Maundy Thursday was a significant day in the life of our Savior. Many important things happened in Jesus’ life on this evening. On the first Maundy Thursday Jesus prayed to his Father so intensely that his sweat was as drops of blood. On this night our Savior was betrayed by Judas with a kiss. This is the evening where Jesus would stand on trial before the Sanhedrin - a trial that was illegal by Jewish standards because it was being held at night. On this evening Jesus was deserted and abandoned. He was left all alone - even Peter didn’t stay with him. Instead Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times in the courtyard of the high priest. This night was the beginning of the end for our Savior.
As we gather here this evening all of these things are things that we undoubtedly consider as we ponder the passion history of our Lord. But there is something even more special, even more significant about this evening that prompts us to gather together. We have come to carry out Christ’s new command. On Maundy Thursday evening Jesus gathered with his disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover meal with them. On that evening as he washed their feet in preparation for the celebration of the Passover he gave them that new command. He told them to "Love one another as he had loved them."
To show them the depth of his love and to empower them to go forth into the world and love, he instituted His special Supper. This special supper was a fulfillment of the Passover meal. The Passover meal was one of remembrance. This meal remembered God’s mercy to his people in the land of Egypt. God showed his mercy by commanding those Israelites to sacrifice an unblemished, year-old lamb and place its blood on their doorframes. That evening as the angel of death passed through the Egyptian countryside those whose doors were covered with the lamb’s blood, their first-born sons’ lives were spared. God commanded from that time on that the Passover meal be celebrated as a remembrance of his mercy.
This Passover meal not only remembered things of the past, but it also pointed ahead to the one who would shed his blood for the world so that their lives might be spared eternally. The fulfillment of this meal is found in Jesus Christ himself. Since Christ was the fulfillment of this meal it was no longer to be celebrated. In its place Christ instituted a new meal - one that believers are to celebrate until Christ returns again. This evening, our Lord invites us to celebrate this meal, a meal that shows us His love for us and empowers us to
love in the way that He loved us. He invites us to Come to His Table. Come to his table having examined yourselves. Come to His Table to receive his Supper. Come to his table to proclaim his death.
Our Lord through the Apostle Paul invites us to come to his table having examined ourselves. We are urged to examine ourselves with the stern warning that the Apostle Paul issues in verses 27 and 28 of the text. He warns and encourages us to examine ourselves before we come to the Lord’s table. He encourages us to examine our own lives. We should examine our lives and compare them with the standard of God’s Law. We need to ask ourselves those hard questions about ourselves. Have I loved the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind? Have I put him as top priority in my life? Have I loved my neighbor as myself? These are our Lord’s commands. Have we lived up to them?
If we’re truthful with ourselves we must all confess that we haven’t lived up to our Lord’s commands. We haven’t always been the best employer or employee. We haven’t always been the best son or daughter, brother or sister, husband or wife, father or mother. We haven’t always given our Lord top priority in our lives. We haven’t always loved our God and others the way Christ loved us. Before we come to the Lord’s table we need to recognize our incredible shortcomings. We need to confess our sinfulness to Him.
Before we come to the Lord’s Table we need to examine our desire or our intentions for coming to his table. As we come to his table we come with repentant hearts. We come to the Lord’s Table to receive the forgiveness of sins. That is what our Lord desires of those who approach his Table. He wants them to come before him with hearts weighed heavy by the guilt of sin. Our Lord wants us to come to his Table looking for peace for our souls. He wants us to come with penitent hearts that have sought the forgiveness of those whom we have sinned against. He wants us to come to him with penitent hearts seeking his forgiveness. Our desire for forgiveness is what motivates us to come to the Lord’s Table.
The Apostle Paul tells us that we should come to receive the Lord’s Supper as worthy recipients. We are made worthy to receive this supper through our preparation. Our desire for forgiveness coupled with our recognition of what is taking place at the Lord’s Table makes us worthy to receive His Supper. As we prepare ourselves to come to the Lord’s Table it is imperative that we recognize what we are doing at the Lord’s Table. We examine ourselves so that each and every time we approach his Table we come as people who recognize what is taking place. This isn’t just a "meaningless" tradition of the church. This isn’t some sort of worthless "ceremony."
