The text for this Maundy Thursday comes to us from the Gospel of Matthew, the 26th chapter:
…For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.Thus far the text.
Dear Friends in Christ,
This evening we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, rejoicing and reveling in the gift that our Lord gave to us this Maundy Thursday nearly 2,000 years ago. We do this in remembrance of Jesus, not that we are merely remembering Him, but that we remember He told us to do this as He Himself has instructed and for the reason He Himself gave us: that it IS His blood and it DOES forgive our sins.
And no instruction is more incredible, and no instruction is more misunderstood than what Jesus Christ states for us in this short reading: “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
If we move too fast, we miss what Jesus is saying. We miss the context. We miss the setting. We miss the history. We miss all that our Lord has fulfilled and promised. You see, God has been making covenants with His creation since the fall of man into sin, but this one, this one is special.
It began when Eve was deceived by the serpent in the Garden of Eden. She ate from the only tree that never was to be eaten from. She dragged her husband along with her into sin, setting up the entire human race, you and me included, into sin and death. From this point on, it would never, ever be the same. We so often think that we would have done better. After all, how hard is it to obey one simple little rule? Could you do better now? I’m thinking not, especially since we know that Adam and Eve had everything perfect. Perfect garden, perfect relationship with each other, perfect work, perfect relationship with God, and they still ended up throwing it right back into God’s face.
So, what does God do? Does He just wipe out His creation? No, of course not. Instead, He promises a savior would come to crush the serpent, the devil, into the dust. And how does He seal His promise? How does He seal this covenant? He kills an animal for Adam and Eve and makes clothes for them to go forward. Who does this killing? Adam and Eve? No, it was God.
And this is the beginning of everything. Adam and Eve set the example; they pulled away from God. They rejected Him. But, God, in His great and infinite mercy, shed blood to bring His people back to Him. It’s His covenant of blood. Covenants with God aren't dictated by man, but they are given by God. We don't deserve a covenant. We are sinful and can't even uphold one. But God in His mercy makes covenants to us. He gives us His promises and they're all done and completed and fulfilled in His action. And He always does this through the shedding of blood. It's holy. And it’s the exact same method God uses to give His people covenants all throughout the Scriptures.
When Noah came out of the ark, he immediately sacrificed an animal to the Lord and on behalf of his family and for all the world. In response, knowing that Noah was the man God desired to restart the world, the human population, God covenanted with Noah that He would never again destroy the whole world with a flood. The covenant of blood was sealed, signed by God Himself in the blood of the animal, which was poured out onto the earth for all people to come.
When God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that the Messiah would come from Him and that God would be their God and they would be God's people, God required that Abraham and his offspring would be circumcised in order to seal the covenant. The covenant was promised through Abraham’s lineage, and that lineage came from the promise marked in circumcision. The covenant of blood was sealed, Abraham believed it, and it was credited to him as righteousness. This covenant was repeated several times, especially to Abraham’s son, Isaac, and grandson, Jacob. They were heirs of the covenant God made with His people.
God covenanted with His people to save them by the blood of the sacrificed lamb in the Passover. They would eat unleavened bread and drink wine and eat the meat of the lamb and spread the blood of the lamb over their homes. And during this Passover celebration, the Lord would spare them the death of the firstborn, saving that death for those who rejected God and His covenant. God sealed the covenant by the very eating and drinking He commands His people to do.
When Moses and all of Israel came up out of Egypt, God saw that they were going to be continually disobedient. They would actively and passively rebel against God all the time, and in so doing, they would separate themselves from God in the exact way their ancestors, Adam and Eve, did. So, God made a covenant with them, a covenant of the Law, that if the Israelites obey God’s Law then God would be faithful and just and not hold them accountable for the sins they commit. Of course, we know that to obey the Law perfectly is impossible. But God made a way.
In fact, God instituted a system of sacrifice to make sure this would happen. The sacrifices of sheep, goats, bulls, and doves would pour out blood in order to atone for the sins of the Israelite people. God sealed His covenant with the Israelites by accepting their sacrifices of blood against His altar which were then sprinkled and poured out on the people. He also sealed it by allowing them to eat the meat of the burned sacrifice. They were washed in the blood of the sacrifice and ate the meat of the sacrifice and their sins were forgiven in this washing and eating. The covenant was sealed by God by the shedding of blood and the Law would remain standing until the Law could be fulfilled perfectly.
God required blood to be shed. No matter what covenant was made, it wasn’t a real covenant until blood was shed. Even a simple promise from one person to another required an animal to be killed, cut in half, and for both parties to stand in the midst of the pooling blood. A promise between God and man required so much. In the Old Testament system, a once-for-all sacrifice was unheard of. It just couldn’t be. It wasn’t sufficient. It wasn’t enough. Blood must be shed and it must be shed often for we sin often.
