“Given and Shed for You”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen. The text for our Maundy Thursday meditation is the familiar Words of
Institution with which Christ gave us the Sacrament of Holy Communion, as
recorded by St. Paul in this evening’s Epistle Reading. There’s an old saying, “You are what you eat.” This evening our
Lord Jesus Christ invites you to eat and drink the Lord’s Supper, here at his
altar. To eat his body and drink his blood, “given and shed for you.” The question is: What effect will this sacrament have on you in your
everyday life? If “you are what you eat,” how will eating and drinking at
the Lord’s table here tonight change your life out there tomorrow? In this holy Sacrament you receive from God forgiveness of sins.
Like medicine that heals a disease, Christ’s body and blood, in, with, and under
the bread and wine, heals the disease of your sin. Like vitamins which
strengthen your body, this Sacrament is a spiritual vitamin for the
strengthening of your soul. The true body and blood of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ strengthens you in the true faith unto life everlasting.
Faith to trust in Jesus. Faith to receive the forgiveness he earned for
you on the cross, the forgiveness he bestows on you in this holy Supper. How will the forgiveness you receive here tonight change your life out
there tomorrow? St. Paul writes, “Forgive one another just as in Christ
God forgave you.” Are you holding a grudge against someone? Has
someone betrayed you, turned against you, hurt you? Are you angry and
upset? St. Paul says, “Forgive whatever grievances you may have against
one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” God forgives you completely, totally, unconditionally. God
forgives and forgets. The Lord declares in Jeremiah, “For I will forgive
their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Psalm 103 says,
“He forgives ALL your sins . . . as far as the east is from the west, so far has
he removed our transgressions from us.” How will the forgiveness you receive here tonight change your life out
there tomorrow? You will forgive others as the Lord forgave you:
completely, totally, unconditionally. You will forgive and forget.
As St. James says, “Do not hold a grudge against one another.” We call this Maundy Thursday. The word “maundy” comes from the
Latin “maundatum,” which means “commandment.” On Maundy Thursday, Christ
said to his disciples, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.
. . Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends. . . As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Tonight you taste your Lord’s love for you, love so great that he laid
down his life for you. Love so great that you eat and drink his body and
blood, given and shed for you. How will the love of Jesus you experience
here tonight change your life out there tomorrow? St. John writes, “This is how God showed his love for us: He sent his
only-begotten Son into the world that we would have life through him. . .
Beloved, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” St.
Peter says, “Love one another deeply, from the heart.” St. Paul describes
Christian love in his famous “love chapter,” 1st Corinthians chapter 13: “Love
is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not selfish, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record
of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never
fails.” That is a most beautiful description of how the love you experience
here at this altar tonight will change your life out there tomorrow. As
Jesus said to his disciples on the first Maundy Thursday, “As I have loved you,
so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.” St. John tells us that Jesus “showed . . . the full extent of his love”
that night when he got down on his knees and washed his disciples’ feet.
In humility Jesus showed his love by serving his disciples. He said to
them, “I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done for you.” Tonight in this holy Supper you remember the ultimate self-sacrifice of
your Savior. As St. Paul writes in this evening’s
Epistle Reading, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” How will our Savior’s
self-sacrifice for you which you remember here tonight change your life out
there tomorrow? St. Paul says, “Serve one another in love.” Jesus
said, “I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done for you.” You are what you eat. This evening our Lord Jesus Christ invites
you to eat and drink the Lord’s Supper here at his altar. How will what
you eat and drink here tonight change your life out there tomorrow? In this holy Sacrament you receive from God forgiveness of sins.
“Forgive one another just as in Christ God forgave you.” Tonight you taste our Lord’s love for you, love so great that he laid
down his life for you. “Beloved, since God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another.” Tonight you remember the ultimate self-sacrifice of your Savior.
“I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done for you.”
“Serve one another in love.” A life of forgiveness, a life of love, a life of self-sacrifice and
service. Those are the changes what you eat and drink here tonight will
bring in your life out there tomorrow, and every day. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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