Maundy Thursday
Participation Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! In tonight’s Epistle, God’s apostle Paul asks, The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Dear Christian friends, Participation is a good word for tonight’s Epistle. When you participate in something, you are directly involved in that thing. You are not a spectator, not an innocent bystander, not an observer from afar. You are a participant; a partaker; someone who is present and counted as among the others. When you participate, you bear your share of the same responsibility everyone else bears. When you participate, you receive your share of everything everyone else receives. In tonight’s Epistle, God’s apostle Paul asks, The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? These are called rhetorical questions. That is to say, these questions do not seek an answer from you. Rather, these questions already provide the answer for you. “Is not the cup a participation in the blood of Christ?” Yes it is! “Is not the bread a participation in the body of Christ?” Of course it is! With these Words, tonight’s Epistle helps us to think of the blessed Holy Communion as a two-way street, where one lane allows you to travel off into that direction, while another lane allows travel from that direction to come toward you. • On the night He was betrayed, Jesus taught us to think of the Holy Communion as a road He travels in order to come to you and give good gifts to you. Jesus taught us to think this way when He handed bread and wine to us and said, “This is My body; this is My blood” (Matthew 26:26, 28). That forward motion of handing over the bread and wine; that identification of bread to His body and wine to His blood: these are the things that allow us to think of Jesus here with us, giving us His crucified body and serving us His blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins (1 John 1:7). Bread and wine, body and blood: in the same way that Jesus traveled a road to arrive at His cross and death, here and now the Holy Communion is a road your Lord Jesus travels to get to you. • In tonight’s Epistle, God opens up a second lane in the road, so to speak. Not only should we discern that the bread and wine are Christ’s body and blood among us (1 Corinthians 11:29), but we should also think of that bread and wine as our travel to the cross of Jesus, where His body was pierced and His blood was shed for us and for our salvation. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? When you participate in something, you are directly involved in that thing. You are not a spectator, not an innocent bystander, not an observer from afar. You are a participant; a partaker; someone who is present and counted as among the others. Here you can get no closer to Jesus. o There is no need to entertain fantasies about what it was like at the Last Supper. Here you participate fully in the Last Supper. o Some people dream of traveling to Jerusalem to be where Jesus was. No need! Here in the Holy Communion, you walk with Jesus to Golgotha and you stand by His cross. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? When you participate, you bear your share of the same responsibility everyone else bears. When you participate, you receive your share of everything everyone else receives (Matthew 26:27). o Paul described your responsibility 1 Corinthians 11:29, where he said, “Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” The Words “discerning the body” indicate your responsibility. To discern means to make a distinction, to tell one thing from the other, to regard this thing as different from that thing. You must discern the body of Christ. That is to say, you must recognize that the bread of the Holy Communion is different from all other bread and the wine of the Holy Communion is different from all other wine. This bread and this wine are different, but not on account of the way they may look or the way they may taste. This bread and wine are different because this bread and wine alone have the Word and promise of God attached to them. “This is My body, given for you. This is My blood, shed for you.” o The Word and promise of God indicate what you receive: the body of Jesus and the blood of Jesus and everything Jesus accomplished for you in His body and His blood, “poured out for many” (Mark 14:24); poured out for you. “Is not the cup a participation in the blood of Christ?” Yes it is! “Is not the bread a participation in the body of Christ?” Of course it is! Come now, knowing what you are doing. Come now, with eyes wide open. Come now to the cross. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
