Category: Maundy Thursday

The Lord's Supper

4/8/2023

Last Supper, Peter Paul Rubens, 1631-2. Public Domain.

Maundy Thursday
1 Corinthians 11:23-32
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 6, 2023

Have you ever received unclear directions? Would you feel confident that you would find your destination on time if you weren’t sure what the nice stranger meant by, “Go down the road a ways and take a turn at the second or third stop and drive a bit farther until you see a big oak or fir tree and then turn again and drive a ways until you think you’ve driven too far and then drive a bit farther before doing a U-turn.”? You’d probably look for directions from someone else. And clarity is important for faith. How can we believe if we are unsure what is being offered? So, it is important for us to know that the Words of Institution are clear words. The New Testament provides four accounts of Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper, and while they do differ slightly, all four of them clearly state that what you are given in the Lord’s Supper is Christ’s body and blood. He never says that the bread and wine represent His body and blood or are a symbol of His body and blood. In every account, Scripture records Jesus say, “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” You may say that you do not believe these words, but you cannot claim that they are unclear. Jesus intends for us to believe that He is giving us His very body and blood.
Now, it is certainly clear that Jesus is telling us that the bread and the wine He feeds us are His body and blood, but why should we believe that? Our eyes, nose, and tongue tell us that it is only bread and wine. Well, because it is not just anyone telling us this is his body and blood. It is Jesus Christ, true God and man who tells us this is His body and blood. The Apostle Paul writes, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.” The Lord Jesus Himself told Paul what the words of institution are and when He first said them, on the night in which He was betrayed. Jesus is God. He proved Himself to be God when after being crucified and killed and laid in a tomb, He rose again from the dead three days later. Jesus teaches us that nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:36). If Jesus is able to be both God and man, then He certainly can give His body and blood to us to eat and drink. It is a miracle, yet we expect miracles from Jesus.
So, to deny that the Lord’s Supper is Jesus’ true body and blood means to reject what Jesus, the Godman clearly says. Yet, it is not sufficient to know what the Lord’s Supper is. We must also know what benefit it gives us who eat it.
The chief benefit of eating the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament is the forgiveness of sins. Jesus clearly says that the body He gives us to eat is “for you.” What does He mean by “for you”? He means that this is His body, which was given into death on the cross for you (Luke 22:19). Jesus lay down His body in death to pay for our sins. St. Luke records that Jesus’ blood is “poured out for you.” Saints Matthew and Mark record Jesus saying, “poured out for many,” and Matthew adds, “for the forgiveness of sins.” This body and blood, which is fed to Christians by Jesus Himself is the same body and blood, which were nailed and shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore, Christians eat this body and blood in the Sacrament primarily to receive the forgiveness of sins Christ won for us on the cross. This means that the Sacrament of the Altar is a medicine of immortality, which promises life and salvation to all who believe it.
The Words of Institution are also Jesus’ last will and testament, which gives us certainty that Christ is with us, personally and bodily. Therefore, the Sacrament increases our faith in Christ. Also, Jesus’ body and blood cannot be divided. Each communicant receives the same body and blood of Christ. This means that the Communion in the Sacrament is not just between you and God, but between you and every other communicant. This is why we pray after communing that God would by this Sacrament increase our faith toward Him and our fervent love toward one another. This Sacrament promises to increase our faith toward God and our love toward one another.
So, on this holy night in which our Lord Jesus was betrayed, we remember that in Christ’s last will and testament He gave us the medicine of immortality, which forgives our sins, strengthens our faith, increases our love for one another, and unites us to Christ even as we live here on earth. Therefore, we should highly prize this Sacrament and receive it often for our eternal benefit.
Yet, St. Paul adds a warning to this medicine of immortality. As with other medicines that can harm a person instead of heal him if it is taken improperly, so also can the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood be taken improperly to the communicant’s harm. St. Paul adds, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”
So, with this solemn warning, we ask ourselves, “How does one examine himself?” Examination involves you asking three things of yourself.
