C, Maundy Thursday - All readings "Feasting and Foot Washing"

There is a greet paradox in the readings for Maundy Thursday.  The Old Testament reading tells us of what happened when God passed over Egypt and handed out judgement on the gods of Egypt.   This is a powerful picture of the destroyer, passing through Egypt, killing the firstborn sons of those who did not paint the blood of the Passover Lamb over the door frames of their homes.  The Israelites who did, were spared death as God moved to free them from slavery under Pharoah, four hundred years after Israel found a haven from famine under Joseph in Egypt.

Then we have the picture of Jesus washing feet.  Not a glamorous picture by any stretch of the imagination.  This is a picture of servanthood.  A picture of stooping down in vulnerability without much clothing, taking off other’s footwear, and washing their feet.  Washing someone else’s feet today might seem humiliating enough, dealing with body odour or fungal rashes.  But washing the feet of those who walked in the dusty filth of Roman roads in footwear such as sandals, washing feet was a very unsavoury task.  This was a job for the lowest of slaves.

So, we have this pictorial paradox before us.  God passing over Israel, but God the Son stopping over the feet of his apostles, to wash their feet.

Simon Peter pridefully shuns Jesus in his attempt to enact a servant’s cleansing of Peter’s feet. According to Peter, this was not a job for the Messiah!  But little did Peter understand that this was a demonstration of the duties the Messiah needed to perform physically and spiritually, so all would have a part in the cleansing of the cross.  Little did Peter know, Jesus would commission him and the apostles, after the resurrection, in sharing the glorification of God in what Jesus taught them, how he served them, and in what they witnessed at the cross.

Little did Peter know that Jesus would have to pass over Peter’s sin of denying him three times and then restore him to lead the church in “feeding the lambs”.  Peter and the apostles in their witness and proclamation of what happened to Jesus would cleanse those who allowed Jesus to cover and cleanse their hearts with his blood.   

Beginning the start of the three-day event of Jesus’ death and resurrection always occurs near the Jewish Passover.  This is why Easter Sunday is not nailed down to a single date.  Easter Sunday is a movable feast in the church calendar year.  It occurs after the Paschal full moon. 

The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, and the Passover occurs on the 15^th day of the month of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew Year.  This relates to the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere; that is the 21^st of March, in our calendar.  Therefore, the Easter festival begins on the first Sunday, after the first full moon (that is, the Paschal full moon) after the 21^st of March.  Easter Sunday always falls between the 22^nd of March and the 25^th of April.

Maundy Thursday means mandate or commandment Thursday and it’s connected with Jesus’ foot washing in John’s Gospel and Jesus’ institution of the Last Supper in the synoptic Gospels. 

The time of the Passover differs between John’s Gospel and the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  The Passover begins in John at six pm Friday evening and concludes at six pm Saturday.  Therefore, John refers to the Passover occurring on the Sabbath in his Gospel as a high day.  In the synoptic Gospels the Passover begins on Thursday evening and ends at six pm Friday when the Sabbath (Saturday) begins.

This means the Passover feast in John’s Gospel occurs when Jesus is already in the tomb, after 6pm on Friday evening (the Sabbath).  Hence, John’s Gospel brings to the fore, the theological truth of Jesus’ servanthood in the foot washing.  Also in John’s Gospel account, the Passover preparation of slaughtering the Passover Lamb is aligned to the same time as Jesus is crucified on the cross, so our sin is passed over with the spilling of his blood.

In the synoptic Gospels the Lambs were slaughtered for the Passover on Thursday evening, where afterwards Jesus shares in the Passover meal, come Last Supper, with the twelve disciples.

Peter and the disciples did not understand the significance of the foot washing, nor what Jesus did at the Last Supper.  They thought they were just remembering the Israelites’ escape from Egypt and following God’s command to remember and eat the Passover.  But this supper of remembrance was the Last Supper they had with Jesus Christ before his death and resurrection, and the first celebratory communion where our being passed over, from death to life, would be connected eternally to Jesus’ death and resurrection.  But even more so, this celebratory commanded meal, looks forward to the heavenly eternal feast after our eternal resurrection from death.

That means now the church gathers regularly for a new feast to continue the remembrance of what Jesus did, what happened to him after he did it, and what’s in store for you in receiving and believing what he did and commands!

With his word, Jesus connects the Last Supper with a new commandment!  To take, to eat, and to drink, the bread and the wine as his body and blood.  The blood of the lamb that covered the lintel of the doorframe of the Israelite homes in Egypt, now, physically and spiritually covers the frames of believers in the consecration of the bread and wine.  Jesus commands us to consecrate the bread and the wine in remembrance of God’s action in Jesus’ incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension to his right hand.  We are commanded to do all this in remembrance, but we also do it in celebration of our forgiveness of sins, the life we receive from Jesus through faith, and the hope of our resurrection and salvation.

The other command Jesus gives on this Last Supper at the first Maundy, mandate, or commandment Thursday is the church’s command to love as he has loved us.  The servanthood love of Jesus’ foot washing and the celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Communion are now connected with our forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

In the Early Church the celebration of the sacrament was called a love feast.  Those outside the church were suspicious of it as some kind of debaucherous orgy of human pleasure seeking.  Indeed, Paul had to correct the Corinthians when the love feast began to turn into a pursuit of personal pleasures to the detriment of the community gathered in Christ.

Tonight, we continue the celebrations of having our sin passed over and covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Paradoxically, we also have Jesus’ command not to pass over our neighbour in sharing that same love, which he shares with us at the cross and continues to do so as we receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in the mandated meal of his body and blood.

Our meal is one of remembrance, but not just that.  It’s the refuelling of our being to be outwardly looking!  We’re not hidden away from the world as the disciples were on the day of Jesus’ resurrection.  But rather, God prepares us for his service as we leave this place, each time we receive his love in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  God empowers you and me to take that forgiveness to the world as have the apostles and countless disciples ever since.  Amen.

