepared. Jesus celebrated there the Passover with his twelve disciples, and then he completely transformed the Passover. He took bread and wine and gave it to his disciples and said, This is my body given for you. This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

Also, we read on Maundy Thursday, that during the time when they were gathered there for the Supper, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, as a picture of the way in which he is among them as one who serves. He gives them this wonderful picture to the apostles of how they should lead the church: not by asserting authority and power, but through service and servanthood.

Also, on Maundy Thursday, we read about how Judas went out and betrayed Jesus. Jesus knew it would happen in advance, he prophesied it, Judas went out, he was paid money by the conspirators, and it was all organised.

Jesus also on this occasion, in the upper room, gave his disciples some wonderful teaching, which we read at the end of John 13 right up to the end of chapter 16. There are many memorable, well-known things from this sermon. For example, Jesus says: 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. Also: In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?... I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me… Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you… I am the vine; you are the branches… You can read these chapters yourself. There are many things that Jesus spoke on this night.

Then also, we read in John 17, a wonderful prayer that Jesus prayed, which we often call the High Priestly Prayer. Also, we read that Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn together, and Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, where he prayed, and sweated blood, and then was met my Judas and a crowd of soldiers and officers, and was betrayed and arrested.

So these are the things that happened on Maundy Thursday, and these are the things that we are coming together to commemorate tonight. Just as the Israelites heaped up their rocks and remembered the crossing of the Jordan, so also we are gathered here tonight to remember the real events in the life of Jesus that happened at a certain time and in a certain place.

However, if we think about the memorial at the River Jordan, we see also on Maundy Thursday how Jesus transforms this and fulfils this in a wonderful, powerful, miraculous way. He celebrates his own Supper. He took bread, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said: Take and eat, this is my body which is given for you. He also took the cup, after the supper, and when he had given thanks, He gave it to them and said: Drink of it, all of you: this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

However, Jesus did not just celebrate this Supper once with His disciples, and that’s it. He commended this whole Supper into their hands and said: Do this in remembrance of me. Do this as often you as you drink it in remembrance of me.

So, just as at the River Jordan, the stones were set up as a memorial, so also Jesus sets up his own Supper as a memorial. And this is not just a memorial of something that happened, but it is a memorial of him. We remember not just the events of Jesus’ life, but we remember Him. And we don’t just remember the fact that He lived and died and rose again 2000 years ago, but we remember Him, as He meets us today, as our resurrected Lord, who is ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God.

Now, this word “remember”, many people don’t understand properly. There are many Christians, for example, all throughout the world, mostly in Protestant churches, that believe that the Lord’s Supper is nothing more than bread and wine, and when we eat and drink it, we just remember Jesus. That’s not true. The reason why it’s not true, is that Jesus says on this occasion: This is my body. This is my blood. Also, there are some people who say that Jesus is kind of spiritually present in the Supper, like his spirit is here, or the Holy Spirit is here, but none of these solutions deal with Jesus’ words: This is my body. This is my blood. Jesus didn’t say, this represents, or this symbolises my body, or this is my spirit, or this is my Holy Spirit.

So let’s look at this word remember. In English, we often think of this word as to do with thinking, as if remembering is something that happens in our heads. So in the Lord’s Supper, people say: we eat bread with our mouths, and remember Jesus in our heads. But in Hebrew, and in the Old Testament, for example, there are many examples of where remember means something that you do, just as Jesus says: Do this in remembrance of me. So, for example, when Joseph was in prison, he asked the cup-bearer to remember him when he spoke to Pharoah. This means, not that the cup-bearer would just think about him, but that he would do something for him to get him out of prison. Also, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, couldn’t have any children, and she prayed to God about it. Then it says: Elkanah knew his wife, and the Lord remembered her. The Lord didn’t forget about her, he was always listening to her prayers, but at this particular time, the Lord did something for her and enabled her to conceive a child. Also, think of the thief on the cross, who asks Jesus to remember me, when you come into your kingdom. He doesn’t mean to say: “When you’re in heaven, Jesus, remember me while I’m in hell.” No, he means: Do something, Jesus. When you enter heaven, take me with you. Do something. Don’t just remember me in your head, but remember me with your hand and draw me along with you.

