Maundy Thursday - 03/28/13 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “The New
Covenant is official!”
Scripture Lesson: Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
Gospel Lesson: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Good evening brothers and sisters! What a joy and a pleasure it is to be
with you on this Maundy Thursday, during this our Holy Week. The week that is
that is the holiest week in our Christian calendar. The week death is defeated
and new life is offered to all of humanity. The week were we as people of
Christian faith, prepare our hearts and our minds for the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
While tomorrow Jesus will give himself
up for us all, to take away the sins of the world, tonight we find ourselves in
Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover festival. The Jewish Passover festival
was, and still is for our Jewish brothers and sisters, a major Jewish holiday
indeed. This is a holiday that was and is often full of food, many Seder
dinners, and much prayer and devotion. For the Passover festival, was and is a
joyous time.
While Jesus entered the gates of the
city of Jerusalem this past Sunday on our Palm Sunday, as a high and mighty
king, he is soon going to become the suffering king. He is soon going to the
cross, to die for the sins of the world, to make a new way to almighty God, and
to teach us how to live and to how treat one another.
Tonight however, Jesus and his twelve
disciples will sit down for a Seder dinner, in an upper room that Jesus had two
of his apostles acquire for the evening. It wasn’t a home that Jesus or any of
his followers owned. They were in fact, guests as if they were in a hotel for
the night. During this dinner, much like many other dinners that the disciples
had with Jesus, there was most likely great conversation, laughter, and a discussion
of this new kingdom that Jesus was ushering in.
Yet amidst all of this, Jesus took
some bread, unleavened or flat looking bread in this case, as it was the
Passover, and he lifted to almighty God and blessed it. Then he broke it and told
the disciples to “take and eat, this is my body broken for you, for the
forgiveness of sins”. Likewise, when the supper was over, Jesus raised the cup
of wine that he had, which was likely a simple wooden cup, and he lifted this
cup to almighty God and blessed it. Jesus then told his disciples that, “this
is the blood of the new covenant,” and then told them to “this is my blood shed
for you, drink this as often as you gather in remembrance of me”. “In
Remembrance of Me,” those words that adorn so many alter tables, in so many
churches worldwide.
The disciples most likely didn’t fully
understand the significance of what Jesus was doing during this dinner. Jesus
however, knew as he had said, that “his hour was drawing near”. That soon, very
soon in fact, he would free the world with one hammer and three nails. He would
free me, and free you, with his very flesh and his blood. Jesus in his infinite
love even serves Judas Iscariot this first ever “Holy Communion”, this new
sacrament, this “New Covenant”. As we all know, Judas Iscariot will then betray
the Lord of life, even after Jesus has served him the bread and the wine of
life.
Yet on this night, “The
New Covenant is official”! Jesus didn’t just teach us something nice, with this
the first Holy Communion, but he gave us literally a new sacrament. A sacrament,
being a gift from almighty God which is a way that God fills us with his Holy
Spirit. God has given us this sacrament of communion then, to help too give us
the fullness of our Christian faith. This is why the sacrament of Baptism for
example, is such a big deal in the Christian Church, as well as Jesus gave us
this gift through John the Baptist.
In the sacrament of Holy Communion though, Jesus isn’t just saying, eat
this bread and drink this cup, just to jog your memory of his love, but he is
saying that there is power at the dinner table of the Lord! That the Lord’s
Supper, that this bread and this juice is infused in this sacrament with
spiritual power. That we are now partaking of something new, something unique, something
different, and something that can only be experienced in Holy Communion. This
communion, this Eucharist, is the Holy gift of Jesus Christ that he asks us to
partake in, not just to remember him, so that we may be filled by him and his
spirit. More specifically, Jesus is saying that on this table are the elements
that will renew our weary spirits, and grow our fumbling faiths. He is saying, that
at the table of the Lord, we can find renewal, spiritual power, peace, mercy,
and grace. He is saying that “The New Covenant official!” To “seal this deal,”
as it were though, Christ must die for us all, to consume the sins of the
world, and then be raised to new life, to make his divinity proven and our
faith real.
