In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The high priest Aaron had at least four sons whose names are
recorded. The first two, presumably the oldest, are Nadab and Abihu. In the Old
Testament reading for tonight, we heard how Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders
of Israel went with Moses up the Mountain of the Lord. This happens just after
Moses had received the Ten Commandments and the other judgments of the Lord.
Remember, at the time that Moses ascended the mountain, God
had strictly forbidden anyone but Moses from even touching the mountain, lest
he should die. All of Israel needed to be cleansed and purified for three days
and even then, only Moses ascended the mountain of the Lord.
It seems that at some point, Moses came back down the
mountain with a command to bring Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders
part-way up the mountain to worship the Lord. At this time, all of Israel swore
to uphold whatever laws God commanded. Sacrifices were made and as Moses
sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on the people, he proclaimed, “This is
the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all
these words.”[1]
Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders went
up the mountain and shared a meal with the Lord. God did not lay a hand on
these children of Israel but dined with them. They saw God.[2]
After Moses returns to the top of the mountain; after the
people cry out for Aaron to make them a god to worship; after Moses destroys
the golden calf and makes the people drink it; after the Lord gives the Law to
Moses a second time; the tabernacle is built and the priests are consecrated.
Aaron and his sons are consecrated priests to serve in the House of the Lord.
For two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, this does not go
well. Shortly after beginning their duties, Nadab and Abihu are said to each
“take his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane
fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from
the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”[3]
Nadab and Abihu were supposed to make the incense offering.
They were supposed to use the special incense, prepared by Moses according to
the direction of God, and put it on fire taken from the altar of the
tabernacle, whose fire is never to go out. Now, they either used incense not
created according to the will of God or they placed the incense of God on coals
of a fire not taken from the Lord’s altar. Either way, they offered to God a
sacrifice He had not commanded. They offered to God something unworthy of Him.
They offered to God the filth of this world.
To our ears, the penalty seems far greater than the
transgression. They screwed up the offering and God kills them for it. He burns
them alive. But if we take a step back, suddenly God’s actions make, at least a
little, more sense. The second half of the Book of Exodus, the Books of
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy mostly contain the Law of Moses. God gave
this Law to Moses to answer a particularly difficult question: How does a
sinful people come to dwell with a holy God? Or in the reverse: How does a Holy
God dwell among a sinful people?
The Law of Moses is terribly specific. Some is for the
governing of Israel but most of it is to answer this question. God had given to
the people of Israel the means for Him to dwell with them. He revealed the
entirety of His Law so that God and man could dwell together. What’s more, a
careful reading of the Law will bring about the same conclusion we find in the
Psalter by David’s hand,
For You, [O Lord,] do not desire sacrifice,
or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices
of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.[4]
The blood of bulls and goats does not appease the wrath of
God against man. Only the activity of God, doing good in His good pleasure
among His people can soften the heart of man, turning it toward Himself. And
then, only a broken and contrite heart is an appropriate sacrifice to God; a
heart which knows its sin and grieves over the pain such sin causes the Lord.
Such a sinner cries out to God for forgiveness and will not be put to shame.
Only then will God be pleased with the sacrifices of
righteousness, with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. It is not as
though the sacrifices of bulls and goats, of incense and grain, are indifferent
to God. He has commanded them to Moses and the children of Israel. But the
blood of a bull sacrificed with the black heart content to live in sin is not
acceptable to the Lord. It is not a sacrifice of righteousness.
Taking the whole witness of Scripture, we see that Nadab and
Abihu got exactly what they deserved. Not only did they offer a sacrifice not
commanded by God but they offered it in their sin. They offered it according to
either their sloth, their idolatry, their greed, or their pride. Whatever their
motivation, it was not to the glory of God. If their offering to the Lord was
not to His glory, then it is sin and sin is destroyed in the presence of a holy
God.
Which brings us to the Lord’s Supper. Moses, Aaron, Nadab,
Abihu, and the seventy elders went part way up the mountain to dine with the
Lord. They saw God and shared a meal with Him. Yet the majority of this company
would soon worship a golden calf and then at least two would commit such
grievous sin that God saw fit to destroy them with fire.
The Lord chose to eat a meal with sinners. He called them up
the mountain to dine with Him, knowing they are sinners. So too, our Lord Jesus
Christ, called His apostles to a meal, His last meal, knowing they are sinners.
One would betray Him. One would deny Him. Three would sleep when He commands
them to watch. All would scatter.
In the upper room, just as the upper reaches of Sinai, God
dined with His people, Himself being the way for sinful man to dwell with a
Holy God. Just as Moses sprinkled the people with the blood of the sacrifice
and said, “This is the blood of the covenant,” Jesus raised a cup and said,
“This cup is the new covenant in My Blood.”[5]
The blood of the bull pointed forward to the Blood of the eternal sacrifice of
the Son of God. Just as the Lord told Israel, “This shall be an everlasting
covenant for you and for your children,” so Jesus has said, “Do this, as often
as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”[6]
This glorious meal of the Body and Blood of Jesus is given
to you for the forgiveness of your sins. It is given to you so that you would
be made one with God and that God might dwell with you. It is the most precious
substance on earth, more precious than gold or silver, than technology or
politics. It is the Holy Body and Precious Blood of God that you might dwell
with Him forever.
If it is so precious, why then would we ever deny it to
someone? Why keep it from young children or from those who are not members of
our congregation or church body? St. Paul says, “For as often as you eat this
bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever,
therefore, eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner
will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.”[7]
If the Lord showed Himself to take the offering of incense in the tabernacle
seriously enough to slay Nadab and Abihu, what might He do to those receiving
the Body and Blood of Christ in an unworthy manner? What does it mean to
receive it in an unworthy manner?
The simple answer is faith. To be worthy to receive the
Eucharist is to have faith in these words, “given and shed for you, for the
forgiveness of sins.” But even an ape could be taught to recite these words.
Faith is the certainty of something you cannot see.[8]
Faith knows this is more than bread and wine, but it is the very Body and Blood
of Christ, who died on the cross to satisfy the wrath of God. Faith knows this
is not a symbol, nor strictly a matter of personal confession. St. Paul says,
“As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,” you make a public
proclamation that you believe the same Jesus who died on the cross of Calvary
is giving you His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins.
Such a public proclamation can never be made in isolation.
It is never just a statement of what you as an individual believes. Being a
public proclamation, it is a statement of what the whole Christian Church
believes. Sadly, there are divisions within God’s church. There are some who
hold to unbiblical doctrines about the Lord’s Supper, about His death, about
His nature. If you are communing at this altar, you are making a public
proclamation that what is taught from this pulpit, what is confessed in this
congregation, is the truth of Scripture.
And if you believe what is taught from this pulpit and
confessed in this congregation but call yourself a member of the Methodist
church, or a Baptist church, then your public confession is confused. You are
saying one thing and believing something different. Scripture calls this
hypocrisy. In this case, come speak to me and we can work toward bringing you
into our congregation.
The same goes the other way. If you are a member of this
congregation, believe what is preached from this pulpit and confess what we as
a congregation believe, then you cannot commune at the Methodist, Baptist,
Pentecostal, or Presbyterian church. To do so would be to commit hypocrisy in
the other direction. You would be publicly saying you believe and confess what
we believe and confess, but sharing in the table fellowship of those who
believe differently.
What then of children? When St. Paul says, “Let a person
examine himself,” what does he mean?[9]
Does he mean every child must pass a written exam? Does he mean once you’ve
graduated from confirmation class, your examination is complete? By no means!
He means, let every man, woman, and child examine his conscience every time he
desired to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Every time you desire to come into the
presence of the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Jesus, you are to examine your
conscience and find out if you are clinging to the profane fires of your sins
rather than seeking the forgiveness of the filthy sins which cling to your
flesh.
And so, if a child of seven knows the Ten Commandments, the
Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, knows what Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are, can
confess she is a sinner who needs forgiveness, and that Jesus is the only
source of that forgiveness, who is to say that she cannot commune? If all of
that is true, St. Paul says she can commune.
Who makes the judgment based on her confession, if the child
in question can accurately examine herself? “Let a man so consider us, as
servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”[10]
In other words, consider your pastor as the servant of Christ and the steward
of the Holy Sacraments. It is the solemn duty of the Office of the Holy
Ministry to administer the Sacraments of God rightly. If they are mishandled;
used wantonly; used for the glory of man; then the man in that office has a far
worse fate than that of Nadab and Abihu to look forward to. If, however, he treats
the mysteries of God as the Holy Things they are, then by his hand is
distributed the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
So then, as we enter into these most holy three days, let us
do so with broken and contrite hearts. Let us enter into the Triduum examining
our consciences, to see if we are clinging to our sin or if sin is clinging to
us. Then, having faith that the Blood of Jesus was shed to fulfill all
righteousness and has been given to you for the forgiveness of sins, let us
come together as one in the Body of Christ and dine together on this mountain
with our God.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
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