B, Maundy Thursday - Exodus12:12-13, John 13:14–15, 34–35, 1 Corinthians 11:28-32 "Faith Judgement & Feet"

The feet of God walked through Egypt in Judgement.  It was to be the tenth time God would plague Pharoah and those with whom he took counsel.  This was a battle between God the Father and Ra, the sun god of Egypt, played out through their spokesmen Moses and Pharoah.

Each plague was an increase in demonstration of God’s power over Ra, in creation.  A sign not only for Pharoah, but a sign for all who witnessed the event, both Egyptian, Israelite and all who lived in the land.   

From undrinkable water in the Nile River, infestations of frogs, bugs, then flies, dead Egyptian livestock, then festering painful boils.  Devastating hail striking down man and beast, together with the crops of those who remained in their fields.  What was left in Egypt was then attacked by clouds of swarming locusts, inside and outside their homes.   Then darkness covered the land for three days, before the tenth and final plague, death of all first born.

The descendants of Abraham were called to faith in what they were witnessing.  Years after Abraham’s faithful listening was credited to him as righteousness, through faith, Moses having the opportunity to dwell in the spoils of Pharoah’s court, chose God and hardship rather than the pleasure of his position in Egypt. 

In Hebrews eleven we hear, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,  choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.  He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.  By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.  By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.”  (Hebrews 11:24–28 ESV)

These were days of faith.  The Law had not yet been given at Sinai.  Moses and Aaron were called to act in faith before Pharoah.  They announced what was to happen before God followed through with what he promised.  Pharoah and his help were called to believe too, but their hearts were hardened in unbelief, faithlessness!

These days of faith were told to be taught to future generations.  Not only were the plagues a display of almighty power to the Egyptian enemy, but they were signs to the Israelites, and a sign of their faith towards God, as they remembered the destroyer who passed through Egypt and gave them freedom at the first Passover.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.  The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are.  And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.  (Exodus 12:12–13 ESV) 

Notice firstly, the Israelites would see the blood on doorways as a sign to them God had passed over them without death passing through their home.  Then secondly, what one logically might think should be first, God would see the blood posted in faith and faithfully pass over.

The Israelites were called to see first the blood on their houses, as a testimony to almighty God’s saving power.  Yet, as almighty as God is, he was discerning which houses had the blood of the lamb on the threshold of each dwelling.  Like tiptoeing through the tulips, he preserved the people who had blood on the doorposts, and those who didn’t he trod underfoot, like a person playing hopscotch from snail to snail up a damp footpath in the dark.  Israel saw this, after the fact, and was called to faith and to teach it.

The judgement God promised, proved to be faithful to the Israelites, but also true to his word for those who were faithless, or faithful to ways that were against his word of promise.

Prior to Jesus’ Passover when he becomes the Lamb of God, instituting a new covenant of God’s faithfulness, we find Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. 

Jesus says, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:14–15, 34–35 ESV) 

Here the Son of God, does not pass over his disciples, but serves them and washes their feet.  Unlike God the Father, who passes over Israel to crush Egypt underfoot, Jesus does the opposite.  In faith he cleanses the enemy from within, to save!  Whereas God the Father cleanses the enemy, from the Israelites, so they are without.

The disciples receive the washing as a sign from Jesus.  With full knowledge of what was to become of him he washes the feet of those who had no understanding, of what he was doing, nor what was about to happen.   Like the Israelites who remembered what God had done, the apostolic church now remembers Jesus body and blood, broken and spilt on the cross, given and shed in bread and wine for the forgiveness of sin.

There are great paradoxes between the first Passover and the Passover where Christ became the sacrificial lamb.  The first we’ve just heard.  God not only saves us from external oppression, but also frees us within from ourselves. 

The other great paradox is in the feet.  Jesus washes the feet of the disciples in love.  Then, in the same love for us, “he” is the one crushed by God.  It’s as if God tiptoes over us only to land on Jesus.  Jesus becomes the one crushed for our sin, as the enemy of God, out of pure love to make us God the Father’s children.

Jesus bridges the great divide between the uncleanness of humanity and the holiness of God within his very own body.  He is the Passover sacrificial lamb but also our great high priest, having been raised and glorified to the right hand of our Father in heaven.

In faith, Moses led the people of God out of bondage, and through Moses the Israelites received the Law, the ten commandments.  Jesus fulfilled the Law, but in faith led us out of bondage through his sacrificial death.

We faithfully continue in the holiness of Jesus Christ, by meeting with him in his divine service to us.  Our holiness depends on receiving it from Jesus in faith.  The Holy Spirit wills us into God’s presence to hear the word of God and receive the sacrament of Jesus’ body and blood. 

The holiness of Jesus’ body and blood is holy, by the perfection of his life in the flesh, coupled together with his perfect sacrifice at the cross for humanity’s sin.  A priestly offering of himself as the lamb, perfect flesh defiled on the cross as cursed, cleanness of life for the uncleanness of death.

As true functional Christians, we have a Holy Spirited desire to receive God’s gifts.  We could be a solitary Christian on a deserted island, but the moment we get off the island, we would not remain in isolation from Christendom. 

So, coming to church is not so much about what we do, but rather, about what God does to us through bringing us to church and being with us as he divinely serves us.  Paul centres our honouring of God in his work, in how we receive Jesus, in the sacrament.

He says, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  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.  But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”  (1 Corinthians 11:28–32 ESV) 

Church is a gathering of the faithful in Christ, not in ourselves!  When we place faith in what we do, we desecrate the most holy body and blood of Jesus Christ.  The weakness, illness, and death Paul speaks of here is, primarily, but not limited to, one’s spiritual health.  When those who gather as church focuses on the self, one becomes estranged from the power of God, then the substance of coming to church becomes lacking.  One finds ill gain in coming and eventually cuts themselves off from God.  Then, one has begun to die a spiritual death!