First, do you believe that the Lord’s Supper is the true body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Most people who reject the ancient teaching of closed Communion also reject the teaching that the Sacrament of the Altar is Jesus’ true body and blood. Yet, St. Paul does not say that if a person eats or drinks unworthily that He is guilty concerning the bread and wine, but rather, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.” Denying that the Sacrament is Jesus’ body and blood does not save you from guilt any more than denying the potency of medicine will save you from misusing it. The Lord’s Supper is Jesus’ true body and blood whether you believe it or not, because Jesus says it is. Yet, only through faith do you receive the benefits of Christ’s body and blood. If you do not recognize that you are eating the body and blood of Christ, then you are eating and drinking judgment on yourself. St. Paul tells us to discern the body. For this reason, no one who doubts that the Sacrament is Jesus’ true body and blood should take the Sacrament.
Second, do you repent of all your sins and desire to receive this Sacrament for the forgiveness of your sins? Jesus gives us His body and blood, which were given and shed on the cross, for the primary purpose of forgiving our sins. This means that if you do not desire forgiveness or if you refuse to repent of your sins, then you would receive Christ’s body and blood to your own judgment. Again, only faith receives the benefits of the Sacrament. But if you refuse to repent of your sins, then you do not truly desire forgiveness. And if you do not desire forgiveness, then you are not prepared to receive the Sacrament.
Notice that a particular sin doesn’t make you unworthy of receiving the Sacrament, but rather impenitence does. If a murderer or an adulterer repented and desired to receive the Sacrament for the forgiveness of sins, he could receive it for his eternal salvation. Yet, if a person continues in his sin without repenting or doubts that the forgiveness of sins is given in the Sacrament, then that person will not receive forgiveness, but judgment. So, if you recognize your sins, you should not avoid the sacrament, but flee to it for comfort and forgiveness, but if you cling to your sins, then you should not receive it until you repent.
Finally, do you confess what is taught at the church where you are communing? St. Paul teaches us, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” This means that when you commune at a church, you are confessing what that church proclaims about Christ. Obviously, you should not commune at a church, which denies that the Lord’s body and blood are present in the Supper. Then you would be making a contrary confession about the Supper than what Christ makes. Yet, that is not the only false teaching you should be aware of. There are churches, which deny that the Scriptures are the true Word of God, which claim that babies should not be baptized or that you need to do good works to be saved. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) calls itself Lutheran, yet they publicly deny that Jesus is the way, truth, and life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. So, you should also not commune at a church, even if it claims to be Lutheran, if it teaches such false doctrine. All false teaching comes from Satan. So, you should not confess any false doctrine by communing at a church, which teaches false doctrine. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
This does not mean that everyone who worships at a non-Lutheran church is an unbeliever or worships demons, but rather that it is wrong to confess false doctrine. And when you commune at an orthodox church and then at an unorthodox church, you are making contradictory statements in God’s name, which is breaking the Second Commandment.
Every Christian who desires to receive Communion is obligated to examine himself every time before communing on the penalty of eating and drinking to his own judgment. Pastors are also required to withhold the Sacrament from those who are knowingly unprepared to receive the sacrament. St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards       of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” And our Lutheran Confessions quotes fourth century Church father, John Chrysostom, “the priest stands daily at the altar, inviting some to the Communion and keeping back others.” (AC XXIV) Therefore, pastors should not give Christ’s body and blood to those who publicly deny the real presence, are living in open sin, or commune at heterodox church bodies.
St Paul gives these warnings against unworthily receiving Christ’s body and blood, so that we will examine ourselves and receive the Sacrament in faith. The point is not for people to avoid the Sacrament all together or for people to be banned forever! Rather, the point is for you to receive the Sacrament to your full benefit, so that you are certain that God forgives your sins for Christ’s sake, that Jesus is with you even now, so that your faith in Christ will increase and your love toward your fellow Christians would be warmed. On the night when He was betrayed, Jesus replaced the Passover feast of the Old Testament with a meal of the true Passover Lamb, so that we might always be in Communion with Christ. Amen.

