SERMON 493
MAUNDY THURSDAY –
JEREMIAH 31:31-34, 1 CORINTHIANS 11:17-32, JOHN
13:1-17, PSALM 116:10-17
A MEMORABLE MEAL INDEED!
Beloved in the Lord, grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.
We will, for a few moments
this evening, reflect on the A MEMORABLE MEAL INDEED.
Now while the disciples
remembered that evening many years later with joy and recorded it for our
benefit, it was not a meal that initially brought them joy, nor would it have
been an experience that they would have written home about to their parents. It
was a terrible evening. The atmosphere was tense and filled with foreboding.
They were arguing among themselves. Their teacher had made some absolutely
terrible forecasts about his future. The city was filled with enemies and
intrigue. Jesus had announced that one in their midst would betray him. They
had all denied that they would, but were filled with fear. There were surely not
many smiles or light hearted jokes that whole evening. To make matters worse,
their master had taken a towel and basin and washed all their feet over Peter’s
protest. It had also been predicted that this same Peter would deny him three
times. Everyone was on edge. You could literally smell disaster in the air. It
was not for them, on that evening, A MEMORABLE MEAL INDEED!
The disciples would certainly
not have placed their bets on this last meal being A MEMORABLE MEAL INDEED. The
world around us, impressed as it is with elegance and fanfare, is little
impressed with the supper that we Christians attend every Lord’s day. We
ourselves have deep and abiding memories of meals with family and friends on so
many special occasions. But no meal can ever compare with the memorable meal
that our Lord left with us. No other meal in the history of human kind has been
repeated so many times and always in memory of him. “Do this,” he said, “in
memory of me.”
What is it that makes of this
meal such A MEMORABLE MEAL INDEED?
First it is supper that never
ends. It is true that the one who prepared this meal for us died shortly after.
It is true that he told us specifically to do it in memory of him. But it is a
meal that never ends because the same host has risen from the dead and is
present as host at every supper where we gather in his name. He is present in
the Spirit. He gives of himself for us to eat and drink, his body and his blood
in the bread and in the wine. It is a meal that never ends because He is always
present.
Second, it is a meal that
provides every one of the guests with a clean slate. When one is a guest in a
home or at a banquet, no matter how delightful the evening, we often come home
with a tinge of regret for something we said or did that was inappropriate. We
often wish we could call back some of those words in such a manner that no one
there ever heard them. The meal we participate in this evening actually
provides for us a clean slate. We are forgiven, the words and deeds forgotten
forever; a clean slate.
Third, it is a memorable meal
because it brings with it a clean heart. Heart transplants have a reality in
our day. There is a book written by a lady who had received by transplant a new
heart and a new lung. In the book she talks about the odd change of habit and
or preference in life that she experienced receiving the heart of a different
person within her. The changes we experience in Christ are not so subtle.
Jeremiah predicted that when
God established his new covenant we would receive a new heart. Paul calls this
meal a new covenant in his blood, recalling the words of Jeremiah. One of the
benefits of Christ’s work on the cross, in our baptism and in this supper is a
new heart. And this heart brings with it the characteristics of the maker and
the giver of this new heart. This new heart has the characteristics of Christ,
made to love and trust and fear God above everything else and to love our
neighbor and our brother and sister as ourselves. It is a heart like the heart
of Christ.
Fourth, this memorable meal
does something quite dramatic. It makes missionaries of us all. We often regret
that we are not as bold in our confession of Christ as we ought to be and that
we miss opportunities to tell others of the goodness and graciousness of our
God. We are missionaries, nevertheless. Paul tells us that when we celebrate
this meal we actually proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. This is a meal
for missionaries.
Fifth, this memorable meal
brings with it for us the food of immortality. We need daily bread to sustain
our life and provide us with the energy we require for work and daily living.
We are the fortunate of this earth. Many on our globe have to be satisfied with
one or two meals a day. We eat of this meal but once a week, sometimes twice, and
yet it provides for us all that we need to sustain us in our walk of faith.
Jesus became human like us and for us. In this meal we are given the food that
helps us put on the divine nature of our risen Lord. This is the food of
immortality, the food of everlasting life, preparing us for an eternal weight
of glory.
Sixth, this memorable meal
brought with it, a new commandment. Our Lord took a towel, as it is recorded in
John, and proceeded to wash the disciple’s feet. Peter protested as he was
always inclined to do, but got nowhere. Our Lord by his example proceeded to
teach his disciples about the true nature of discipleship, for the life of the
disciple was to be the life of a servant.
This new commandment sounds
very much like the old commandment, but it is entirely new and those who eat
and drink of the Lord’s table take upon themselves both the clothing of a
servant and the delight of following an entirely new commandment.
The old commandment, as Jesus
articulated it goes like this. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as
yourself.” Jesus has now told us that we are to love one another as he has
loved us. Now what in the world is the difference? The difference is subtle but
the difference is also extraordinary.
There is a great difference
between loving someone else as we love ourselves and loving another as Christ
has loved us. In the first place we are not able to even love ourselves as we
ought so how can we love our neighbor is we do not know how to love ourselves
properly. We do have a new standard and that standard is Christ.
We have the example of Christ
and his dealings with his family, his friends, his disciples, those who came to
him for help, those who came to trip him up We have the example of how he dealt
with his enemies. Then we have the example of Christ giving up his own life for
all of us named above.
This new commandment has been
with us now for 2000 years. But we will not know what is really like until we
try it. A loving and forgiving people are what we are called to be. Once we try
it we will never let it go because of the joy and fulfillment that it will
bring. This commandment actually brings what it commands, love and forgiveness.
As we gather tonight both to
remember and to participate in this most memorable meal let us remember what it
brings and put it to the best use possible in our lives. It is the meal that
never ends, that brings a clean slate, that brings and renews a new heart, that
makes of us and reminds us that we are missionaries, that provides immortality,
the divine nature and food for our journey of faith, and that reminds us always
of the new commandment that is our treasure. It is A MEMORABLE MEAL INDEED!