Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Gospel Lesson just read, from Matt. 26. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- A great deal of life involves both joy and sorrow, uniquely mixed and blended together. There are few if any things that bring complete and unmitigated joy, and there are few if any sorrows that have absolutely no silver linings. This was certainly the case that first Maundy Thursday, the very evening our Savior was betrayed and the process of His crucifixion began.
- We can see the complexity of Christ’s emotions in the words of our text. We can perhaps enter into His mind and thoughts vicariously through the account written by St. Matthew. However, mere human minds are finite – I’m certain that the mind of God fathomed what to us would be a dizzying array of joys and sorrows.
- Certainly there was nothing light or flippant about that evening – what Jesus was facing and what He communicated to His disciples. Yet, looking beyond His impending suffering and death, Jesus was able to see and joyfully contemplate the fruit of His sacrifice in the Father’s kingdom.
- It is important for us to understand how God works things for good in the midst of the tragedy of this fallen world, how evil is certainly taken seriously for what it is, and yet how evil can never ultimately win. The events of that evening, that whole weekend, serve as a template for our lives today – how we are to understand the evils of our times, and yet live in the joy of knowing God’s ultimate victory. We live in this paradox confident of His love, and looking forward also to what God has promised is coming.
- First we note that:
I. On This Night Christ Blended The Passover Into The Communion Of His Very Body And Blood – Given And Shed For Us For The Forgiveness Of Sins
Text: “’My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.’ . . . Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, ‘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.’”
Statement: You remember the original Passover, when the angel of death “passed over” the houses of the children of Israel upon whose homes the blood of the lambs was painted. What Jesus gives to us in this precious meal is a much greater deliverance – but one accomplished by the blood of the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, and a true and actual application of His blood to us. The deliverance is not from temporal physical death, but from eternal death in hell; not from earthly enemies but from the power of the devil.
Application: The words of Jesus are short and simple, very straightforward. As such I suppose they invite shallow people to “allegorize” them – we weren’t there, enmeshed in the solemnity of the evening, struck by the forcefulness of Jesus’ presence, His gravity, looking into His eyes. Had we been there we would suffer no temptation to allegorize – although the weightiness of His gift in the Sacrament would still humble us and fill us with awe.
Transition: The seriousness of the moment was surely not lost on the disciples, for we see from Matthew’s account of that evening that:
II. At That Very Moment There Was Great Sorrow
A. First, At The Mention Of Jesus’ Betrayal
Text: “As they were eating, He said, ‘Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.’ And they were very sorrowful and began to say to Him one after another, ‘Is it I, Lord?’”
B. They Were Also Sorrowful For The Ominous Statement Of Jesus In Regard To The Upcoming Events
Text: “The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
Statement: You can imagine what you would have been feeling had you been part of that group, and had been forced to ask “Is it I, Lord?” Perhaps you have come to deep sorrow and grief over your sinful thoughts and actions and have pondered to the Lord – “Could that really have been me?” Multiply that sorrow many times over – if you have any sense of love and loyalty and decency, and you will sense the sorrow of these disciples. And while they understood at some level what Christ had come to do for them, it was difficult for them draw any solace from that as they were considering the imminence of His crucifixion. I’m sure the whole evening must have been very poignant and in the moment, and yet also so deep as to seem almost surreal.
Application: So we too should have real and great sorrow as we go through life in this fallen world. We are not yet in the Father’s Kingdom – but in this world below, and that means that we too will face the reality of sin and death, our own and that of others. We will have disappointments, failures, and suffering – others will also betray us. And we will have to sorrowfully contemplate our own betrayals of others. But we must remember above all things what Jesus has done for us. He endured all of this so that we might have forgiveness and cleansing in His blood, and the sure and certain hope of peace with God and eternal life.
Yes, we can try to get rid of the extremes, to whittle life down to “blips” on the radar – but this is delusional, for real life is existential and poignant, and even God is serious and grave about human life and being. With Christ our Savior by our side we can enter the depths of sorrow with the assurance of His love, and the promise of better things to come. For as we see in our text, Jesus was also thinking ahead, and He assured the disciples that:
III. Great Glory And Joy Was Surely Coming Soon – Eating And Drinking With Christ In The Father’s Kingdom
Text: “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Statement: Imagine that soon we will be with Jesus in the Father’s kingdom – where there is no more sorrow, pain, aging, death, or dying, where God Himself wipes all tears from our eyes. We receive a very concrete “foretaste” of this joy and blessedness each time we receive His body and blood along with the bread and wine – and along with it the forgiveness of all our sins. This helps us to hold on tight to the promise of coming glory – even in the midst of the darkest and the worst woeful human experiences here and now. All of this is Christ’s will for us, His provision for us, for our greatest good.
Application: So let us not shy away from the poignancy of this evening in the life of Christ, in the holy history of our salvation. And let us not shy away from the poignancy of life in this fallen world of sin – neither from the great disappointments and sorrows, nor from the warmth and joy of God’s love in Christ Jesus. And let us allow the glorious thought, the promise of Jesus, that we will be drinking the fruit of the vine with Jesus in our Father’s kingdom, to strengthen our courage and fortitude and joy! This is no Viking Valhalla but the Kingdom of God – and it will be the Lord Jesus that we fellowship with!
Conclusion: As we look at how the Father wove all things together – both immense sorrow and great blessedness and joy – for the gift of our salvation, let us have no fear or doubt that He is doing the same for us to this very day. Though it sometimes seems that we are in the valley, overshadowed by the good and evil of this present world, in reality God has already elevated His children above good and evil, so that whatever we are passing through can only contribute to greater good and blessedness for us.
Come now, let us feast with Him in the precious meal that He has given us for this time and place; and let us look forward with great joy to the fulfillment of His promise in our heavenly home. Like He was that evening, we are even now “ON THE CUSP.” Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting. Amen.