John 13:1-15, 34-35; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; Exodus 12:1-14
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Can you even imagine the sound
of that night, the sound of the slaughter of all those unblemished, one-year-old
male lambs, bleating and neighing and screaming at twilight as darkness
descended upon Egypt? Of course, shortly after that, the lambs were no longer
screaming, but they fell silent. Then it was the mothers and the fathers, the sisters
and the brothers of the firstborn sons and daughters of Egypt that were
screaming and wailing in horror, and grief, and mourning over the slaughtered
victims of the LORD’s wrath against sin and unbelief. Then, it was not lambs,
but the Egyptian firstborn that died, but it was the children of Israel who
heard the screaming as they prepared to leave Egypt, the land of their slavery
and hardship, their hell.
The children of Israel heard
the screaming of the Egyptians as they ate their slaughtered lambs together with
their firstborn sons and daughters and their families, safe from the horror
descending upon the land. They ate their lambs, roasted in fire, in haste, with
unleavened bread and with bitter herbs, with belts fastened around their waists,
with sandals on their feet, and with staffs in their hands. For, because of the
blood of those innocent slaughtered lambs that marked the doorposts and the
lintels of their homes, the LORD passed over their homes and spared their
firstborn His wrath against their sin, even as the LORD visited the homes of
the Egyptians and all whose doorposts were not marked with lamb’s blood,
pouring out the fullness of His wrath upon them and killing their firstborn.
This was the LORD’s Passover, in which the LORD spared His people His wrath upon
their sins because of the blood of the lambs that marked them, even as He
poured out His wrath upon those who did not heed His Word and trust in Him.
Indeed, in the Passover, the
LORD made a key distinction between His people and all others. His people listened
to His Word and trusted in Him. They marked their doorposts with lamb’s blood
as He had commanded them. Therefore, the LORD passed over them and spared their
firstborn. The LORD did not spare them because they were sinless or holy or
righteous or anything else, but the LORD spared them because of His Word and His
promise in which they trusted, just as, long ago, their father Abraham believed
the LORD, and the LORD credited him with righteousness and spared his son Isaac.
In contrast, the Egyptians, and, quite likely, a few Hebrews, did not believe the
LORD and His Word and, therefore, refused to mark their doorposts with lamb’s
blood. Therefore, the LORD poured out His wrath upon them and took their
firstborn. The distinction between the two peoples and how they received and
experienced the LORD’s visitation depended solely upon their faith and trust in
the LORD and His Word. The righteous shall live by faith, then, now, and always.
Moreover, we see in the
Passover that the totality of the LORD’s wrath against sin was expended for
those who trusted in Him. The unblemished, one year old, male lambs were to be
roasted whole, head, body, legs, and entrails, and the entire lamb was to be eaten;
any remains left over were to be burnt so that there was absolutely nothing
left. The lamb, whose innocent blood was shed to mark the doorposts of the
faithful’s homes, was completely destroyed, having absorbed, the totality and the
fullness of the LORD’s wrath against sin. Those who trusted in the LORD and His
Word and sacrificed their lambs in the manner He commanded were spared the
death of their firstborn, not because of their work in making the sacrifice,
but because of the LORD’s Word and promise which He connected to those lambs,
the benefit of which the people received through faith and trust in the LORD,
His Word, and His promise.
Neither the Hebrews nor the
Egyptians deserved to be passed over. Likewise, the lambs did not deserve to be
slaughtered. However, the Passover is not about the LORD giving us what we
deserve, death, but the Passover is about the LORD giving us what we don’t
deserve, forgiveness and life. For, just as in Noah’s flood, when the waters of
the LORD’s wrath destroyed the wicked, unbelieving, and unrepentant world, even
as they raised up faithful Noah and his family and delivered them safely in a
new world and life; and just as in the crossing of the Red Sea, in which the
waters of the LORD’s wrath destroyed the wicked, unbelieving, and unrepentant
Egyptians in the Sea, even as the faithful children of Israel passed safely
through the waters on dry ground; and just as in Holy Baptism, where the waters
of the LORD’s wrath against your sin drowned and destroyed your old sinful
nature, while a new holy and righteous nature was raised up to new life that
never ends, so the fate of all people is dependent upon whether or not you are
marked with the blood of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ.
