Three Words

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Three Words (Disturbing Words, Institutional Words, Personal Words) and my focus is our Gospel (Mark 14:12-26). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Disturbing Words. My hope is that you are having a peaceful, easy feeling; that you’re feeling easy like Sunday morning; and that all is well with your soul. If you are, I hate to disturb you. None of us likes to hear disturbing news whether it’s personal – “You have cancer.” “You’re fired.” “I’m leaving you.” – or communal – “President Kennedy has been shot.” “The Challenger has exploded.” “A second plane has crashed into the South Tower.”

Disturbing news causes feelings of worry, concern or anxiety. The word disturb means to frighten, alarm, break up the tranquility. The Latin word disturbare means to throw into disorder, from dis, meaning completely, and turbare or turba, meaning turmoil. Disturbing synonyms include aggravating, annoying, pesky, rankling and vexing to name a few.

I begin our Triduum – our three-day observance of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection – with Disturbing Words because that is what we hear from Jesus. But before I get to that, allow me a few moments to set the scene.

Jesus’ instructions to two disciples regarding where to eat the Passover seem a bit out of place. A man carrying a water jar will be looking for them. First, men in Jesus’ culture did not carry water jars; women did. Second, what are the odds of this man knowing who these two disciples are. Know this about the Evangelists: they don’t explain everything.

What we can surmise from the preparation is that people seldom finished eating the Passover meal before midnight. Note that Jesus and the Twelve did not arrive until evening. So, that night he was within the jurisdiction of the priestly authorities who planned to arrest him secretly and then kill him, and if he was close to Mount Zion, he was near Caiaphas’ house. That in itself is frightening, but here are the disturbing words from our Lord.

Imagine, now, you’re gathered with Jesus and as the meal begins the first words out of his mouth are, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” Imagine sitting down for Easter Dinner with your closest family members and dearest friends, and the host says that you will betray him. Is it no wonder that Mark records their upset feelings – distress, grief, sorrow and sadness – and their responses: “Surely, you don’t mean me?” “Am I the one?” “Is it I?”

Jesus’ disturbing words isolated him from the Jewish authorities and his own disciples. Though surrounded by enemies and followers, he is alone. A more chilling effect comes when he says, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.” This is the deepest sort of betrayal.

His words are prophesied in Psalm 41, where we read, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them!” In more familiar words, we recall, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Ps 23) In other words, all is going according to divine script for Jesus’ life. The irony is that during a meal where bonding and celebrating occur, the participants will betray, deny and desert Jesus.

Jesus goes to the cross without his closest allies and support group. The Twelve were upset at Jesus’ words, and Mark portrayed them accurately as a self-concerned bunch, undiscerning to the end. And though Mark makes no mention of Judas’ departure, the punishment for his deliberate breach of faith is described in verse 21, “For the Son of Man goes as it is written of 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.” There is no exoneration for him. Disturbing words, indeed!

Now, because Holy Thursday marks a transition within Holy Week and Lent as the first of three sacred days known as the Holy Triduum, Latin for three days, it serves as the beginning of the Paschal Feast. As we are fed and nourished at His table, we are strengthened to take up our cross, follow Him, loving one another in real and significant ways as He has loved us. With that, we move from Disturbing Words to Institutional Words.

Institutional Words. Before commenting on the Institutional Words, a few remarks about the passage. This is the earliest Gospel description of the Last Supper. Yet, the earliest written account is 1^st Corinthians 11:23-26.

Though this is a Passover meal, there is no mention of what is customarily consumed – lamb and bitter herbs – for the focus is on bread and wine. Jesus is not participating in the temple-centered feast of Passover. Instead, he discarded its symbolic ritual meal in order to narrate his new story – that of the Human One who gives his life for the people. Blood was the ultimate pollutant in the Jewish purity system. Yet, the blood of Jesus is the means of ultimate cleansing of people from their sins.

The Words of Institution are symbolic to the disciples. Otherwise, how difficult it would be for them to drink human blood. Even as a symbol, it would offend the sensibilities of any Jew. Still, they eat and drink the bread and wine offered by Jesus.

We cannot overlook the significance of the verse that follows. When Jesus says, “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God,” he anticipated that he would share no more Passover meals nor drink any more wine. He would drink new wine in the messianic banquet for his death was instrumental in bringing forth God’s Kingdom.

In heaven we won't receive the Lord's Supper because we will have Jesus — the Bread of heaven — in all his fullness. As Lutherans, we believe this messianic banquet – Eucharist – as one of our sacraments. The Words of Institution are an historical report: this is what Jesus did and what he said. According to Christ’s command, we celebrate the Lord's Supper not as a meal of remembrance but as a Sacrament by which Jesus himself comes to us.

