his body and blood given and shed for us all unity in Christ Sermon

Transcript

1 AS I HAVE LOVED YOU Maundy Thursday (Year A) April 13, 2017 Lessons Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] Psalm 116:1-2, (13) 1st Corinthians 11:23-26 St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Prayer of the Day Pastor David J. Risendal drisendal@stplc.org facebook Dave Risendal Twitter: drisendal Saint Peter Lutheran Church 9300 East Belleview Avenue Greenwood Village, CO / facebook.com/stplc Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave us a new commandment, to love one another as he loves us. Write this commandment in our hearts, and give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. his body and blood given and shed for us all unity in Christ Sermon Grace to you and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.1 Amen. On the night in which he was betrayed We are gathered here this evening to remember the last night Jesus spent with his disciples: his closest followers. We are accustomed to thinking of them as a group of men, but according to the Gospels, Jesus followers included a number of women. 2 By the late 15th Century, da Vinci may have envisioned just twelve men at the table with him (and, strangely enough, all of them sitting on the same side of the table), but I d venture to guess that group was larger than that. At any rate, Jesus seems to know what the others don t: that this will be their last time together before his suffering and death. 1 Romans 1:7, 1st Corinthians 1:3, 2nd Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, 1st Thessalonians 1:1, 2nd Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 3; New Revised Standard Version Bible ( 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America). 2 See St. Matthew 27:55-56, St. Mark 15:40-41 and St. Luke 8:1-3.

2 Maundy Thursday Year A (April 13, 2017) 2 Matthew, Mark and Luke suggest that they are gathered for Passover the great Jewish feast which celebrates the time when God heard the cries of their ancestors, and led them out of slavery in Egypt into the freedom of the promised land. This makes sense. During the week when God will once again come to the faithful, and set them free from what binds them, one of the very last actions Jesus takes is to preside over this meal teaching his followers that what he is about to accomplish is not something new; not something novel. It is the very way of God. After the meal Jesus takes off his outer robe, and one-by-one he washes the feet of his disciples. He takes this simple act on by himself; a task that typically is performed by the lowest ranking slaves or servants. He does so to demonstrate the depth of his love for them, and his willingness to give whatever it takes for them to experience it. As the meal winds down, he begins to teach them, and he kicks it off with what might be considered his final request of them. If you will, turn to page seven in your worship folders, and read with me the last three sentences of tonight s Gospel reading. These words from Jesus are an expression of what he wants for his followers. Let s read them together: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 3 Now remember: this is the one whom St. John s Gospel describes as the very word of God, existing before the beginning of time, through whom God creates everything that is. This is the one who arguably is the greatest human being ever to walk the earth. It is this one who has knelt before them like a slave and washed their feet. It is this one who will soon suffer and die because of his deep desire to reunite them with God. It is this one who gives to them a mandatum novum a new commandment that they should love 3 St. John 13:34-35, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit.

3 Maundy Thursday Year A (April 13, 2017) 3 one another just as he has loved them. With grace and humility; selflessly and sacrificially; having a deep and passionate regard for the needs of others; willing to do whatever is necessary, regardless the cost, to allow them to experience this love; Jesus calls them he calls us to love like this. We learn at the table of his last meal that while to be a follower of Jesus may include loving God with our whole heart and soul and mind, it also means to love our neighbor in the same way that Jesus loves us. Willing to put aside all thoughts of power or status or fondness or mutual benefit. But to love our neighbor to love one another as best we can, no matter what. This is a love, obviously, that nobody can fully express, which becomes obvious quite early on in the story of the Christian movement. You will hear in a couple of minutes some familiar words from the Apostle Paul s first letter to the Corinthians. These words are familiar because we turn to them every week as we prepare to receive the bread and wine of the sacrament. But they don't exactly tell the whole story. To read them in context you would have to begin six verses earlier, and read eight verses beyond this evening s lesson. If you did this, you would discover that Paul is writing to the Corinthians in anger. He has learned that when they gather for the meal, they do so in a way that makes things worse. There are some who have little and others who have much, and when the Eucharist is over some are hungry and thirsty, while others are drunk and stuffed. Their manner of gathering at the table of Christ makes it evident that they have forgotten his final request. They are not sitting down for Holy Communion in a way that allows them to love one another as Jesus first loved them. And by inference, they are not proclaiming to the world what the Christian faith is all about. So Paul chastises them, demands that they find some new ways to celebrate the meal, and warns them that when he arrives in Corinth they are going to have some hard conversations. Let s read those three sentences again. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 4 It would be nice if we could gaze across the centuries and beat our chests a bit at how much more faithful we are now than the Corinthians were back then. But what we find, instead, is that we too struggle, just as they did. We too can become blind to the needs of our neighbors. We too can find ourselves content, completely unaware of the hunger that exists next door, or down the street, or on the other side of town. We too can live with little regard for our neighbor, whether he or she lives across the backyard fence or across the ocean. So the church gives us, as a spiritual practice, the season of Lent. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, marked with the sign of our human frailty and brokenness, we walk together for forty days, as we identify in our own lives those ways we have not loved one another as fully as Christ first loved us. Lent is a time to take notice of these shortcomings. Time to confess past failures at being the people God wants us to be. Time to ask God for mercy, and new life, so that the love Jesus wants us to share might be evident among us. Now, if our standing with God was to be determined based solely on the quality of our attempts to live into this new commandment, the story of our faith would be a sad one. But there is good news tonight. The God who calls us to this sacred love is also the God who forgives us when we come up short, and who empowers us for a new day a day 4 St. John 13:34-35, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit.