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A New Command I Give to You

4/9/2020

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Ford Madox Brown, Jesus Washing Peter's Feet, 1852-6, Commons.wikipedia.org

Maundy Thursday
John 13:1-15, 34-35
April 9, 2020

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. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
There is a TV show called Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs get just a few minutes to pitch their idea to a group of rich investors. The investors may reject them or make an offer for a share of their company or profits. If the entrepreneur has a good idea, the investors will compete with each other with better and better offers to get a piece of the company. One of the investors, known for his shrewdness, is a rich Canadian businessman named Kevin O’Leary. When he presents an offer to one of the contestants and gets rejected, he says a dark humorous line, “You’re dead to me.” Whether O’Leary himself is so ruthless in real life, or whether this is just his television personality, I don’t know. Yet, this line does a good job of showing the ruthlessness of the business world. O’Leary is only interested in the contestant as long as he has something to gain from him, namely, money. Yet, the moment he loses the opportunity to gain money, the person he was previously courting is dead to him. He has no use for him. He might as well not exist.
This is ruthless, yet it is not limited to the world of business. This is how people behave everyday with their acquaintances, friends, and yes, even their family. They’ll be friendly and helpful to them, just so long as they have something to gain by it. Yet, once a person proves to be unprofitable as a friend or acquaintance, they’re cut off from further help and friendship. Very often, maybe not in words, but in deeds, people say to one another, “You’re dead to me.”
Not so with Jesus’ Christians. Jesus commands us to love one another and to do good to those who are incapable of paying us back! We must love not only in word, but in deed; helping those who cannot help themselves and cannot help us in return.
Yet, Christians quickly forget this. We help those we like. We are friendly toward those who make us feel good about ourselves. We forgive those who do us no wrong, but we hold grudges against those who bother us. We Christians need this reminder from Jesus. He commands us to love one another even as he loved his disciples; to do good to others as Jesus does good to us.
St. John writes in his first Epistle, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15) This is an important reminder that true saving faith produces good fruit. We do not become Christians by loving our neighbor. We must not put the cart before the ox. Rather, love is the fruit of saving faith, as St. John also writes, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:10-11)
And here, God has given us a perfect opportunity to practice this love; to give evidence that we are actually Christians! Listen to the words of St. Paul from Philippians chapter 2, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each person look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Most of us are cooped up. There are very limited places we are able to go. And some of us can’t leave our homes at all. Kids are spending their days in the same house where parents are trying to get work done. Here is your opportunity to help! Kids, instead of using this extra time to play video games and mindlessly cruise the internet, help your parents out with household chores! Be considerate to your father or mother who must work from home by giving them peace and quiet. Husbands, consider the needs of your wives and wives, consider the needs of your husbands. Do acts of kindness to each other. Do not get irritated with one another, rather be quick to forgive and slow to anger. Consider those who are in need and find ways to help them!
When we express love toward one another, we should be careful that we do not mistake the world’s perverted version of love with the love Christ mandates to us. St. John warns again, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
The world loves praise. The world loves pleasure. The world loves independence from God. That is not what love is. My father used to quote a poem from a Norwegian play called Brand, which articulates well what true love really means:
Of what the paltering world calls love,
I will not know, I cannot speak;
I know but His who reigns above,
And His is neither mild nor weak;
Hard even unto death is this,
And smiting with its awful kiss.
What was the answer of God’s love
Of old, when in the olive-grove
In anguish-sweat His own Son lay;
And prayed, O, take this cup away?
Did God take from Him then the cup?
No, child; His Son must drink it up! (Brand, By Henrik Ibsen. 75).
The love Jesus teaches us is the love that causes the Father to sacrifice his Son for our sins; the love that led Jesus to go as a lamb to slaughter without protest. When Jesus, their Lord and teacher, washed his disciples’ feet, he demonstrated that he did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. That is God’s love. And that is the love that Christians must imitate. A love that serves others, not a love that seeks pleasure.
I’ve said several times before that God is humbling us right now with this coronavirus pandemic. And it is good for us to be humbled, so that we can meet Christ in humiliation, so that we can be saved from this sinful world and enjoy the love of Christ forever. St. Peter at first refused to let Jesus wash his feet. At first, you might think that Peter was being humble. He didn’t want his Lord and Master to humble himself before him and wash his feet like a common servant. Yet, it wasn’t humility that caused Peter to protest, but pride. He didn’t want a master who served. He wanted a master who led. And he wanted to follow after a glorious leader. But Jesus will not meet us in our pride. He will not meet us exalted on our self-made pedestals. Jesus will only meet us in humility. “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”, Jesus says to Peter. Indeed, he says this to every one of us. Unless Jesus clears the muck accumulated by our wicked thoughts, words, and actions, we will remain unclean and unfit for heaven.
We must come before God as sinners in need of redemption; as persons soiled, who need to be clean. When we come to Christ in such humility, he cleans us and makes us whole. And only then are we equipped to share the love of Christ with others. Then we are not afraid to humble ourselves before father, mother, husband, wife, child, or neighbor locked in his house. We have no fear to humble ourselves, because we know with Christ, we can lose nothing.
By loving one another you show that you have received Christ’s love through faith. And by receiving Christ’s love, which he offers to you through the proclamation of the Gospel, through the eating and drinking of his body and blood, which he died in love to give you, and through the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren, whereby you confess Christ to one another in your homes, then God’s love overflows from you to one another.
The command to love is not a new command. It is the oldest command we have from God. Yet, it is a new command, because Christ has perfected it by dying for our sins and giving us all that we need for eternal life. This command is given anew to Jesus’ Christians, who are enabled by his love to love one another. Dear Christians, rejoice in the love of God which Christ has shown you. And may this love flow through you to those who need it. In Jesus name. Amen.

