- Psalmody: Galatians 6:14a; Liturgical Text; Psalm 67:1; Philippians 2:8b-9; Psalm 118:16–17; John 13:12b, 15
- 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.
On this night thousands of years ago, on the same night in which He was betrayed, God in human flesh took bread and wine, gave thanks, and spoke the words that we heard St. Paul recount and words that we ourselves will recount in remembrance of our crucified King. Earthly speaking, that is, on account of the body, the bread that we break and the cup that we drink would not even be considered a snack by most of our standards, and yet around this Table, around this Holy Altar, we gather on this Holy night to remember the sacrifice and provision of our God and Lord, for is it not the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord? It is of great benefit to be reminded how it is God’s Divine Service in which we celebrate when we gather. Properly speaking, the Divine Service is where His people gather round that He might bless us by His holy institutions. He has instituted that His Word be read and proclaimed for the benefit of all who hear. Thus, in His Divine Service, we make use of His blessed command as we progress from Introit, Kyrie, other psalmody, and readings from the Holy Scriptures, to where our Lord Jesus desires that to take us, ready and well-prepared in heart, mind, and faith. And that is to the Eucharist, The Holy Communion, The Sacrament of the Altar. It is a sacrament instituted, given to us Christians to eat and to drink so that we may be sustained by more than natural bread and wine. We eat of the sacrifice once for all given by Christ our Lord: His Body broken, His Blood shed. For sinners, there is no greater meal than that eaten and drunk in the Lord’s Supper.
So, let us sinners recall the basic actions taking place in the Divine Service, for nearly every single detail of what goes on can fall into one of two categorical acts: sacrificial or sacramental. The sacrificial are all the things that we bring to the Lord: our bodies, our voices, our attention, our praise, our prayers, our offerings, our standing, our sitting, our kneeling, and on and on. As those gathered together to worship God, all that we do in the Divine Service as an offering toward Him can be considered sacrificial.
Sacramental are the things that we receive from God: the blessings, the bestowal of His Word, the strengthening of faith, the Sacrament of the Altar by which we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. As the sacramental comes down, more sacrificial is raised to Him in great joy and thanksgiving by those who receive in accordance with the Almighty’s good gifts. I, as pastor, as a man both gathering with you to praise the Lord and to administer His gifts to you in His stead and by His command, spend a lot of the service switching back and forth from joining you in the sacrificial to bestowing the sacramental as Jesus has instituted for you in this, His Holy Office. Typically, if I’m facing you, the act is sacramental and if I’m facing the altar, it’s sacrificial. In both instances, it is a blessing for you and me both to be in the house of the Lord where He does such marvelous things for us.
To come to love and adore our Lord Jesus more, let us consider more deeply both the sacramental and sacrificial aspects that led up to the night when He was betrayed and up to this night where we celebrate such an immortal feast. Long before our Lord came down from heaven, He cleansed the earth of wickedness by the Great Flood. Afterward, He made a covenant with Noah, saying, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” And later in Leviticus, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” So, when the Lord instituted the sacrificial Divine Service of the tabernacle, and later the temple, it involved the shedding of blood, which was the ending of a life, for the life, and specifically the atonement, of the people of God who came to His altar to receive the promises He made in that covenant of blood.
When a sacrifice was brought to God to be made upon that altar, two things were necessary for it not to be made in vain. First, it had to be acceptable to God. He had to receive it. Thus, a portion of every sacrifice was burnt upon the altar and it is seen by that act that it is acceptable and received by God above just as sure as the smoke and the pleasing aroma rise to Him. The other portion remained below. It remained as a portion to be consumed by the people, yet no man, neither priest nor people, consumed the blood of the sacrifice. They only ate the flesh of the animal whose life was given for theirs, and they ate it in a ceremonial meal after the Lord had received what was offered to Him. The people literally ate of the sacrifice offered to the Lord for their atonement, for their peace with God and with one another. Yet, the fact that only a portion was consumed by the people shows that these sacrifices were incomplete; that they pointed ahead to a meal that would be able to give life and give it abundantly.
So, at table reclined the Disciples with their Lord and Master on this night. He spoke to them of the Passover He was observing with them in which family gathered around the sacrificed lamb to feast upon its flesh roasted with wrathful fire, while, again, refraining from consuming its blood. That old covenant preserved the truth that was to be revealed in full everlasting measure in the shed blood of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Here was that Lamb, preparing Himself to go to the sacrifice of His Body, the shedding of His blood, the giving of His life as ransom for many. Here, He instituted a supernatural benefit to a natural eating and drinking, so that now in His Church, what is brought to Him as an offering of bread and wine are no longer merely the makings of a bodily meal, but a Supper that bestows upon its recipients the very Bread of Life Himself. This is My Body…This is My Blood. No longer do God’s people eat an incomplete foretaste. No longer do God’s people continually offer up the blood of bulls and goats for reconciliation to God. We have been given a meal that, though lighter upon the stomach than a snack, is weightier upon the soul and spirit than 10,000 upon 10,000 sacrificial meals of old. For, this High Feast of the Lamb of God is full of forgiveness every time it is done in remembrance of Him. The Life is in the Blood, and no longer is it withheld from those who eat of this Sacrifice, for He has said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed,” and, “Drink of it all of you, this cup is the new testament in My Blood, which is given for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Indeed, you have many sins to be forgiven. Indeed, you have life-giving Blood that covers all your iniquity and prepares you for the life everlasting without it, for you know that in Christ, in His Body, in His Blood, is supernatural relief for all who believe in these words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” His Life is in His Blood poured out for you then from the cross, and poured out for you now into the chalice of this Holy Sacrament. Come to the Lamb’s Feast. All things, all Life, have been prepared and are ready.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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