4 Maundy Thursday Year A (April 13, 2017) 4 filled with opportunities to love. That s why, at the end of Lent, after reflecting on how short we ve fallen, we are invited forward to Christ s altar. Hands are placed on our heads. Healing words are spoken: In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins. And then we come, together, to the table of life, where Christ feeds us for this new day. A day that becomes one more opportunity for us to live into the vision Jesus has of what it means to be a people of God. So with this in mind, will you join me one last time in speaking these words of Jesus? I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 5 Friends in Christ, saints and sinners, called to love one another as Christ first loved us, let us dedicate ourselves to continue the struggle. May the word of Christ lead us forward, into the hopes and dreams God has for our life together. And when we fail, may the presence of God forgive us, heal us, pick us up, put us on our feet, and empower us for a new day. This is the life of Christ. This is the love of Christ. May we continue to do our very best to share it with each other. And may we be a sign to the whole world of what God is able to do. In this Lenten season, we have heard our Lord s call to intensify our struggle against sin, death, and the devil all that keeps us from loving God and each other. This is the struggle to which we were committed at Baptism; God s forgiveness and the power of the Spirit to amend our lives continue with us because of God s love for us in Jesus, our Savior. Within the community of the Church, God never wearies of giving peace and new life. In the words of absolution we receive forgiveness as if directly from God. This absolution we should not doubt, but firmly believe that thereby our sins are forgiven before God in heaven, for it comes to us in the name and by the command of our Lord. We who receive God s love in Jesus Christ are called to love one another, to be servants to each other as Jesus became our servant. It is, however, in the Holy Communion that the members of Christ s body participate most intimately in his love. Remembering our Lord s last supper with the disciples, we eat the bread and share the cup of this meal. Together we receive the Lord s gift of himself and participate in that new covenant which makes us one with him. The Eucharist is the promise of the great banquet we will share with all the faithful when our Lord returns, our reconciliation with God and each other. 6 David J. Risendal, Pastor Gospel Lesson; English Text 7 13:1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was St. John 13:34-35, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit. The last three paragraphs of this sermon are from the Maundy Thursday Liturgy in the Lutheran Book of Worship, Ministers Desk Edition (copyright 1978, by the LCA, ALC, ELCiC and LCMS). Pages A list of Bible lessons for the coming weeks is available at

