Holy (Maundy) Thursday - April 2, 2026

In the name of Jesus. Amen. Before the tenth plague in the land of Egypt, God instituted a meal.

The Israelites were to take a lamb without blemish, a lamb a year old,

and they were to mark the doorposts with its blood, and they were to eat the

lamb that night along with unleavened bread. What is it?

Exodus 12 verse 11 says very clearly, It is the Lord's Passover.

Exodus 12:11

Whose Passover is it? It is the Lord's Passover.

It's not a human invention, but it is the Lord's own meal.

Now this meal pointed forward to Christ, the real Passover lamb,

who gives himself in Holy Communion.

Notice that the blood of the lamb marked the doorposts. And where there was

blood, death passed over, but where there was no blood, there would be judgment.

The Lord works through what they could see, touch, and eat.

There was lamb, blood, and meal. And through these things, God delivers salvation.

Then the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt. He had them cross the Red Sea.

They are now been moved from slavery to freedom.

And yet in the wilderness, they became hungry.

And once again, the Lord provided, not with what they expected,

but with something unique, something new.

A small, round substance like frost on the ground. And the people said to one another, What is it?

And Moses said, It is the bread which the Lord has given to you to eat.

Bread from heaven, not earned, not bread that they had to plant the seed and

harvest it and make bread from it.

It was a free gift from God.

It was bread which then sustained them on their journey to the promised land.

And now, regarding the sacrament of the altar, we ask the very same question.

What is it? It is the Lord's Supper.

Whose supper? It is the Lord's. It's not a human invention, but it is the Lord's own meal.

And we don't own the supper.

It doesn't belong to us. It is like the Lord's Passover But greater What is it?

It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ Jesus says of the bread

This is my body And he says of the cup This is my blood And his words are clear

and straightforward He doesn't say this represents my body Or this symbolizes my body Signifies it No,

he says this is my body and this is my blood.

And so we confess what he says.

The bread is no longer simply bread, but it is also his body.

And the wine is no longer just simply wine, but also his blood.

We take Jesus at his word. We take what he said at face value.

The true body and blood of Christ is not imaginary.

It is not merely and only spiritual in some abstract sense, it is real,

given to you, for you, and delivered into your mouth for the forgiveness of all your sins.

How? How can this be? How can the bread and wine be at the same time the body and blood of Christ?

It's a great mystery. You can't explain it. It's just a mystery.

We don't explain according to our human reason. We simply believe in what Christ

said in regarding that meal.

And faith doesn't demand things. Faith just simply receives.

Faith says, if my Lord said it, then it is so.

The Lord's Supper is our Lord's last will and testament Whose words cannot be changed As you know,

the words of a last will and testament Is something we can't edit It is something

we receive And in this supper,

Christ gives you His very body once given on death on the cross And he gives

you his very blood Once shed for the forgiveness of all your sins,

Everything depends on these words,

They are words of life and salvation.

Gospel is placed into your mouth and into your body. And yet,

this gift should not be taken lightly.

Scripture gives us a warning. St.

Paul says in our Epistle lesson for today that whoever eats and drinks in an

unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of our Lord.

So to receive this meal without discerning the body is to receive judgments.

Now, this is not to drive you into fear, but it's for us to focus on a proper

preparation for this meal.

This is not meant to drive, this is, it's meant not, this is,

to examine ourselves means to look at this very carefully, to look at our lives

carefully and faithfully.

We take our Lord's gift very seriously.

St. Paul goes on to say, Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the

bread and drink of the cup.

We examine ourselves according to the Ten Commandments. And what do we find in them?

We find from them and in us sin and unbelief.

We have lived as if God did not matter and as if we mattered most.

We have not let God's love have its way with us, and so our love for others

has failed. There are those whom we have hurt and those whom we have failed to help.

Our thoughts and our desires have been soiled with sin.

How are we to examine ourselves? Well, we ask these questions.

Am I sorry for my sins?

Yes, I am. Do I believe in Jesus Christ and his words in the sacrament?

Yes, I do. Do I confess the faith preached from this pulpit and delivered here at this altar?

Yes, I do. Do I intend, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to amend my sinful life?

Yes, I do. I wish not to repeat the sin.

This is what it means to come worthily to the supper. Not perfect,

obviously, but to repent.

Not without sin, but to confess sin. Not to trust in yourself, but to trust in Christ.

For this sacrament is not a reward, it's a free gift.

It is not for the righteous, but sinners like us.

It is not for those who have no need, but it's for us who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, Christ, our Passover lamb,

has been sacrificed once and for all.

And then in Hebrews chapter 10, it says, There is no longer any offering for sin.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

So Jesus' blood was not put on the doorposts, but it was put on the wood of a cross.

And Jesus cried out, It is finished.

In other words, sins are paid for, mission accomplished. There's no other work to be done.

So Christ is not being offered again and again and again in the Lord's Supper.

Rather, the sacrifices on Good Friday once and for all, completed on Good Friday,

is given and delivered here at the altar.

Blessings of the cross are given to you in the body and the blood of Christ.

What are the benefits offered in the sacrament? The chief blessing is the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus himself said that this meal is, quote, given and shed for you. For you.

For what purpose? The forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness that you can touch and taste.

Forgiveness means that your guilt is removed. That your conscience is cleansed.

And there is reconciliation with God the Father. And where there is the forgiveness

of sins, there is also life and salvation.

Ignatius, an early church father, called this meal the medicine of immortality.

Luther calls it a pure, wholesome, and soothing medicine.

It is medicine for the soul. It is medicine that heals, restores, and strengthens us.

Just as manna sustained the Israelites in the wilderness, so also this meal

sustains you on your journey, not through the wilderness,

but through a fallen world full of temptation, weakness, suffering, and death.

You grow weary, your faith falters, your strength fails, but here our Lord feeds

you. He nourishes your faith.

He gives you endurance, not by your effort, but as a free gift.

And so because the sacrament gives such great blessings, we are not to neglect it.

Our Lord does not say, do this occasionally when you feel like it.

He just simply says, do this. Do it.

Receive it. It's a gift. He invites you. He calls you. He urges you. Why?

Because you need it. You need forgiveness, not once, but continually.

You need strength, not once, but daily. You need Christ, not merely as a remembrance,

but present with you, giving you his body and blood.

And so, dearly beloved, do not labor for food that perishes.

Do not chase after the things of this world that cannot satisfy.

Do not fill yourselves with the idol gods of our culture, which leave you empty.

Instead, come the food that endures to eternal life.

For here at this altar, he gives you himself, not symbolically,

but truly with his body and blood.

Here is the Lamb of God, whose blood marks you as his own.

Here is bread from heaven that sustains you. And here is a medicine that heals you.

And there and where and here there is forgiveness that restores you.

So come, come with repentant hearts. Come with hearts that believe.

Come as a hungry beggar. Take, eat, take and drink.

For this is the Lord's supper.

It is a gift to you and for you taste and see that the Lord is good that a steadfast

love endures forever in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen.