Maundy Thursday + 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 & John 13:1-15 + March 29, 2018

In the Name of the Father and the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

On the night in which our Lord was betrayed, before His suffering began, He gave two things to His church. The first is that which we heard about in tonight’s Gospel lesson. After finishing the Passover meal with His disciples, washes His disciple’s feet. This was not an ordinary foot washing. Ordinarily this was one of the first things that would happen before a meal. It was also typically done by a servant. It’s a humble task to wash the desert dust and grime from another’s feet. Yet Jesus takes this humble task upon Himself in order to teach His disciples two things.

First, Christ wants to teach them what king of king and master He is. That Jesus would wash the feet of His disciples shows them that Jesus’ ministry is one of humble service to mankind. It is as He told them in Matthew 20:28, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” He shows them the nature of this service by taking upon Himself the job usually given to the lowest of servants. On Sunday we heard St. Paul say that Christ, “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:7). This is the kingdom of God that Christ brings. Our King comes as one who is humble and gentle of heart. He comes, not simply to wash twelve men’s feet. He serves all of humanity by humbling Himself to the point of death, even the death of the cross. By His death He opens upon a fountain which washes away sin and uncleanness for all who confess their sins and believe the gospel. This is His ministry. This is how His kingdom comes. “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me,” He says. So it that all who want a part with Christ and to receive His blessings must be washed by Him in the waters of Holy Baptism, “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

The second thing He teaches His disciples by washing their feet is how they will conduct their ministry in His name. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” Jesus is not leaving them with an ordinance or a ritual to be done in the church, as some would believe. He is given them an example to follow. “You should do as I have done to you.” It is as if He had said, “I have humbled myself and become as your servant. So you should humble yourselves and become as servants to one another.” St. Paul said to you on Sunday, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Christ washes their feet to show them that they are not to act as lords and rulers over others. They are to serve another in love, even as He has served them, not only in this foot washing, but throughout His ministry and most of all the selfless service He does for them in dying for their sins to win their salvation. This is the ultimate demonstration of His love for mankind. St. John would summarize this decades later when He wrote 1 John 4:10-11, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” You are to love your neighbor by serving them, by humbling yourself to do for them whatever needs to be done in any given moment, because Christ has served you by dying for your sins to win everlasting life for you. This is the first thing He gives to His church tonight: His example of selfless love and humble service. Since we have been washed in Holy Baptism and in those waters been “born of God” we ought to strive to love one another like this.

The second thing Christ gives to His church on the night in which He was betrayed is His very body and blood for Christians to eat and drink. Christ gave the foot washing as an example to follow, a mentality to imitate. This meal, though, is not given in the same way that the example of selfless service is given. This meal is given to church for her to do in Christ’s remembrance, “for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” This meal is far more than just a proclamation of Christ’s death though. Too many people want to hear only those words and not the words Jesus says first. “Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this is remembrance of me. This chalice is the new testament in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” It is not merely a memorial of Christ’s death. He gives His actual body and blood with the bread and the wine. “This is my body.” The very body that He offers as payment for our sins, He offers to His Christians to eat. Just as the Old Testament Israelites ate the flesh of their Passover lamb which was sacrificed for them, so Christians eat the body of the New Testament Passover, our Lord Jesus Christ.

“This is my blood.” Moses said in Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The very blood which flowed from Christ’s sacred veins on the cross is given to us to drink, the same blood that made atonement for our sins. The Israelites were, under no circumstances, to drink the blood of their sacrifices. This was to draw attention to Christ, our Passover lamb, whose blood would give to us to drink, not carnally, but sacramentally, so that we might have the life of Christ in us. It is as St. John writes in 1 John 1:7, “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” And that is precisely why Jesus gives His disciples, then and every time we do this in remembrance of Him. He gives us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink and thereby gives us the forgiveness of all our sins. St. Matthew records that Jesus said, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). In this sacrament Christ gives us the same flesh and blood by which He earned our salvation, so that He might impart that salvation to us as often as we eat and drink.

But St. Paul goes on to say that we must eat and drink worthily. This is because of what is being eaten and drunk in the Sacrament. If it were only bread and wine which we symbols of His body and blood, there would be no consequence for partaking without faith. But Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:16 that the cup of blessing which we bless, is the communion of the blood of Christ and the bread is communion with Christ’s body. Therefore we must come to the Lord’s Table for the Lord’s body and blood in faith, believing the Lord’s Words that this bread is truly His body, crucified for us, and that this wine is His very blood, poured out for us on the altar of the cross. We must examine ourselves and confess our sins. The entire point of the sacrament is to receive the forgiveness of sins. If we approach without penitent hearts, or if we approach with the intent to keep on sinning, then we eat and drink unworthily and bring judgment upon ourselves. This is one of the reasons we require communicants to have been properly instructed in the Lord’s Supper, along with all the Lord’s doctrine, for Jesus said that we are to observe “all things” that He has commanded, not just one part of His teaching. Let this suffice for us this evening, that Christ has given us an example of love and service to follow, along with His true body and blood for us to eat and drink, that by that body and blood we may once again receive all the benefits of the cross.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.