Sermon for April 21st (Maundy Thursday)

“The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

What happened that night so long ago when Jesus had his last supper with his disciples? Many scholarly ink has been spilled about that very question. Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the Passover, the Jewish traditional meal eaten on the Sabbath. Some scholars believe that Jesus was instituting a new type of Passover saying, in effect, when you were Jews you ate this meal and remembered when you were slaves in Egypt and how you were saved by the blood of a sacrificed lamb on your doorpost—but now you will remember something different— the Lamb of God himself, Jesus Christ, and how his blood frees you, not from slavery to Pharaoh, but delivers you from sin. The Lord’s Supper then is about something we do: remembering.

I’d like to challenge you tonight to consider if that’s really what the Lord’s Supper is all about. Is that what the words say? Is it really about US doing something or about what God is doing? By the end of the service, I pray that you will believe that the Lord’s Supper is not simply a memorial meal, but that, rather than doing anything of consequence, you are actually receiving something very wonderful.

Where does this idea of a “new Passover” come from? Well, it’s simple really. People argue that there is a history to religious thought, an “evolution of ideas” one might say, moving from uncivilized or incomplete to civilized and more perfect. For instance, you’ve probably heard of the pantheon of gods in Greek and Roman history with Zeus, Athena and Hades. That’s called polytheism, the belief in many gods. Very uncivilized, right? But then, the first historical belief in one God rather than many gods (monotheism), seems to have found expression in Egypt around the 13th century BC with the worship of the so-called sun god “Aten”. One God seems more civilized than many gods so the thinking goes.

From there, there seems to have been a progression to such things as Judaism and then Christianity. You see, we are getting more and more civilized now with no more sacrificial system. Even within Christianity, it appears that there is some type of progression. First, there was the Roman Catholic church, then the Lutherans, and from there we have the Reformed church, Methodists, Baptists and, more recently, the charismatics such as the Assembly of God church and Pentecostals. The idea is always: the newer the better. Or as Strawberry Shortcake always puts it in her movies, “Growing Better Every Day!” The assumption, of course, is that the longer the human race survives, the more likely Christianity will eventually seem like a very uncivilized religion as well.

That’s the same type of argument many Christians use when talking about the Lord’s Supper as a better, more perfect or more complete Passover. The Jews had that, but now we’ve got this and it’s better! The Jews had the Levites, but we have pastors. They had synagogues, but we have churches. The Jews had dead lambs, but we’ve only got one dead Jesus! Thankfully, however, the Lord’s Supper is much more than simply a bigger, better religious meal. It is the place where God breaks into this old world, with its old patterns of history and evolution of ideas, and makes a completely new declaration: your sins are forgiven. Jesus says, “That was old. I have come to make all things new!” Not just the Passover meal, but you. Jesus comes to make YOU a new person. The Lord’s Supper is not a “new” Passover but the fulfillment and ending of the old Passover meal ritual altogether!

If you come here to Emmanuel with any regularity, you might have noticed me saying something that seems, at first hearing, well, a little weird! You’ll notice that when I read the text from the NIV Bible translation this evening, it said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” However, whenever I say the words of institution at a service, I don’t say the word “covenant” do I . . I say “ this is the new testament in my blood”. What gives me the right, you might ask? And that’s a very good question.

The Greek word, “deeathakay” can be translated either as “testament” or “covenant” so every person and translation has to make a decision. I believe that unless the word “testament” is used and understood, we will miss the entire meaning of the Lord’s Supper. We will start to believe that it has something to do with what we are doing, when it is all about what we are getting. In the Lord’s Supper, we don’t “give” or “do” anything. We are the beneficiaries of a very great gift from God.

When you hear the word, covenant, what do you think of? Well, if you know the word, you will know that it means an agreement or contract between two parties, two people. We talk about things such as the marriage covenant between an husband or a wife, for example. Unfortunately, while this is what the word means today, in biblical times there were more than one type of covenant. Most notably, when an agreement was made by someone of higher class or power than someone else (such as between a king and a serf, for example) the conditions were set by the person of higher class and they were the only one held responsible.

