John 12:1-2; Acts
20:7-12; Revelation 3:14-22
In the Name of the Father and of the
+ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
This evening’s Gospel was selected
because of the presence of a certain man reclining at table with Jesus. That man
was Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, whom He had raised from death. However, to
understand the full significance of this table fellowship, it is necessary to
read backward a bit into St. John’s Gospel. For, this meal is the culmination
of a long, and heightening, discourse of conflict between Jesus and the
religious leadership of the Jews, a conflict that began back in chapter six of the
Gospel, where Jesus performed the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
In that miracle, Jesus began to teach the people about the true life that He
came to bring to those who will put their trust in Him saying, “I am the living
bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live
forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Lazarus had died. Jesus permitted him to
die. And, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead by the power of His Word – For,
“man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the
mouth of God.” And so, there is Lazarus, the man who died, but is alive,
reclining at table with Jesus, the Bread of Life of which a man may eat and
live. Lazarus is the living proof of Jesus’ teaching in the Feeding of the Five
Thousand, for, he is not alive because of the worldly bread that he ate, or the
worldly things that he did, or by the power and works of any man, but he is
alive by the power and the work of God’s Word, Jesus, alone – a life Lazarus
received as a gift by faith and trust in Jesus alone. “It is the Spirit who
gives life;” says Jesus, “the flesh is no help at all. The Words that I have
spoken to you are Spirit and life. […] This is why I told you that no one can
come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” Lazarus at table, dining
with Jesus, is the meaning of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Lazarus at
table, dining with Jesus, is what Jesus came to make possible for all whom the
Father grants to come to Him, even you.
The whole point of Jesus’ sign of the
Feeding of the Five Thousand is that Jesus is the true Manna of God, even the
Bread of Life, the Word of God, made visible and tangible and edible, for the
life of the world, of which a man may eat and live. Of any other bread, men eat
and die. But, of Jesus, the Bread of Life, men eat and live, so that, even
though they die, they shall live forever, for all who live and believe in Him
shall never die. In John’s Gospel, it is precisely this teaching of Jesus that
so confounded and scandalized the Jews that many who had followed Him, followed
Him no longer. For, they knew that only God could give life, and Jesus claimed
to be the Bread of Life of which a man may eat and live. Abraham was a man of
God, and He died. The Prophets were men of God, and they died. King David was a
man of God, and he died too. Yet, Jesus claimed that He was the Bread of Life,
the Word of God in human flesh, who alone could conquer death and bestow new
and everlasting life. Was Jesus greater than Abraham, the Prophets, and David?
Was Jesus the Messiah, the Christ of God? Yes! That is precisely whom Jesus
claimed to be! Indeed, in, perhaps, the climatic moment of John’s Gospel, in
which Jesus was confronted by the scribes and the Pharisees with these very accusations,
Jesus even invoked God’s Divine Name saying, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” And
so, the Jews picked up stones to throw at Him for the sin of blasphemy. And, when
they murdered Him on Good Friday, they knew precisely who He claimed to be.
Perhaps, they even believed Him.
That is why they wanted to murder
Lazarus. Lazarus was living proof of Jesus’ Words, “I am the Bread of Life,”
“If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever.” “And so, six days before
the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus
had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for Him there. Martha served,
and Lazarus was one of those reclining with Him at table.” It was the Saturday
before Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week – the Saturday that is coming up
for us in three days. The Jewish religious leadership wanted to kill Jesus
before the Passover, seven days later, and they wanted to kill Lazarus who was
the living proof of the truth of Jesus’ Words. Jesus had taught, “I am the
Bread of Life,” “If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever,” – and
there was Lazarus, who was dead, alive, reclining and dining at table with
Jesus, the Bread of his life, and the life of all men who trust in Him.
These are not just words. And, Jesus’
teaching is not symbolic, nor is it an allegory. Jesus truly is the Bread of
Life, the Word of God made flesh, of which a man may eat and live. He is not
merely alluding to the Lord’s Supper, but He is the Lord’s Supper, both Host
and Meal. This meal is not merely a memorial as some are want to believe, but
it is what Jesus says it is – forgiveness, life, and salvation. St. Ignatius of
Antioch, a disciple of St. John, writing in the late first, and early second,
centuries referred to the Holy Eucharist as “the medicine of immortality and
the antidote that we should not die but live for ever in Jesus Christ.” That
was true for Lazarus and the first century Jews and early Christians, that was
true for Ignatius and the Fathers of the Church, that was true for Luther and
the Reformers, and that is true for you and I today, and for our children and
our children’s children tomorrow, until the Lord returns in glory and we will
all recline together with Him in His Father’s house forever.
Your new life, begun in Holy Baptism, is
nourished, strengthened, kept, preserved, and protected in this Holy Eucharist.
The Lord’s Supper is not just something you do out of obedience to your Lord.
It is not just something that you do out of love for your Lord. It is not just
something you do to receive the forgiveness of your sins. Of course, the Lord’s
Supper is all of these things, and so much more! But, first, and foremost, the
Lord’s Supper is your life, both now, and through, and after death. It is as
necessary as eating, drinking, and breathing – Man does not live by bread
alone, but man does indeed live by the Word of God, and the Word of God made
flesh, Jesus Christ, the Bread of life of which a man may eat – must eat – and
live.
In the years following Jesus’ death and
resurrection, St. Paul stopped to preach and teach at a congregation in Troas
in Asia Minor on the Lord’s Day, Sunday. There was a young man there named
Eutychus was overcome by sleep as St. Paul preached and talked on through the
evening. I’m certain that most of you can empathize with young Eutychus. And,
so it happened that he fell asleep, and he tumbled out of a third-story window,
and he died. Eutychus physically died. And yet, St. Paul comforted the
congregation saying, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” Then, St.
Paul celebrated the Eucharist with the congregation, a meal at which young
Eutychus, raised from death, also communed.
Death is real. Death still happens.
Death is what we have earned and merited for our sins. But, death is not the
end of the story. Death is not the end of your life. You have been baptized
into Jesus’ death. You have been baptized into Jesus’ resurrection. The life
you now live is bound up in Him. The life you now live will never die. Yes,
your body will die, – in time, you will be thankful for that – but your soul,
your spirit, will never die. Indeed, your soul and spirit have already died, and
have already begun a life that will never end. And the source and food of your
life is Jesus, His body and His blood, the Word of God made flesh, and the
Bread of Life of which a man may eat and live.
You see, the Holy Eucharist is the
resurrection and the life now, even as it is a foretaste of the resurrection
and the life that is to come. To eat and to drink Jesus’ body and blood is to
commune with Him, so that His life is your life – life that physical death cannot
end or take away. “I am the resurrection and the life,” says Jesus, “Whoever
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and
believes in me shall never die.” Do you believe this? Then let us approach the
Lord’s Supper with reverence and joy, for it is Jesus’ life given us to eat and
drink and live. And let us receive the Lord’s Supper, not in mere remembrance
or obedience, but as our life, now, and until, through, and beyond physical
death, to the resurrection of our bodies and to life everlasting. “Whoever
feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up
on the last day.” “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
In
the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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