Sermon - Maundy Thursday 2020

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” If we were to consider all of the events that took place on Maundy Thursday, we’d be here all evening, since a lot happened that day. So out of everything that happened, the church has historically focused on two particular things for us to contemplate this evening: The foot washing and the Sacrament of the Altar. In both of these actions of Christ we see what it means for Jesus to love His people by humbly serving them.

Firstly turning to the foot washing, what a strange scene is recorded for us: “Jesus laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” While this might be a strange image for us, it was customary in the ancient mediteranian world for the host, the master of the house, to have his guests’ feet washed. 

Understand, people didn’t have clean comfy cars to travel around in, they walked. They also didn’t have shoes with fancy cooling gel supports in them, they had sandals. And so, spending all day on their feet, walking on dirt roads covered in all manner of unspeakable excrement, what would feel really good? Having their feet rubbed and washed.

As you can imagine, this sort of work was not glamorous, and so it was assigned to the house servant to perform this menial yucky job, a task far below the host to ever imagine doing himself. That’s why Peter responds aghast when Jesus tries to wash his feet: “Lord, do you wash my feet? You shall never wash my feet.” Peter’s response makes sense and he even humbles himself by referring to Jesus as his lord, his master. 

But the point of this strange interaction is not so much that Jesus is just washing their feet, but rather it’s to signify the greater thing that Jesus came to do. Namely, Jesus our Lord and Master, came to love His people by becoming their servant. Jesus came to wash His people, as he tells Peter: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with Me.” 

However, Jesus makes it clear that He’s not really talking about feet here, when He says: “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.” Now obviously that statement is false, because there’s more to our bodies than just our feet, and if I were to only ever wash my feet, you probably wouldn’t want to stand too close to me. As such, Jesus is speaking symbolically for a moment. When He speaks about washing the filth away from our feet, He’s referring to the greater washing in which He washes the filth of our sin away from our soul. He doesn’t just wash our soul with some water and a rag, but “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of sin.”

So we come to the second and greater action of Jesus on Maundy Thursday: the institution of the Lord’s Supper. If the washing of feet was confusing and strange, then this sacrament is even more confusing and strange. But thankfully, when it comes to the blessed sacrament of communion, Jesus speaks very clearly. “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me… This cup is the new testament in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

The foot washing thing was a one time deal, in which Jesus revealed His love for His people by serving them with water and a towel. But He established Communion for Christians of all time in which He reveals His love for us by serving us with His true body and blood. In this meal His body is true food and His blood is true drink, in which we receive into ourselves the very same tokens Christ sacrificed in order to wash us completely of sin. 

For Christians today, the feast of the Passover is done away with, since it only symbolized this meal of communion. Today we have the true feast of Christ’s love for us, when He truly passes over the trespasses of our sins, serving us as our food, and thus bringing us life everlasting. As such, this meal is the highlight of our life together! Christ comes to us this day, speaks His Word of power through His servant, and feeds us His very body and blood, so that we might know for certain that His love and humble service is real and lasting even for us.

This certainty of the sacrament, in which God’s Word takes on flesh and blood, in order to sustain us in holy living and fervent love towards one another, that certainty is an important part of the sacrament. Doubt and uncertainty is an enemy of faith, and this sacrament helps to vanquish that enemy. 

For that reason, it’s my duty to warn you against an abominable practice taking place in our day: some congregations are performing what’s called “online communion.” Where you watch a pastor on the internet through a camera say the words of institution, and then you eat some bread and wine at home, as if it were the body and blood of Christ. Such a thing is not actually Christ’s body and blood, but a confusion, turning Jesus’ words into a mere magical incantation, like performing a spell.

“The Lord’s Supper is not the private experience of individuals. Rather, it belongs to the Christian community. It unites the many recipients into ‘one body.’” At best, this produces confusion, uncertainty, and doubt in the hearts of believers. Beware of that false teaching and mark and avoid such pastors and places that do this.

We all miss gathering together collectively as Christians in order to receive the sacrament. But rather than turning to a practice which causes confusion, let us learn a greater hunger and thirst for the true Communion when Christ shall gather us together in His sanctuary to lovingly serve us with the true food of His body and the true drink of His blood. Until that day comes, let us deeply meditate on the Word of God. Let us believe that God, our Master, serves us by becoming our servant who loves us to the end, to the goal of His cross. Let us learn to love one another, just as Christ has loved us.