Hebrews 2,10-18. Holy Thursday

this is My body and My blood of the new testament ✠

Hebrews 2,10-18 2314 

Gründonnerstag  030 weiß

Anicet, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 173

17. April 2014 

1. O Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us the joy of Your bread to eat and Your cup to drink in remembrance of Your sufferings, we pray, enlighten us so that by true self-examination we may worthily receive that Sacrament, in true discernment of Your presence.  Amen. 

2. »For it was fitting that God, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: »I will tell of your name to My brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.« [Psalm 22,22] And again: »I will put My trust in Him.« [Isaiah 8,17] And again: »Behold, I and the children God has given Me.« [Isaiah 8,18] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.«  

3. Tonight, on Maundy Thursday, we begin the pinnacle of the Church Year and remember die große Heilsgeschichte (the great salvation history) of our Lord Jesus Christ. The final three days of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Saturday) constitute what the Church calls the Triduum, and they take us through the final hours of Jesus’ precious life, His humiliation, suffering and death on the cross. 

4. There is a continuity between the testaments, as the Epistle to the Hebrews informs us. In the 2 Chapter, the apostle gives three Biblical verses that Jesus fulfilled. The Church and her bishops have always taught that the old testament prepared the way for Jesus and the new testament He gave. The bishops received this teaching from the apostles who themselves had received it from Jesus Himself. 

5. The great feast in the old testament was the Passover meal that is now celebrated by Jewish families as the Seder meal. The Passover recounts Yahweh’s redemption of Israel from Egyptian bondage by sending His angel to pass through the land killing all the firstborn of men and cattle. This exodus lead Yahweh’s people to the promised land of Canaan. Each year the Jews celebrate this event and remember the great act of deliverance they had received from Yahweh’s hand. 

6. The great feast in the new testament is the Lord’s Supper. Jesus and His apostles were celebrated the Passover with a meal together. During this Seder, Jesus gives His Church the new testament that is founded not on the blood of lambs but rather on the the blood of the Lamb, yes, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Isaiah 53,7; John 1,29). On the night before His death, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and celebrated it with His apostles. He took bread and wine, that were used throughout the Passover meal, and instituted a new meal. This Abendmahl (evening meal) is the first Sacrament delivered unto Christ’s Church. Jesus tells us that this bread is His body and this wine is His blood. Which body and blood is this? The very body of Christ that would be crucified tomorrow, and the very blood of Christ that He would shed on the cross. Thus the Church teaches the Real Presence of Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar. This (bread) is the body of Christ; this (cup) is the blood of Christ. When we partake of the Lord’s Supper, the Apostle Paul teaches that we participate in the body and blood of Jesus. Thus we participate in Christ’s death and our redemption. »This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins« (Matthew 26,28). »For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He arrives« (1. Corinthians 11,26). 

7. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus took unto His Divine Nature our very human flesh and blood. He undertook this incarnation in order to partake of life as we do. He was without original sin, but nevertheless He suffered and died like any other man or woman. But Jesus suffered and died to destroy death, the devil and hell itself. The apostle explains it this way: »Jesus had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.« 

8. Propitiation is an English word that has fallen into disuse in the 21. century, but it is nevertheless an important word in our ecclesiastical language and we keep it active in our Christian theology and preaching. A propitiation is when one appeases God and atones for sin by sacrificing Himself (Luke 18,13; Hebrews 2,17). Christ proclaims Himself to be the world’s Propitiator when He institutes the Lord’s Supper and says: »This is My body given for you; this is My blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.« 

9. Forgiveness has been propitiated on the cross, but we don’t receive that forgiveness from the cross. Jesus gives us the forgiveness He propitiated in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and this is why He tells us to eat and drink at this altar for in doing so we are eating and drinking our forgiveness. This is why He tells us to celebrate this Sacrament often. Jesus assures us through this Holy Meal that God the Father has a friendly heart toward us, a heart that if full of compassion, love, mercy and forgiveness upon His fallen creation and sinful mankind.

10. If you desire the forgiveness of your sins, then come to the Lord’s Supper and receive the absolution that Jesus paid for with His very own body and blood. Receive Him in this Sacrament through faith and believe that in this Sacrament Jesus gives you what He has promised and merited for you on the cross, namely, the forgiveness of all your sins. 

11. „Dearly beloved, in God’s behalf, ... according to mine Office, to administer to all such as shall be religiously and devoutly disposed the most comfortable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ; to be by them received in remembrance of His meritorious Cross and Passion, whereby alone we obtain remission of our sins, and are made partakers of the reign of heaven. Wherefore it is our duty to render most humble and hearty thanks to Almighty God our Heavenly Father, for that He has given His Son our Savior Jesus Christ, not only to die for us, but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that holy Sacrament. Which being so Divine and comfortable a thing to them who receive it worthily, and so dangerous to them who will presume to receive it unworthily; my duty is to exhort you in the mean time to consider the dignity of that holy mystery, and the great peril of the unworthy receiving thereof; and so to search and examine your own consciences, and that not lightly, and after the manner of dissemblers with God: but so that you may come holy and clean to such a heavenly Feast, in the marriage-garment required by God in Holy Scripture, and be received as worthy partakers of that holy Table“ (The Book of Common Prayer 245-6).  Amen.

12. May the Almighty and Merciful God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, accomplish this in you and me. You have been invited by Christ Jesus Himself to His Heavenly Father’s glorious banquet of eternal life. This Lord’s Supper of Christ’s Body under the bread and His Blood under the wine are a foretaste of that heavenly feast to come. Do not excuse yourself from Christ’s invitation and Supper, but receive His invitation with joy and thanksgiving for He has established and instituted this Supper for your blessing. The Supper has been set; join me in receiving it for our salvation and forgiveness.  Amen. 

13. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, You have caused Your wonders to be remembered; You are gracious and merciful. In this Sacrament of the Altar You give us Your true body and blood in the true bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins. Help us to rightly remember all You have done for us in Your Passion whereby You merited the forgiveness of each and every sin we have or will commit, for Your forgiveness is properly given to us through this new testament Passover meal we call Holy Communion, so that we may always know and believe that we are at peace with You on account of Your holy merit that has been applied to us as our own merit and we thus receive it by faith in You.  Amen. 

Which is poured out for everyone.

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 2011 Cambridge University Press. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Gerhard, Johann. An Explanation of the History of the Suffering and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Copyright © 1999 Repristination Press. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works: Church and Ministry II, Vol. 40. Conrad Bergendoff, Ed. Copyright © 1958 Muhlenberg Press.