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Maundy Thursday: Jesus Creates Love in Our Hearts by Loving Us

4/20/2019

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The Last Supper ,ca. 1325–30 Ugolino da Siena (Ugolino di Nerio) Italian. metmuseum.org. Public Domain

John 13:1-15, 34-35
April 18, 2019

This is the last night of Jesus’ life before he will die and he knows it. St. John writes, “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father...” That right there sets the mood for what Jesus is about to do and say. Jesus isn’t joking around. He is about to die. He has only a few more hours with his disciples before he will be taken away by armed men to be tortured and killed. It behooves all of us Christians to pay careful attention to the words and actions of our Lord this night. They weigh greatly upon his heart and he makes the best use of his final hours to speak them and to do them.
This holy night is commonly called Maundy Thursday after the Latin word mandatum, which means command. Jesus says in our Gospel lesson, “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.” (vs. 34) This night is also when our Lord Jesus instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood for us Christians to eat and to drink. And as with the command to love, we Christians should also listen to these words with special reverence. St. Paul again sets the tone with these words, which are repeated every time the Church receives this Sacrament, “[Our] Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread...” (1 Corinthians 11:23) These words tell us that what Jesus is about to say and do is absolutely deliberate. And he wants us to pay close attention. These words about eating and drinking his body and blood are his last will and testament before he dies.
Preachers are often conflicted between these two great lessons on Maundy Thursday. Which text should I preach on? Should I emphasize Jesus’ exhortation to love one another just as he has loved us? Or should I give a lesson on what the Sacrament of the Altar is and why it is important for the life of the Christian? Yet, these two lessons first taught by Jesus on the night he was betrayed are not exclusive, but flow in and from each other.
Jesus did not simply give a command to love, he gave an example by washing his disciples’ feet. If he, their Lord and Teacher washed their feet, so also should the disciples wash one another’s feet. Yet, even this example was only a lesson, a small token of what Christ was about to do. It says, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” The service Jesus offers his disciples and indeed the entire world transcends feet washing. Jesus loves them to the end, his end upon the cross.
Jesus’ death upon the cross was the greatest act of love ever done. And it is that act of love, which enables his disciples to love one another. St. John writes, “We love, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) It is this act of love, which washes away our sins, conquers hate, death, and hell. When Jesus washed the grime off his disciples’ feet, he taught them that he washed the guilt from their souls with his very blood. Jesus said in John chapter 12, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” All people are sinners. And Jesus joins all sinners to himself by bearing their sins and giving them all access to eternal life through faith in him. Jesus’ love is universal.
And on the same night in which Jesus teaches his disciples to love, he feeds them his very body and blood, which he gave in love to save sinners. These words, “Given and shed for you.” are a proclamation of the Gospel. Jesus tells his church every time these words are repeated that he gave his body over to death for us. He tells us that his blood, not the blood of bulls and goats, is the basis of his New Testament. Jesus’ blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sin. His blood marks our door, so that death not only passes over us for a night, but for all eternity.
Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Every time we receive Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament, Jesus makes known to us that we are his friends. He laid down his life for us. There is no greater love than that proclaimed to the faithful, who receive this Sacrament of Jesus’ body and blood.
Jesus tells Peter that if he does not wash him then he has no part in him. Jesus does not mean a physical washing, but a spiritual washing. Unless Jesus wash away your sins, then you have no part in him. Unless you receive Jesus’ love, which he performed for you on the cross, in faith, then you cannot call yourself a Christian. And then Jesus says something more. “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.”
Now, there is an obvious reference to Baptism there, but what Jesus means is this. You do not need another atoning sacrifice. You do not need to be baptized again. You who have been made clean by Christ’s love on the cross through faith are indeed clean. Yet, you still need your feet to be washed. You are still going to get dirty in this world; you’re still going to sin. You need to be forgiven. You need to be absolved. You need the muck that sticks to you from your sinful nature, from walking in this God-hating world, from the assaults of the devil to be cleansed off of you. This is done by the repeated forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ washes your feet when you receive the absolution, when you hear the preaching of the Gospel, and yes, most certainly when you eat and drink Christ’s true body and blood for your forgiveness. Here at this altar, Christ washes your feet.
The Lord’s Supper is a “feast of love,” not only because Jesus instituted it out of love for you, but because it is the source of the strongest love between Christians, as we pray after receiving this meal that it would strengthen us in fervent love toward one another. This Supper is not only an expression of love between God and the individual Christian, but between all Christians who participate in this meal. Through this meal you are given the ability to love one another and in fact this very meal is an expression of love between us.
“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? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17) It is this passage from 1 Corinthians 10 where we get the word Communion. Participation is Communion. The body of Christ is not torn apart by the congregation or by an individual as they eat the bread and wine in the Supper. Rather, each communicant receives the one and the same complete body and blood of Christ in a miraculous way that only God understands. This means that each Christian receives the entire Christ when he receives this meal. We all become intimately united with one another as one body and soul.
You don’t hate yourself. Then how can you hate the one, who is joined to you so closely as to be a fellow participant in the body of Christ? It is impossible for one who believes in the mystery of this meal to hate his fellow Christians, whom he knows also share in the same body and blood of Christ.
This is why it is so important that we believe that the Lord’s Supper is truly Christ’s body and blood. First, because the clear words of Jesus compel us to believe that his body and blood are truly present with the bread and the wine, as he says, “This is my body. This is my blood.” The only reason not to believe this is because it is impossible to understand. But we must remember that God is able to do far more than we can ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20). But second, because Jesus truly is present with us. We don’t just hold him in our memory, while he is really far away. Christ is truly with us here, his body and soul. And he is in those, who receive the Sacrament. And if you despise those, who receive this Sacrament in faith, then you are despising those who are joined in a loving relationship with Christ. It means that you are despising Christ’s own body and blood.
This Sacrament of the Altar, which was given to us in love by Jesus Christ indeed increases the mutual love all those who receive it. And so, many might ask, “why don’t we practice open Communion, so that we may spread this love to even more people?” The answer is because this Communion we experience with this meal is real. It is not created by us, but by Christ, by his pure teaching and his real presence. When you partake of Christ’s real body and blood in the Sacrament you confess that you are truly eating Jesus’ body, which hung on the cross and drinking his blood, which was shed for you. You confess Jesus is truly here with his Church. It is wrong then to commune with those, who say that Christ’s body and blood is not here, that we eat only bread and drink only wine. The unity we experience is dependent on Christ’s body and blood truly being here and given to all who believe it.
Also, when we eat and drink the body and blood of the Lord, we confess the teaching of the Church where we commune. Here, we confess that the Bible is the true Word of God and source of all Christian teaching. We confess that Baptism saves and that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone apart from our works. It would then be a lie to eat from an altar where the whole truth of the Bible is denied, or where it is denied that we are saved by grace as a free gift. To confess two contrary things to God is to misuse the name of the Lord. It would only achieve superficial Communion, but not the Communion that comes through faithfully receiving Christ’s body and blood with a united faith.
It is also important to receive Christ’s body and blood with a repentant heart, because you receive this meal for the forgiveness of your sins. It is therefore also important that you be willing to forgive those, who sin against you. You receive forgiveness from this meal, so you can also freely forgive others.
Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, because he loved them. In this Sacrament Jesus gives us a greater washing, which not only forgives our sins, but creates in us a greater love toward God and toward one another. Every time we receive this Sacrament, God feeds us the very same body and blood, which was given and shed for us on the cross out of great love for us and desire for our salvation. It is only through first receiving such love from God that we are able to then love each other. We have received such from love God. And God pours this love into our hearts again this evening. So, let us love one another with love from God’s own heart. Amen.

