Theme: Meat & Blood
Text: Matthew 26:26-30
Introduction:
Maundy Thursday reveals two things one is commandment and the other is covenant.
Maundy means commandment. Commandment Thursday, Holy Thursday, green Thursday in Germany (ref: Britannica). The Commandment is “to Love and Serve and Sacrifice”.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 to show that God told the Israelites that one day, He would make a new covenant with them.
Maundy Thursday reminds that
A Body is prepared,
A Body is presented, and
A body is preserved or remembered.
1. A Body is prepared (Hebrews 10:5-7)
‘A body is prepared for me’ was a declaration of Jesus Christ, and it’s a quote from the Psalm 40:6-8. A Body prepared for me was the declaration of Jesus Christ about his incarnation. Jesus was perfectly prepared and suited to live as fully man and fully God. Jesus was truly physically human and not a mirage or an allusion. Jesus was a 100 per cent authentic human being which explicitly explained in “the word became flesh lived among human beings”. Jesus was not a hologram or ghost disguised but a person.
God’s created man using two materials: “the dust”-aphar (Genesis 2:7) and the breadth of God- Ruach. Aphar suggests lowliness or a humble substance, and Ruach suggests the lofty an invincible substance (Dr. Aravind, OT professor). God breathed ruach upon aphar. The human body is tuned, and aligned well with the earth as well as heaven. In human body, there is a connectivity between the low and the lofty, the earth and the heaven, with horizontal and with vertical relationships.
Now the body of Jesus is combination of earth and heaven, dust and breadth of God. But not of a human blood, not of a human will, not of a human flesh (John 1:13).
The apostle John described this stepping out as "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14 NIV).
This verse affirms both natures of humanity and divinity of Christ. The tabernacle was sometimes called the Tent of Meeting because it was the divinely-appointed meeting place between God and man, a much deeper sense-Jesus is the place where men and God meet.
The Greek word used here is Skenoo, which suggest the tabernacle of the Old Testament the tabernacle was a temporary structure symbolic of dwelling of God with his people. Jesus is among us in human form as God was among his people in the tabernacle (John 3:16, Hebrew 4:15, and John 1:18).
"The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood" (John 1:14 MSG). “The human nature which he took of the virgin, being as the shrine, house, or temple, in which his immaculate Deity condescended to dwell. The word is probably an allusion to the Divine Shekinah in the Jewish temple” (Adam Clarke).
God works in and around our lives before we even have awareness of Him moving on our behalf. This is know as the ‘Prevenient grace or dwelling grace’. The term prevenient comes from a Latin word meaning “to come before, to anticipate.”
A body is prepared to do the will of God. Doing God’s will is the aim of any perfect man. God wants a person to delight in doing his will.
God does not take pleasure in the mere outward activities of worship and righteousness. God takes pleasure in the heart that is desiring to do his will that leads to the activities of worship and righteousness. The sacrifice of Jesus was determined before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8).
God is offended and expressed displeasure for the good actions done with the wrong heart (Isaiah 1:11-13; 66:3-4; Jeremiah 7:21-23; Amos 5:21-24; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; Psalm 51:16-17; 1 Samuel 15:22). God hates hypocrisy.
2. A body is presented
‘Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the Sin of the World’ (John 1:29). Jesus’ submission to Father’s will had its ultimate fulfilment in His obedience to the cross (Luke 22:39-44).
Today is the day on which Jesus broke bread, prayed in the Garden, and yielded himself to unjust arrest and consequence. His full surrender and commitment is exhibited.
The institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the Eucharist, and the Lord’s Supper signifies the Passover sacrifice by which atonement (Kippur = kattallage) is made (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Kafar means to atone, to cover, the kattallage is the reconciliation and reestablish friendship. The Hebrew word KAFAR has three letters of the Hebrew alphabets: K, pe, and resh. K symbolises the Palm or the open hand, the Pe indicates the mouth or speak, and the Resh refers the head or the chief. The Lord who is the head of creations calls us with his out stretched arms to reconcile with him, and to be his friends. He removes the sins and restores the Holiness (Dr. Aravind, OT).
Hence, The work of Jesus for atonement is finished. In Christ we receive a complete, final, once for all pardon for all of our sins: the past, the present, and the future! Through the cross, believers under the new covenant receive God’s total forgiveness!
