Mark 14:12-26 * April 9, 2009
* Maundy Thursday *
Pastor Leyrer
Dear Friends in Christ,
Somewhere along the line in your education you may or may have come across the Latin phrase “Repetitio est mater studiorum.” It means “repetition is the mother of study.” The idea behind it is not earth shaking or revolutionary. It simply suggests the more we hear something repeated, the more likely we are to remember it.
Perhaps this is a useful thought for us on this Maundy Thursday. As part of our midweek Lenten devotions this year we read through the Passion History of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Four Gospels. We did the same thing last year. And we’ll do the same thing next year. Why? Repetition helps us remember.
The same holds true tonight. Unless you are brand new to Christianity the Gospel reading you just heard (and which serves as our text) is nothing new. There’s no new twist or surprise ending this year. It is familiar territory to us. But it’s important territory. And we are richly blessed as we consider it once again.
While the territory is familiar, our approach tonight will be a little different. As we work our way through this text we’ll find that there are actually three distinct moods reflected within it and around which we’ll organize our thoughts. So let us now consider
THE MOODS OF MAUNDY THURSDAY
1. Joyful anticipation
2. Sad realization
3. Satisfying culmination
The First Mood: Joyful
Anticipation
12 On the
first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice
the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and
make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into
the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he
enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover
with my disciples?’ 15 He
will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us
there.” 16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things
just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
The “Feast of Unleavened Bread” was an eight day period
during which time Jews ate only unleavened bread. This “Feast” (which really wasn’t unless you
really, really liked unleavened bread) was a reminder of the haste with which
God’s people fled the slavery of
Passover was one of the high holy days on the Jewish calendar. Every Jew observed it and celebrated it as a sacred ritual. That’s what Jesus intended to do with His disciples, but in order to do this they needed a place large enough to accommodate all of them.
So, just like He did on Palm Sunday, Jesus sends a couple of
His disciples to make the necessary provisions.
Just like Palm Sunday, He gives them explicit instructions. And just like Palm Sunday, the disciples “found things just as Jesus told them.”
Let’s not overlook the great lesson and comfort found in the reliability of Jesus’ words here. That lesson is this: He who is reliable when He speaks of little things like finding a room is equally reliable when He speaks of big things, like the promise of forgiveness and salvation for all who look to Him as Savior and Lord; or the assurance that He will never leave us or forsake us no matter what we are going through.
“So they prepared the Passover.” This is extremely significant, because Passover – established by God some 1500 years earlier – is the larger, historical stage upon which the events of that night are played out. Remember what Passover was? Let’s review…
After the King of Egypt refused to let the People of Israel
go as God through Moses had commanded him, the Lord brought plagues upon the
land. Ten, to be specific. The last of the ten plagues visited upon
Before this plague took place God gave His people some
specific instructions. Among other
things, they were to sacrifice a perfect lamb and then paint the doorframes of
their houses with its blood so the Angel of Death would “pass over” them. The people of
The parallel is both striking and intentional. Soon the Passover and all it symbolized would
find its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
It’s not a coincidence that Jesus instituted Lord’s Supper on this occasion. And it’s no wonder that the Apostle Paul in
First Corinthians (5:7) refers to Jesus as “our Passover Lamb.” We, too, are saved from death – eternal death
– through the sacrificial blood of a Perfect Lamb. John the Baptist had it right when he pointed
to Jesus and said: “Look, the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world!”
The mood at this point is joyful anticipation. Jesus and His disciples would soon remember a great spiritual event that was just as meaningful for them as Christmas or Easter is for us. But a shift is about to take place. Joyful anticipation gives way to
The Second Mood: Sad Realization
17 When
evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the
table eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who
is eating with me.” 19 They were saddened, and one by one they said
to him, “Surely not I?” 20 “It
is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is
written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be
better for him if he had not been born.”
The sad realization is this: Lurking among the disciples was a traitor; someone who had already started the wheels in motion that would eventually result in Christ hanging on a cross. It is interesting to note that the disciples are not sure who it is. Jesus knows, but they don’t. So they begin to wonder aloud.
But as Jesus points out, sad as this was, and sad as what it would result in, it had to be. Because this was all part of the plan. This passage in Psalm 41 found its highest fulfillment in the events of this night: “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”
Yet there is an even higher fulfillment being worked out here. The recurrent theme throughout the Old Testament and the basis for the entire, sophisticated religious sacrificial system God established among His people was this principle: Sin is serious business. So serious that there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.
This hits each of us right between the eyes. Because we are sinners. Which means blood needs to be shed. But the blood to be shed for our sins would not be our own. The ultimate sacrifice for sin and the blood that was to be shed once and for all for the entire world belonged to Jesus Christ. This is the great exchange. The guiltless for the guilty.
And He was ready. “The Son of Man will go, just as it is written about Him.” Or as it is stated in one of our Lenten
hymns: “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining
If sin is poison, the sacrificed body and blood of Jesus is the antidote. And in order that we may be reminded of this again and again in a concrete way, we proceed to
The Third Mood: Satisfying
Culmination
22 While
they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to
his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took the cup, gave
thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 “This is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “I tell you the truth, I will not
drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the
Many of our own celebrations and fellowship activities culminate in a meal. This night’s activities did as well. But this was an especially satisfying meal, because it is timeless. And we have the privilege of sharing in it just like those in the Upper Room.
The key to understanding the magnitude of the gift Christ gives us in His Supper is found in the little word, “is.” What is the Lord’s Supper? It is the very body and blood of Christ which, in the language of our catechism, is “in, with and under” the bread and wine. In other words, Jesus Christ, in a supernatural yet very real way, is present in the Lord’s Supper.
This Bible truth (which we call the doctrine of “the Real Presence”) is a mystery of faith. Nevertheless, it is the clear statement of Jesus.
This is the timeless gift Christ gives us in the Lord’s Supper: the very body and blood once given and shed for our redemption now is given to us as the personal assurance of our forgiveness and salvation. Every time we take Lord’s Supper Jesus comes to us as individuals and, in essence, says “I loved you enough to die for you… and here is the proof. Touch and taste and feel…”
Furthermore, Jesus tells us every time we take Lord’s Supper
we receive a foretaste of the “
And what an impact such a gift has on us! We’ve talked of the three moods of Maundy Thursday; now let us talk about three glorious effects the Lord’s Supper has upon us.
First of all, it has a personal effect in that it strengthens
our faith. How can we not leave the
Lord’s Table spiritually stronger as we hear what Christ has done for us? How can we not be positively, inwardly,
spiritually and emotionally affected by the words, “Given and shed for you” – read me – “for the forgiveness of sins?”
Secondly, the Lord’s Supper has a vertical effect in that it cements our relationship with Jesus. How can we not love Him more and more who poured out His lifeblood for us? How can we not be motivated to ever increasingly live our lives to the glory and honor of Him who died for our sins?
Finally, the Lord’s Supper has a horizontal effect in the way we deal with others. Earlier on this night Jesus told His disciples that the way the world would know them was by the way they showed love to each other. That being said, how can cold pettiness and an unforgiving spirit toward others continue to exist and not melt away in the warm light of the free and full forgiveness we have been given in Christ?
Yes, it’s quite a gift we have been given in the Lord’s Supper. And it’s a gift which, in a matter of minutes, we will once again be offered.
So let’s bring our thoughts to a close. Tonight we have returned to the Upper Room on that first Maundy Thursday. Most of us have been there before, many times. Once again we have worked through the progression of moods present that night. We see joyful anticipation give way to sad realization and the evening end with a satisfying culmination that reminds us of everything Jesus is and does.
Glory be to Jesus. Amen.