However, those who truly judge themselves, see the cross and their place on it, seeing in themselves sin, therefore, a sinful being! 

Yet, in the great paradox that is Jesus Christ, those who judge themselves as sinners who sin, don’t glorify themselves in it, but faithfully find themselves rushing into God’s presence to have Jesus faithfully take their sin on himself. 

Faithful Jesus, the Lamb of God, has offered himself on your behalf, and now Jesus the Son of God, and King of Creation, faithfully intercedes for you before God the Father in the heavenly congregation. 

Such is a believer’s faith in Jesus’ faithfulness, worked by the Holy Spirit, when one discerns Jesus’ body and blood, receiving it for the forgiveness of sins along with the hearing of God’s word, as God divinely serves his children for their growth in faith.

Now that we have received Christ for our forgiveness, he has washed and cleansed us.  We continue his washing and cleansing work of forgiving others; this is loving as God has loved us.  God gave Pharoah ten chances to believe, but we give other’s what God gives us in Jesus, forgiveness seventy-seven times.  We forgive and intercede for others as Jesus does for us. 

We forgive and live only by receiving the energy to do so, by being forgiven and fed in the holy sight of Jesus Christ.  This happens when we gather in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  You are being made one with Jesus’ death and resurrection, having been baptised into Jesus’ holiness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father, help us to walk with feet of judgement.  Judging ourselves in a way so our feet turn and return to your holy divine service of us.  Judging ourselves in a way that allows our enemies to confess their sins to us.  Judging ourselves in a way that allows us to forgive them as we have been forgiven.  Grant us the Holy Spirit to faithfully wash their feet with the holiness of Jesus Christ, just as he has cleansed and washed us in the holiness of his body and blood.  Amen.

A, Maundy Thursday - John 13:15–17,34 "Holy or Hardhearted Passover"

John 13:15–17,34 (ESV)  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

God always seeks to save humanity.  His focus is on life.  God’s intention to bring life to us, is his work of redemption.  For his work to be effective in the lives of those called as his church, it depends on one’s response to the salvation he seeks to give! 

Having been made holy by the blood of Jesus spilt on the cross, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, if one responds with holiness, this is allowing the Holy Spirit to generate faith within.  So, the person humbles their heart and lives a life of repentance.   This life gives the freedom to confess one’s sin and forgive others knowing this pleases God our Father. 

All these are a participation in the good works of holiness, as the Holy Spirit wills within each the desire to be what God has recreated his reborn to be.  “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

Those who know this, allow the Holy Spirit to bring them to confession, believe in their absolution, and are blessed.  Forgiven, one can forgive!  Loved, one can love as Jesus loves!

However, some do not respond positively to God’s work of salvation in sending Jesus to the cross.  They reject it outright, claiming they are good, not evil, and don’t need God’s work.

Then there are those who appear to hear and believe God’s work of salvation, but when push comes to shove, they do not allow the Holy Spirit to bring their human spirit to repentance in the blood of Jesus Christ. 

These two groups, those who reject Jesus Christ completely, and those who reject the Holy Spirit bringing them to Jesus Christ, participate in the works of hardheartedness and are not blessed. Without receiving forgiveness, one cannot forgive.  Without receiving Jesus’ love, one cannot love as Jesus loves!

In the lead up to the initial Passover in Egypt, Pharaoh stands as one whose heart is hardened. 

God gives room for Pharaoh to change his mind and repent.  But each time the hardness returns Pharaoh back to his original state of being. 

But Pharaoh, who stubbornly considered himself the earthly representation of the Egyptian sun god Ra, was no match against God our Father, who spoke through the seemingly weak and flawed mouth of Moses.

In fact, in Moses, God was using the weak things of the world to shame the wise and powerful, so God’s almighty glory would shine all the more.

God made Moses like God to Pharaoh.  (Ex 7:1)  But God also makes Pharaoh hardhearted so he would not listen to Moses.  Moses spoke with “uncircumcised lips”.  (Ex 6:30)  In other words, he did not speak with eloquent ability so Pharaoh might be persuaded by gifted rhetoric. 

God made this inarticulate Israelite like God to Pharaoh, so that God’s glory would shine all the more brightly over the hardhearted Pharaoh as Egypt descends deeper into darkness.  Each time Moses approached Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s retreat to hardness became easier and stronger. 

Like Pharaoh, all who resist God, do so each successive time, with greater ease and increased hardheartedness.  The stakes become so high, one completely rejects God in favour of one’s own goodness and godliness.

Judas Iscariot, unlike Pharaoh, believed in God.  However, he believed for his own advantage.  Like Pharaoh he too was hardhearted.  Over time, as Jesus neared Jerusalem and the cross, Judas became more distant from Jesus Christ.  Like the increase of Pharaoh’s heart being hardened in each successive plague, so too was Judas’ heart, as Jesus did less and less in being the Messiah Judas expected. 

Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, of which Judas was one.  And after dipping the morsel of bread and giving it to Judas, Satan enters him and Jesus says,  “What you are going to do, do quickly!” (John 31:27)  After Judas took the bread and ate it, he left to betray Jesus.  The Gospel of John records after he left, “It was night.”  (Jn 13:30) 

Judas, like true believers, knew, but unlike true followers, did not want to do what the Master was doing.  In his hardheartedness, he sought to bless himself in what he was doing and entered the darkness of eternal death in doing so! 

Judas and Pharaoh stand together in their hardheartedness and life passes over them.  Their love was for themselves, and not as the love God had for sinful humanity.

Thousands of years apart, these events begin and end the old covenant Passover!  The alpha and omega of Passovers.  The first and the last of effective Passovers!  Now, Jesus Christ has absorbed the Passover in his death and gives us life in the Holy Spirit by his resurrection.

Death did not pass over Pharaoh, Judas, and Jesus.  Whose love out of the three is worth following to receive life?  The new mandate from where we get the name, Maundy Thursday, is to love as Jesus has loved us.  For us to love as Jesus has loved us, we need to be washed and forgiven!  Unless Jesus washes us and gives us his Holy Spirit we have no share with him – no salvation and no ability to love as Jesus loves!  (Jn 13:8)

Jesus’ mandate is a clear warning to all in the church to continue allowing God the Holy Spirit to bring us to God the Son, so what was won on the cross does not pass over us!

God our Father is patient with us, but testing his patience is dangerous.  Do we wish to place ourselves in a position of hardheartedness, where we have passed the point of no return, and contribute to our final destruction?  As did Pharaoh and Judas?  Just as the Lord made a distinction between Israel and Egypt in the Passover, those who persist in their defiance and pride in resisting the Holy Spirit will be plagued with death and won’t be passed onto eternal life with God our Father.

God seeks to glorify Lutherans in Australia who follow and listen to him.  He wishes to bestow upon all believers in Jesus Christ, life.  Because of our sinful human nature, we would return to being like Pharaoh or Judas, if, after receiving Jesus Christ we did not receive the Holy Spirit, to engender faith within and continually gather us and return us to Jesus Christ.  God wants to pass over us with eternal death, so we are passed onto eternal life, this is why we receive the Holy Spirit.

The Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand is an organisation in which God’s church exists as a part of God’s kingdom.  But it depends on how those in the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ) respond to his work of love, which saves and makes each individual holy.  In short, you need Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, for you to be at peace with God the Father.

For the best part of twenty years the LCANZ has been asking if we should ordain women along with men.  Five times we have prayed and voted.  God has said,  “No”, through the vote, upholding what he says to us in his Word.

After each vote there has been increased hardheartedness towards God saying, “No”!  With ease new motions are put to synod, with increasing desire and deception, God’s love is being redefined to that of the world’s definition of love and equality.  In equalling ourselves to God, we have not humbled ourselves, confessed, received forgiveness, and sought to love others as Jesus has loved us.

Plagued by renewed motions of disobedience against what God has intended through our prayerful votes, the LCANZ is now in a dangerous position as we gravitate the way of hardheartedness, grieving the Holy Spirit, and putting our holiness in jeopardy.  If we walk out on God’s will, we can expect the night of darkness just as Judas did!

Jesus is our example, despite not having a hard heart, he put his divinity aside, and entrusted his human spirit to the Holy Spirit.   We are understudies of his humility, so we might receive and live in his holiness.

The men who wilfully allow disobedience to happen in our church do so to their detriment.  God cuts to the core of our existence, dealing with life and death.  When Pharaoh was judged by God, it was the oldest males who died in the Passover.  If God was about equality as the world defines it, the oldest females would have died too. 

So too called male leaders will be judged who seek to subvert the male office of Christ’s love and servanthood, with a love that is self-centred and hardhearted.  Just as throughout history all men called into the ordained ministry in God’s church have been accountable to the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Pray for the LCANZ, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.” (Hebrews 13:17a ESV)

Let the Holy Spirit bring us all back to the foot of the Cross, and live peacefully in God’s forgiveness, with God’s words of caution, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”  (Hebrews 10:26–27, 31 ESV)

Let us pray.  Lord God Holy Spirit soften our hearts, help us receive forgiveness, believe forgiveness, and share Christ’s forgiveness with each other, so we might not only receive your bread for today, but having passed over death, receive it from you at the table of the Father’s eternal feast forever.  Amen.

B, Maundy Thursday – John 13:1-17, 13b-35 “The King Who Serves”

Someone you respect, you highly esteem or are in awe of, comes to you. You want to do right by them. You have been following them for some time, watching what they do, copying their actions, learning their ways and their teachings. In fact, you wish more than anything else in the world, you could be more like them.

But your grandiose ideals of them come crashing down when your hero happens to do something less than heroic. You see the weakness in the person you have lauded all this time and suddenly your world seems to be thrown into chaos as the pedestal seems to be taken out from under them. And maybe confusing too, since they themselves have deconstructed your esteemed views of them!

Perhaps it was an actor, a politician, a sportsperson, someone in the public eye who fell from your grace? Or, a friend, a school teacher, your child, your spouse, a parent, or someone personally dear to you! No matter whom it was, or still is, the wheels fall of the cart, the house of cards comes tumbling down, when the one you have exalted, begins to exhibit actions not in accord with your acclamations.

The question behind the fall from your graces is, "Why is their fall so tumultuous to my own life? Why does it cause so much trouble within my own heart and mind?"

Maybe there's a sense of betrayal! They've let you down! How could they have led you to believe they were like that! Nevertheless, you know they haven't necessarily deliberately gone out of their way to mislead you, instead you know you've allowed it to happen, perhaps even willed their glorification in your own mind. You know you should have seen it coming.

Then again, maybe the one you glorify, and the ideals you uphold, have some value to you. If I can be like them, then I too will be seen in the best light by others. Others will see me in the same way as I've seen my hero. But in their tumble you also know you too will take a fall. If they are weaker than I projected, then just maybe I am not that great either!

Do you do the same with Jesus? Do you exalt him in this world so others too might honour you? Do you seek to ride on the coattails of his glory so you too might bask in popular approval; in the church community, in righteous religious circles, and amongst those who like to be seen doing the right thing.

If you do then you are no different than Peter. When he saw Jesus humble himself, take off his clothes, take the lowest of low positions, to stoop and wash feet, Peter couldn't take it. He objected, "Lord do you wash my feet?" Peter had no idea what Jesus was doing, and during these days Peter's world became chaos, the leader he had built Jesus up to be was not who Jesus came to be, for Peter or anyone of us who follow Jesus.

