Maundy Thursday
Beloved. Today we begin to come to the depth of this most holy and penitential season. Today we have come to that night in which [Jesus] was betrayed which set off that whole series of events that led to Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross—a suffering and death that was for us and our salvation; a suffering and death on account of our sin; a suffering and death that would ultimately lead to triumph and victory over sin, death, devil and hell as Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. Of course, being true God, Jesus knew exactly what was before Him, all that He would have to endure to carry out that very work He had come to do. He knew the agony and hellish suffering that was before Him—but He willingly placed Himself on the path to carry it out—all for us and our salvation, all out of love for us sinners. This was exactly what He had said before about Himself [Mt. 20.28]: The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
In tonight’s Gospel, we see Jesus demonstrating to the disciples exactly what He was doing and would be doing in the coming hours. Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God. He got up from the supper and laid aside his outer garment. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Jesus was serving them! He was serving them as the lowliest servant doing the most menial task. What a glorious picture of Jesus’ work for us in the upcoming hours. More than just the menial task of a slave washing the guests’ feet, Jesus would serve us by Himself being betrayed, beaten, mocked, put on trial, condemned, and crucified. He would suffer the greatest agonies—not only physically but also spiritually, as loaded down with the sins of the world, He would endure the Father’s wrath and the very pangs of hell. All of this for us and our salvation! He served us—and it was the washing of the disciples feet that was a picture of His work/service to us.
And the image of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet comes to the heart and core of His work. It is washing/ cleansing. Jesus washing His disciples’ feet is a picture and foreshadow of His work on the cross cleansing us from our sin and its guilt. It was something that would become clearer to the disciples later on as the Holy Spirit would lead them into all understanding: “You do not understand what I am doing now, but later you will understand.” St. John, who stood at the foot of the cross, would later write [1 John 1.7]: the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. And why did Jesus do this to/ for the disciples that evening? Love. Just as I have loved you…
Tonight we also remember Jesus’ great gift that He entrusted to His Church until the end of time—the holy sacrament of His Body and Blood, Holy Communion. This holy sacrament, together with Holy Baptism and the word, are what we call the Means of Grace. They are the “means” or instruments that our Lord uses to give us the fruits and blessings of His saving work. How is it that we “get” this forgiveness that Jesus won for us? Through the Means of Grace—that is, through the word and sacraments—God freely gives us His grace and blessings—first and foremost, the forgiveness of sins. Through His Holy Sacraments—and especially tonight as we remember Jesus giving us the Sacrament of the Altar—Jesus still comes to serve us, washing away our sins, with the Holy Spirit creating and preserving faith, and giving us every heavenly gift and blessing He won for us on the cross. This is why we gather together in worship around the holy word and sacrament—so Jesus can come and serve us, so He can wash our feet.
Tonight as we ponder this great grace and mercy of our Lord in giving His Church the Sacrament of His body and blood, let us ponder our Lord’s words that He spoke through His OT prophet, St. Isaiah. Let us see in them a beautiful foreshadowing of the great gift of Holy Communion; let us see in these few verses what great comfort this holy Sacrament gives us.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Here we hear about bread that truly satisfies; about eating what is good; about life for the soul; about the everlasting covenant, that is, the new covenant/ testament in Jesus’ blood. All this a wonderful foreshadowing of the gifts and blessings of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Lord’s Supper is a supper of grace. As we examine our heart and life, as we have hopefully been doing more earnestly this Lenten season, we recognize our sin all the more clearly. Perhaps our conscience bothers us even without examination as we feel our sin and guilt. In any case, if we are honest with ourselves each of us will have to confess that he/ she is a sinner worthy only of God’s wrath and punishment. Often people will try to get rid of that feeling of sin and guilt by trying to minimize that sin, explain/ rationalize it away, deny it, etc. But that is a waste of time. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Our efforts to find true peace of mind by our own supposed righteousness or denying our sin in one way or another are worthless. That’s spend[ing] your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy. What we need is bread that satisfies. And that bread is Jesus, the bread of life; that bread is what truly satisfies us spiritually, that stills the guilty conscience, that bread gives us what we truly need—forgiveness of sin. And that’s the bread of Holy Communion—because it is not just bread, it is Jesus Himself, His true body. St. Paul writes in the epistle: The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you”…. In the same way, after the meal, he also took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood.” In other words, in Holy Communion we are receiving Jesus, His very body, which hung on the cross and His very blood poured out for our forgiveness. That means that our peace of conscience/ our true rest and peace can only come from outside of us. It comes to us as Jesus comes to us bodily/ physically in the Sacrament and there gives us the forgiveness of our sin. Because this forgiveness is not based on us and our works but upon Jesus and His work, it is certain—Jesus, the very God-man Himself brought it about; not only that, but because Jesus gives us Himself, His very body and blood, in the Sacrament, we can have no doubt: we are forgiven and reconciled with God— as we receive the Sacrament we are receiving in our mouths the very body and blood that brought about our forgiveness. Remember the Lord’s Supper is a Means of Grace—an instrument God works through to give us His grace and forgiveness. The Lord’s Supper is, then, a supper of grace.