In Luther’s Small Catechism, we read that the Sacrament of the Altar is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink. These words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. Whoever believes these words, and eats and drinks Christ’s Body and Blood, has exactly what they say: “forgiveness of sins.” But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, because the words “for you” require our hearts to believe.

Martin Luther placed the highest priority on Jesus’ instituting words. He wrote: “You must above all else take heed to your heart, that you believe the words of Christ, and admit their truth, when he says to you and to all, ‘This is my blood, a new testament, by which I bequeath you forgiveness of all sins and eternal life.’ … Everything depends … upon the words of this sacrament. These are the words of Christ. Truly we should set them in pure gold and precious stones, keeping nothing more diligently before the eyes of our heart, so that faith may thereby be exercised. . .. If you would receive this sacrament and testament worthily, see to it that you give emphasis to these living words of Christ, rely on them with a strong faith, and desire what Christ has promised you in them.”

To further appreciate why Luther valued the Words of Institution to this degree, it is necessary to remember the controversies that emerged surrounding the Lord’s Supper. Amidst the errors of the Roman Catholic sacrificial interpretation and the Reformed rejection of the bodily presence, Lutherans continued to confess that the Lord’s Supper is the very body and blood of Jesus, given in bread and wine, not as a sacrifice for sins, but for the forgiveness of sins. The foundation and defense of their confession were Jesus’ own mandating words. Like Luther before, the next generation of Lutherans ardently held fast to the words of institution: with these words Jesus instituted this sacrament and shows what is given in it.

The authors of the Formula of Concord followed Luther in their fervent confession of Jesus’ words of institution: “This very opinion on the Lord’s Supper … is founded on the only firm, immovable and undoubtable rock of truth. It comes from the words of institution, in the holy, divine Word. … We are certainly duty-bound not to interpret and explain these words in a different way. For these are the words of the eternal, true and almighty Son of God, our Lord, Creator, and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. … With simple faith and obedience, we receive the words as they read, in their proper and plain sense.”

Personal Words. From Institutional Words to Personal Words. Most people consider Easter as one of their top ten holidays. Throughout the US and the world, people place Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Independence Day, Hanukkah, New Year’s and Ramadan ahead of Easter. Personally speaking, Easter has been my favorite holiday ever since I came to know and love Jesus Christ. The three days preceding the Resurrection of the Lord are the most solemn and mystical days on our calendar. And as decades pass, my opinion, like concrete, has solidified about the solemnity and celebration of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, otherwise known as the Paschal Mystery.

My thoughts exclude any of the Easter trappings: chocolate bunnies and baskets, children’s clothing and egg hunts. They do include what enhances our worship – singing joyful alleluias and smelling fresh flowers – to the point that years ago I said that whenever I am buried, I want it to be on Easter Monday: the pain of death experienced on a Day of New Life.

In 2003, I experienced the pain of death against the backdrop of new life. In that year, on April 16^th, Wednesday of Holy Week, my father died suddenly and unexpectedly of a massive heart attack. Ironically, we buried him on Easter Monday. I speak of this not to garner sympathy, but to offer an insight. By now, we have all experienced pain, grief, sadness, unbelief and all those emotions that occur when one we love dies. Though we may be able to mask those emotions temporarily while receiving guests at the funeral home or leading worship during the Triduum, we do not escape them. At some point, they overcome us and leave us feeling broken, empty and maybe even hopeless. Yet, life goes on, and we realize that though we are feeling loss, most of the world outside our circles of family, friends and church, have no clue that we lost our loved one.

We turn to whatever helps us cope. Some turn to unhealthy habits and develop addictions. Others find healthy activities to fill their days – volunteering in the church or community. Still others develop new relationships. Humanly speaking, all good. Yet, what I found, years removed from the sudden death of my father, is that the emotional experience of loss can lead to deeper reflection and appreciation not only for what my father did for family, community and church, but more importantly for what Jesus Christ did for us as Savior and Redeemer.

Reflecting on the Paschal Mystery from the perspective of loss deepens our appreciation and love for Christ knowing the depth of his love not only for his family, friends and disciples, but also for us, brothers and sisters of the Lord.

My friends, what I am asking you to do between now and Easter Sunday, amidst all the activity which engages your time and attention, is to spend some time reading and reflecting upon the passion narratives found in the Gospels. Take time for prayer and meditation not only publicly in church, but also privately at home. May the Passion of Jesus mark your Triduum. And may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.