St. Luke 22:7-20
Dearly beloved,
Tonight the preparation takes place. We prepare our hearts
and minds for what is to come. Jesus readies His disciples for the next
couple of days. More than that, Jesus sets something in motion for His
lovely bride, the church. Jesus had spent a few years with His
disciples. Jesus
went around the countryside teaching, preaching, healing, and even raising
the dead. One can imagine how the disciples had grown accustomed to being
with Jesus. From the first time they met Him, Jesus had been the one to
turn things around.
Matthew, the tax collector, leaves his business and follows.
Peter, James and John, left fishing to follow Jesus in hopes that they would
become fishers of men. Each man had his story, and they all were heavily
impacted by Jesus’ presence in their lives. He turned things around for
them. The most important thing that they saw was what they learned from
Jesus. They learned that in Jesus is forgiveness, mercy, love and
fellowship. But soon, those same disciples would experience extreme
loss. They
would feel as though all was lost.
The tough part would be carrying on without Jesus being
there. The human loss would be great, but what about the spiritual loss?
That would be even greater. So, it was just before Christ’s arrest. Jesus
is such a loving God. He does not want His disciples and His church to be
lost and alone. So, Jesus institutes the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper. Maundy
Thursday is centered on the institution of this blessed sacrament. What
does it mean? First, think about the great needs of the disciples. They
will feel alone when Jesus dies. They will feel as if there is no longer
any hope.
The One who gave them hope and blessing departs from
them. What’s
next for the disciples? The Eucharist is often misunderstood. In fact, it
makes people nervous because they cannot fully explain it. Put yourself in
the disciples’ shoes. First, there is Jesus, then there isn’t Jesus. He is
here and then He is gone. Their source of strength and courage left
them. This
is no doubt how it felt for the disciples. How do you carry on? You feel so
alone. You would be made to feel that you have to contend with the evil
world and Satan all by yourself. This would have the unfortunate effect of
putting all the weight back on man’s shoulders.
But Jesus knows all these things, so he institutes the
Lord’s Supper in the midst of the Passover meal. The church must spend a
great deal of time thinking on the sacraments and pondering what they
are. There
is a reason that Jesus instituted baptism, the office of the ministry, along
with the office of the keys, as well as the Lord’s Supper. God knows that
the church could not contend with the forces of evil in these last days if
she were left alone to fend for herself.
Jesus knew that just as those disciples needed His power and
forgiveness in order to journey with Him, they would still need Him in their
lives even after His death and resurrection. Jesus, therefore, gave the
church sacraments. The sacraments are the life-blood of the church until
Jesus returns. This is what is misunderstood. Some mistakenly think that
the Lord’s Supper is some kind of idolatry. They may feel as if it is some
kind of “bread worship.” This is wrong. The Lord’s Supper is the church’s
way of being united to Jesus.
When Jesus was in the upper room with the disciples, He took
bread and broke it and said, “This is my body, which is given to you. Do
this in remembrance of Me.” Jesus took the cup and did the same thing,
saying “This is my blood of the new testament, given for you for the
forgiveness of sins.” In other words, Jesus is saying that He shall come
through means, through bread and wine as vehicles in order to be in union
with us. This is a revolutionary thought, and it goes beyond understanding.
The thing about it is this: You must believe that God did
not abandon you to fend for yourself and all you have is faith. Faith is
sometimes weak and vulnerable. If we rely on our faith to get us through,
we have the odds stacked against us. Even this is a revolutionary
statement. Instead, we have Jesus coming to us under the bread and wine. In
other words, Jesus descends to our world. This has been a running theme in
our Lenten services. God comes to us to bless us—Jesus comes to help us on
the journey. What this means is that we are not left to contend with our
own weaknesses. Our strength is actually the strength of Jesus in us. It
is not our faith that gets us through, it is Jesus who gets us through and
our faith beholds Jesus in the sacrament and in our lives.
A non-sacramental thinker is always wondering if he has
received a blessing from God. This person believes in the merits and love
of Jesus. What happens is the non-sacramental person will then try to find
signs that God is blessing them and helping them. Because the signs they
seek are subjective, they are never really sure that it is God who is
blessing. The end result is that they convince themselves that God is
blessing, when in actuality they are never completely sure. The
sacramental thinker is different.
The sacramental thinker knows that faith wavers. This
person also believes in the merits and the love of Jesus. This person also
looks for a sign that God is blessing them. The sign that the sacramental
person clings to is holy baptism, holy absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. The
thing about these signs, though, is they are objective, not subjective. They
are not based upon the person’s experience. Rather, they are based upon the
words and command of Jesus. Jesus says that these things bring us to Him
and forgiveness is bestowed through them. Faith takes hold of the gift. This
is an important distinction.
The most important thing for the sacramental person is that
he clings to the words of Jesus, the words of Scripture. Even more, the
sacramental person shares a union with Christ. We are united to Him in
these sacraments, which mean that we are objectively strengthened for the
journey. Jesus journeys with His church. We need this, because we are
weak. We are no different than those disciples who grew weak after Christ’s
death. Those disciples are the pattern that would mark us if we were left
alone without Jesus journeying with us.
Think about the Emmaus disciples. They were walking down
the road, saddened by the news of Jesus’ death and burial. What is telling,
though, is that they had heard from the women at the tomb that Jesus is
risen, but that didn’t help their disposition. They were still sad, because
they didn’t think Jesus was with them. This is what happens to people who
believe in Jesus but think that He is not with them. This causes a whole
host of problems in their journey. As we know, those Emmaus disciples were,
unbeknownst to them, talking with Jesus the whole time they walked. When
they get to Emmaus and Jesus breaks bread and shares the Lord’s Supper with
them, their eyes of faith are opened and they see Jesus and they are
strengthened for the journey.
This, by the way, is why the pastor traditionally would
raise the host and the cup up for all to see after the words of institution
were spoken to show the people in attendance that “hey, Jesus is right here.
Jesus has descended into your world in order to be united to you, to forgive
you your sins, and to strengthen you on the journey. What Maundy Thursday
means for you is this: Jesus instituted the blessed sacrament and has shown
you that you can be honest about your sins.
You can take it all to the Lord—even a shaky and wavering
faith. You can admit your weaknesses and sinful tendencies, and then you
look to the bread and to the cup, and you realize that in spite of yourself
Jesus loves you. In spite of your fallenness, Jesus is going to come to you
in the cup and in the host to dwell with you, to unite you to Him. The
merits from His cross are poured out to you in these means of grace. AND,
this isn’t a sign that you conjured up yourself. You have Jesus’ own words
to back it up. “Take eat, this is my body….take, drink, this is my
blood….poured out for the forgiveness of your sins.”
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
www.trinitylowell.org
