March 24th, 2005; Maundy Thursday
Pastor Scott R. Stein; Christ the King Lutheran Church; Colorado Springs, CO
Sermon on Holy Communion:
Our journey through Lent and through Luther’s Small Catechism is nearly over. We have studied the Small Catechism, and the six essential elements of the Christian faith: the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Confession of Sins, and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. We’ve already studied the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, and Confession and Forgiveness of Sins. Tonight we contemplate the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Maundy Thursday is the evening we commemorate the night Jesus first instituted Holy Communion as he shared a meal with his disciples on the night he was betrayed.
It is Maundy Thursday. Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means command. On Maundy Thursday we remember the night before Jesus was betrayed, when Jesus says to his disciples, “A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another.” Jesus made his disciples a family; a loving family. On this night we are focused on the Lord’s Supper which Jesus also instituted on that last night with his disciples before he was betrayed, arrested, put on trial, beaten, crucified, and died on a cross. Jesus spent a lot of time eating with people. Much of his teaching and ministry involved gatherings of people who shared meals. The Last Supper was no ordinary meal shared with his disciples. This last meal has great significance for the disciples and for the church. As he gave bread to his disciples he said, “This is my body.” As he gave wine to his disciples he said, “This is my blood.” And he told them, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
It’s important that Jesus says, “This is my” body and blood. He doesn’t say this ‘represents’ my body and blood. He doesn’t say this ‘symbolizes’ my body and blood. He doesn’t say someday this will ‘remind’ you of my body and blood. Jesus says, “This is my” body and blood. Yes, it is still bread and wine. And yes, it is the body and blood of Christ. It is the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine, with the bread and wine, and under the bread and wine. When we eat and drink, we receive the body and blood of Christ. We receive Christ’s body and blood, not because the pastor does something magic, but because Jesus says it is his body and blood. It is an act of God that when we share the Lord’s Supper, doing it in remembrance of Christ, the ordinary bread and wine become the extraordinary body and blood of Christ, and we receive in, with and under the bread and wine the body and blood of Christ. And we also receive forgiveness of sins, and life, and salvation, and eternal life.
When we share this meal that God prepares for us, we are given a taste and glimpse of the fullness of the Kingdom of God. When Christ was resurrected, the Kingdom of God arrived. Death has been overcome, and has no hold on us. We are the sons and daughters of God, the people of the Kingdom, destined for eternal life in the presence of God. No, we don’t experience the fullness of the Kingdom of God at this point. But make no mistake about it, the Kingdom of God is here, and we are a part of it.
That’s why Holy Communion, this meal commanded by Jesus, the Lord’s Supper, has been so important to church, from the first Christians to us tonight. Early believers knew that they experienced the presence of Jesus in a very real and special way when they shared the gospel and broke bread together. In this feast Jesus comes to us and reconciles us to God and to each other. In this meal Jesus is present for us, with us, and in us, and he binds us together in himself as the church, the body of Christ. This is the feast of victory for our God.
So it makes sense that the sacrament of Holy Communion is the center of our worship. It is in this meal that God chooses and promises to be present. God is present in the church, the body of Christ. Luther taught that there are two marks of the true church. The church, the body of Christ, is truly present where: 1) the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed; and 2) the sacraments (Holy Baptism and Holy Communion) are rightly administered. When we are gathered around God’s Word, and around Baptism, and around the Lord’s Supper, we are formed and transformed into the body of Christ in very real and profound ways.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, his disciples and all the first Christians longed to have Jesus with them. They knew Jesus had said, “I am with you always.” And so they knew he was with them each moment of each day. But they also knew that Jesus was present with them in a very real and special way when they shared the gospel and broke bread together. And so they gathered together often, and they heard God’s Word, and they shared the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ. And they knew Christ was there with them and in them.
Just over 23 years ago I was on my way to Kennedy Space Center for work. I was actually traveling on my mom’s 46th birthday, and so I had scheduled my flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando, Florida to have a 90-minute layover in Chicago. My dad and mom drove up to the Chicago airport, and we got to visit together (on Mom’s birthday) for about an hour before I had to board my airplane. As it turned out, that was the last time I saw my mom alive. A few days later an aneurism in her brain ruptured. She went into a coma for a few days, and then died. If I knew there was a place I could be, or something I could do, and she would be there with me, alive, I would do it. What a joy it would be to be with her for a few moments again. But I can’t, there is no way for me to truly be with her again, until I see her in heaven.
Tonight, and every Sunday, we have the opportunity to gather together with our sisters and brothers in Christ, and to hear God’s Word, and to share the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ, and to know Christ is with us and in us. What a joy it is. What an extraordinary blessing God gives to us in the sacrament of Holy Communion. Thanks be to God. Amen.
