Maundy Thursday

John13:1-15 - Maundy Thursday - April 2, 2015
Who Receives Christ Worthily?

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Let us pray:

Lamb of God, pure and holy, who on the cross didst suffer,
Ever patient and lowly, Thyself to scorn didst offer.
All sins Thou borest for us, else had despair reigned o’er us:
Have mercy on us, O Jesus!  Amen. 

These words were written by Nikolaus Decius in 1531 at the height of the Lutheran Reformation.  It was a hymnic version of the Agnus Dei, which for generations had been sung exclusively in Latin.  Agnus Dei simply means Lamb of God, as in, O Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.  Decius wrote this hymn in order to bring this prayer into the language of the people.  But even as much as the people needed these words in their own language, they needed to understand what these words really meant – what the words actually teach us.  And this hymn kind of spells it out for us.  That’s the purpose of a hymn – to preach a sermon of sorts:

O Thou Lamb of God:  Well, what does it mean for Christ to be the Lamb of God?  It means that he is the sacrifice that God himself has chosen.  It means that he is pure and holy and innocent, because only a spotless lamb could be offered as a sacrifice to God.  So Jesus lived obediently to God in your stead in order that he might serve as an acceptable offering for your sin. 

O Thou Lamb of God that takest away sin:  Well, how does he take away sin?  He offers himself to suffer scorn upon the cross in patience and lowliness. He takes your place not only in fulfilling the law, but in enduring the law’s severe condemnation which stood against you.  He takes your sin away by making it his own.  He makes it his own by willingly accepting his eternal Father’s command that he pay for it as his own.  The Father lays on him thy guilt.  For thee his precious blood is spilt to bless thee with salvation. 

O Thou Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world:  And finally what does it mean that he bore the sin of the world?  Well, this is what I’d like to focus on this evening.  It means he took away our sins too.  All sins Thou borest.  Otherwise despair would have reigned over us. 

Unless Jesus had taken away every single sin that has ever been committed in the world and by the world, we would have no true hope that he has taken away our sin.  That’s what despair is.  Consider Judas.  He had no doubt that Jesus was merciful.  But he could not believe that he would be merciful to him.  If Christ had borne only most sins, or only the sins of those who truly love him, then there would be room for you to doubt too, wouldn’t there?  The sins that have been like hooks in your flesh that tug at you, the sins that you, like a dog returning to its vomit, have permitted to become a habit at times, the sins that you would never admit to anyone even anonymously because they are so shameful even to speak them out loud – these sins would particularly trouble you as maybe the kind that God is still angry at. 

But Jesus has borne all sins.  And for whom did he bear them?  For us.  All sins Thou borest for us.  He didn’t bear them for someone else only.  He bore them for you.  What good would it do you if he bore the sins of others for you?  No, he bore your sins for you.  Are not your sins included in all sins?  Are you not part of the world to whom Jesus was sent to save and not condemn?  Does not St. John the Baptist speak also to you when he tells you to look to Christ? : “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

So take heart.  Whatever it was – whatever it is – whatever you are so afraid won’t leave your treacherous heart, whatever temptation you know is waiting for you when you go home tonight and when you start your day tomorrow — these are the failures that Jesus did not fail to bear in perfect patience for you.  Did he not come to serve you?  Did he not come to make you clean?  Yes he did.  Did he even exclude Judas when kneeling before his sinful students to wash their feet as a servant?  No he did not.  And he will not exclude you.  Even if some good case could be brought against you to convince him otherwise, the deed is already done.  Jesus has already borne your sins on the cross.  They are paid for.  You are forgiven.  Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

It is because of the certainty that this provides – the fact that Jesus has borne all sins – none excluded – that the Church sings the Agnus Dei as the first hymn during the distribution of the Lord’s Supper – right after the words of institution.  With this hymn, we confess what it is we receive, the benefit it gives, and for whom it is offered. 

The bread and wine on the altar that we come forward to receive is in fact the very body and blood of him who bore all sin on the cross.  It is the very body and blood that John the Baptist pointed to in the Jordan— “Behold the Lamb of God.”   We cannot look to him in the Jordan.  But we can look to him in the bread and wine.  We know this because he said so: “This is my body; this is my blood.”  Is means is.  The Jesus who knew what he was doing when he consented to suffer and die also knew what he was saying when he offered his body and blood for us Christians to eat and to drink.  What this Sacrament is and the benefit it gives go hand in hand.  If what is on the altar is not what was on Calvary, then it gives nothing.  But if it is, then it delivers everything. 

So why is this hard to believe?  It offends reason.  But consider.  Your salvation depends on your reason being offended. 

