28 March 2013 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA
Text: John 13:1-15, 34-35, Ex 12:1-14, 1 Cor 11:23-32
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
The true story of a daring
rescue in space was told in the 1995 movie Apollo 13. In the face of life-threatening mechanical
problems, the flight director on earth rallied his team by saying: “Failure is
not an option!”
When something is not open to
choice one way or another, we say it is a “mandate” or we might say that
something is “mandatory.” It is not an
option.
Today is Maundy Thursday, and
the title of this holy day is based on the Latin word translated as
“mandatory.” And it is a curious name
for something as gracious as the Lord’s Supper.
But it comes from our Lord’s remarks after He demonstrated in a shocking
way what it means to love. In this
poignant act, the Lord Jesus, the Almighty God, the King of the Universe, the
One who is the Word Made Flesh whose breath called all things into being,
stripped off His clothing, knelt on the floor and washed the filthy feet of his
disciples, wiping them up with a towel.
Peter was shocked,
scandalized even, by this humble act of mercy, and it took words of wisdom from
the Word who is Wisdom Himself to get Peter to humbly receive this grace and
this surprising act of love.
And here is where the word
“mandatory” comes into being. Jesus
said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I
have loved you, you are also to love one another.”
A commandment is not a choice,
not a preference, not something we do if we feel like it. A commandment is not an option. “Love one another.”
The Lord Jesus performed this
act of love after He “rose from supper.”
And this was not just any supper, it was the Lord’s Supper, the final
Passover in which the True Lamb appeared in space and time, in the flesh, the
reality foreshadowed by thousands if not millions of sacrificial beasts whose
blood was shed, pointing to this one final and all-availing sacrifice of our
Lord Jesus on the cross as the full atonement for our sins. For what the apostles “received from the
Lord,” they have delivered to us, “that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was
betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This
is My body which is for you.” And after
giving them, and us, this most infinite and miraculous gift, He made this
mandatory for us by commanding us: ‘Do this in remembrance of Me.’ “In the same way also He took the cup, after
supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood.’” And again, the Lord mandates: “Do this, as
often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
This command to “take eat”
and “take drink” is part and parcel of the command to love one another. For that phrase “one another” is an expression
of unity, of community, of communion. It
is fellowship, an act of participation.
It is the community meal of brothers and sisters who love one
another. And this meal is a miraculous
meal, for it is, not that is symbolizes or represents, but is the
participation in the Lord’s body and blood according to His universe-creating
Word. And when it comes to the Word of
God, failure is not an option.
The Lord also mandates that
we who join in this Holy Communion “examine” ourselves. We are to honestly consider our sins. For when it comes to our spiritual condition
on this fallen planet, failure is our only option. We are damaged goods living in a damaged
world. And like the crew of the Apollo
13, we are hurling through space on this once good, but now broken, vessel
traveling at thousands of miles an hour, reeling out of control for a sure
destruction unless we are saved by someone from the outside. And what’s even better, dear brothers and
sisters, our Savior comes to us to rescue us.
He takes flesh and blood in space and time. He offers His flesh and sheds His blood in
space and time. And He continues to come
to us in His flesh and blood in space and time – under the forms of the Paschal
bread and wine, the meal of the Passover, brought to fullness and completion “for
us men and for our salvation!”
And when it comes to this
rescue mission, failure is not an option, because our Lord is both almighty and
all merciful. He has come to save
us. He has come to offer His body and
blood. He has come to wash us in
baptismal water. He has come to serve,
not to be served. And indeed, He has set
an example of the conduct that proclaims Him in this fallen world. For in keeping this mandate to love one
another, our Lord says emphatically: “By this all people will know that you are
My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This familial love among
brothers and sisters in Christ is a witness before the world of the love of
Christ Himself. It is an invitation to
be washed clean by Jesus, to participate in His saving action on the cross, to
come to His table to commune with Him and with one another in this one eternal
“memorial day” – for we have been mandated to “keep it as a feast to the Lord”
throughout our generations, “as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a
feast.”
It is not an option. It is a mandate.
But, dear friends, this is no
work of drudgery. This is not a command
like paying taxes or cleaning our rooms.
This is a loving command, an invitation to receive the love of Christ,
and then to share that love of Christ, by Christ, through Christ, and to the
glory of Christ and of His Father. For
like a cup that is filled to the top, it begs to be poured out again, even as
Christ was poured out for us as a final and eternal sacrifice, even as His cup
is poured into the mouths of His rescued people day after day, week after week,
year after year, and century after century, proclaiming the Lord’s death “until
He comes.” Indeed “Forever, you shall
keep it as a feast.”
Failure is not an option!
The Lord has come into our
world to save us, redeem us, love us, recreate us, give us life, and set us at
liberty – just as the children of Israel made their exodus from slavery in
Egypt, and just as the crew of the Apollo 13 were given the gift of life anew as
they were safely brought home and rescued from the jaws of certain death that
lurked over every inch of that space-and-time odyssey back to earth.
And this holy blood signifies
to the angel of death to pass over. “And
when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to
destroy you.”
This promise of rescue, of
salvation, of life is given to us, dear friends, for the Passover celebrated to
the children of Israel is the foreshadowing of our own saving paschal feast of the
Lamb, as His blood marks the doors of our hearts so that death itself is not an
option.
And though we fail in our
obligations, dear friends, let us take comfort that our Lord never fails. His love never fails. His mercy never fails, for it endures
forever! The body and blood of our Lord
never fail. Baptism never fails. Absolution never fails. Forgiveness, life, and salvation never
fail! And this is all true because for
our Lord, our merciful rescuer, the One who calls all things into being,
“failure is not an option.” Glory and
honor, thanks and praise be to our Paschal Lamb, the One who loves us in His
infinite mercy, forever and ever. Amen.
In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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