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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whether or not you know the origin of the name “Maundy Thursday”—from the Latin word “mandatum” for “command”, through French, into English—you probably know well the “command” part of the Maundy Thursday events.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (Lutheran Service Book, 197)
“This do,” Jesus said, “in remembrance of Me,”—“remembrance” not simply as a way of showing respect for someone Who has died or for an important event, or not simply in memory of Him, but “remembrance” as a way of making present the Lord Who both instituted the Supper and Who put the new covenant or testament into effect by giving His body and shedding His blood to death on the cross (Behm, TDNT 1:349). So the early pastors and people understood those words and the real, physical presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Church’s celebration of the Supper. So, in writing to the Christians at Corinth, a portion of which we heard as tonight’s Epistle Reading, St. Paul could argue not about but from their participation in the body and blood of Jesus Christ (Roehrs-Franzmann, ad loc 1 Co 10:16, 154), as he instructed them about questionable practices, in this case, specifically how they should share the Lord’s Supper and avoid false worship.
If St. Paul were writing more‑specifically to us today, he might not take so for granted the understanding of Christ’s real, physical presence in the Church’s celebration of the Supper; the conclusion he draws from it; and that conclusion’s implications. In writing to the Corinthians, he asks two rhetorical questions: “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?” And, St. Paul expects them and all Christians, including us here in East Texas where few people correctly so understand it, to answer those two rhetorical questions “Yes!”—and “yes” in a sense more than that of a symbol or a solely‑spiritual participation. When we consecrate, distribute, and consume this bread and wine, the Lord Jesus is so really, physically present that (as the refreshed banner says) we participate in His body and blood. And, St. Paul regards the divided Corinthian Christians as he—rightly or wrongly—regards us, as “sensible people” who can “judge” for ourselves what he says (1 Corinthians 10:15). We should “judge” what he says both as he draws the conclusion that, because there is one bread that is Christ’s body, we many, who partake of the one bread that is Christ’s body, are one body—organically connected both vertically to Christ and horizontally to one another—and we should judge what St. Paul says as he reasons the implications from that conclusion for how we should share the Lord’s Supper and avoid false worship.
What about us, are we “sensible people” who rightly “judge” such things? Do we readily grant that this bread and wine are participations in the real, physical body and blood of Christ? Do we come to this Altar and its Rail thinking it is just “me and Jesus”, or do we recognize that, because there is a vertical connection to Christ, there is also a horizontal connection to one another? Do we let go of the things that should not divide us, such as being older or newer members of the congregation? Do we use the Supper to express God‑given unity but not use it to try to create unity where unity does not exist? Do we heed the warnings from Israel’s history and so not be idolaters, indulge in sexual immorality, put Christ to the test, or grumble (1 Corinthians 10:1-13)? Do we take care not only as to who communes here but also as to where we commune, so that we do not participate with idols or demons? (1 Corinthians 10:18-22)?
Surely we all sin in these and these and other ways, for we all are sinful by nature, and that sinful nature still is a part of even us all who believe. Yet, God calls us all to repent of our sinful nature and of our actual sin: to be sorry for them, to trust Him to forgive them, and to want to do better. When we so repent, then God forgives our sin. God forgives us all our sins under the old covenant, put into force with the blood of burnt offerings and peace offerings of oxen, as we heard in tonight’s Old Testament Reading (Exodus 24:3-11). God forgives us all our sins on account of the new covenant or testament, put into force with Jesus’s blood (1 Corinthians 11:25)—blood poured out—spilled—in His violent death on the cross for us and for all people, the meaning of “for many” that we heard in the Gospel Reading (Mark 14:12-26). Under the new covenant or testament, God forgives our iniquity and remembers our sin no more (Jeremiah 31:34)—through faith and by grace for Jesus’s sake. For our benefit and as prophesied, Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, was betrayed to death. As true man, He was able to die, and, as true God, His death could redeem all people. As true God, He also is able to be really, physically present with His human body and blood in this bread and wine of the Supper, of which we who are many all partake, and so we participate both in Him, for the forgiveness of sins, and in one another.
God the Holy Spirit calls us so to participate in His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9), and that same Holy Spirit through Holy Baptism puts us into the one body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). That God‑given “communal participation” or “fellowship” of His body is sustained and expressed in His Supper, the Sacrament of the Altar. Different from the practice of others, the bread and wine that we consecrate, distribute, and consume are by Christ’s blessing and power His body and blood. The earthly elements obviously also remain bread and wine, but, as they were that first Maundy Thursday, the heavenly elements of His body and blood are miraculously, supernaturally added each time we celebrate His Supper, so that we can not only by faith but also with our mouths partake of His body and blood (Formula of Concord, Epitome VII:15), and so we have the forgiveness of sins, and so we have also life and salvation.
So blessed through our participation in the body and blood of Christ, we share the Lord’s Supper as we should and avoid false worship. Our Altar and its Rail are open to those who confess the same faith that is confessed here, but our Altar and its Rail are closed to those who regularly attend other pulpits and altars and so make what is confessed in those places their public confession of faith. St. Paul writes later in 1 Corinthians that there must be some divisions or factions in order that those who are genuine may be recognized (1 Corinthians 11:19)! We ourselves do not both here partake of the one bread that is Christ’s body and drink the cup of the Lord and then elsewhere also partake of the table of demons and drink the cup of demons, for we are not stronger than the Lord and do not want to provoke His jealous and righteous wrath (1 Corinthians 10:21-22). As faithfully as possible, we protect both the participation in the body and blood of Christ here and those who participate. We protect the communion of Christ’s body of the Church from the unrepentant and gross sinners (1 Corinthians 10:6-10; confer 1 Corinthians 6:12-20), and so we also forgive one another before coming here (Matthew 5:23). And, we protect those, who might fail to recognize either the sacramental body of Christ or the churchly body of Christ, from participating unworthily and so sinning against the body and blood and harming themselves potentially for eternity (1 Corinthians 11:27-32).
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, truly left us a remembrance of His passion in this wondrous sacrament, in which we who devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42) also participate in His body and blood. As our Lamb Who once was slain but now lives again (Revelation 5:6, 12; 13:8), His body and blood are life giving and enable us to likewise be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). They are our food for the way through this life, and in this life they are our peace, rest, and joy. As we prayed in the Collect of the Day, so we pray always: “that we may so receive the sacred mystery of His body and blood that the fruits of His redemption may continually be manifest in us”.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +