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.

Sermon for November 8th

“Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

When I read the assigned text from the book of Hebrews for this last week, it reminded me of some pretty heated theological arguments made back in the 15th and 16th centuries in the Roman Catholic church. Church reformers were being killed and excommunicated; much blood and ink was spilled. And what were they all arguing about? The Lord’s Supper. Some maintained that the Catholic church was sacrificing Jesus again and again each week during the Mass. They argued that Jesus’ sacrifice was once and for all and that the Mass had made that action unclear. However, the Catholic church argued back: a “re-sacrifice” was never the intention. Jesus died only once, but they maintained that believers celebrate this sacrifice, mystically, each week—giving thanks for what God has done. People have been killed for what they taught and believed about the Lord’s Supper, but do you even know what you believe?

What is the Lord’s Supper? The Lord’s Supper is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself, for us to eat and drink. Those are the words that Martin Luther wrote down in the Small Catechism, a book used to teach both young and old about the basic tenants of the Christian faith. But how often do YOU think about what you are doing when you walk up here? Is it just a tradition that you go along with? Is it necessary to think about it in a particular way for it to work? If you don’t agree with what I say in this sermon today, should you even bother coming up to take a nibble or a sip? Does it really matter WHAT you believe?

When people begin talking about the Lord’s Supper, someone usually starts using fancy words like transubstantiation and consubstantiation even though few people care or can quite remember what all that means. So, for today, let’s not get too arrogant about trying to describe what WE think is actually happening and, instead, talk about why it is important to have the Lord’s Supper in the first place. First off, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper because Jesus told us to do it, “Do this in remembrance of me.” But, more specifically, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in order that you might believe that your sins are forgiven: As Luther pointed out, whoever believes these words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” has exactly what the words say, “the forgiveness of sins.”

You and I have a great temptation: we want to make faith something WE do, something WE are in control of, something WE hold onto. But then, when hardship comes, when things start falling apart, when things go wrong, it’s easy to despair. We lose confidence in ourselves and our choices, we lose control and, then, almost as a second thought, we realize that we have also lost our grip on faith. We want to trust in ourselves and in our ability to believe in Jesus no matter what, but we are often not strong enough to trust God when everything seems to be against us. We throw out the commandments if they don’t sound good to us. We begin to believe that Jesus has failed us when our lives get turned upside down.

But the Lord’s Supper comes at you from outside of yourself. No matter how you feel. No matter what you have done. No matter how weak you are. “Thinking” internally that you are a sinner is much different than having another person tell you that you are one and then start listing off what you have done to deserve that title. Understanding that you are forgiven is a fleeting experience until you have a little bit of that forgiveness stuck in your teeth to wiggle around with for the rest of the worship service. The Lord’s Supper is a way for you to believe in something other than yourself. To cling to God’s promise given to you with a word attached to the things of this earth. As some theologians have put it: In the Lord’s Supper, you eat the drink the words. You swallow the promise whole and it becomes not just something you “know about”, but it becomes a part of you.

“In the night in which he was betrayed our Lord Jesus took bread, broke it, gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take and eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.” The words seem so simple, but there are many disagreements about what they actually mean. Believe it or not, the problem lies with one very little word: “is”. “This is my body given for you.” I’d like to quickly give you three examples of how churches understand that word “is” and what each can mean for your faith.

Roman Catholics believe that when a properly ordained priest speaks these words, the words of institution, the bread becomes the body of Jesus Christ. It is no longer bread at all. It IS Jesus’ body. This happens in spite of what you may think or what you believe. One moment, Jesus is absent, sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. In the next moment, the priest makes Jesus present. The common term in the Catholic church for the Lord’s Supper is “The Eucharist” which means, to give thanks. According to this tradition, giving thanks to God is the primary purpose of the sacrament.

The church reformers were right, there IS a sacrifice occurring each week in the Mass, but it was not Jesus that’s was being re-sacrificed, it is the community of believers giving their sacrifice of thanksgiving to God . . . unfortunately, that still creates a big problem. The Lord’s Supper becomes more about your prayers going up to God rather than God’s forgiveness coming down for you. The whole direction gets reversed and your faith pays the price. Sinners won’t get very far by being motivated to great acts of virtue, they need to be saved from the bondage of sin.

But other churches see this little word “is” in a different way. For them, “This IS my body” means this “symbolizes” my body. The argument is quite simple. At the last supper, Jesus is standing right there, so how could he possibly mean that he is giving away his body! It’s not like he ends supper with little nibbles out of his arms and legs. Furthermore, 2000 years later, now that he has ascended into heaven, how could we possibly be eating away at him! It’s preposterous! According to this understanding, the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to remember Jesus and the importance of his sacrifice. But I hope that you see the problem. Once again, the action has changed directions to the detriment of faith. The Lord’s Supper becomes about how well you can “remember” the story or how much you “appreciate” Jesus’ sacrifice, rather than just receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

As usual, Lutherans have always been the odd little ducks in this story, but I hope that you will see that it is for a good reason. Lutherans believe that when Jesus said, “This IS my body” he meant it. On that point, we agree with the Catholics. He wasn’t being symbolic. God does what he says. On the other hand, Jesus didn’t have to magically change the bread into something else in order to use it to give you faith. After all, he came down as a human being to forgive your sins. Not just as God, not just as a human, but as both, completely. When you taste the bread and hear the words, “The body of Christ given for you,” it’s only bread unless you trust that Jesus is telling you the truth. Apart from your faith it’s just bread and wine. If you don’t hear the words, you can’t believe them. You are chewing on the muscles, the bones, and the very sinews of your Lord . . . ONLY when you believe the promise that is spoken not with your head, but with your heart, by faith alone. Jesus is not a magician, he is a Savior. Faith in the words of Jesus makes all the difference.

Why is this so important? Not because you are have to pass a test. But because only by trusting in Jesus words can you discover that Christ is not absent here, he is present in the Lord’s Supper. You don’t have to pray for him to be there. You don’t need a special kind of priest to bring him there. He is there already. You don’t need to be reminded of what Jesus has done, but given your Savior to save you. In the Lord’s supper you are given Jesus Christ. God doesn’t need you to DO anything, just believe what he has promised. He is yours. What you need is faith and the Lord’s Supper gives you something to believe in.

So then, do you need to understand all of this in order to get the goodies? No. Do you need to think about the right things in order to be forgiven? No. The Lord’s Supper is not about how thankful you are, how smart you are, how mature you are or how religious you are. But when you come forward, realizing that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, then you will find something most astounding: Jesus Christ, your Savior and Lord is here for you. For the sake of your faith, he has promised to place himself in bread, in wine, and in words so that you might not simply hear about your forgiveness, but eat it and drink it. Jesus came down so that he might give you all that he has everything, withholding nothing—his body, his blood, and his life to save you. “Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.” All of you are welcome at His table, for by faith alone you are saved. Amen.

Sermon for May 4th

This last Thursday, May 1st, Christian churches around the world celebrated ascension day, a remembrance of the resurrected Jesus floating up into heaven right before his disciples’ eyes. This is one of the weirdest and most misunderstood events in Jesus’ life. I mean, really. As if Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t shocking enough for his disciples, imagine how they must have felt when Jesus just flew up into the clouds! Don’t ask me how this happened, how he did it, because I don’t have a clue. I do, however, believe I can give you some good news about why he did it?

Was the ascension necessary? Yes and no. He wouldn’t have had to I guess, but I’m sure glad he did for your sake. But, before I can tell you why Jesus ascended into heaven, it will be most helpful, I think, to go over a couple of misunderstandings first.

The first misunderstanding. Jesus was only raised as a spirit. That is, people often believe that Jesus ascended into heaven without a physical body. Like he was a phantom or a ghost or some kind of an ethereal person. How does this misunderstanding occur? Because there is a misunderstanding of Jesus’ resurrection.

Being raised from the dead isn’t a normal thing to happen. We can’t imagine somebody dying and then coming back to life . . . especially after three days of decomposition. Apart from science fiction or horror movies, this concept is beyond our understanding and, so, it is easier to think of it spiritually. If people even still believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is often only because they imagine Jesus is just a spirit.

We aren’t the first people to come up with this idea . It was originally made famous by the philosopher Plato who argued that when a person died, their soul was released from their skin suit to live forever. He called this the “immortality of the soul”. The argument goes something like this: the body is bad, evil, dirty, sinful, perishable and can be killed, but the soul is good, clean, enlightened, and the true part of yourself that never dies. In other words, your body will die, but you’ll live forever as a soul.

A lot of Christians, including many of you perhaps, believe in something like this. There is even a Bible passage that is sometimes used to bolster this opinion. In the gospel of John, Jesus shows himself, resurrected, to the women at the tomb and tells them, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.” This verse is taken to mean something like, “Don’t touch me or I’ll pop!” Or, “If you get me dirty, I’ll have to stay in my body foreverrrr!” The thing is, Jesus COULD have been held onto. Because he was raised IN HIS BODY! And touching him wasn’t going to like pop him like a bubble. Jesus tells these women not to hold onto him because there was more to come.

The thing is, the “immortality of the soul” is NOT where your hope lies in Jesus Christ. Jesus was not raised as a soul, but as a body AND soul together, a whole human person with wounds still visible on his hands and feet. Jesus died completely, body, soul, spirit and everything and was raised from the dead completely, body, soul, spirit and everything. Saint Paul puts it this way in the book of 1st Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” But Christ was raised, and raised IN HIS BODY.

There is a poem, by John Updike, that I think really gets to this point. It applies just as well to Jesus’ ascension as to his resurrection.

“Seven Stanzas at Easter” from Telephone Poles and Other Poems by John Updike.

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that — pierced — died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of Enduring Night
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the Door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

Embarrassed by the miracle of a bodily resurrected Jesus. Crushed by remonstrance, the body of evidence that proves the just spiritual Jesus wrong. And make no mistake, if Jesus ascended at all, it was as His body as well just as he was resurrected. And if not, the church will fall.

Another misconception about Jesus’ ascension is this. That he left us to fend for ourselves and is watching us from his throne. This couldn’t be further from the truth, but I find this to be a trap that is easy to fall into. Here’s the problem in a nutshell. Jesus ascended into heaven. The disciples saw him and we heard about it in the reading today. We even say that he is seated at the right hand of God the Father. That seems to leave us with nothing but a spirit, albeit the Holy Spirit. The other two-thirds of the Trinity seem to be sitting on their thrones somewhere up in heaven watching us from far away.

A famous Swiss reformer named Albert Zwingli, the founder of the Reformed church, posed the issue in another way as it relates to the Lord’s Supper. Martin Luther argued that when Jesus distributed bread at the Last Supper to his would be betrayers, his very own disciples, he said, “This is my body,” and he meant it. The bread was still bread as well as the body of Jesus Christ. The wine was still wine as well as Jesus’ blood given for the forgiveness of sins.

Zwingli, on the other hand, argued that when Jesus handed out the bread and said “This is my body” he meant “This bread symbolizes my body.” The bread and wine at the Lord’s Supper couldn’t really be Jesus’ body and blood at the same time. Why? Because Jesus is sitting in heaven and he can’t be two places at once! Thus the problem of Jesus floating into heaven. How can he be up there and down here at the same time! Well, that, my friends, is the glorious promise of Jesus’ ascension.

If Jesus rose from the dead, then Jesus rose from the dead IN HIS BODY. If Jesus ascended into heaven, then Jesus ascended into heaven IN HIS BODY. If Jesus sits at the right hand of God, then Jesus sits at the right hand of God IN HIS BODY. And if Jesus is truly God, one and the same with God the Father and the Holy Spirit ,who is present everywhere at all times, then Jesus is also present everywhere at all times IN HIS BODY. You can see why it is easier just to call him a spirit. If Jesus always comes and goes IN HIS BODY, it suddenly feels very crowded in your pew.