What is a greater thing, what is more impossible for human reason to accept?  That almighty God so loved all mankind as to join himself to our human nature to give his life for all?  Or that the incarnate Lord would so love us as to join himself to bread and wine to give his life to us?  What is easier to accept?  The greater or the lesser?  Indeed, the lesser delivers to us the greater. 

What is a greater thing?  That the holy God who experiences the scorn of all sinners nonetheless endures all sin to win their salvation?  Or that he looks on you, knowing perfectly well your sin, and in mercy brings this salvation to you?  What is more impossible to accept, the greater or the lesser?  Indeed, the greater would do you no good without the lesser. 

What is a greater thing?  That God would continue to love the wicked world who rejects him?  Or that God would continue to serve his Church with whom he has promised to remain?  What is easier to accept, the greater or the lesser?  Yes indeed, the greater would do us no good apart from the lesser.  God became Man.  This bread and wine really are the body and blood of Christ.  If the greater is true.  The lesser must also be true.  We believe both of these truths for the same reason.  Jesus said so.  He speaks the truth. 

What Christian could deny the former?  God is our Savior.  God becomes a Man.  God rescues sinners.  God dies and God rises from the dead.  And yet many Christians deny the latter – that this same God who contained himself in the form of a little baby and a suffering servant on a cross could also contain himself in wafers and wine.  “Impossible,” they say.  But how sad.  Since this is where all the benefits that he labored for us in his innocent death are brought to us.  

“The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).  But is he done serving?  Is the service he rendered on the cross just something that we learn about and then think about and then choose to believe?  No.  No one could believe it if Jesus did not continue to serve us.  He continues to wash us.  In Holy Baptism, he washes our sins away and makes our robes white in his blood.  (Now that’s symbolic, of course, for the forgiveness that Baptism gives.  We’re not wearing robes and blood doesn’t bleach.) 

But in the Supper that Jesus instituted on the night he was betrayed, he did not speak symbolically.  He spoke literally.  The grammar demands it and faith accepts it.  “Take eat, take drink; this is my body, this is my blood.”  He tells us to do this in remembrance of him.   He says it is for the forgiveness of our sins. 

What confidence, then, we have to cry to this One for mercy, since we know that he who bore all sins is not far away, nor here to judge.  He gives his body and blood in order that we may receive the forgiveness he won!  We cry for mercy not as a distant plea.  We cry for mercy because his mercy is near.  It is laid before us where the Lamb of God gives himself for us to eat and drink and so benefit from the sacrifice that saves us.  For whom is this supper intended?  It is intended for sinners who need their sins taken away.  It is intended for those who know their need to be served by Jesus. 

We do not base our salvation on how strong our faith is.  We base our faith on how sure Christ’s promise is.  We trust in what Christ has done and we trust in what he gives us.  This is why we sing these words every Sunday right before we receive the Lord’s Supper.  

O Christ, Thou Lamb of God
That takest away the sin of the world,
Have mercy upon us! 

This teaches us where the forgiveness of sins is found, what its benefit is to us, and who it is for.  It is found in him who bore all sins.  It is for those who want their sins forgiven. 

How do you know you are worthy?  Consider what you need from God.  And consider what he gives you.  Do you need it?  Does he give it?  If the greater is true—that God became man to take all sin away – then the lesser is no obstacle for God—that Christ gives his body and blood to you to assure you that your sins are forgiven too.  If the greater is true—that all sins were borne by Christ – then the lesser is true—that your sins are forgiven, and that this Sacrament gives you the salvation that Jesus won.  It is greater and lesser as far as how impossible it seems.  But it is all the same salvation as far as our faith is concerned.  We come to be served by the Lamb of God who bore all sins.  Here he transcends time and space to serve us with eternal food. 

When we live our lives being served by Christ then we better understand our own lives of service.  The more we are served by Christ the more we see the need of Christ’s healing in our lives.  The more we receive the forgiveness of our sins the more we hate and abhor the sins we commit against each other.  In his holy Sacrament, Jesus declares us righteous, absolving us of our sins.  And by doing this, he increases in us a desire to walk in righteousness.  The righteousness that he credits to us is his own humble obedience to God.  He therefore strengthens in us a desire to pursue such humility toward one another.  As he unites himself to us he increases in us the desire to serve him.  As he bears with us in our weakness he increases in us the desire to bear with our fellow Christians in love. 

So as we receive the Lord’s Supper, we confess together that we need our Lord’s service.  We need Jesus to serve us.  And so he does.  He serves us by taking away our sins.  To have Christ as your Servant means to eat and drink what he has to give you, not doubting, but firmly believing that through this body and blood you have peace with your Maker.  He therefore continues to give us peace with each other as we follow his example. Amen.[1]

Let us pray:

O Jesus, grant us Thy peace!  Amen. 

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[1] Plagiarized.  J Ran out of time.  This is well said.