We come to the Lord’s Table to receive his Supper. We come recognizing that in this Supper Jesus offers to us his body and blood. In this supper we not only receive bread and wine, but we also receive the very body and blood of our Lord and Savior. How does this happen? I can’t explain it. It is a miracle. With man this is impossible - to see, to do, and perhaps even to logically grasp, but with God all things are possible. In his Supper he makes it plain through his own words recorded for us in Scripture that he offers to us his body and blood together with the bread and the wine.
He offers us his body and blood for our eternal benefit. Through this supper he offers and seals for us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Through this Sacrament he gives a very personal piece of evidence that our sins are indeed forgiven. Through this Sacrament we become participants in Christ’s death. We are partakers of his saving work. When you leave the Lord’s Table you take with you the very body and blood of the Lord. You are assured of your forgiveness. This assurance is received in a very tangible and intimate way. When you leave the Lord’s Table you leave knowing that you are a child of God. You have been purchased and won by his body and blood shed for you on the cross. His body and blood has secured a place in heaven for you.
Through his body and blood he offers us proof that the New Covenant has been fulfilled. In the Old Testament God made a two-sided covenant with his people. When he gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai he made a pact with the Israelites that if they kept his Laws he would be their God. If they Israelites kept God’s commands God agreed to bless them richly. However if they turned from him he would send hardships on them. As we know from Old Testament history the Israelites turned away from God again and again. They worshipped idols and committed terrible sins. They were duly punished for their disobedience. Would we have been any different? Have we been any different?
Thanks be to God that our salvation isn’t based on such a shaky covenant - one that depends on us, sinful people. Our salvation, our ticket to heaven is based on a different covenant - the new covenant. That covenant is one-sided. That covenant was made by God. That covenant was fulfilled by God. That covenant was fulfilled through our Savior’s perfect life, innocent death, and powerful resurrection from the dead. Because that covenant has been fulfilled our salvation is guaranteed through faith. We are assured that this covenant has been fulfilled each time we come to his Table. He gives us all the proof we need - his body and his blood.
Because that covenant has been fulfilled we come to the Lord’s Table to proclaim a message. We proclaim the message of our Savior’s death. When we come to his Table we are announcing through our actions that Christ’s death has meaning. As we come to his table we are proclaiming that he did not die in vain. His death had a purpose. As we celebrate his Supper we proclaim what that purpose was - to pay the price for all sin. When we come to the Lord’s Table we proclaim the message of full and free forgiveness found in the body and blood of our Savior.
As we partake of the Lord’s Supper we proclaim a very profound message to the world. We proclaim that Christ’s death nearly 2000 years ago has meaning for my life in 1999 here in Middle Tennessee. As we feast at the Lord’s Table we declare our faith in his saving work. As we dine at his altar we announce to the world that Jesus Christ is our Savior. His body and blood direct the way we think, act, and speak. His body and blood affect the way we treat other people, the way we prioritize our lives, the peace we have in our hearts. His body and blood was shed for us that we might live eternally - that’s the message we proclaim as we come to his Table.
That message is further strengthened as we come regularly to dine at his Table. As we regularly partake of his grace, we uphold our Lord’s command to remember him as we eat and drink. Through our regular participation in the Lord’s Supper we underscore the message of our Lord’s death. We further strengthen the truth about the meaning that it has for our lives. His Supper means so much that we as a congregation have found it fitting to celebrate that Supper every month. We will uphold our Savior’s command as we celebrate his Supper here this evening.
We come to his Table to proclaim his death so that our faith might strengthened as well. In this Sacrament we are strengthened in our faith - that is a promise from our God. In this Sacrament we are offered the Gospel, the good news of our Savior. In this Sacrament we are built up to endure the trials and tribulations of this world. In this Sacrament we are nourished to go on fighting the good fight of faith until we reach our heavenly homeland.
As you approach the Lord’s Table in just a few short minutes come with hearts desiring his forgiveness. Come with hearts filled with repentance. Come forward to partake of his body and blood. Come to proclaim his death until he comes to take you to be with him forever. Amen.