We all have a faith, a belief in whom Jesus is. And like Peter we too constantly need that destroyed and broken down so Jesus can show us who he really is, and who he really calls us to be.

You see Jesus was revealing to Peter so much more than just washing someone else's feet. Yet still Peter didn't even get the simple action of Jesus' deed. Rather he calls Jesus to wash his whole body, to move the focus from Jesus' low act of servanthood to the honouring of Peter being served. Notice here that Jesus also serves Judas too. He serves all, even his betrayer.

I suppose if Jesus had told Peter more about how Peter himself was to serve God and the church, it would have been too much for Peter to accept. After all the simple act of washing some else's feet as service was throwing Peter's ideals into chaos. How much more did Jesus' arrest and crucifixion confuse and cause Peter to deny his Lord?

One must ponder Peter's reaction if he, a simple fisherman from Galilee, was told he was going to speak in tongues, call thousands to repentance, heal the lame and the sick, speak with conviction in the temple, be arrested, be miraculously freed not just once but twice, baptise Gentiles, see his fellow Apostles slain, and be martyred himself. If Peter had seen his Lord's death and his own death in Jesus' action of foot washing, I imagine it would have been too much for Peter to bear.

But Jesus just washes his feet, and the feet of the other disciples. His act of foot washing was an act of complete love. He was their Lord and Teacher, and they too were to do the same as their Lord and Teacher.

Like Peter we too are often terrified by the idea that we might be called to serve in a way with which we might not cope. When Jesus asks them to do the same, to do likewise, he ask you to do so as well. After all we're all aware of Jesus' word…

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34–35 ESV)

One should not just hear this as a nice little Sunday School song, after all it's a new commandment. I wonder how Peter felt hearing this. He had just seen Jesus wash feet, now he had to do it too. What honour is there in bowing vulnerably and washing dirty feet? How much more does this impact us now knowing the full extent of his love he calls us to have for one another extends to his death on the cross?

You too are called to love one another in the same way as Jesus Christ. Can you do it? It should trouble you because you can't! In fact no one can, none of the disciples, not you, no one! Jesus walked alone to the cross, Peter wept, Judas betrayed and the rest fled leaving him to die alone.

However, we can be thankful that God never leaves us alone. The Apostles were known to be Jesus disciples not because of their acts, but rather the acts of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not remain dead in a tomb, or descended into hell, rather God raised him, and he together with God the Father sends the Holy Spirit.

So how do you love as Jesus loved? Trust in Jesus, trust in his body broken and his blood shed, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation! We can love one another as Jesus loves us when we allow and trust the Holy Spirit to move us in the same acts of love as Jesus.

Like Peter and all the witnesses who've been sent since, you and I can only do what the Holy Spirit wills us to do. Only after Jesus' resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit was Peter able to serve and love as Jesus loved.

Therefore, through the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus washes you clean in baptism. Believe in him for cleansing, trust his word, lest you be like Judas who didn't believe in Jesus, but rather trusted in himself and even lost that trust.

You are clean; let the Holy Spirit put you on your feet, so you might be led in Christ. To serve others as he serves you. To trust the Father as he trusts the Father. To know your brokenness as he was broken. To have hope in your resurrection as he was raised. To know Jesus Christ and his love, fully, completely, eternally!

Dear Lord you sent your Servant King to serve us, send your Holy Spirit into our hearts so we may believe and faithfully follow him who faithfully fulfils all righteousness for us, the same Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

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

C, Maundy Thursday - 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 "The Last Will & Testament of Jesus Christ"

Text – 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1. Drawing up a will

Making a will can be a difficult task. In fact some wills can prove to be trouble for all concerned, whereas some can bring peace to suffering friends and family of the deceased. The process of making, executing, or receiving from a last will and testament, will be a reality for all at some time in our lives.

A will is a legally binding document. On making a will for ourselves, we expect it to be executed properly; in accordance with the covenants in the will. But the bequests must have some resemblance with the possessions. I can’t bequeath my manse to you, when I don’t even own it. Nor can I bequeath my things to someone who doesn’t exist. If I tried to do these things the will would be dysfunctional and surely would be called into question.

So that is how it is for someone making a will! But what if we’re the beneficiaries of a will?

2.0 Receiving from a will

Well, as I see it we can be one of three kinds of recipients; either we don’t want to receive or have anything to do with the will or its author. Or we want the contents all to ourselves. Or we just don’t care how it is drawn up and executed – for whatever reason. It is no wonder squabbles break out amongst recipients and those who think they should be recipients of a will. Being either a will maker or a recipient can be fraught with trouble.

In fact chaos and ill feeling created in making wills and being the beneficiaries of wills becomes apparent when realised that you and I are the recipients and testators of different types of inheritances or wills. So what are they? From whom are they received and when are they executed? But more importantly what do we get?

Well they’re written in the word of God, they have already been executed in our conception, and are affected in our children’s conception; they’re implemented in all people. In fact there are four of them, listen, and hear what you’ve received.

2.1 What we have received – Will No. 1.

I, Adam, child of God, hereby bequeath to you, in the year of your conception. The ability to cause great pain to your mother in your birth and in your life, you have received a life with the snake and it will strike you, you have received ground that is cursed, a world that will cause you to painfully toil and produce food from it. You have received knowledge that you are dust and to dust you shall return. You have received a body that is failing and doomed to death and is in separation from God. You have been bequeathed the ability to have no fear, no love, and no trust in God. You have been given the ability to use his name in vain and to neglect the holiness of his word. Etc. etc…

2.2 What we have received – Will No. 2.

I, Cain, son of Adam, hereby bequeath to you, in the year of your conception, the ability to kill those closest to you, to murder their dignity, to assassinate their character by bearing false witness against them, to make it physically impossible for them to live, and to spill their blood. You inherit no land but rather your legacy will be restless wandering over the land that receives the blood of you neighbour.

