Holy Thursday - Video of Divine Service and Text of Sermon

Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer

Holy Thursday   

Exodus 24:3-11  
Hebrews 9:11-22  
Matthew 26:17-30

O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.  

In the Lenten Wednesday services, we listened to and reflected upon the Good News that God gives us in the Book of Exodus: God hears and answers His people’s pleas for help as they suffer in slavery; God chooses to reveal Himself; God sends Moses to deliver His people from slavery; The Good News that on account of the Lamb’s blood spread upon the door posts, death passes over Israel during the tenth and final plague; The good news that God leads Israel to freedom and sustains them with daily nourishment along the way. 

Holy Thursday also has good news to share with us. The first is that God desires to be in an everlasting, binding, covenantal relationship with His people. Using Moses as his amanuensis, God lays out His expectations of Israel as well as stating what He promises to do. The gravity of this covenant is reinforced by the sacrifice of valuable oxen. We are struck by the vividness of this scene. Oxen are slain as a sign of the peace between God and the people. Their blood, the essence of their life, is cast upon the Altar of the Lord and upon the people after they pledge their obedience to the Lord God. 

The sacrifice of oxen as a peace offering and their spilt blood is a visual affirmation of the life and death nature of this promise that God and Israel make toward one another. God intends this covenant to last forever. This covenant permits Israel to be in a unique relationship with God that no other group enjoys. They live in fellowship with the holy, living God. God becomes visible to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders. Who else can claim that they ate with God, looked upon Him, fellowshipped with Him, and lived? 

The Apostles can. For three years, they were with Jesus. Together they walked, they talked, they listened, they learned, and they ate. They lived because through them God intends to bring the Good News of God’s sacrificial death in Jesus Christ into the world. They are witnesses of God’s presence in the world. In Jesus, they witnessed God minister to Israel and Gentiles. God desires that all people, of every generation, come to the knowledge of the truth that God desires that all people be reconciled to the Lord God. They will be reconciled through Jesus and his cross. 

Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. His blood is spilled, His life is ended on the cross, so that all of us can have peace with God through the forgiveness of our sins. 

The Passover meal commemorates God’s power to kill and to save. The blood of the slain Lamb saved Israel from God’s wrath visited upon Egypt in that horrible night. On the night of the Passover, Jesus teaches the Apostles that He is the sacrificial Lamb. A new meal is instituted by Jesus that brings the meaning of His death on the cross into sharp focus. In faith, we receive Jesus’ promise, the bread of Holy Communion is Jesus. Jesus dies for you. He dies to forgive you of your sins. Take His body. Receive Him. Receive His grace. In faith, we receive the wine that is a part of every Passover meal. This wine is the blood of Jesus. His blood is spilled for you, for your sake, so that your sins are forgiven. This blood is God’s covenant with you. He means what He says. He is sacrificed for your salvation. His blood is spilled for you so that you can dwell in God’s gift of forgiveness. 

When you receive Holy Communion, you receive Christ Jesus and His blessing of real presence and forgiveness. On account of Jesus, the Father’s wrath passes over us. Because of Jesus, He looks upon us with gladness. 

Moses and 73 others communed with God and lived. On account of Christ, all who confess Jesus as Lord, will commune with God forever.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

  


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