Yes, the holy and innocent
shed blood of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ must mark the doorways of your body
and your soul so that the LORD’s wrath against your sin will pass over you.
And, just as in the first Passover in Egypt, this is the LORD’s work and doing,
and it is accomplished, complete, and fulfilled in the self-sacrifice of the
Lamb of God, God’s only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who selflessly laid down
His life for you, and for the whole world, in love for the LORD, and in love
for you, whom the LORD loves with a boundless love. You receive the benefit of
the Lamb’s self-offering just the same as Abraham, the children of Israel, and
all people of all times and all places – by believing and trusting in the LORD
and in His Word and promise, and by believing and trusting in the LORD’s Word
and promise made flesh and fulfilled for you in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God
who has borne the fullness of the world’s sin, and the fullness of the LORD’s
wrath against sin, so that there is nothing left, for, it is finished.
“I received from the Lord what
I also delivered to you,” wrote St. Paul. St. Paul did not proclaim something
new to the Corinthians when he instructed them about the Lord’s Supper, but he
directed them to the Apostolic tradition and practice that he had taught them,
which he himself received from the Apostles, which, in turn, they received from
Jesus Himself when He celebrated his final Passover meal with His disciples on the
night in which He was betrayed and was delivered over to the Jews and the
Romans to be sacrificed as the Passover Lamb of God for the sins of the entire
world. That night, while recounting and celebrating the mighty deliverance the
LORD visited upon His people in the Passover, Jesus reinterpreted that event in
reference to Himself. There was no Passover lamb at this meal, for Jesus was
the Passover Lamb of God. And, as He shared with His disciples the unleavened
bread, He told them plainly that it was His body. Likewise, as He blessed the
cup of wine and shared it with them, He told them plainly that it was His blood
of the New Covenant, shed for them for the forgiveness of their sins.
After dinner, at twilight,
Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives, to the Garden of
Gethsemane, to pray. The sun had set and it was now the Day of Preparation, the
day on which the lambs were to be slaughtered for the Passover. There in the
garden, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, arrested, and taken to Caiaphas, the High
Priest, and tried for the crime of blasphemy, for claiming to be the Son of God
and the Messianic King of the Jews. Throughout the nighttime hours of Good
Friday, Jesus was tried by Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, by the Roman Governor
Pontius Pilate, by King Herod, and finally by Pilate once again, who, then,
delivered Him over to be crucified. In the later morning hours, Jesus was
scourged and mocked and humiliated, after which He was crucified around
noontime, the same hour that the sacrificial lambs were being slaughtered in
the temple for the Passover.
I hand over to you what I myself have received, writes St. Paul. And, so do all faithful
pastors hand over to you what they themselves have received: “This is my body
which is given for you.” “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, shed for
you for the forgiveness of sins.” And, as you eat and drink, again and again,
the holy, innocent, shed blood of the Lamb of God marks the doorposts and
lintels of your body and your soul – the Lamb of God who has borne the fullness
of the LORD’s wrath against your sin for you so that it is finished and there
is no more. His wrath passes over you, because it has fallen upon Jesus, whose
blood has cleansed you and covered you from all sin.
Jesus’ selfless sacrifice was
for you. You receive the benefit of His work by faith and trust in Him and His
Word. Even more, you are clothed with the benefit of His sacrifice for you in
Holy Baptism: His righteousness is your righteousness. His life is your life.
His Sonship with the Father is your adoption as His son. Just as in Noah’s
flood, just as in the Red Sea crossing, so in Holy Baptism, you have died in
Christ, and you have been raised in Him to new and everlasting life. The LORD’s
wrath has been poured out for you upon His Son, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Jesus has borne it all for you. Now there is only love and life and blessing
through Jesus Christ.
Therefore, there is a New
Commandment, the mandate, the mandatum, of Maundy Thursday: “Love one
another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” This is
not a commandment of the Law, but it is a promise and a blessing proclaimed by
Jesus just before He fulfilled the Law completely in your place. For, it is
with His perfect, holy, self-sacrificial love that you are to love others. You
are to deliver to others only what you have received from the Lord: grace,
mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and love. By this, all people will know that
you are Jesus’ disciples when you have love for one another.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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