2.3 What we have received – Will No. 3.

I, brother of Noah, hereby bequeath to you, in the year of your conception, drowning in the sinfulness of your humanity. You inherit the ability to corrupt God’s created order through sexual misconduct, lust, and coveting. You have been submerged in the ferocious waters of daily existence, where you fail to keep afloat and are sinking to your death with every other living creature.

2.4 What we have received – Will No. 4.

I, the Babel tower builder, hereby bequeath to you, in the year of your conception, confusion on an unthinkable scale. You fight with your family, your neighbours, and your friends. You love them but you are unable to communicate with them. Men will seem as if they are from Mars and women as if they are from Venus. Your confusion causes you to splinter and seek lives as individuals, alone amongst many other people, etc. etc.…

3. A summary of what we have received from the Four Wills

What a sorry lot we are! None of us any better than the next person. We’re all the beneficiaries of sin, therefore, the recipients of death and eternal damnation. Because of sin and death in our lives, aching and death throb within us. But we’re also guilty of inflicting the same pain on those around us too. There is not one person here who isn’t hurting or who hasn’t caused hurt.

4. A New Will and Testament

But this is not the end, there is yet another will, one which is different to these four wills. One which leaves us eternally soothed by the balm it places in our aching ears and on our painful hearts. In fact this will is the last will and testament. It negates all other wills; freeing us from the inheritance of sin and death in eternity. Listen, as I repeat what has been executed for you and which you have received over and over again when the Lord divinely serves you in worship.

5. Will No. 5 – The Eternal Will

I, Jesus Christ, hereby bequeath to you, in the years of your baptism, my will—the new will, a new and everlasting testament—On the night I was betrayed, I took bread, and when I had given thanks, I broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper I took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

What is this will? Paul tells us that whenever this will is executed it proclaims the Lord’s death. And so it should, for the execution of a will only happens when someone dies. This will, this testament, this new covenant, is executed for us as a settlement to render void the four wills that bestow eternal death upon us. Through it we are lifted up with Christ from Noah’s watery world of sin and death, spared and placed in the ship of the church, in our baptismal faith. We inherit faith, turning us from the serpent back to God, acknowledging him as the one true God. We are rejoined to the Father in his eternal heavenly meal, where we eat from the tree of life, as Adam did before the fall. We become heirs of Christ’s blood atoning for the spilt blood of Abel – our brothers and sisters – joining us in fellowship with Christ as one body. Relationships are restored through the bequest, the gift of Christ’s body and blood; people are given the ability to communicate with each other without confusion, squabbles and fights.

What is this will? It is salvation, eternal life, and the dismissal of the four wills of death. This will was executed on the cross and continues to be executed through the means of Jesus' word, the bread and the cup. This will is executed for us, making us the unmerited beneficiaries of Christ’s last will and testimony, namely, his eternal body crucified on the cross and his blood spilt in death for us. This will is executed in Christ, our sinful natures are executed and exorcised by the blood of Christ, and are expelled forever in eternity. His will is his body and blood given for you and for me.

Jesus Christ isn’t just the contents of the will; he is the final testator or will maker, as well as the trustee of the will too. He has died, but he has risen and now speaks by the power of the Holy Spirit through pastors, consecrating the bread and wine with his will, his Word. This will is not like a human will read out once as a once-only benefit. Rather it’s like a trust fund which benefits us over and over again whenever we eat and drink and hear the Word proclaimed.

Jesus spoke through the trusteeship of Paul’s ministry when he spoke to the Corinthians here in the text and he speaks and executes his will through the trusteeship of our ordained pastors now and in future until he returns. Jesus Christ died to make the will. Jesus Christ executes the will in us. Jesus Christ is the contents—the body, the blood, and the Word—of the will.

And the grace of God which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.

A, Maundy Thursday - Matthew 6:9-13 "The Lord's Prayer in the Lord's Supper"

The Lord’s Prayer has been the centre of our Lenten focus and tonight we conclude our study of the Lord’s Prayer by seeing how it works in the Divine Service as it appears in the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper.

The church most often celebrates the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day, or Sunday, and it is celebrated amongst the Lord’s people, who pray the Lord’s Prayer. One can’t but help notice that the Lord is at the centre.

Our celebration in partaking of Holy Communion as the children of God, and as brothers and sisters of Christ, who join in with him in the prayer he gave us, proclaims God’s loving-kindness and mercy to us through and through. God is with us and he serves us with his word, in the bible readings, and in hymns, songs and the sermon which also proclaim his word. Having received God’s word of forgiveness and promise, we respond in prayer.

Prayer is not so much our work or will, but rather it is the result of God being present in us through his gifts. The Lord’s Prayer is the most excellent prayer we can pray because not only does it announce God’s presence, but it is given by the Son of God himself to sustain us in faith, hope, and love. Therefore, the Lord’s Prayer is the prayer of the faithful, joining in with Christ, adhering to the will of God, as they approach the Lord’s Supper. We are the faithful, believing that God is present in all his power for our personal being and the being of the church community.

Last week we heard how the central petition of the Lord’s Prayer, is prayed asking God to give us our daily bread. Since early times in the church this petition has been connected with the bread and wine of communion – which when consecrated is the body and blood of Christ.

Our daily bread, both, Christ ‘the bread of life’, and, all the things we need for this life, are gifts from God to encourage trust in our Father, who forgives us and gives us the ability to forgive, so his will is done in heaven and on earth and we can live in peace with God and our neighbours.