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Maundy Thursday: The Son of Man Came Not to be Served but to Serve

3/29/2018

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John 13:1-15, 34-35
March 29, 2018

Jesus is a teacher. Yes, Jesus performed many signs and miracles during his three-year ministry on earth, but Jesus' ministry was primarily about teaching. All of his signs and miracles, in addition to showing compassion to his creatures, had the purpose of reinforcing Jesus' teaching. And so, on this holy night in which our Lord is betrayed into the hands of evil men, our teacher gives one last lesson. It's an object-lesson. Jesus washes his disciples' feet.

The disciples needed their feet to be cleaned, for sure; walking everywhere on dusty roads. Jesus performed a needed service. Yet, much more, the disciples needed to learn a lesson. The setting of this final lesson is very important to mark. This is Jesus' last Passover. He is about to be betrayed into the hands of evil men, to be flogged, crucified, and murdered. And he knows it. The words and actions of Jesus at this moment should be taken with the utmost seriousness. And in this final lesson, Jesus teaches his disciples the sum of Christian doctrine.

What is the purpose of Christ's ministry here on earth? Why did God send him? In Matthew chapter 20 Jesus tells us, "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Here in John 13, Jesus shows us. Jesus "rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him." (vss. 4-5)

In these two verses John describes both Jesus' action in washing his disciples' feet and his entire work of humiliation here on earth. First, Jesus takes on the form of a servant. He rises, lays a side his teacher clothes, and ties a towel around his waist. Then, he performs the task of a servant, he washes the grime off his disciples' feet and wipes them with the towel. St. Paul expresses this same thing in regards to Jesus' earthly ministry in Philippians chapter 2, "Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (vss. 6-8) First, Jesus, who is in the form of God, takes the form of a servant. Then, he performs the task of a servant, except much more than any servant would do. Jesus becomes obedient unto death on a cross!

When Jesus took off his outer garment he did not cease to be his disciples' teacher. And when he wrapped a towel around his waist, he did not cease to be their Lord. Likewise, when Christ Jesus, who was in the form of God emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, he did not cease to be our God. Even when Jesus pushed the putrid muck from between their toes with his fingers and scrubbed the calloused soles of their feet as a common slave, Jesus remained their Lord. Likewise, when Jesus became obedient to the point of death on the cross, he remained our God and Lord.

