4-1-21 Grace-Tucson Maundy Thursday Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka

Maundy Thursday

April 1, 2021

Giving Hands Mark 14:22-24 1) Jesus Gives the Real Presence 2) Jesus Gives This to Many Sinners For our midweek worship services this past Lenten season, we’ve been looking at the Hands of the Passion. On Ash Wednesday, we began with the hands of repentance that a certain tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) had from one of Jesus’ parables. Then we got into our preaching rotation where we heard about the Judas’ hands of betrayal (John 13:21-30), Peter’s hands of misguided zeal (John 18:4-11), Caiaphas’ hands of hypocrisy (Mark 14:55-65), the soldiers’ hands of brutality (Matthew 27:27-31), and Pilate’s hands of self-preservation (Matthew 27:1526).

But one person’s hands we haven’t looked at yet is Jesus himself. Starting today through Easter Sunday, we turn our attention to Jesus’ hands and the parts they played in salvation history. And on this Maundy Thursday, we see Jesus’ giving hands in the Upper Room as he and his disciples celebrated the Passover, had the Last Supper, and instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion. We hear Mark’s inspired account of Maundy Thursday in chapter 14, beginning at verse 12.

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and there a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house that the Teacher says, ‘Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” 16His disciples left and went into the city and found things just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. 17When it was evening, he arrived with the Twelve. 18While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Amen I tell you: One of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19They began to be sorrowful and said to him one by one, “Surely not I?” 20He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping bread with me in the dish. 21Indeed, the Son of Man is going to go just as it has been written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread. When he had blessed it, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “Take it. This is my body.” 23Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. They all drank from it. 24He said to them, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many. 25Amen I tell you: I will certainly not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” 26 After they sang a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mark 14:12-26 EHV) 1

Pastor Tim Patoka

Maundy Thursday

April 1, 2021

It is the last few verses that we’ll be closely looking at where Jesus’ giving hands institute the sacrament of Holy Communion in which he gives the Real Presence to many.

1) Jesus Gives the Real Presence Few sections of Scripture have received as much scrutiny as Jesus’ words about Holy Communion. What is perhaps surprising about them is how simple they are. Listen again to what our Savior says, “Jesus took bread. When he had blessed it, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘Take it. This is my body.’ 23Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. They all drank from it. 24He said to them, ‘This is my blood.’” (Mark 14:22-24a EHV) When you take Jesus’ words at plain, face value, you end up with an extraordinary conclusion!

When Jesus’ hands gave the disciples the bread and wine, they also gave Jesus’ own body and blood together, with, and under that same bread and wine in a way that defies understanding yet is true.

As I teach in my Youth Catechism Class, we have an official name for this extraordinary conclusion called the Real Presence. And perhaps the best way to understand it is with the number 4. Whenever a person eats and drinks Holy Communion, they receive 4 things – Jesus’ own body and blood together, with, and under the accompanying bread and wine. Not in a gross, cannibalistic way or in a mystical, spiritual way or even in a data-driven, scientific way.

But rather, in a real, sacramental way made possible by Jesus’ almighty power as God himself.

But if you know much about many of the other Christian churches out there, then you know how uniquely Lutheran this teaching of the Real Presence is. There are some who, looking at the historical connection with the Passover, see Holy Communion as nothing more than a meal of remembrance. As the Passover had the Israelites remember God’s saving power while still in Egypt, so Holy Communion is supposed to be a yearly remembrance of what Jesus did after his Last Supper. In close connection with this, some go on to say that the bread and wine that Jesus’s hands gave symbolize the body and blood he would later give on the cross.

With these things in mind, a person only receives 2 things when they eat and drink Holy Communion – the bread and the wine, not Jesus’ body and blood.

Others go the complete opposite direction and say that the bread and wine are no more!

While it may look and taste just like the earthly elements, it has since been completely transformed so that is only Jesus’ body and blood and remains that way. Again, only 2 things are received in the eating and drinking – Jesus’ body and the blood, not the bread and the wine.

While this may seem like theological equivalent of splitting hairs, the difference between 4 and 2 in fact matters a lot. For it distorts Jesus’ own words and lessens what his hands truly gave. If Holy Communion is nothing more than a meal of remembrance, what makes it any different from a special meal for a birthday, national holiday, or some other historic date?

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Pastor Tim Patoka

Maundy Thursday

April 1, 2021

Nothing! It also makes the words that Jesus himself spoke on Maundy Thursday seem entirely out of place.