Jesus was sent from heaven above to earth in his body. He died in his body. He rose from the dead in his body. He ascended into heaven in his body. He sits at the right hand of God the Father in his body and he is sitting right here, right now, with you in his body.

Of course, this can seem very excessive and it is. You’d rather have your space. Who gives Jesus the right to take up so much room. Your reason and intelligence, feeling suddenly squished and claustrophobic reminds you quickly that, well it can’t be! I don’t see anything. I can’t feel anything. And my question for you is this: Was it easier to believe in Jesus’ resurrection when he was just a spirit? A spirit that you couldn’t see or couldn’t feel?

Jesus is right here, right now, with you IN HIS BODY. This is the awesome promise of the ascension. You see, the question is, why did Jesus ascend into heaven? The answer is because you needed him to. Jesus ascended into heaven so you might believe that he is just as much your Savior today as he was the Savior of his disciples. So that you might believe that Jesus is just as much here now in Cornwall, as he was 2000 years ago in Jerusalem.

Perhaps it makes more sense to just say it this way. Jesus ascended into heaven so that he would never have to leave the Earth. He wasn’t trying to escape or abandon creation. Jesus did all of this for you. For the sake of your faith. So that you might believe that he will never leave you or forsake you. In the gospel of John, Jesus tells his disciples that he must leave them so that he can send the Holy Spirit. You see, only the Holy Spirit can give you the faith to believe in Jesus in the first place, and to believe that he will always be right here, right now, with you.

But there is one last thing: those two men in white robes that we assume were angels. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” For now, we believe that Jesus is here in a body that we cannot seem to see, or realize we are touching, or hearing, or smelling. We live by faith in Jesus Christ and know him only through the eyes of faith. There will come a day, when you will look up at Jesus and see him face to face. Him, resurrected in his body, coming down from heaven and you, resurrected in your body, called out of your grave, to the reality of eternal life with Jesus forever. Amen.

Sermon for March 20th (Maundy Thursday)

Jesus was crucified. Nailed to a cross. This is why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. This might seem like an odd reason to celebrate. But Jesus’ death is the reason why the Lord’s Supper is not just some family meal that we share at home. Jesus’ death is the reason why this is more than just a memorial to remember some fancy dinner a long time ago. Jesus’ death helps us better understand what is happening in this sacrament and why it is so important anyway. Tonight we are celebrating the death of Jesus our Savior at the Lord’s Supper. And some of you, will be doing this, for the first time. But why is it such a big deal in the first place?

In the reading from 1 Corinthians tonight you heard these words, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” But what is a covenant?. A covenant is an agreement made between two parties, two people. For instance, when you go to a bank in order to take out a loan to buy a house, you sign a promissory note that you will pay back the money. You have made a covenant with the bank. When you go out for sports, you agree to show up for practices and for the games. You have made a covenant with the coaches and with the team. When we hear the word covenant, these are the things we think about. Agreements. . . and if either person doesn’t do what they said they would do, well the agreement is off. If you stop paying the bank, they demand the money from you. If you don’t show up for the practices, you get kicked off the team.

However, this word covenant tricks us. While you and I are used to understanding it in one way, there were other ways to understand the word when the books of the Bible were written. Sometimes,both parties were responsible but there were different rules involved. For instance, think about the covenant that is made with a child, with your own children. When they are born, as you are holding them and rocking them for the first time, you may whisper in their ear, “I am always going to love you. I am going to find a way for you to have a better life than me. You will get everything I couldn’t get. I’m always going to take care of you and give you the best.” This is also a covenant, but it is a little different than a bank note or being part of a team. Why? Because your little baby isn’t agreeing to anything? The covenant completely rests on you. You have promised to love your little one whether they are a perfect child or not. Whether they kiss you goodnight or slam the door in your face. In a parent-child relationship, the parent is responsible to fulfill their obligations, but the child is not.