Let me explain this a little further, when you take out a loan from the bank to buy a house, you write up a contact or covenant with them. They agree to pay you $200,000 dollars and you agree to pay them back for the rest of your life. That’s where the word “mortgage” comes from: mori is the Latin word for death and gage is the latin word for pledge. Mortgage means death pledge. If you signed this covenant and never received the money and yet were paying it every month, the bank would get in a lot of trouble with you, correct? However, if you received the money and never paid, YOU would be foreclosed on.

However, not all contracts work this way especially when love is involved. Parents can make as many agreements with their children as they want, but, in the end, the parent is still responsible for holding up their part even if the child fails. I remember when I was driving as a high schooler and I would agree with my father that I would drive safely as long as I could have the car keys. However, my dad would often say that if I got in any trouble, HE would really be the one responsible. That’s the way it is with parents and children. It may still be a covenant, but only one party is responsible.

This is the type of covenant that the Bible refers to when God makes a covenant with his people. He made a covenant with Noah and his family after the flood where he promised to never flood the world and kill everyone again. And he set his bow in the clouds as a sign. But when you look at the bow, which way is it pointing? Up to heaven, right? No matter how unfaithful we are. No matter how bad we act. If God floods the earth again, he’s the one getting shot by that bow—he’s the one with the reputation on the line. In the covenant with Abraham, God has Abraham cut up some animals to make a covenant, the premise being that the agreeing parties would walk through the cut up animals and agree that if they broke their promise, they would suffer the same fate –being cut in two! However, do you remember that in the story, God put Abraham into a deep sleep while God walked through alone? God is the only one at risk to fail in that covenant as well, no matter how many times Abraham and his people would mess up.

Using the word “covenant” today, especially with regards to the Lord’s Supper, doesn’t make it clear what is really happening. It makes us think that we have to “do” or “think” or “act” a particular way in order to get the goodies! It tempts us to believe that, if we don’t hold up our part of the bargin, we’ll miss out on something. However, once again, Jesus is the only one with a part to play. Martin Luther made this claim about the Lord’s Supper being a testament, “A testament is nothing but the last will of one who is dying, telling how his heirs are to live with and dispose of his properties after his death.” In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus tells us what his estate is: the forgiveness of sins. He also explains who his heirs are for he speaks to his disciples, “in the night in which he was betrayed” by his disciples. If you want to be a heir to the benefits of Jesus’ death, you must be his betrayer. Thankfully, you are all welcome tonight!

For those of you who have experienced the death of a loved you, you may have had to go through the process of hearing the last will and testament. At the reading, the lawyer does not ask you if you were nice to grandma, or if you helped your dad often enough in the yard; they don’t ask if you always talked nicely about your friend or if you really, truly loved your mother with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. If you are willed the farm, you get the farm. Period. If you are given the piano, you get the piano. Because it’s not about what you did, it’s about the wishes of the one who died. It is their testament, not a covenant as we think of the word. All that is left to do is say, “Thank you!” I didn’t deserve it, but thanks!

Tonight, we are not just going through the motions of another Passover meal in order to “remember” some event long ago. This is much more than that! At the Lord’s Supper, you are not “doing something” you are “receiving something”. You get something to believe in. Namely, you, God’s enemy, receive all that he has: forgiveness of sin, salvation and everlasting life. Take the bread, it is my body which is for you” Jesus says. And when you eat it remember that you are getting the very same thing those disciples received so long ago: the forgiveness of sins. Drink the cup, it is the new testament in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.

We proclaim the Lord’s death every time we receive the Lord’s Supper because that’s the only way we can remember that his last will and testament is fulfilled. He had to die to put it into effect. And so we celebrate his death on the cross because, since Jesus die, we get the benefits! The Lord’s Supper is not about history, it is about what is happening right here tonight for you! Not because you held up your part of the bargain, or covenant, but because you never have kept your end, but Jesus’ last will and testament says your sins are forgiven. Eat it. Drink it. And remember: Jesus died for you. Amen.