Jesus is teaching us why tomorrow is such an awesome day. It isn't a common criminal hanging on that cross with a crown of thorns on his head. It isn't even a righteous man dying the sinners' death. There dying upon the tree is our God and Lord! And there kneeling at the feet of the disciples is their Lord and teacher! It is of the utmost importance for our faith to grasp this lesson, because herein lies our certainty for our salvation! The one who pays the price for our sins is the eternal God. Not only does this tell us how much God loves us, but it gives us confidence that the debt of our sins has been paid. The sacred blood of Jesus our God has paid it.

Tonight is the night our Lord Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Altar, as we hear every week, "Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed took bread..." Yet, the appointed Gospel lesson for the night of Jesus' betrayal does not tell of this account. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all give the account of Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper, as well as our Epistle Lesson from 1 Corinthians 11. Yet, John writes of another event on that same night. Yet, this feet-washing teaches us a lot about the Sacrament of the Altar, as well as of Baptism, Absolution, and the preaching of the Gospel. In fact, if you do not understand what Jesus is teaching in this lesson of the washing of his disciples' feet, the meaning of the Lord's Supper will be lost to you.

When we as the church receive the Lord's Supper, Christ our Lord is serving us! He is the host of this meal. He is also the meal itself, as he offers his very body and blood prepared for us on the altar of his cross. This is a very important thing to mark. The Lord's Supper is Gospel, not law. That is to say, the Lord's Supper is God's work for us, not our work to please God. This was one of the main points of contention between the Lutherans and the Roman Catholics during the Reformation. The Lutherans argued, based on Scripture, that the Lord's Supper is God's work for us, whereby God forgives our sins through faith. The Roman Catholics argued that the Lord's Supper is the perpetuation of Christ's sacrifice, which the Church offers to God along with the works of the saints in order to merit justification.

It is important for you to understand what is going on in this Sacrament. Christ was sacrificed once and for all on the cross. And his sacrifice alone atones for our sins. In the Sacrament of the Altar, Christ our Lord and teacher serves us. He washes our feet clean, so to say, by feeding us his true body and blood, which were given and shed for our salvation. When you receive Christ's body and blood in faith, you receive the forgiveness of sins, strengthening of faith, and certainty of eternal life.

There are also many who deny that Jesus' body and blood are truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar. Yet, this is to deny Jesus' clear words, which we just heard read from 1 Corinthians 11 and which you can clearly read from Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. Jesus clearly says that the bread is his body and the wine is his blood. We should not think that our Lord on the night he will be betrayed to death in giving his last will and testament will be speaking in jest. Nor should we doubt Christ's power to be present in the bread and wine on many altars even as he is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Yes, Jesus is truly human. Yet, that does not limit his ability to do the impossible. Jesus remains truly God. And so, just as Jesus did not cease to be his disciples' teacher and Lord when he stooped to wash their feet, Jesus does not cease to be our God as he takes on human flesh and blood nor as he condescends to us in the form of bread and wine to serve us this meal which gives eternal life.

"If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.", Jesus says to Peter upon his refusal to let Jesus wash his feet. Now here, Jesus is teaching Peter and us a lesson and not saying that we need to have our feet literally washed by Jesus in order to have a part in him. Jesus is saying that he must serve Peter by dying on the cross for his sins and he must continue to serve him through word and sacrament. If he does not, neither Peter nor we can have a part in Jesus. Many want to have a personal relationship with Jesus without Jesus washing them. They want to have faith without hearing the Gospel or receiving Baptism or the Lord's Supper. Jesus is very clear, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." You must be washed by Jesus; you must be served by him. If you refuse Jesus' service for you, you refuse Jesus.

This is also why Jesus says that not all are clean. Jesus washed all their feet, but not all were clean. Why? Because not all had faith. Judas was a hypocrite. Jesus died for everyone, but not everyone is saved. Why? Because not all have faith. Likewise, just because you receive Baptism or the Lord's Supper or Absolution, does not mean that you are clean, unless you have faith. It is faith which receives Jesus' service. Again, this points to the fact that Jesus is cleansing your heart, not the outside of your feet.

Faith is not only knowledge that Jesus lived, died, and rose. Faith is trusting in Jesus' service for you, because you need it. Christ has made us clean through his death, which he gives to us through faith and in Baptism. Yet, our feet continue to get dirty. We still sin every day. We must continue to have our feet cleaned. We must continue to receive Absolution and the Lord's Supper, because we continue to sin and our faith continues to falter. Faith acknowledges your need for Christ to continue to serve you until you join him in the Church Triumphant.