Another way to understand this kind of one-way covenant is to think about a last will and testament. When you die, people will read your last will and testament to find out who gets your property. When you fill out your last will and testament, you say what you are going to give to people when you are no longer living. When Grandma says in her will that you are the owner of the farm when she dies, it’s yours. You can’t say to the lawyer, “Well, I can’t take it because I wasn’t nice enough to Grandma.” No. She’s dead. It doesn’t matter. According to her will it is yours. She’s given you the whole farm! All that is left to say is, “Thank you!”

The apostle Paul says that as often as we eat the bread and drink this cup in the Lord’s Supper, we are to proclaim Jesus’ death until he comes. Jesus’ death is not about an agreement between God and you. Jesus died for you. He forgives your sins, he gives you the whole farm, and doesn’t ask if you lived up to your part of the agreement. Since you are a sinner, Jesus knows that you haven’t lived up to your end of the deal. That’s the whole point! He had to do something about it!

The Lord’s Supper is not about a covenant, the way we usually think about it. It is about a NEW covenant. But I think that there is a better word to remember what this means. It is about a new testament. It is about Jesus’ last will and testament. So, in order for you to find out what happens in the Lord’s Supper, you need to hear Jesus’ will and make sure all the parts of his will are there so that you can hold him to it when you hear of his death.

So here we go. In making a will you have to have a testator, or will maker, who is anticipating his or her own death. Then you need the heirs. The people who get what is coming to them. Also, you need to make sure the will is announced publicly.

At the last supper, Jesus declared his intentions to his disciples. And today, we will again hear his will publicly announced. Jesus referred constantly to the fact that he would be betrayed by all people, even those closest to him. So, at the last supper, surrounded by his disciples who would betray him by abandoning him and denying him, Jesus names all of them and us, his betrayers, as the heirs of his estate. So the author of the gospel writes, "In the night in which he was betrayed."

Since we have a will maker, a public announcement and some heirs, it is necessary to find out what the estate is. What goodies is Jesus giving in this will? Listen to the promise, “This cup is given and shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins.” We say these words, we name the estate, every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Jesus is giving you the whole farm. The forgiveness of sins. And, as Luther points out in the Small Catechism, where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. Jesus hands out everything, withholding nothing.

But we still need a little more to make sure that this last will and testament is in proper order. We have the heirs, his very own betrayers, and Jesus has named what he is giving away, the forgiveness of sins. Now, we need to be sure he wants the will to actually happen. Usually this is done with a signature on a legal document; however, Jesus just gives his command to do it. “Do this,” he says. Do this in remembrance of me. Take eat. Take drink. Do this. So by his command, we do it.

But, of course, there is one last thing. One last thing that must happen before any of these benefits are handed over. Jesus has named himself as the will maker, he has named his betrayers as his heirs, he has named the estate to be handed over and he has commanded that it be done. But, in order for Jesus’ last will and testament to be carried out, what must happen first? What must happen? The willmaker must die. Jesus must die.

When I say the words of institution, tonight, you will notice that I use the word testament instead of covenant. This is the way pastors used to say it back in the days of the old Service book and hymnal, the red book. Why is this word so important? Because I want to make it perfectly clear to all of you, that this gift of forgiveness from Jesus Christ is for you on the basis of what God has done all on his own. It is not based on some agreement you have made with him. For God’s promise, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, does not require any outward preparations on your part, or some level of worthiness, but the words require simply a believing heart.

Jesus died on the cross a long time ago. Now, each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim Jesus’ death until he comes again. And we celebrate his death. Because, since Jesus Christ has died, now his estate can be properly handed over to you, his heir, once and for all. Jesus Christ gives you all that he has. He gives you his body and blood, given in bread and wine, and commands you to eat it and drink it. He died for you so that all he has might be yours forever. This is Jesus’ last will and testament and it is wholly and completely for you.