We also receive our daily bread, so our faith is increased against all temptation; especially the temptation in believing God’s kingdom is not for us, when Christ clearly promises us that it is. This promise comes to us in a very special and personal way in the sacraments where Christ ordains our salvation in our baptism into his death at the cross. The promise of his kingdom comes also when he commanded that the bread and the wine be consecrated as his body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins, as we eat and drink it in remembrance of him. We receive his kingdom in these things, when we believe Jesus Christ in his word and put off temptation to think otherwise.

When we believe we are forgiven, we believe his will is done in us, and we believe his kingdom is our hidden reality. Because this is the truth, we are also made holy by Christ who comes to us in the daily bread of the Lord’s Supper. This is the holy life we receive in exchange for the life of evil we need to be delivered from so much. God the Father together with God the Son sends the Holy Spirit to continue in us the belief and holiness given at the cross through baptism.

And if we are holy forgiven members of God’s kingdom, we have access to God the Father through his Son who gives us his prayer, and he makes this prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, work for us by his innocent suffering and death worked on the cross. We say the Lord’s Prayer to our Father, whose kingdom, power, and glory are his, which he gives to you as the eternal gift because of Jesus’ death for our sin, and resurrection power over eternal death.

In the context of the service of Holy Communion the pastor announces the reality of God’s presence with us by saying the greeting, “The Lord be with you.” And we respond, “And also with you.” Then in our helpless state we lift up our hearts to God who is present and wills us to receive his gifts of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Because of this we give him thanks because it is the fitting and right thing to do, since he is our only help and our only hope.

The pastor then declares why it is fitting and right to give thanks to God through Jesus Christ. It’s at this point that extra sentences can be added appropriate to the church season. After this we acknowledge our fellowship in the whole company of heaven, seen and unseen, amongst those who have died in the faith and now dwell with God outside of time. And we also fellowship with those inside of time, seen and unseen, who faithfully worship in God’s hidden presence. We who worship in time also wait for the hour when we too will have our helplessness lifted so we see ourselves as God sees us through his Son, and we in turn see him as he is in all his eternal glory.

Now that we have proclaimed the hidden presence of God’s kingdom, seen and unseen, in time and outside of time, gathered eternally around Christ, we join in with the choirs of heaven and sing the Sanctus — the Holy, Holy, Holy. This is a combination of Psalm 118:25-26 which was sung at the Old Testament Passover festivals, blended together with the hosannas of victory and deliverance sung on Palm Sunday and in the Old Testament when the king rode back into Jerusalem in victory over the enemy. And the Sanctus we say or sing also combines the worship of the heavenly choirs which John witnessed and recorded in Revelation 4:8.

In the same way that the angels sang Glory to God in the highest in the presence of the shepherds and the Christ-child born to Mary, we too sing before God in heaven and on earth joining in with the heavenly choir giving the highest honour to God who gives us victory and deliverance over our helplessness and is the supreme centre of all existence.

It is in this context that we pray for God to give us our daily bread which he will grant us in its best form, Jesus himself, in the mystery of the bread and wine. Because it is Christ who ultimately prays his prayer before God the Father in heaven, traditionally the pastor prays the Lord’s Prayer and the congregation joins in with the doxology. When the Lord’s Prayer is prayed before the words of institution it is prayed as a prayer of consecration over the words of institution.

On the other hand, in some services of Holy Communion the Lord’s Prayer is prayed after the words of institution. It is the congregation that traditionally prays it at this place in the service, as a petition for itself and as an intercession for the world.

But regardless of the Lord’s Prayer being said before or after the words of institution, the fact of the matter is that Christ is present with the Father and the Holy Spirit, amongst us. Paul points out to Timothy that, “everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:4-5)

It is the Lord’s Day, the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Prayer, and it is for the Lord’s people. So you and I can say his prayer in confidence knowing that he prays it before our Father, and he and the Holy Spirit will us to pray this prayer from within us. God has done everything here and it is good, and is not to be rejected, but rather he is to be believed and received, as we pray his prayer and eat his holy body and blood.

Because Christ has given himself and his prayer to us we know we have been recreated as children of God, for Christ’s sake. In Galatians we’re told …because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:6-7)

And if we are heirs, we continue to carry Christ’s full, wholesome and most excellent prayer on our lips because we stand with him before our Father in heaven. So his prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, is our ever-present call for help, so we might continue petitioning God in the struggles and sufferings of this life and participate with God in God’s work of salvation interceding for those who struggle and suffer in their helplessness too.

We are encouraged by God in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians… For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:9-11)

The Lord’s Prayer, the Lord’s Supper, for the Lord’s people, on the Lord’s Day. Amen.

Lord God heavenly Father continue to send the Lord and giver of life, the Holy Spirit, into our hearts, so we might continue to believe what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us and continues to do in us. Amen.

C, Maundy Thursday - John 13:1-38 "It's Faith at the Foot that Counts"

Jesus, Judas, Peter — even Pilate, St Paul, and Pharaoh; these men enter the stage as we look at the events surrounding Jesus’ — Last Supper, foot washing of the disciples, crucifixion as his exodus, and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in the Christian Church since his resurrection from the dead, and exodus from our eyes into faith and eternity. And if Jesus takes centre stage with these other men then love and faith, are the pivotal two points around which hope, salvation, sin, unbelief, betrayal, and damnation swing.

In the three bible readings for Maundy Thursday we hear of the Passover in Egypt, written in Exodus 12; Saint Paul passing on what Christ gave to him, the Lord’s Supper with its call to discern Christ’s body and blood in bread and wine, in 1 Corinthians 11; and in John 13 we hear the Word incarnate knowing he would be lifted up in glorified brilliant light, when Judas goes out and it becomes the darkest night.

Each year as Holy Week arrives and we hear the passion narratives, we don’t just hear the story of Jesus’ death but also the stories of Judas, Peter, and Pilate. It seems Judas and Pilate, get a bad wrap, whereas Peter escapes the inevitable scorn poured out upon Judas and Pilate. One might be tempted to think the eternal fate of these three was preordained a long time before these events ever happened. But if we believe this to be the case, then for whom did Jesus die? All people or just some? And if for just a few, what makes you think you’re included too?

