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A Message for Maundy Thursday Bible texts: Old Testament – Exodus 12:1-14 Psalm 116:12-19 Epistle – 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 Gospel – John 13:1-17, 31-35 and Mark 14:22-26 Brothers and sisters, peace, grace and mercy be with you through God our Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Lutheran Christians believe that Holy Baptism is God’s gracious act of choosing us for Christ’s sake. We’re washed with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. By water and the Holy Spirit, we’re made members of the Church, which is the body of Christ. Baptism is God’s act, His decision to choose us as adopted sons and daughters. Maundy Thursday, the first day of the Triduum (Latin for “three days”), introduces us to the ways of this baptized life. The word Maundy, comes from the Latin, mandatum, which means commandment. On this night Jesus said to His disciples, "Here is my command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” Needless to say, the disciples didn’t completely understand Christ’s words on the night of the Lord’s Supper. When Jesus took off his outer cloak, tied a towel around Himself, and began washing the disciples’ feet like the lowliest servant, His disciples were taken aback. When Jesus was arrested later that night and went without protest, the disciples were terrified and heart broken by this choice as well. As Christ stood on trial before the religious and secular authorities, when He was mocked, beaten, and condemned to death, the disciples feared for their own lives. When our Lord was crucified, they were undone by His choice to die on the cross. Only later, when they knew the rest of the story, would His followers begin to understand this new way of life – a pattern of dying to the self and rising to a new life of humble service and love for others through the power of the Holy Spirit. The difficult truth is that we don’t always fear, love, and trust God above all else. Daily we miss opportunities to serve God and one another. But there is hope, the hope of the Gospel, the hope that Christ brings. We are mighty sinners, but Jesus is a mightier Saviour. In His presence, all of us are exposed as focussed on self. We do not love God with our whole heart. We do not love others as ourselves. Confronted with the truth in the presence of Jesus, Peter asks to wash Christ’s feet. Jesus insists however that He wash Peter’s feet, so that Peter will understand the example Christ is setting. We should enter into this Triduum – these three days – with awe and wonder, because we know Christ deliberately chose what we so eagerly run away from. With love beyond our imagination and ability to understand, God in the flesh willingly spent His life and went to His death in service to us and for our salvation. That night when the disciples gathered with Christ for the Last Supper, Jesus did what every observant Jew does on Passover to this day. He took bread and wine and gave God thanks and praise for it. But on that occasion, our Lord said: “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:22-24) On that night, Jesus was promising that the life He was about to sacrifice for the sins of the world would grant us salvation, once and for all. In Holy Baptism our gracious heavenly Father liberates us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord; we are reborn as children of God. In Holy Communion, we receive the very body and blood of our Saviour, in a Sacrament instituted and commanded by Christ Himself. What are the benefits of this Holy meal. They are explained by our Lord in His words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28) Where there is forgiveness of sins there is also life and salvation. The Apostle Paul makes crystal clear in 1st Corinthians 10:16, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” For those who would deny the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, Paul has a warning in 1st Corinthians 11:29-30: “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” Left to ourselves, we can do nothing. We do not choose God, He has chosen us in His Son. The Apostle Paul again explains, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God . . . “ When we remain united to Christ through His Word and Sacraments, we are indeed empowered by Him. To Jesus alone be all honour, praise, and glory. Amen. Pastor Tom Steers, Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto http://christlutherantoronto.org/beliefs