And it is a supper of grace to which our Lord calls us. It’s not as if it’s something secretive or hidden or exclusive. Don’t think that you have to have a certain “level of holiness” or a certain “strength of faith”. Precisely when you are weak in faith, that’s when you should go to the Holy Sacrament to receive forgiveness, to receive the assurance of that forgiveness, to be strengthened in faith and comforted. Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live. The Lord wants us to hear Him. Yes, we listen to Him diligently in His holy Law so that we recognize and sorrow over our sins. But we also listen to Him as He invites us to His Holy Supper of grace in which He gives us Himself and all His spiritual gifts and blessings. By listening to Jesus in the sacrament and in faith believing it, we receive what He gives and offers: Take eat; this is My Body, which is given for you…This cup is the New Testament in My blood, which is poured out for you for the remission of sins. Notice here: Jesus demands nothing of us but that we receive His word in faith and willingly respond to it. Let us listen to the Words of Institution when the pastor speaks them in the communion liturgy; let us ponder them during the course of the week. By doing that, we are Listen[ing] diligently to [the Lord], and [so we rush to the Sacrament and] eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food; by doing that, we are inclin[ing] our ear, and [so will] come to [Him]; hear[ing Him], that your soul may live. What glorious words: Take eat; this is My Body, which is given for you…This cup is the New Testament in My blood, which is poured out for you for the remission of sins.
In the holy sacrament we are truly eating the Bread of Life. We are eat[ing] what is good, and delight[ing] ourselves in rich food. We are doing so in a two-fold way. First, there is a spiritual feast going on as we by faith feed on Jesus. Elsewhere Jesus says [Jn. 6.53-54[: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. This “spiritual eating” of faith happens as we hear the word of God and ponder it and take it to heart. This is reading, marking, learning and inwardly digesting God’s holy word. Here in the sacrament, this happens as we ponder and take to heart, our Lord, His word, all His gifts and blessings He is giving us here in it—first and foremost the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. It happens throughout the course of the week as we continue to ponder our Lord’s word and what God has given us in the holy Sacrament and as we apply it to ourselves, to our heart and life, as we daily take comfort and strength from it. That’s the spiritual feasting. Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live. St. Bernard wrote: It is one thing to follow Jesus, another to hold Him, another to feed on Him. To follow Him is a life-giving purpose; to hold and embrace Him a solemn joy; to feed on Him a blissful life. [TLSB, 1793]
But in the holy Sacrament, there’s more than just the spiritual feasting on Jesus. There is also the physical eating of Jesus’ body and blood in the Sacrament. Yes, that means that somehow, some way, with the bread Jesus gives us His very body—the body of the God-man—to eat, the very body that our sins were placed upon and was cursed for them; and somehow, some way with the wine He gives us His very blood to drink—the very blood that coursed His sacred veins and was poured out to reconcile us sinners to the holy God. This is a great mystery and a great miracle: Take, eat. This is My body; Drink from it all of you. For this is My blood of the new testament... This glorious and gracious invitation is foreshadowed in our text: Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Jesus’ very body and blood is that good thing we are to eat and that rich food we are to delight in. This is the true eternal food—the actual body and blood of the eternal God—that nourishes our immortal soul and gives us sustenance and nourishment during our earthly life. Here is that new and everlasting testament: and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Dear Christian, here, in Jesus’ body and blood that we receive is that binding relationship of grace—God’s grace to us in Jesus. The holy Sacrament is truly a meal of grace and great spiritual richness and abundance. Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. INJ Amen