Even in English, we have the example of a wedding anniversary. How does a husband remember their anniversary? He buys her chocolates, flowers, a card, does something special. But if he didn’t do anything, his wife might say: Hey, have you forgotten something? If he said, “Yes, I remember in my head”, that wouldn’t cut the mustard, and he would probably soon find himself in that special place where husbands sometimes find themselves, called “the doghouse”!

So, what’s the thing that we do to remember Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? We eat his body and drink his blood. We remember Him, yes, in our heads, of course, we remember him in our minds, and in our hearts. But also, by doing this thing: by eating his body and by drinking his blood. So, we remember Jesus not in his absence, but in His holy presence.

And this fact actually changes the whole way in which we view worship. The reason why we have the liturgy, why we light candles, why we have special cloths, special items, vestments, the reason why we stand and kneel, and all chant and sing, is because through all these things, we acknowledge that we are standing in the holy presence of the living and resurrected Lord Jesus. In the Old Testament, God promised to meet his people in his temple, in the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant was. There are chapters and chapters in the bible about the way the tabernacle and the temple should be built, about how the candlesticks should be made, the vestments, the curtains, everything. We have something even more wonderful in the Lord’s Supper. Even if we read the Book of Revelation, we see the whole company of heaven with the angels and archangels singing, with bowls of incense, with harps, bowing down, singing, chanting, praying, praising. When we come to church, we’re actually not simply copying things from the Old Testament. The Old Testament gives us a wonderful understanding of worship in the presence of God, which is now fulfilled and transformed and transfigured by the holy presence of Jesus. But rather, when we come to church, we actually enter into heaven already given to us in a little foretaste here on earth: we’re actually joining in with what’s already going on in heaven. We sing angelic hymns which are sung constantly all the time, and they join in with us, and supplement our numbers, and boost our weak singing, and all that kind of thing.

Now, when we come to the Lord’s Supper, then, the whole of Jesus’ life comes together. His incarnation, which we celebrate at Christmas, where he became a human being and took on human flesh, being God and man in one person, all this is remembered in the Lord’s Supper, because this is not just the body and blood of a man, but it is the blood of Jesus Christ, who is also true God, whose blood cleanses us from all sin. It is the body and blood of the one who sits on the throne of God, and is able to feed his people everywhere and in all kinds of places all at the same time, all throughout the world, and all throughout history.

But then also, we commemorate and remember his suffering and death. When we were baptised, we were made part of God’s kingdom, his family, and made citizens of heaven, and given a new life, a new birth, and we were born again by the water and the Spirit. Our whole life then, is one of repentance, where our sinful hearts and minds are converted from sin, from the devil, from our old life, to faith, to good works, to the Holy Spirit, to a new life.

And so, when we come to the Lord’s Supper, we come as converts, as sinners in need of a Saviour. We come recognising that we are not good people, recognising that we have broken the 10 commandments, recognising that we have sinned against God, and turning away from our old life once again as it continually rises up within us and wants to take charge again and again. We recognise that we are liars, thieves, and adulterers at heart.

But then, we come in all our unworthiness and we receive this Supper, believing first of all, that this is the body and blood of Christ, and secondly, that it is given for us and for the forgiveness of sins. We come to it, just as if we were facing death and judgment day, so that when we face death and judgment day, it will be just like going to the Lord’s Supper. We remember that we are sinners, but then we also remember the wonderful Saviour that Jesus is. He is our Saviour from sin, the Lord of our lives who leads us and guides as a good shepherd, he is the King of all creation, who sits at the right hand of God, and who rules us and blesses us. He is our priest, who has offered himself for us, and who prays for us, and intercedes for us, and mediates for us to God.

And so, we remember first of all that event that happened when the Israelites heaped up their rocks, to remember to crossing of the River Jordan. In a similar way, in Christian freedom, we remember the events of Jesus’ life all throughout the church year, like little rocks on the calendar. But then, each Sunday, we also proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes, and remember another little pile of rocks, the pile of bread and wine on the altar, which is the body and blood of Christ. And this Supper is the memorial of Jesus: We do this in remembrance of him. Because just as he blessed, and fed, and healed, and forgave all kinds of people in his ministry, so he continues all of that even today, and blesses each of us and forgives us each according to our needs. So, we commend our lives and hearts and our minds and everything to him, and to his life-giving body and blood. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.