Sermon for 3/8/23: Midweek Lent 2 (Lord's Supper series)

This continues our sermon series for the season of Lent: our series on the Lord's Supper. It is never a bad thing to return to the Catechism so that we may continue to grow in faith toward God and appreciation for His gifts to us.  

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The Words of Institution
Luke 10:25-37

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 Bruised, beaten, and helpless, the man who had fallen among thieves lay on the roadside. He was half dead, needing rescue and healing. If help had not come soon, he would surely have perished. A priest and a Levite walk by on the other side of the road. They ignore the plight of the helpless, dying man. But then comes this Samaritan: a foreigner of mixed race and religion, despised by the Jews. When he sees the poor, wounded man, Luke says that he had compassion. He was moved in the gut, the same way Jesus was moved at the sight of people who were suffering. The Samaritan wastes no time in helping the injured man, immediately binding up the man’s wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He places him on his own animal and takes him to an inn. The Good Samaritan doesn’t stop there. He places the man into the care of the innkeeper, gives him some money for expenses, and promises to repay the innkeeper upon his return.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, if this was just a lesson in morality, a story to remind Christians what they should do for others, then that would not leave us much in the way of comfort, would it? After all, we do not live this way, and we should love our neighbor this way. But more than that, with this parable Jesus paints a beautiful portrait of your salvation. He shows you just how desperate your condition was on account of sin, and He shows the gift of healing He has come to bring. This man in the parable provides a picture of all the fallen sons of Adam. Wounded by sin, beaten by the devil’s attacks, robbed of our good standing with God, we, too, were “dead in the trespasses and sins.”

Like this man, we were helpless and destitute. Left to ourselves, we would have most certainly perished eternally. Eternal death and damnation are a just reward for our sins. Who could help us? Could the Law? Could Moses raise us up from spiritual death to life? The parable would seem to suggest that this is not so. The priest and the Levite represent Moses and the Law of Sinai, which do not heal but only kill. The Law is good; its commandments are pure. But they cannot help or heal the wounded and beaten sinner.

So along comes this foreigner from heaven called Christ. Like the Samaritan, He is hated by the world. “He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” But He came anyway. The Son of God saw your wretched state and had compassion. He did what the Law could not do: He has bound up the wounds of sinners. He has carried your sins and griefs and sorrows to the cross. And with His stripes—by His wounds, by His death at the hands of sinful men—you are healed.

The healing medicine of Christ’s forgiveness was first applied to you in your Baptism. As you were buried and raised with Christ, your Savior began His good work of healing and restoration in you. For like the man fallen among thieves, “…You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

But the cancer of your sin continues to rear its ugly head. You need ongoing treatments. And this is why your loving Savior has brought you into the inn of His Church and placed you into the care of His called shepherds. In this way, He continues to do for you what He began in your Baptism. He continues to apply the healing medicine of His forgiveness, life, and salvation to your souls. And He does this in a unique and special way in the Lord’s Supper. In this salutary gift, the same Christ who healed every disease among men, the same Christ who bound up the brokenhearted, the same Christ by whose stripes we are healed—He comes and does for you what He did for so many wounded souls in the Gospel. You come to the Lord’s Table, wounded by your sins, helpless and in need of mercy and healing. Jesus sees your miserable condition and has compassion. He comes to weak and weary sinners and gives to you the healing medicine of His crucified and risen body and blood. Like the Samaritan in the parable, Christ binds up your wounds and pours on you the oil and wine of His good Spirit, to comfort wounded consciences.

This healing medicine of Christ’s body and blood is truly a medicine of immortality. Whoever receives this medicine, trusting in its power and benefits, truly has eternal life. Whatever illnesses and ailments you now endure, these will no longer annoy in the life to come. The healing that Christ has begun here will be brought to completion at the day of the resurrection.

So what about you? Do you need consolation? Do you have a wounded conscience? Have you lived as if God did not matter and as if you mattered most of all? Are you plagued by sin and the temptations of the devil? Then this medicine of our Lord’s body and blood is for you. It is for your healing and sanctification.

We give thanks to God during this Lenten season that through this salutary gift, Christ’s healing hand reaches out to us and heals us. “Take and eat!” “Drink of it all of you!” “This is my body.” “This is my blood.” “For you.” “Do this!”  These are the words of your Great Physician, your Good Samaritan, Jesus Christ. Heed His words. Receive the medicine He has for you. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.