Sermon 3/28/24: Maundy Thursday

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“Do This…”
I Corinthians 11:23-32

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

It must be one of the chief ironies of Christianity that the Lord’s Supper, where we are most intimately united with Him and with each other, has been the center of controversy from the very beginning. The place where there should be the most unity—the very body and blood of Jesus—has become the center of division. But this should not be a surprise, for when the words of our Lord are set aside, there will be only lack of clarity. St. Paul laments the sad divisions at Corinth and says, “There must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.” Factions are caused when people hold to their own opinions rather than the Lord’s words. Apart from His Word, there can be no unity. To paraphrase Luther, they would make this Sacrament the Christian’s supper rather than the Lord’s Supper.

There came a time the history of the Church when the Lord’s Supper was redefined to be “the unbloody repetition of the sacrifice of Christ.” The Roman Church teaches even today that the body and blood of Christ are offered by the priest to God the Father as payment for the sins of the living and the dead. At the time of the Reformation—and still today—some argued that the words of Jesus can’t possibly mean what they say; they believe that the bread simply represents or symbolizes our Lord’s body which is in heaven, and that the wine represents His blood shed on the cross. Both opinions depart from the clear words of the Lord Jesus; both cause division in the Church. But as we already heard, divisions in the Church over the Lord’s Supper are not new.

The Epistle for Maundy Thursday speaks to this situation. There were some in Corinth who saw the Lord’s Supper to be something other than the gift of the body and blood of Jesus, given to sinners to eat and drink for the forgiveness of our sins. They had transformed the Lord’s Supper into their own party. No longer were His body and blood being confessed as the gifts that they are. No longer were the gifts of His body and blood at the center of the congregation’s life. They would eat and drink, but the Corinthians were no longer partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

We sinners always seem to give a higher priority to our own notions and opinions about what we need rather than what the Lord promises to give. In the Lutheran Church, our public confession of what we receive in the Holy Supper cannot be faulted; after all, we confess exactly what our Lord Jesus says concerning the Supper He instituted. Perhaps our biggest concern, the false notion we cling to most, is that the Supper might become less special if we offer or receive it too often—as if the body and blood of Jesus can be anything but “the highest good” for us, even if we received it every day. But Paul does not begin with his own opinion. Unlike so many in today’s churches, he does not consider it a matter of indifference what one believes regarding the Lord’s Supper. Instead Paul begins with what the Lord had given to him. He says: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that our Lord Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper and said, ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’“

These words tell us what the Sacrament is. “It is the body and blood of our Lord given under the bread and wine for us to eat and drink.” The Words of Institution are the Lord’s gift, His invitation to receive what He gives in the means that He gives it. He tells us exactly what it is He gives to us—His body, hidden in and under bread; His blood, hidden under wine; and the forgiveness He died to win for us—and then He invites us to partake of it. It is on the basis of these words from our Lord Jesus Himself that Paul goes on to deal with the problems at Corinth.

In the Sacrament we are given our Lord’s body and blood. The very body that was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary is given into our mouths. The very blood He shed to redeem us is the means of forgiveness which now flows into our bodies. The Lord’s body and blood proclaim to you the complete forgiveness of all your sins—and it does so each and every time you partake of it, no matter how many times you partake of it. As you eat and drink at the Lord’s Table, you confess Jesus Christ to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” We may bring no contradiction of Him and His words to His altar.

This Sacrament does not depend on us; it depends on the Lord Jesus who established it: on the Word He speaks to make it what it is and to make it give what He says it gives. It is not your faith which makes the Sacrament what it is. All who come to the altar and who partake of the Supper receive Christ’s body and blood, whether or not they believe what Jesus says about it. That is why Paul goes on to warn the Corinthians that those who partake of the Supper in an unworthy manner are guilty not of bread and wine, but of Christ’s body and blood. This is why we practice Closed Communion—it’s not because we hate or feel we are better than our fellow Christians, but rather out of love for them and concern for their spiritual welfare.

We do give attention to faith—but not because our faith establishes the presence of Christ in the Sacrament. Rather, it is only in right faith that we may partake of the Savior’s body and blood in a way which is salutary and beneficial. Therefore, Paul says, “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” There is only one way to worthily eat and drink of the Lord’s Supper, and that is with faith in the words of Him who is the Host and Donor. The Catechism says it well: “He is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: ‘Given and shed for you for the remission of sins.’“ Thanks be to God, who by His Holy Spirit grants us such faith. Thanks be to God, who feeds us here with the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.