A, Manudy Thursday - All Readings - "Mandate Thursday"

MANDATE THURSDAY
A sermon on the readings for Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday (Year A) 21/04/11
Pastor Heath Pukallus Katanning-Narrogin Lutheran Parish

Texts

Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 116:1, 2, 12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35.

Key verse: (John 13:1) Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

Sermon

Have you ever wondered why Maundy Thursday is called Maundy Thursday? It's a strange name. In fact, I spent most of my youth mispronouncing it Maun-day Thursday. Maundy sounds a bit like an Australian way of saying Monday, or Mond'y, but it is not what Maundy means. Maundy comes from a Latin word similar to 'mandate' meaning commission, charge, order, or command. Maundy Thursday is mandate Thursday.

So what is the mandate given on the Thursday, the day before Jesus was nailed to the cross outside Jerusalem? If we take a look at the readings for Maundy Thursday there are plenty of mandates or commands given to us to follow. All the readings are filled with commands to do something. Are they all the same? Or are they different from each other? Let's take a look at them and see what mandates are given.

The first group of mandates we have heard are the Ten Commandments, and as we listened we were called to let the Lord show us our sin through them. These surely are a complete set of mandates. God has commanded us through the Ten Commandments to be holy so we can enter into the presence of a holy God. But wait there's more…

Even before God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai he gave a mandate to them in Egypt. This mandate was the preparation for the Lord's Passover, protecting households with blood and eating a meal in haste, as the Lord passed over Egypt and killed the first born of the households who had not fulfilled the mandate. God's command through Moses saved the Israelites' first born children from death. But wait there still is more…

Jesus gives his disciple a mandates to love. First he washes the feet of the disciples and when he finishes doing this menial task he asks, "Do you understand what I have done for you?" 13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17)

Jesus has washed feet in humble service and now we ought to do it too. He lays out the mandate to 'do as he has done', to serve one another, to forgive one another and emulate his self sacrificing love.

Also at the end of the Gospel reading Jesus lays out the well known mandate to love, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

In fact it is because of this mandate that the Thursday before Good Friday came to be know as Maundy Thursday. Jesus gives a new commandment. If we are to be his disciples, we must love. As Jesus has loved you, you must love. Have you loved as Jesus has loved? When others look at the way you conduct yourself do they see someone who loves? Do they see someone who serves, who forgives, who sets an example of love? What do you see in yourself? Are you a person of love?

Having come from God, Jesus knew God had placed all things under his power. But what did Jesus do? He became a servant and loved his disciples in his service of them. Not only did he wash their feet but he cleansed them from the power of sin through his death on the cross. It is in the light of his death on the cross that Christ gives us the command to love as he has loved us.

So we have mandates laid out before us; the Ten Commandments, to teach and celebrate the Passover, and now Jesus gives us a new commandment to love as he loved us. Hearing the question, "Have you loved others in the same way as Jesus loved?" makes for unsettling times for you and me. How is this commandment to love any different than the Ten Commandments Moses gave to the Israelites? Actually, Jesus lifts the bar higher. After all, a mandate is a command, and Jesus has given a greater law. Jesus took all laws into himself and has called us to follow just one; that we love as has he has loved. And how has he loved us? He has served us, not through washing feet, but taking our place in death while keeping all Ten Commandments. With a mandate like this every one of us is set to fail.

This is a hard act to follow: to love as he has loved us. Jesus gave the command to love then Judas left to betray him (Jn 13:18-30), and then Jesus said to Peter, "Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!" (John 13:38) Surely there is more to this mandate to love! Surely Jesus didn't come into the world just to give us a template to follow so we might obtain salvation; to give us an even harder law to follow! How do we follow through with Christ's mandate to love, when the disciple couldn't even do it?

There is one other mandate which must underpin this mandate to love others. Without something else Maundy Thursday is just a repeat of every other day lived under the Law, and Jesus' command to love is an even more oppressive law than the Ten Laws, Moses received on Mt Sinai. This other mandate is one which is similar to the Passover, in that blood was spilt to save people from death. But this mandate does not stand or fall on our ability to be able to perfect what is commanded – to be able to perform all the right deeds. No! This mandate is grounded in complete love towards us!

Jesus shows us the full extent of his love on the cross. The mandate of Maundy Thursday to love is grounded in Christ's loving action on Good Friday. He let his blood be spilt for you and me so we can stand before a Holy God as his first born children.

Peter received a true washing in the blood of the lamb when Jesus took his sins of denial, among others, to the cross. We are all washed in the blood of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Our God has mercy on us! After Jesus' resurrection Peter is reinstated, but listen how Jesus calls Peter to love.

15 Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." 16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17)

Christ was sent to suffer and die for the sins of the world by the command, or mandate, of his Father. We do well to connect others with the true love of Christ's forgiveness and atoning death on the cross first shown to those who lived around him and now shown to us today. We God's sheep do well to let ourselves be fed and forgiven so we too can love others. We who are sinners and beggars before the Lord do well to show others where to beg for this holy food of mercy too.

As Jesus sat at the table with the twelve disciples on that first Maundy Thursday, he spoke some words that must have seemed odd. Little did the disciples know that these words would be filled out by his actions on the cross the next day. In these days, we hang onto these words in faith because Jesus has commanded us to 'take, eat, and drink', and in doing so we proclaim his death until he comes again.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, and said (gave us this mandate), Take and eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup, after the supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said (the second part of the mandate), Drink of it, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. (From Holy Communion liturgy, commanded by Christ in Matt 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:17-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

It was only after Good Friday, that we truly knew what love is; that Jesus died for us on the cross. It was only after Good Friday, that we truly understood his mandate to take, eat, and drink, his life, his body and blood, in bread and wine for forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

Ever since that first Maundy Thursday, pastor's, in the same office into which Peter and the other Apostles were called, have been feeding the sheep, and parishioners have been receiving Christ's body and blood in this holy love feast commanded by Christ. Therefore, just as we are being loved by Christ and are given his gifts, we can go out and love one another because Christ has loved us first. Amen.

Let us pray. What can I offer to the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord. I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and call on the name of the Lord. I will keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all his people; in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Amen