Matthew 26:26-29; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Psalm 23
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The life of a creature is in its blood. That is why some cultures in the ancient past, and even the present, have practiced the drinking of blood and even cannibalism. They believed that by drinking the blood and eating the flesh, say of a powerful animal or enemy, one would assume that creature’s life, vitality, and strength into oneself. The ancient Hebrews were instructed that their life and all things pertaining to life come, not from animals, men, or anything created, but from God Himself. To eat or drink blood to gain life or strength would be idolatry. This is the basis of the Hebrew dietary and Kosher laws. Animals are to be killed and butchered in a very specific manner so that their lifeblood is not consumed.
There are many things concerning Jesus’ words at the Last Supper that should have been scandalous to His disciples, however His words concerning the bread and the wine certainly top the list. Those words, which we call the Verba and the Words of Institution in our worship, appear in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and in Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians. In each account the words are clear and unambiguous: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you.” “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” This teaching was set in the context of a greater Passover meal. Now, much ink has been spilt in determining what part of the Passover meal Jesus was celebrating when He spoke these words. However, surely that is the wrong question, for it wasn’t even the proper day for the Passover meal which was to be eaten at sundown on Friday. Jesus and His disciples were eating the Passover Thursday evening, a day early. The Passover lambs were to be killed on Friday and eaten at sundown. Indeed, the true Passover would be Friday and Jesus, the true Passover Lamb of God’s offering, would be the sacrifice that day on the cross.
What Jesus was doing Thursday evening was instituting the Lord’s Supper which would fulfill and replace the Passover. Just as the LORD gave instructions for how the Passover was to be prepared and eaten before the actual Passover had occurred, so Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, gave His disciples instruction in how He was to be remembered in a new meal in which everything is reinterpreted and new. If this were the Passover, then there must be a lamb, but there was no lamb at this meal of bread and wine except for the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who would lay down His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world on Friday and the wrath of God against our sin would be poured out upon Him and pass over us.
“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Once again, these words are presented in three Gospels and in an epistle, and yet none of those texts record a reaction of surprise, amazement, or scandalization from Jesus’ disciples. How could this be? We know from the Gospel of John that Jesus taught such things publicly, so the disciples had heard Him talk this way before. For example, in John chapter six Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So, Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” The disciples who stopped following Jesus that day heard what He said and they were scandalized by it. They understood Him clearly, plainly, and literally and He made no effort to correct them saying, “No, wait, guys, I’m speaking metaphorically here.” No, Jesus meant what He said, and they understood Him correctly. His words are clear and plain, if impossible to rectify according to human reason alone. Even then the twelve remained with Jesus. They didn’t have to understand how it could be, they believed in Jesus who healed the sick, rebuked the wind and the waves, made the blind to see and the lame to walk, cast out demons, raised the dead, and fulfilled messianic prophecy in word and deed.
And so, that Thursday evening in the upper room, eating one last meal with their master, their rabbi, their Lord, and their friend, the disciples were not scandalized by His teaching concerning eating His flesh and drinking His blood. This man could forgive sins with a word; only God can forgive sins. This man could command a demon to depart with a word; only God can do that. This man could call a dead man by name and raise him from death to life; only God can do that. If this man says that this bread is His body and this wine is His blood, and commands us to do this in remembrance of Him, then we must listen to our God and believe Him and receive this lifegiving gift every Sunday and every feast day until He comes again. The life of men is in His blood.
Our Lord Jesus, the perfect Son of God, and the perfect Son of Man, perfectly fulfilled God’s Law for us. On Friday He would lay down His life and suffer the death and wrath of God against sin we deserve as the Lamb of God promised to Abraham and whom John the Baptist prophesied would take away the sins of the world. But the night before He gave His disciples a memorial of that sacrifice in the Lord’s Supper saying, “This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” And they did. From the Sunday of Pentecost onward the first Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers,” as we continue to do every Sunday and on feast days.
Every Sunday our Lord Jesus offers us His body to eat and His blood to drink for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Everyone who eats and drinks, eats and drinks His body and blood whether they believe it or not, for His word makes it what He says it is. This is why we hold to the traditional practice of admitting to the Lord’s Supper only those who have been properly catechized, examined, absolved, and so confirmed through the rites of our communion fellowship. This is not to keep the sacrament from anyone, but it is to ensure, as best we can, that those who do receive the Lord’s body and blood do so and receive a blessing and not a curse. “Whatever do you mean, Paster?” you ask. The explanation was presented in our first reading this evening from 1 Corinthians 10: “…our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink…. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” They were all baptized. They all ate the same food. They all drank the same drink, and that was Christ. And yet, God was still not pleased with them all. Why was God not pleased with them? As at the altar, all who eat and drink receive Christ, but they must receive Him in faith. The Lord’s Supper must be taken in faith. faith pleases God. Faith grasps on to Jesus’ body and blood in the Sacrament and says: Amen, I believe. The sacraments must be used in faith; that pleases God.
Jesus is the Lamb of God’s offering, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And Jesus is our Good Shepherd who leads us through the valley of the shadow of death into His Father’s house forevermore. Along the way He leads us and feeds us, in the presence of our enemies. He is both host and meal. He is our life along the way. True life is in His blood.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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