God’s grace, peace and
mercy be with you. … My focus is on three words from the Gospel of Mark:
Disturbing Words, Institutional Words, Personal Words. 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.
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.
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 1st
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.”
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 16th,
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.