Besides having Jesus’ plain words to show us it’s 4 instead of 2, we also have our 2nd Lesson from 1 Corinthians chapter 10, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?”

(1 Corinthians 10:16 EHV) The bread and body and the wine and blood of Holy Communion have such a common union between them that we use the word “communion” to describe their distinct togetherness. All 4 elements are really present.

But if we lessen the bread and wine being mere symbols of Jesus’ body and blood, then Holy Communion becomes nothing more than a mere symbol of what God has done for us like a cross or another piece of religious art. Then neither does Holy Communion have the power, blessings, and importance that we’ll later identify in our confession of faith. If we go the opposite extreme and say that the bread and wine are completely transformed into Jesus’ body and blood, we again go against what the Bible plainly says and can easily distract ourselves from our Savior’s work of salvation.

Let us instead recognize what Jesus’ hands truly gave – the fourfold Real Presence, Jesus’ body and blood together, with, and under that same bread and wine. However impossible or mundane it may sound, Jesus’ almighty power does what his words plainly say. And whenever we eat and drink the sacrament of Holy Communion, we also receive the fourfold Real Presence that Jesus’ hands gave.

2) Jesus Gives This to Many Sinners A Real Presence that he gives to many. After giving his body with Passover’s unleavened bread, Mark records Jesus saying to the disciples, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:24 EHV) When Jesus says “testament,” think of it was his last will and testament. We see this concept when a person passes away and their will is read. It is the deceased person’s wish that whatever is recorded in their last will and testament be carried out to completion for as long as stated. This Last Supper on Maundy Thursday was one of the last times Jesus freely spoke with his disciples before he was put to death. Among the many things he said in that Upper Room was this “testament,” that the sacrament of Holy Communion be offered for many for the time to come.

Who is this “many” that Jesus has in mind? It wasn’t just the disciples who received it on that first Maundy Thursday. It’s all sinners of all time, including you and me. In Matthew’s account of Maundy Thursday (Matthew 26:26-30), we hear this specific point about forgiveness being given through Holy Communion. As we received this forgiveness through the words of absolution at the beginning of our worship service, so we receive it again through the sacrament 3

Pastor Tim Patoka

Maundy Thursday

April 1, 2021

of Holy Communion. And is always the case with forgiveness, it completely washes away our sins, frees us from all guilt, and assures us that we are what we always have been through faith – God’s own child with all the blessings that come along with it.

Do we need this forgiveness though? I should know better than to ask that question to sinners like you and me. Because the answer is always going to be yes. How many sins have we committed since we last received Holy Communion or heard the words of absolution? When we last came to Holy Communion, did we receive it in a worthy manner, with a thankful attitude, or holding onto unrepentant sin? Do we still have guilty consciences from a sin that’s already been forgiven in God’s sight?

Then come and receive what Jesus’ hands give us. It is precisely for you, me, and many other sinners who recognize and believe the Real Presence that Jesus has given us this wondrous sacrament. For when we eat and drink of it, we receive that which we need the most – the forgiveness of sins that paves the way for every other spiritual blessing.

Whether it be in a special service like this, on the first and third Sundays as we do here at Grace, or in a private setting with your pastor, gladly receive this sacrament that Jesus’ hands have given you. As you come forward, remember those 4 elements which are really present – Jesus’ own body and blood together, with, and under that same bread and wine. As you eat and drink, receive the forgiveness your Savior gives to you through this sacrament. As you return, go with the assurance that you are what your Savior says – his own child who is forgiven of all wrongs and loved by him in every way. For that is what your Savior gives to you through this sacrament.

Conclusion While it may have taken us awhile to turn our attention to Jesus’ own hands in this Hands of the Passion worship series, it doesn’t diminish what we see. For it is Jesus’ giving hands that bestow upon us the sacrament of Holy Communion. In this sacrament, Jesus gives us what he plainly says – his body and blood together, with, and under the bread and wine in something we call the Real Presence. As much as others may try to rationalize and mystify us with only 2 of these elements, it’s in truth that we receive all 4 in a way that our Savior surely makes happen.

As part of Jesus’ last will and testament, he gives the sacrament’s blessing of forgiveness to many sinners who recognize and believe what’s really present. Jesus gives us this forgiveness not just because we are in constant and dire need of it, but to also assure that we are exactly what he says – his beloved and forgiven child. As such, may we gladly eat and drink this sacrament whenever it is offered and again receive what Jesus’s hands give to us. Amen.

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