Eating and Drinking Redemption – Maundy Thursday

Eating and Drinking Redemption

Maundy Thursday T All Texts

INI

You have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. We use that word all the time in church – redeemed. It means purchased. Jesus has purchased you. He’s won you away from the domain and rule of the devil. Your sins no longer reign over you and cause you terror. That no longer owns you – Jesus does.

What currency did He use to purchase you? As Luther says in the second article of the Apostle’s Creed in the Small Catechism – “[He] has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood.”

It seems odd to say that blood has purchased us – especially in a culture and age where bloody sacrifices aren’t really a part of any public ritual or religious observances. But a bloodless Christianity is no Christianity at all. There’s no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.

Good Friday presents this gruesome reality to us. Jesus endured much suffering and anguish at the hands of greedy, corrupt men. Unknowingly, these men nailed the Lamb of God to a tree. His blood flowed out from His side to atone for the sins of the whole world.

Now, that’s very important. Without this objective fact in history, all else falls by the wayside. But this is what Maundy Thursday is all about – the blood of Jesus must come to us. It must cover us. It must forgive us. It must cleanse us – all with the result that eternal death may pass over us. Because it’s not enough that blood is shed – it must be APPLIED to YOU.

There’s a scene in Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ that characterizes this well. Towards the end of the movie, Jesus’ crucifixion was completed. Storms and earthquakes came, and the Roman commander told the centurion to make sure that Jesus was in fact dead. So, the man pierced Jesus’ side, and out flowed blood and water. The blood was caught by the wind and blew in the centurion’s face. In that moment, he knelt down and looked up at the crucified Savior in stunned disbelief at what they had just done. Surely, this man is the Son of God. And the point is this: that confession comes when the blood of Jesus is not just shed, but personally applied to him.

And that’s not just true of the Centurion – but for us all.

The Gospel lesson gives us the account of the Lord’s Supper. Many of these details we know well. Jesus and His disciples went to the Upper Room to celebrate the Passover meal together. Jesus warns of Judas’ betrayal. Strikingly, Jesus said it would be better if he had not been born than willingly betray His Lord. As a result of his crass unrepentant sin, he hung himself later after the betrayal. But Judas’ death couldn’t pay for sin – not even his own sin. He needed to be washed by the blood he betrayed – the blood that ran down the cross at Golgotha.

            All those narrative details we know. But the detail that really paints what’s happening spiritually and theologically at the Lord’s Supper is the fact that it was the Passover. Now, the Passover is the feast the Lord instituted in Exodus 12 right before God freed His people from Egypt. In observance with this feast, they were to sacrifice a lamb, drain its blood, and apply the blood to the doorposts, so that the angel of death would pass over (hence, the name) the houses of those covered by the blood of the Lamb, and then take the life of all the firstborn in Egypt.

            This teaches us – it’s one thing for the Lamb to be slaughtered. But the blood of the sacrifice must be applied to you – personally.

            The Old Testament reading from Exodus 24 shows just that. Even after coming out of the land of Egypt, the blood of sacrifice must be applied for cleansing. Not only was blood thrown against the altar and put into the basins. Then, after hearing the Words of their Lord, and his promises to them, they promised back – ‘everything that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And we will obey.’ Then, the blood of the sacrifice was applied to the people – literally, the blood was thrown over them – and Moses said “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

            Why was the blood put on them? To cleanse them. To atone for their sin. Because life is in the blood – and life needed to be paid with life. Having been covered in blood, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 elders went up the mountain and ate and drank while beholding God. Being covered in blood grants access to God.

            And then, here’s Jesus – the night before His crucifixion – sharing this meal with His disciples. The meal commenced as normal – the unleavened bread, bitter herbs, the lamb, and the wine were eaten and drank. But then towards the end of the meal, there was a departure from the normal rhythm of the night. Jesus took the last round of the unleavened bread, blessed it – which would have been the historical blessing – “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the Earth.”. He then broke the bread, and gave it to them. But he added these Words – “Take, eat, this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and said “Drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” With this addition, Jesus shows His disciples, the Jews, and us, that His goal isn’t to abolish the remembrance of the Passover in the New Covenant. Jesus isn’t rebellious against the Old Covenant. But He’s teaching us that the Old Covenant is fulfilled in what He presents in the New Covenant.

            Now, where a new covenant is given, the shedding of blood must take place. Hebrews 9:16 says, “For where there is a will involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.”

            And then in Hebrews, we see the spiritual layer that hovers over top the earthly one. The sacrifices of goats and bulls weren’t sufficient for the payment of sins. That old system was weak. They were pointing forward to and teaching us about the blood that covers all tribes, nations, languages, and people. And that blood comes to us through the meal that Christ has instituted for His Church to observe.

            Though – when we celebrate this meal, there’s more going on than what meets the eye. I’m not your priest. I don’t make the sacrifice and present it to God. Jesus is the high priest. He’s the one offering the sacrifice to the Father, in the tent made without hands in the heavenly places. He’s thrown His blood against the altar of heaven – paying for the sins of us here on earth. But as a priest, He doesn’t stop there – he covers YOU in His blood given in the Lord’s Supper. He gives you His body to eat, just as he gave the Israelites the Passover Lamb to eat on the night of their exodus.

            And so, when we behold the bread – it’s not merely bread. It’s God’s body. By eating it, you eat the Passover Lamb that was sacrificed on the cross. And when we drink of the cup – it’s not merely wine. It’s God’s blood that was shed to atone for your sins.

            By receiving this great gift, you are redeemed. Christ’s body and blood have bought you. The blood that has been shed has purchased you from sin, death, and the devil. The benefits of the cross have been applied to YOU, personally.

            And this should cause profound adoration and awe as we approach to receive these gifts tonight. Johann Gerhard, a Lutheran theologian in the 17^th century, once wrote in His book “Sacred Meditations” –

In the Holy Supper of our Lord we have a mystery placed before us that should cause the deepest awe and excite our profoundest adoration. There is the treasury and store-house of God’s grace. We know (Gen. 2:9) that the tree of life was planted by God in Paradise, that its fruit might preserve our first parents and their posterity in the blessedness of an immortality which He had bestowed upon them at their creation. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was also placed in Paradise; but that which God gave them for their salvation and eternal life, and to serve as a test of their obedience, became the occasion of their death and eternal condemnation, when they miserably yielded to Satan’s enticements and followed their own sinful desires. So, in this Holy Supper we have the true tree of life again set before us, that sweet tree (Ez. 47:12), whose leaves are for medicine and whose fruit is for salvation; its sweetness is such as to destroy the bitterness of all afflictions, and even of death itself.

            The fruit of your redemption is given to you here. Taste, and see that the Lord is good. For He gives you salvation into your mouths, to feed your faith unto life everlasting. The bread and the wine deliver our Lord’s body and blood – and tomorrow, you will meditate on the profound act of salvation God has undergone for you.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston