Thursday, April 13, 2017

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday (A)
April 13, 2017
Text: Matt. 26:17-30; LSB 617

            We must always make a distinction between the way our Lord Jesus wins our salvation, and the way He gives it to us.  Dr. Luther carefully makes the distinction for us in his Against the Heavenly Prophets: “We treat of the forgiveness of sins in two ways.  First, how it is achieved and won.  Second, how it is distributed and given to us.  Christ has achieved it on the cross, it is true.  But he has not distributed or given it on the cross.  He has not won it in the supper or sacrament.  There he has distributed and given it through the Word, as also in the gospel, where it is preached.  He has won it once for all on the cross.  But the distribution takes place continuously, before and after, from the beginning to the end of the world… If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there.  Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ, as Dr. Karlstadt trifles, in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either.  But I will find in the sacrament or gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross” (AE 40:213-14).  The point is, you can’t go to the cross when you need forgiveness and life.  We don’t have the cross anymore, and even if we did, it wouldn’t do you any good.  It would be an interesting museum piece, perhaps, but ultimately a useless relic and an object of superstition.  Jesus won our forgiveness on the cross, but He hasn’t attached His Word to the wood in such a way that we are to seek forgiveness there.  Instead, He takes bread and says, “This is my body, given for you.”  And He takes wine and says, “This is my blood, shed for you.  Eat it, drink it, in remembrance of me.”  That is to say, the very body given into death for you on the cross, the very blood shed for you on the cross, is given into your mouth here and now in the Holy Communion.  The Supper makes what happened there and then present for you here and now.
            We sing of this in Luther’s marvelous Communion hymn, “O Lord, We Praise Thee.”  It’s hymn 617 if you want to follow along as we meditate on the hymn verses.  “O Lord, we praise Thee, bless Thee, and adore Thee, In thanksgiving bow before Thee” (v. 1).  Luther paints a picture of the Divine Service for us as we gather around the altar with one another, and with angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven.  We are singing.  We are praising.  We bless His saving Name.  And of all things, we bow in adoration, and even kneel, before bread and wine, as if this food and drink were God Himself.  Because it is.  It is the true body and blood of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.  Think about that when you come to the Supper tonight, and each time you come before the altar.  The way you carry yourself, your gestures, your disposition, these are a confession of the bodily presence of Jesus in the Supper.  You wouldn’t bow if it were just bread and wine.  That would be idolatry.  But here the Lord’s own body is under the bread, and His own blood is under the wine, and so you act accordingly.  And what you do says something about what is going on here.  It preaches a sermon to all who witness it.  This is what St. Paul means when he says that as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26).
            We give thanks.  Eucharist, another name for the Lord’s Supper, literally means thanksgiving.  We thank God by receiving His gifts.  We thank Jesus by receiving Him into ourselves.  Now, don’t misunderstand.  This does not make the Supper our work.  Why are we so thankful according to the hymn?  Because by His body and blood Jesus feeds and nourishes us so that our weak souls may flourish.  We are beggars, starving and destitute, and here the Lord of heaven and earth bids us feast at His Table!  And the fare is sumptuous indeed, the very body born of the Virgin Mary that carried our sins to the cross, the very blood poured out on Calvary for our forgiveness, now courses through our veins and pleads for us before the throne of God in every trial, fear, and need.  The Father cannot turn His back on the blood of His Son.  Therefore He cannot turn His back on you, for the body and blood of Jesus makes you one with the Savior.
            “Thy holy body into death was given, Life to win for us in heaven,” we sing in v. 2.  “Lord, Thy kindness did so constrain Thee That Thy blood should bless and sustain me.”  Note again how Luther connects what happened there and then on the cross to what happens here and now in the Supper.  The body of Jesus was given into death for us on the cross.  Now it is given to us here for our eternal life and salvation.  The blood of Jesus was shed there on the cross.  Now it is given to us here in the chalice to bless and sustain us.  Our debt is paid in full.  God no longer holds our sins against us.  The proof is in the gift given here, the body and blood of Jesus for our forgiveness, life, and salvation. 
            On the basis of all of this, v. 3 of the hymn is a prayer that closely resembles our post-Communion collect, which was also written by Dr. Luther; namely, that being refreshed through this salutary gift, we would, of God’s mercy, be strengthened in faith toward God and fervent love toward one another.  Faith and love.  Vertical and horizontal.  Helpfully, it makes the sign of the holy cross.  We pray in the hymn that God would bestow on us His grace and favor to follow Christ our Savior: Faith toward God.  And so also we pray that we would live together here in the Church in love and union: Fervent love toward one another.  We pray that by this Supper the Spirit would make us heavenly minded: Faith toward God.  We pray that Jesus would give His Church to see days of peace and unity: Fervent love toward one another.  That for which we pray is bestowed in the Holy Supper.  As we commune with Jesus, receiving His body and blood, so we commune with one another, one body in Christ.  Receiving the body of Christ makes us the body of Christ.  You are what you eat, or in this case, who you eat and drink. 
            And so Luther’s hymn captures the great mystery that is the Holy Supper of Jesus’ body and blood.  Just compare it with the Catechism: “What is the Sacrament of the Altar?  It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink… What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?  These words, ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,’ show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words… How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?  Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins’”… Who receives this sacrament worthily?... that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’”[1]  Do you sense a running theme in all of this?  The body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.  Is your conscience troubled?  Are you loaded down with guilt?  Do you need Jesus, the real one, the flesh and blood Jesus, the flesh and blood God?  Run to the altar!  You will meet Him there.  And He will give you everything He accomplished at the cross.  He will give you Himself, His body and blood, crucified for you.  He will give you Himself, risen from the dead and living.  What happened there and then is given to you here and now, by the real, tangible Jesus who is here, now.  O Lord, we praise Thee, bless Thee, and adore Thee, in thanksgiving bow before Thee.  For You are here in Your very body and blood.  And as You once gave Yourself for us, now You give Yourself to us: Given and shed for us, for the forgiveness of sins.  Praise be to Thee, O Christ.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.      



[1] Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986).  

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