Jesus then said to his disciples in tonight’s gospel of John reading when
“I am gone,” “do this in remembrance of me”. “For I am not far away” he might
say, “I am coming back soon,” he might also say. On this night, Jesus has given
us this New Covenant, this new sacrament.
Some of you might have heard me tell
the story before of the marriage betrothal ritual that occurred in Jewish
culture at this time. In this ritual the young boy’s family, who wished to
marry their son, and the young girl’s family, who wished to marry their
daughter, would negotiate the potential marriage. When the boy and the girl’s family’s
had reached the accord, or the “marital deal,” the young son would then raise a
cup of wine up. He would then look lovingly and his betrothed and soon to be
bride, and say, “Will you enter into this covenant with me”. If the girl drank
of the cup, then she was bonded and tied to the young man for the rest of her
life. For they would then be married, and the young man would then go to his
father’s house to “prepare a place” for her, just as Jesus Christ prepares a
place for us in glory.
While Jesus did all of this at the last supper, he did much more than
this. At one point he even removed his outer clothes, except for his
undergarments. He then wrapped a towel around his waist. From here he picked up
a wash basin and a pitcher of water. He then proceeded to wash the feet of his
disciples. This action of feet washing was one that only slaves and servants
carried out, but certainly not an action that the Messiah would carry out. “How
could the king of kings, the Lord of Lords wash my feet,” the disciples must
have thought. I’m sure that after the implementation of the sacrament of Holy
Communion the already confused apostles were likely saying, “What is the Lord
doing now?” Simon Peter, being the typical Simon Peter, protested Christ
washing his feet, and said “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus than
said, “You do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand”. Simon
Peter, continuing to be Simon Peter said, “Lord, not my feet only but also my
hands and my head”. Jesus then told Simon Peter, that he had already bathed,
and so that he was clean, but that his feet were dirty. You know in the modern
day though, most of us don’t walk around with sandals on without any socks, all
day. We often don’t get our feet caked with sand, mud, and everything else that
is on the ground even day, this day in age. We do however, get our hands get
dirty. For this reason, and because some people have discomfort with getting their
feet washed, I am going to be performing with the help of Reverend David
Schlansker the ritual of hand washing. While Jesus washed feet, we do not consider
this a sacrament, but it certainly is an important ritual and some even an
ordinance. This ritual teaches us to be humble before one another, and to be
servants of all, the way that Jesus was a servant of all.
So, all in all, this original Maundy
Thursday was quite a big night. In one night “The New Covenant was official,”
with Christ’s implementation of Holy Communion, and his ritual or ordinance of
washing the disciples feet was implemented. Jesus on this night also taught his
disciples the ritual of “sharing the sign of peace,” as Christ shared a sign of
brotherhood and fellowship with all of his disciples. While we often offer a handshake
or a hug while saying “peace be with you” most Sunday’s, we do so because Christ
taught his disciples on Maundy Thursday to do this.
The last thing that Christ then said
in the gospel reading for tonight, was his “final commandment”. Jesus said to
the disciples, “Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will
look for me; and I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going you
cannot come”. Jesus than said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love
another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love another. By this
everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for another”.
So to close this message this evening with
a story then, I declare that this Maundy Thursday story is the story. The best,
the most powerful, and the most glorious Maundy Thursday story that I could
ever tell. The story of Christ’s love and how he shared that love with all of
us. So as we continue to prepare our hearts and our minds for the coming death
and resurrection of our Lord, let us humble ourselves before him on this night.
Let us share “the peace” with one another before we depart from this place, and
most importantly let us love one another. For Jesus is coming to not just die
for our sins, but to teach us how to love one another. All praise, glory, and
honor, to the one in whom John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sins of the world”! Amen and praise Jesus!
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