Do you see? Because of our imperfections, because of our sin, because a holy God demands holy justice, God requires blood. A lot of it. It must be spilled. But, even in this demand, God is merciful because we should expect God to require OUR blood, our lives, in return for sinning against Him. But God gives us another way. God allows for the blood to be shed to come from another source. It need not be our own blood. Instead, God gives us substitutes to take our place. In the Old Testament, that meant animals. But we have no temple at which to sacrifice now. We are people of the New Testament. And we need a sacrifice lest we die eternally.
We are so sinful, you and I. But even if we had committed only one, just one little infraction, a little white lie, a little fib, a small miscalculation, not fulfilling a promise, a quick and harsh word, taking something that doesn’t really belong to us, judging someone harshly, looking lustfully at what our neighbor owns, not doing what someone asks of us, committing a sin of the mind, coveting our neighbor’s wife or daughter or husband or son, not looking after the poor, the needy, the widowed, the orphaned, just one time any of that happens, we are instantly condemned. Blood must be shed. Something must take our sin into itself and die for us for the forgiveness of those sins. And ultimately, and despite God’s mercy, the wages of sin is still death. One little sin and you deserve death. You may be forgiven, but you will still die. You will die.
And that’s the beauty of it all. We need blood shed for us. We can’t fulfill the Law. Even that escape clause of sacrifice God gave us through the Law, even that we can’t keep. We can’t do it enough. We can’t offer up enough sacrifices for all the sin that we commit. Can you imagine the lines forming outside the temple if we tried? I’d have to drive a whole herd of sheep into the temple! And that was just for yesterday! What would you have to bring?
God knew even this would be too much for us. Way too much. We still couldn’t do it. We didn’t even want to. So, God had another plan in mind. Every covenant God had made with man, every time He promised us something, it was always in light of the covenant that was to come. Sacrificing animals wouldn’t be enough. Circumcision wouldn’t be enough. We would never have true life in an animal sacrificial system Nothing would be enough unless it was all in light of God’s holy and righteous plan to send His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to shed His blood.
Jesus’s whole plan, His whole mission, His whole purpose was to come to where we are, here on this earth, and to have His blood poured out into the ground and all over and inside of us. It would be His blood that forgives, His blood that brings eternal life, His blood that brings salvation. Jesus’s blood would be the source of everything God promised.
All the Old Testament sacrifices, they pointed to Jesus’ sacrifice. All of the Old Testament festivals, they pointed to Jesus’ feast at this altar. All of the Old Testament circumcisions, they pointed to Jesus’ washing us with His blood in baptism.
And that is what Jesus is reminding us of here. “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus is making sure we know this is THE covenant, the covenant underlying and surpassing ALL covenants. In this covenant, the covenant that comes through the blood of Jesus, poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins, comes forgiveness and salvation and life and freedom from sin and love for God. Every good thing comes through the covenant of Jesus Christ.
And nowhere is this seen more clearly than through this supper which we are soon to eat and drink. No, it probably won’t give you everything you need to eat today. The wine will only slake your thirst for a little while. But this supper DOES give you everything you need in this life. It comes to us straight from the cross. You eat the flesh of Jesus, the flesh which was dying and dead and was resurrected to new life. This is the true body of Christ, broken for you for the forgiveness of your sins. You drink the blood of Jesus, the blood which was whipped out by scourges and poked out by thorns and flowing out nails and dripping out in sweat. This is the true blood of Christ, shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins.
You receive the body and blood of the sacrifice of the covenant! It's not some spiritual mumbo jumbo! It's real! It's true! It's here! You are eating and drinking the real presence of Christ, not just some spiritual body! Jesus is here! And He will soon be in your mouth! THIS IS my body! THIS IS my blood! There's no other definition of "is!" And there's no other meaning of body or bread or wine or blood. It's a mystery of God that He accomplishes through His Word and the means which He instituted!
You are washed in and drink the blood of the sacrifice, the blood of Christ! You eat the meat of the sacrifice, the body of Christ! The covenant is sealed by God! Jesus has done it all! It's not your work! There is nothing to do here! Our blood no longer must be shed forever, our blood poured out needlessly into the ground. Jesus’ blood was done in this way for us. And this is what Jesus is saying. “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” This is my blood of the covenant, shed for you, given for you, it’s coming from my cross, my death, so that you may eat of it and drink of it and live for your sins are forgiven and I declare you innocent!
And so, Jesus Christ, on that Maundy Thursday, gave us the way His covenant, the new covenant and, at the same time, the same covenant that has laid under all covenants ever made, would work. Jesus told us exactly the way it would happen. And it went like this:
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, ‘My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.
When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the covenant is sealed with the blood of Christ not the blood of animals, not even your blood . Your sins are all forgiven. You no longer need to fear sin and its effects. It is finished. Christ has shed His blood. Believe the Lord's words for He is true and He never lies. He is here and present in this sacrament for the forgiveness of all your sins. Believe His promise. And when you do, come and eat His very body and drink His true blood in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of all your sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now may the peace that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
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