Maundy Thursday
(C)
April 14, 2022
Text: Luke 22:7-20
The
Passover is unique among Old Testament Feasts, in that it is centered in the
home rather than the Temple. The
Passover is eaten with the family. The
liturgy is led by the head of the household, the father. If the family is too small to consume a whole
lamb, perhaps another small family would be invited. But the point is, communion in the eating of
the Passover Lamb is what unites the members of the family. The Lamb’s blood saves all in the house from
the angel of death. The blood on the
doorposts and lintel, smeared in the sign of the cross, causes God’s wrath to
pass over. Thus by the Passover Lamb
that has been slain, the family has union with God, union with one another, and
is protected by the blood. “You shall
observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever… And when your
children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is
the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the
people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses’”
(Ex. 12:24, 26-27; ESV). He spared the
lives of the Israelite firstborn. He
spared their families. He protected them
and fed them in the house. And the head
of the family was to teach this in a simple way to his household. The Passover is a family meal.
But
our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night in which He was betrayed, did not eat the
Passover with His mother Mary and His brothers and sisters. What does He say? “Where is the guest room, where I may eat
the Passover with my disciples?” (Luke 22:11; emphasis added). “And he said to [His disciples], ‘I have
earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (v.
15; emphasis added). And don’t miss what
is happening here. Jesus is not
boycotting His nuclear family celebration of the holy feast. This is not like skipping out on the family at
Christmas for a ski trip with friends.
Nor is this to disparage family ties of blood and marriage. Jesus is all for family values. But here our Lord proclaims an even more intimate
union. Jesus is showing us that those
who follow Him and gather at His Table constitute a new and greater Family, the
Family of God. It is as He said earlier
in His ministry, when He was told His mother and brothers were standing outside
desiring to see Him. “My mother and
my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke
8:21). The Church is God’s House, and
those gathered within it are a Family united by blood, the blood of Jesus
Christ, God’s Son.
Jesus
is our true Passover Lamb, as St. John the Baptist proclaims, “Behold, the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and as St.
Paul preaches, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor.
5:7). St. Peter declares, “you were
ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with
perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). As the Family of God, we come into the House
of God, our Father, to eat the Lamb of our redemption, Jesus Christ His Son,
protected and saved from the angel of death by His blood that covers us.
And
there is a certain way that we enter.
Just as the disciples prepared to eat the Passover with Jesus by
following the man with the water jar into the house (Luke 22:10), so we prepare
and come into the House by means of the water of the font. That is, we are baptized into Christ, into
the Red Sea waters of His blood and death, and into His saving resurrection
life.
When
we come within, the Lord instructs us in the ways of His Kingdom, even as He
instructed His disciples who reclined with Him at Table. There He said that He would not eat the
Passover again “until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (v.
16). So also He told them that He would “not
drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (v. 18). In this way, He teaches us what the Kingdom
of God is. It is not simply when
He comes again in glory on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead,
though that will certainly be the full manifestation of His Kingdom. We know that Jesus will eat and drink any
number of times with His disciples prior to His ascension into heaven. So what does He mean? He means this will be His final Passover meal
(and the final Old Testament Passover, period!), and the last time He drinks
wine with His disciples, until He has decisively and comprehensively
established His Kingdom by His death and resurrection. And then it will be all eating and drinking
with Jesus, all the time. Gathering with
Him at Table, where He is both Host and Meal.
Gathering, teaching, and eating. He
makes this abundantly clear after His resurrection when He appears to the
Emmaus disciples. Jesus comes to them,
and walks with them on the Way, interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning Himself (24:27). And
then He enters the house with them and joins them at table, where they
recognize Him in the breaking of the bread (v. 35). In every resurrection appearance, Jesus
teaches His disciples, and in nearly every resurrection appearance, He
eats with them. And this is to say, the
Kingdom has come. Jesus wins His
Kingdom by His death and resurrection.
Jesus brings His Kingdom to us as He gathers us together, teaches
us, and feeds us with His true body and blood.
And so, He abides with us. This
is how He will continue to be with us, with His Family, the new Family
of God. He will be with us in the
preaching of the Scriptures and the Breaking of the Bread. He will be with us in His Word and
Sacrament. This is real presence
language.
His
body is the true manna we need as we travel through the wilderness of this
world, the living Bread from Heaven that gives life to the world (John 6:51). The bread of the Sacrament is His very body
given into death on the cross for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. It is the very body raised to life for us, to
be our own righteousness and life. The
wine of the Sacrament is the blood that sprinkles us clean and atones for our
sins. It is His very blood poured out on
the cross for us. And it is this very
blood that once again courses through His risen veins. In the eating and drinking of the Holy
Supper, this crucified and risen body and blood becomes a part of us. Jesus gives it into our mouths. He hand-feeds us, so that He is in us, really
and truly, bodily, and becomes one with us, really and truly, bodily. When Jesus says He is with us, He
means all the way.
And
in this way, the blood of Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, marks this House,
this congregation, and every one of us within it, with the sign
of the holy cross. As we will sing on
Easter Day, “See, His blood now marks our door, Faith points to it; death
passes o’er, And Satan cannot harm us” (LSB 458:5). And so, in the Communion of this Passover Lamb,
this Family lives together here in love and union (LSB 617:3). Union with God. Union with each other. All in Christ, the Son. Christ is with us, and we with Him, and so
with one another. Even as one cup is
filled with the wine of many grapes, and one bread made from countless grains,
so we are one Family in Christ. St. Paul
says it this way: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation,”
that is, Communion, “in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a
participation,” that is, Communion, “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 Cor.
10:16-17). So it is in this Family. We are one.
Now,
as is always the case this side of glory, we know family dynamics can be
complicated. We are sinners, and we sin
against God, and we sin against one another.
But in the death of this Lamb, all sin is forgiven. God forgives us for Christ’s sake. And as a result, we forgive one another for
Christ’s sake. We love one another. We serve one another. We’re there for each other. He makes it so in this Holy Communion. And so, for all our individual weaknesses,
and for all our varied flaws, there is always a place for us in this House, and
at this Table, by grace; for love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). There is always a place for us to hear the
Word of God, and do it. To eat the
Lord’s Passover, marked by His blood. To
dwell, safe and secure, with brothers and sisters who love us. Jesus earnestly desires to have us here, with
Him. There is always a place for us in
Jesus.
Here
we are in our Father’s House. The Lamb
which has been slain is on the Table under bread and wine. Jesus has taught us the way of His
Kingdom. Now He gives the Kingdom to us
to eat and drink. If it is asked, “What
do you mean by this service?”, we must surely answer, “It is the Sacrament of
the Lord’s Passover. For He passed over
us when He struck Jesus in His wrath over our sin. Jesus died our death, to spare us. And now the risen Jesus gathers us in His
House, as His Family, to eat the Passover Feast.” The Passover is to be eaten in the Home. And here we are. Come, dear Family, come to the Table. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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