Maundy Thursday – Thursday 28 March A✠D 2024
✠ Psalmody: Galatians 6:14b; Psalm 67:1–3, 6b–7;Philippians 2:8b-9;Psalm 111:4–5; John 6:55–56
✠ Lection: Exodus 24:3–11;1 Corinthians 11:20–32;John 13:1–15
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh, how rich and delightful is the family meal at the Table of our Lord when more are able to join in. This night, on which we remember the betrayal of our Lord Jesus Christ and His institution of Holy Communion, we at Our Savior shall welcome two young children from among us to receive their Savior’s Body and Blood for the first time. This practice may be different from that with which many of you grew up, as it most certainly is for me having grown up being taught that nothing is happening in the Sacraments of Christ other than our obedience; no forgiveness, no life, no salvation being bestowed by God upon the recipient. But even in Lutheran traditions, Holy Communion has curiously come to be tied to Confirmation, and Confirmation to a specific age, an age typically much older than when a child growing up in a Christian home naturally comes by growing faith to desire to receive what the Holy Spirit is ever driving them toward. When the Word of God is held sacred in the family and children are regularly brought to Church to hear Jesus, hunger and thirst for what He provides in His Body and Blood is what comes about by God’s work in them. When His Word is in our hearts, is taught diligently to our children, is talked of when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up, the godly conclusion is what we are blessed to behold among us this very night: little ones wanting more of Jesus. In response to such true and godly desire that I see in Astrid and Fox as their pastor, as testified to and evidenced by their faithful parents, I dare not hold over this little brother and sister of ours in Christ in an unnecessary period of waiting for six or seven more years for them to receive the nourishment that their Savior and ours desires to give to them. These two young people will continue on eventually into Confirmation instruction so that their faith in the Lord can become more informed and confirmed. In the meantime, just as for all of us, they shall come to Holy Communion not by qualification of knowledge, but by faith alone; faith in these words, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, for that measure of worthiness is the same for us all. Those who, as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes, do so only by faith; faith that He gives in Holy Baptism and nourishes in the Sacrament of the Altar. So, when we welcome these two to join us for the first time, let us not judge if they are as worthy as we are or if their faith is as mighty as ours. When the little children are being brought to Jesus that He might touch them, we shall not rebuke it, for our Lord says, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Therefore, we should hope to have a faith more like theirs, not they like ours, at least in its purest sense and benefit of trusting Christ and His Word, especially as it is given to us Christians to eat and to drink. To eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord worthily is to receive His Body and His Blood like a little child, who has faith in these words, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
Hear this, O children of God, no matter few years of life lived, in the middle, or many: the longer we live in this evil age with the devil, the world, and our sinful nature constantly about us, the more we will accumulate both godly knowledge that edifies and ungodly knowledge that corrupts. This means that as we grow to worry more, doubt more, hate more, despise more, the more our simple faith in Christ will also suffer and come under attack. It is a blessing for us to watch the faith of little children and even to envy them to a certain degree. The Lord has provided the gift of family so that children can live a life of faith that is yet to be tested or burdened by the full blown worries or riches of life. Once childhood is past, the toil and tribulation of daily life tempts us mightily not only to forget the strength of simple faith and trust in God, but also to forget how desperately we need Him, how desperately we need His Word daily, how desperately and often we need Him to feed us with His Body and Blood. We become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord not only by denying that His true Body and Blood are under the bread and wine, but by coming to receive the Supper with complacency. Every time the Sacrament is administered is a time when He Who reigns on High at the Father’s right hand comes to us in the Body that was broken for us and the Blood that was shed for us. This means that for the Christian there should never be a time when the Blessed Sacrament is received that we come in unthankful, lackluster unpreparedness. The farther that we move beyond childhood, the more we come to know about ourselves and the world in which we live, the more diligently we need to examine ourselves and to prepare aright as honored guests being welcomed to the Table of God Almighty. There is never an occurrence of the Lord’s Supper which should not be treated as the miracle that it truly is. Cherish every reception.
Childlike faith grasps the Law of God and its true and daily accusation of our sins. By faith, we trust the bad news to be true just as much as the Good News, for the prior makes sweet the latter. The centurion who came to Jesus in Capernaum proclaims a strong example of childlike faith in what he confessed when he pleaded with the Lord to heal his paralyzed, dreadfully tormented servant. Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.” The child of God who sees the truth of his own sin, looks to the Altar of Grace upon which Jesus comes in His Body and Blood and says, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under the roof of my mouth.” Such is that beautiful and necessary preparation for every reception of the Lord’s Supper lest we welcome into us Him Whom we are unwilling to acknowledge that we need. There can be no unwelcomed eating and drinking in the Lord’s Supper. If we receive what is given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins and fail to admit to ourselves and to God that we have by our own most grievous fault, given much cause for forgiveness to be needed, then we are guilty of denying the gift, of denying the Lord Who is giving us His crucified Body and Blood for that very reason. If the holy, heavenly Guest of Christ is being welcomed into our mouths for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation to be given to us as communicant recipients, then to treat this Meal of Immortality short of what it is and why it is done in remembrance of Him is to defile the Holy One being received in our unholy mouth. This admonition is for all Christian hearts, for each must consider the miraculous heaven on earth that is taking place when Christ serves us this meal in accordance with His Word.
Faith isn’t dependent upon our intellect, but the Holy Spirit does sanctify it and expects us to put it to use in examining ourselves, so that every time we eat and drink Holy Communion, we do so reverently, thankfully, and joyfully. The faith given to the young in Baptism will naturally desire the Lord’s Supper. So, fathers in the flesh, and fathers in the faith, fulfill the responsibility of teaching the young the basics of the Christian doctrine upon which their faith and ours is built. I publicly commend Astrid and Fox, their supportive parents, and the other godly young among us, for fostering within a love for the 10 Commandments, The Apostles’ Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, Holy Baptism, Confession, and the Sacrament of the Altar. These two young children’s knowledge of the Catechism, their godly self-examination even at a young age, and their sincere desire to feast upon Christ with their brothers and sisters in the congregation of saints to which they belong in this family Meal, show them to be truly worthy and well-prepared to receive The Eucharist. More than I could have expected as a pastor, yea, even my faith has been built up by helping and watching theirs grow in understanding and love of what Jesus says. I understand even better what He means by receiving the Kingdom of God as a little child. They have helped God teach me more and have been taught well themselves how to exercise their God-given faith so that it believes the truth and severity of their sins and knows to Whom to go, and humbly desires to go, to receive strength and perseverance in the one true faith. Let (all) the little children come to Me, believing that there is blessing in this touch of His. Among us daily is joyful building up of the saints of God through the faith in crucified Christ that we share in the one holy, Christian, and apostolic Church. Take comfort, for Jesus has commanded that we eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord worthily by receiving the Sacrament of His Body and His Blood like a little child. Take heart, eat, and drink in reverent joy and awe at your Savior Who has commanded and promised that those who have faith in these words, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, have exactly what they say: forgiveness of sins.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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