Hebrews 8:3-5 sets the necessary parts of Christ's priesthood. Every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. Priest offers expiatory sacrifices, peace-offerings, thank-offerings, and perfume their gifts and services by his holy incense, to render their persons and performances typically acceptable. Now, Christ executes his priesthood in heaven, in the holy of holies, the true tabernacle which the Lord has fixed. He has gone to present his righteousness and to make intercession for us. Christ is the substance and end of the law for righteousness.
This ordinance is the Passover supper, by which application is made, and commemoration celebrated, of a much greater deliverance than that of Israel out of Egypt (Matthew Henry).
Jesus begins a new relationship, a new covenant, a new agreement, a new deal with us through the Kafar. He spills his blood, offers up his body, and gives his life to cover our sins and offer us grace. He asks us to accept his sacrifice and trust that it pays our spiritual debts and makes us holy. He asks us to receive this grace and to live in thanks for it. He asks us to take his Supper and tell his story until he returns again (ref: heartlight.org).
“An atonement that needs constant repetition does not really atone; a conscience which has to be cleansed once a year has never been truly cleansed.” (Robinson).
“Under the new, one Sacrifice is enough to procure for all nations and ages, spiritual pardon, or being freed from punishment in the world to come. Well might this be called a new covenant” (Matthew Henry).
The Atonement could never cleansed the guilty conscience but now in Christ. “All they are is a reminder of sin. So far from purifying a man, they remind him that he is not purified and that his sins still stand between him and God.” (William Barclay).
3. A body is preserved (Matthew 26:26-29)
Illustration:
After Saint Francis Xavier’s death in December 3, 1552, his body embarked on an extraordinary journey. Initially buried in a simple grave on the island of Sancian, China, it was later exhumed and transferred to Malacca. The body was then moved to Goa, India, where it has been enshrined in a silver casket.
On this Thursday night, we gathered to share the lamb and celebrate God’s passing over mercy in us as it was on the enslaved Hebrews in Egypt. We gathered to share bread, and wine through the love of Christ with our friends and strangers. A spiritual body is remembered till the Lord returns.
The Last Supper was a Passover Seder of the Jews, the feast of unleavened bread. Seder a ritual feast that marks the beginning of Passover and involves retelling the liberation story of Israelites enslaved in ancient Egypt.
It is based on the Biblical verse commanding them to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt: "You shall tell your child on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt" (Exodus 13:8-10).
What does it mean to celebrate and administer the Holy Communion. The Catholic Church believes in the transubstantiation during Holy Communion, the substances of the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ but remains unaltered in colour, taste, feel, and smell.
The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox believe that change occurs only in the bread and wine after prayer as body and blood of Christ.
Lutherans believe the sacramental union, i.e., true body and blood of Christ are really present "in, with, and under" the bread and wine.
Reformed Christians believe in a real spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Anglicans believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
But for many Others, it as purely a memorial.
The Methodists believe that, "in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is present with his worshipping people and gives himself to them as their Lord and Saviour". “When we eat the bread and drink the wine. We personally participate in Christ, and receive Him into our lives, in order to profit by His grace” (Pulpit Commentary).
We are repeatedly reminded of what He is to us through observing it. He enlists the services of the three senses of sight, taste, and touch for the vital truths of His gospel.
We are here to feast with God in midst of fears of death, sickness, wars in the world, in midst of poverty, scarcities, loneliness, despair, religious hatred, political turmoil confusing and changing climatic conditions, and prevailing economic injustices, in the midst of disharmony.
Jesus shared a table feast—pleasantly, with his unfaithful friends, with the traitor and the betrayed (Jacqueline K. Thompson, UMC Insight, 7.4.22). That same Jesus is here in this evening, though we are unfaithful, betrayed, denied, crucified through out shameful acts, works and deeds. Remember this New Covenant through atonement offers complete forgiveness.
Old Covenant instituted around 1446 B.C, with the blood of animals sprinkled on the people (Exodus 24:5-8), endless repetition of imperfect sacrifices, written by God on tablets of stone, confined to the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob according to the flesh;
But the New Covenant came in 33 A.D., dedicated with Jesus’ blood, provided at once and for all, perfect sacrifice of the Son of God Himself, written by God on the hearts of His people, extended to all nations and races under heaven, declares the love, grace, and mercy of God, and to gives repentance, remission of sin, and eternal life.
Conclusion: Is my body prepared for the Lord to dwell? Is my body presented for his will? Is the church, the body of Christ and preserved for generations as a remembrance of Gods work in the earth?