Today is called Maundy Thursday. Maundy comes from the Latin word for command. Jesus says, "A new command I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." (13:34) This truly is the sum of the Christian life. Having been loved by Christ, we continue in love for one another. Jesus did not institute a new Sacrament of feet washing, as he did with the Sacrament of his body and blood. Rather, he says that he has given them an example. Jesus, their Lord and teacher, served them in the basest way, so that they would learn that there is no service beneath them nor human being unworthy of their service.

Jesus teaches us on this night what it means to love. He loved them to the end. How? Well, he serves them as a slave. Yet, even this is just a sign foreshadowing what he will do on the cross for all mankind. Love is service. So, when Jesus tells you to love one another, he is telling you to serve one another.

How do you know when and where and how to serve? Look at your life according to the Ten Commandments. Honor your parents and other authorities. Look after the physical needs of your neighbor. Defend his property and reputation. What do you pray in the Lord's Prayer? Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Forgive those, who sin against you, even as Christ has forgiven all of your sins. Look at your neighbor in the best light and explain every situation in the kindest way instead of putting the worst construction on a situation and jumping to conclusions. And in this way, you will wash your neighbor's feet.

But I might get burned! And I might fail! No, you won't. You can't fail. You've been washed by the blood of Jesus. Before Jesus knelt down to wash his disciples' feet before his ultimate betrayal, he knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God. Jesus laid aside his glory with confidence, knowing that God would give it all and more back to him. And so, you too can lay aside whatever glory you think you have and serve. There is nothing you can lose that God will not give you back times 100. And when you fail you have the certainty of the forgiving blood of Christ. Look to your Baptism for full confidence. You are from God and you are going back to God. Amen.

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Maundy Thursday: Jesus Serves You with Complete Love

4/13/2017

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John 13:1-15

"When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you."

Jesus commands us to wash one another's feet. He even gives us an example, by himself kneeling down to wash the dirty feet of his disciples. But what does it mean to wash one another's feet? Jesus isn't here instituting a sacrament of feet washing. By washing feet Jesus means that we ought to serve one another. Jesus is our Lord and Teacher (with a capital L and a capital T). Yet he does not balk at this menial task. And so the disciples (and we!) are taught that there is no task so lowly that we are too good to do it for the sake of our neighbor. If Jesus your Lord so serves you, you also ought to serve one another. This is the same lesson we learn everytime we pray as Jesus taught us, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." (Matthew 6:12) So we forgive one another as God in Christ forgave each of us. (Ephesians 4:32)

In short, Jesus is teaching us to love one another. Just a handful of verses after our text Jesus says to his disciples, "A new command I give to you, that you love one another: just as I loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (13:34-35) This is where we get the name Maundy Thursday, from the Latin word for command. Jesus commands us to love each other.

Love is a popular word and it's used to defend sinful behavior, which God condemns. So we must be clear what it means to love and Jesus shows us quite clearly what he means by love. Love means to count others more significant than yourself, to look after their interests. Love drives you to not look at a task to help your neighbor as beneath you. Service for your neighbor is never beneath you. Love drives you to put the best construction on every situation. You should as far as the truth will let you assume the best of your neighbor's intentions. You should not bash him to others or slander his reputation, especially when you have not confronted him yourself concerning his supposed sin. You should forgive your neighbor when he sins against you, even as God forgives you for Christ's sake. Love isn't physical lust. Love isn't even simply the affection you have toward your wife or children. Love is the action, the thoughts and words you use toward those who do you harm by their careless words or action or even on purpose.

While love drives you to forgive the wrong done against you and to assume the best of your neighbor's intentions, love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. (1 Corinthians 13:6) Love confronts sin with the truth. So you also are commanded in love to speak the truth when your loved ones speak and act against it. Confront them when they sin against you or deny the truth, so that they may repent and believe the Gospel.

There is no greater command than to love one another. Jesus, even as he is troubled to his very soul, because his hour has now come, makes a concerted effort to teach this command to love. This is how Christians should live, in love toward one another. Yet when you use Jesus' definition of love according to his example you see how difficult it is to love. Do you readily serve others at the expense of your time? Do you assume the best of your neighbor's intentions or are you quick to judge? Do you forgive those, who do wrong to you or do you assume that they somehow are more unworthy of forgiveness than you? Do you pray for those who hate you? Does your love fit Christ's example?

Unless you are a liar you must admit your love has failed. The command to love is the Law. The Law is good, but it will also condemn you. Yet, you are not under the Law, but under grace. This means that the command to love does not condemn you, because God's love saves you. And it is in God's love that we obtain the power to love. St. John writes, "We love because [God] first loved us." (1 John 4:19) And so we see Jesus' lesson of washing feet is not simply an example for us to love one another. It is a visual proclamation of what Jesus would do for the disciples, for you and me, indeed for the whole world.

"Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." Indeed Jesus' love extended further than washing feet. Jesus demonstrated that he was one among them who serves. (Luke 22:27) Their Lord rose from his cushion and stripped himself of his cloak, so as not to get it sweaty and dirty. He wrapped a towel around his waist like a common slave and poured water into the basin and began to scrub the filth off his disciples' callus encrusted, hairy, and stinky feet. Yet this descent into serfdom was only an example, a sign of the great service Jesus would do for all mankind. In Matthew's Gospel Jesus' disciples argued over which of them was the greatest and our Lord responded, "But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:26-28)

This is the great service of love our Lord has come to do. This is his hour! Jesus gives his life as a ransom for all mankind. No slave designated the inglorious task of washing feet would trade jobs with Jesus just a few hours after he washed his disciples feet. The beating, the spitting, the mocking; the false witness, the skin-shredding flogging, the blood from his crown blinding his eyes; the nails piercing his flesh, the ascent so that all may see this curse upon a tree; all this Jesus does willingly, as your Lord, yes your God, yet as your slave, your worm, you sacrificial lamb. And to the very end, to that last cry and breath, Jesus did this out of unfaltering love for you. And this isn't simply an example of how much God loves you. Jesus' blood truly cleanses you of all unrighteousness. He cleanses you of every failure on your part to love your neighbor.

When Jesus knelt down to wash Peter's feet, the disciple refused. "You will never wash my feet!", he proclaimed. Peter was embarrassed. Could you imagine someone you admired and even feared washing your feet? Imagine if your hero, your teacher or boss or even your father were to kneel down and wash your feet. "Oh, no. What if they smell! His fingers will rub against the dirt. He'll see the lint between my toes. And when did I clip my toenails last? Oh, the humiliation! And this is one I respect, whom I'm proud of! How can I see him do such a humiliating task? And for me!"

But Jesus responds, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Indeed we must all be washed by Jesus. It's humiliating true. When you see the stripes, the thorny crown, the bruises and nails, you see your sin. You see your failed love. You see everything you hate about yourself clinging to your perfect Savior, making his hands dirty with your own filth. But if he does not wash you, you will not be clean and you will have no part in him.

Peter cannot bare be separated from Jesus and bursts out, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" But Jesus responds, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean." Jesus isn't talking about washing the feet or body. The one who is washed is washed spiritually. To be completely clean means that you have taken into your own possession the sacrificial death of Christ by faith. You own the forgiveness of sins. You trust in the love Jesus did for you on the cross. Jesus cannot die for you a second time. He died for you once and for all. You are clean through faith in him. Likewise, you do not need to be baptized a second time. "Baptism," St. Peter writes, "now saves you. Not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." You do not need to be baptized again. Christ does not need to die for your sins again. You are washed clean.

But you still live in this world. You still get mucky. Jesus gives a practical example for his day. A man bathes before going to a feast. He is clean. But when he arrives at the feast after walking along the dusty road, he must wash his feet before reclining at the table. Not his whole body, just his feet. And so, we who get mucking in this life, whose old Adam still hangs around our neck must get our feet washed. This means we must let Jesus serve us.

If you do not let Jesus wash your feet you have no share in him. If you do not let Jesus serve you, you have no part in him. Jesus serves you by forgiving your sins. He does this through his Gospel preached and Sacraments administered.

On this fateful night of our Lord's betrayal, along with washing his disciples feet, Jesus also gave us a meal by which he serves us. This meal is his very body and blood given and shed once and for all on the cross. This meal is a gospel proclamation of Jesus' love, as he sacrificed himself in exchange for your body and soul. This meal is also Christ's continued service to you. This isn't a continuation of the sacrifice. Jesus has already finished the sacrifice. Rather, in the Sacrament Jesus serves us the fruit of this sacrifice. Everytime you receive the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus serves you. And every time your faith grasps the mystery of God's love in the Sacrament, you are made clean. If Jesus does not wash you, you have no share in him. If you refuse to hear his word and to receive his Sacrament you will remain in your filth. But if Jesus washes you, you will be clean indeed. Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

The Lord's Supper

A New Command I Give to You

Maundy Thursday: Jesus Creates Love in Our Hearts by Loving Us

Maundy Thursday: The Son of Man Came Not to be Served but to Serve

Maundy Thursday: Jesus Serves You with Complete Love

Rev. James Preus

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Categories

"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

The Lord's Supper

A New Command I Give to You

Maundy Thursday: Jesus Creates Love in Our Hearts by Loving Us

Maundy Thursday: The Son of Man Came Not to be Served but to Serve

﻿Maundy Thursday: Jesus Serves You with Complete Love

Rev. James Preus

Archives

Categories

Maundy Thursday: Jesus Serves You with Complete Love