5 Maundy Thursday Year A (April 13, 2017) 5 going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered, You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand. 8 Peter said to him, You will never wash my feet. Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no share with me. 9 Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head! 10 Jesus said to him, One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you. 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, Not all of you are clean. 12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 31 Jesus said, Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 8 Gospel Lesson; Greek Text: 13:1 Προ δε τη ς ἑορτη ς του πάσχα εἰδω ς ὁ Ἰησου ς ὅτι ἠ λθεν αὐτου ἡ ὥρα ἵνα µεταβῃ ἐκ του κόσµου τούτου προ ς το ν πατέρα, ἀγαπήσας του ς ἰδίους του ς ἐν τῳ κόσµῳ εἰς τέλος ἠγάπησεν αὐτούς. 2 και δείπνου γινοµένου, του διαβόλου ἤδη βεβληκότος εἰς τη ν καρδίαν ἵνα παραδοι αὐτο ν Ἰούδας Σίµωνος Ἰσκαριώτου, 3 εἰδω ς ὅτι πάντα ἔδωκεν αὐτῳ ὁ πατη ρ εἰς τα ς χει ρας και ὅτι ἀπο θεου ἐξη λθεν και προ ς το ν θεο ν ὑπάγει, 4 ἐγείρεται ἐκ του δείπνου και τίθησιν τα ἱµάτια και λαβω ν λέντιον διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν 5 εἰ τα βάλλει ὕδωρ εἰς το ν νιπτη ρα και ἤρξατο νίπτειν του ς πόδας τω ν µαθητω ν και ἐκµάσσειν τῳ λεντίῳ ὡ ἠ ν διεζωσµένος. 6 ἔρχεται οὐ ν προ ς Σίµωνα Πέτρον λέγει αὐτῳ κύριε, σύ µου νίπτεις του ς πόδας; 7 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησου ς και εἰ πεν αὐτῳ ὃ ἐγω ποιω συ οὐκ οἰ δας ἄρτι, γνώσῃ δε µετα ταυ τα. 8 λέγει αὐτῳ Πέτρος οὐ µη νίψῃς µου του ς πόδας εἰς το ν αἰω να. ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησου ς αὐτῳ ἐα ν µη νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις µέρος µετ ἐµου. 9 λέγει αὐτῳ Σίµων Πέτρος κύριε, µη του ς πόδας µου µόνον ἀλλα και τα ς χει ρας και τη ν κεφαλήν. 10 λέγει αὐτῳ ὁ Ἰησου ς ὁ λελουµένος οὐκ ἔχει χρείαν εἰ µη του ς πόδας νίψασθαι, ἀλλ ἔστιν καθαρο ς ὅλος και ὑµει ς καθαροί ἐστε, ἀλλ οὐχι πάντες. 11 ᾔδει γα ρ το ν παραδιδόντα αὐτόν δια του το εἰ πεν ὅτι οὐχι πάντες καθαροί ἐστε. 12 Ό τε οὐ ν ἔνιψεν του ς πόδας αὐτω ν [και ] ἔλαβεν τα ἱµάτια αὐτου και ἀνέπεσεν πάλιν, εἰ πεν αὐτοι ς γινώσκετε τί πεποίηκα ὑµι ν; 13 ὑµει ς φωνει τε µε ὁ διδάσκαλος, καί ὁ κύριος, και καλω ς λέγετε εἰµι γάρ. 14 εἰ οὐ ν ἐγω ἔνιψα ὑµω ν του ς πόδας ὁ κύριος και ὁ διδάσκαλος, και ὑµει ς ὀφείλετε ἀλλήλων νίπτειν του ς πόδας 15 ὑπόδειγµα γα ρ ἔδωκα ὑµι ν ἵνα καθω ς ἐγω ἐποίησα ὑµι ν και ὑµει ς ποιη τε. 16 ἀµη ν ἀµη ν λέγω ὑµι ν, οὐκ ἔστιν δου λος µείζων του κυρίου αὐτου οὐδε ἀπόστολος µείζων του πέµψαντος αὐτόν. 17 εἰ ταυ τα οἴδατε, µακάριοι ἐστε ἐα ν ποιη τε αὐτά. 31 λέγει Ἰησου ς νυ ν ἐδοξάσθη ὁ υἱο ς του ἀνθρώπου και ὁ θεο ς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῳ 32 [εἰ ὁ θεο ς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῳ ], και ὁ θεο ς δοξάσει αὐτο ν ἐν αὐτῳ, και εὐθυ ς δοξάσει 8 St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit.

6 Maundy Thursday Year A (April 13, 2017) 6 αὐτόν. 33 τεκνία, ἔτι µικρο ν µεθ ὑµω ν εἰµι ζητήσετε µε, και καθω ς εἰ πον τοι ς Ἰουδαίοις ὅτι ὅπου ἐγω ὑπάγω ὑµει ς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθει ν, και ὑµι ν λέγω ἄρτι. 34 Ἐντολη ν καινη ν δίδωµι ὑµι ν, ἵνα ἀγαπα τε ἀλλήλους, καθω ς ἠγάπησα ὑµα ς ἵνα και ὑµει ς ἀγαπα τε ἀλλήλους. 35 ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες ὅτι ἐµοι µαθηταί ἐστε, ἐα ν ἀγάπην ἔχητε ἐν ἀλλήλοις. 9 First Lesson; English Text: 12.1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. [ 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.] 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance. 10 Second Lesson; English Text: For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord s death until he comes. 11 Second Lesson; Greek Text: 11:23 Ἐγὼ γὰρ παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα ὑµῖν, ὅτι ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ᾗ παρεδίδετο ἔλαβεν ἄρτον 24 καὶ εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν καὶ εἶπεν τοῦτο µού ἐστιν τὸ σῶµα τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑµῶν τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐµὴν ἀνάµνησιν. 25 ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ ποτήριον µετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι λέγων τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35, The Greek New Testament, Aland, Kurt, Black, Matthew, Martini, Carlo M., Metzger, Bruce M., and Wikgren, Allen, ( 1983, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart). Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit. 1 st Corinthians 11:23-26, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit.

7 Maundy Thursday Year A (April 13, 2017) 7 ἐµῷ αἵµατι τοῦτο ποιεῖτε, ὁσάκις ἐὰν πίνητε, εἰς τὴν ἐµὴν ἀνάµνησιν. 26 ὁσάκις γὰρ ἐὰν ἐσθίητε τὸν ἄρτον τοῦτον καὶ τὸ ποτήριον πίνητε, τὸν θάνατον τοῦ κυρίου καταγγέλλετε ἄχρι οὗ ἔλθῃ st Corinthians 11:23-26, The Greek New Testament, op. cit.