On the night when Jesus was betrayed — Judas deceived with a kiss, Peter denied with lies, and Pilate decided to overlook the truth of Jesus’ innocence, in favour of winning the crowd’s approval. These three men all sinned, so what is it that separates Peter from the other two?

We hear in John 13… It was just before the Passover Feast. 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. 2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (John 13:1-5)

It’s interesting to note Jesus knows it’s time to leave this world. The word “leave” comes for the Greek word meaning — to be debased, or pass over from one place to another, or to completely change state, and this word is related to the words “base or foot”. Here Jesus is about to be walked out of this life through death on the cross, and yet he gets down to wash his disciples’ feet. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Yet Jesus takes their burden on himself, washing their feet so they might be clean, and then gets up and steps foot on the cross.

This was the full extent of his love, and he showed it to all at the meal, even he who was about to betray him, Judas. Judas was prompted here by the devil, but then again didn’t Jesus also rebuke Peter saying, “Get behind me, satan. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8:33) So here we see neither Peter nor Judas, are any different to each other, both are susceptible to their sinful human nature and the devil’s distractions.

This sin comes to the fore again, when Peter’s pride and lack of understanding, or perhaps guilt, seeks to have Jesus not wash his feet. But then again who of us would feel right about letting God wash our unclean bodies? Judas, however, is silent with the other disciples and does not protest against Jesus washing his feet. But then again if you didn’t believe he was the Son of God, who was to take away the sin of the world, you’d probably let the one you were about to betray wash your feet too. Imagine how Judas must have felt while Jesus stooped to wash his feet. Perhaps he felt powerful as he kept his churning conscience hidden.

However, Jesus knew exactly what was going on, and in fact it was he who held all the power as he knelt and washed the disciples’ feet. He knew he was going to be lifted up so all people might be drawn to him, and he also knew the betrayer had lifted up his heel or foot against him. As he calls Peter to allow him to wash his feet he says, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. (John 13:10-11) Later on a second time Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” (John 13:21)

And then the third time we’re left with no doubt as to who is going to betray him, As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. (John 13:27-30)

This is the hour of darkness, “it was night”. And when the darkest hour had begun, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. (John 13:31-32)

Here Jesus speaks of his exodus. Just as all those years earlier when Moses ate the Passover and the destroyer passed over them, so they could walk out of Pharaoh’s slavery, Jesus prepares to be walked out too, but innocently into the most unimaginable bondage anyone could face. The eternal Son of God, was bound to the cross and his feet were nailed to one place and point in time; he died for the sins of all people. Knowing this exodus must come first, he says, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” (John 13:33)

With absolutely no understanding as to what was going on, Peter foolishly says, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” To which Jesus answers, “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: 37-38)

In fact, later on Peter does exactly what Jesus said he would do. This happens after Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, and just before Jesus is led into Pilate’s presence. So Peter is the sinful fool sandwiched between the betrayer Judas who sinned against Jesus and was later filled with hopeless remorse, so much so, he hung himself because of his sin; and between Pilate’s pride, who despite knowing Jesus was completely innocent, sinfully trivialized the truth in order to be Mr. Popularity!

But earlier after Jesus had washed the disciple’s feet, Jesus reveals just what it is that separates Peter from Pilate and Judas as he announces the betrayal that’s about to take place. He says, “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” (John 13:19-20)

When Jesus says “you will believe that I am He”, he is saying, “I AM the betrayed, I AM the one who will be walked to the cross, and crucified. I AM who I AM, I AM God the Son, hear my word — believe me!”

And with this belief comes a trust in God’s complete love. In hearing the Word Made Flesh, we too are called to know — God is love, the beginning and the end, all-powerful in complete control of every situation — and we are called to know and believe that because he die for our sin, all people’s sin, we must live in hope of eternal life, despite knowing we are completely sinful in nature.

Therefore, Jesus said to the disciples, and he says to you his disciple too, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) But at the same time he also says of his disciple Simon Peter, and knows we too are same, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

We now know from what we’ve heard it’s not the sin or the sinful nature that separates. If this was the case, Peter or the other disciples would have no chance, and nor would we! But rather we are required to have faith in God the Son, the one who shows the full extent of his love, who washes feet, and then steps foot on the cross.

Also the good news is he doesn’t leave us alone to believe, he has sent the Holy Spirit to plant faith in us and strengthen us as we hear his word. The Spirit gives us faith to believe and love, so we might be strengthened and live in hope.

Notice in all the Maundy Thursday bible readings, it’s not sin that separates. Rather it was unbelief that killed Egypt’s and Pharaoh’s first born, while those who believed God’s way walked out. It is not sin which separates us from God and brings judgement, as we drink from the cup and eat the bread. Rather it’s when we fail to believe, recognize, or know the truth of Christ’s body and blood in the cup and the bread; we trivialize the truth, and bring damnation on ourselves if we approach him without faith.

If it was sin that separated — Saul, the most hideous of sinners, might not have been visited by Jesus on the road to Damascus, and called to be the Apostle Paul where he passes on what Jesus gave to him and the church. And so too with Judas, his sin was forgivable, he only needed to believe Jesus’ word and sacrifice, rather than sacrifice himself in self-centred hopeless pity.

It’s the loss of faith, hope, and love in unbelief which separates and gives sin back its power. So during Lent we have examined the depths of our sin which led our Lord towards his innocent suffering and death, and tomorrow (Good Friday) we will do the same. But as we do also know the full extent of God’s love for you — how perfect it is, how complete it is, how forgiving it is, and how victorious it is over your sin and the sin of all who believe in him. Amen.