Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 1)

 Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 1) – April 27, 2025

Psalm 8; Ezekiel 37:1-14; 1 John 5:4-10

St. John 20:19-31

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On Easter evening, the 10 apostles were assembled behind a locked door for fear of the Jews. The 10 apostles are the 12 minus Judas, who killed himself, and Thomas, who is conspicuously absent. Christ our Lord has already appeared to Mary and the other women, to Cleopas and the other disciple on the road to Emmaus. Peter and John have seen the burial clothes folded and laid in the tomb and yet the apostles gathered in fear. They did not fully comprehend the resurrection of Christ.

Then Christ appears in their midst and judges their sin. He judges their sin to be atoned for. He proclaims peace to the apostles. The judgment is innocence – innocence won in the crucified hands and pierced side of Jesus. There is a theme throughout St. John’s gospel – seeing is believing. St. John wants to emphasize the physicality of Christ and His presence with His people.

We sometimes mistake John as being the “spiritual” or “other-worldly” gospel and yet right from the beginning, “and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld” we saw, “His glory.”^[1] “No one has seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”^[2] It is in the presence of the flesh of Jesus that God the Father is made known. In the presence of the crucified flesh of Jesus our salvation is made known.

There is a doctrinal point in this account which we must address. Jesus Christ came to stand in the midst of the apostles according to both His human and divine natures. In the resurrection, the attributes of the divine nature are fully communicated to the human nature. This means that He makes full use of His divine attributes in and with His human nature. He is all knowing, all present, and all powerful according to both natures, now that He is exalted. During the time of His humiliation, Christ denied Himself the full use of His divine attributes. Now that He is exalted, He makes full use of them.

Why is this important? John Calvin, the father of the reformed churches, and many other modern evangelical teachers, will deny that Christ communicates His divine attributes to His human nature. They will claim that Jesus climbed through a window because it would be impossible for His human nature to pass through a locked door. At the same time, do not think that Jesus passed through the door as a ghost in a Hollywood movie. The text says He appeared in their midst. Christ is present in all places, at all times, in His human flesh. Thus, He revealed Himself to be in their midst even as He is already in all places at all times.

Christ’s ability to be present with the apostles according to His human nature, despite the locked door, is directly related to the ability of Christ’s flesh to be present on altars all over the world. His humanity is not chained up in heaven, awaiting a divinely appointed appearance. He is physically present with His people, even if He has not revealed Himself in His full glory to us. He is reserving the revelation of His fullness for the last day, when He will return just as He departed at the ascension.

It is precisely because our Lord knows He must ascend to the right hand of the Father that He desires to institute the Office of the Holy Ministry. No one can forgive his own sins. He must hear the words of absolution from outside himself. Thus, in the crucified flesh which won our salvation, Jesus breathes on the apostles, gives the Holy Spirit to the church, and sends them to preach this word of forgiveness to the church. As He was sent into the flesh to atone for our sins, now pastors are sent to deliver this forgiveness to the world.

Which brings us to Thomas. Thomas is portrayed in St. John’s Gospel as being zealous for the Lord. He demonstrates his faith in encouraging the disciples to follow Christ, even when he went into Jerusalem to die. In John 11, Thomas boldly proclaims “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”^[3] Why then was this bold disciple not with the other ten?

Scripture is not clear on this point, but the words of Jesus tell us that Thomas was unbelieving. What did he not believe? The evidence of St. John tells us that Thomas was zealous for the Lord and believed in His word. It could be that Thomas was ashamed of his actions on Good Friday and so he also had hidden himself. This seems like a poor choice, since he soon rejoins the apostles but refuses to believe their words about the resurrected Christ.

In fact, his confession that unless he touches the wounds in Christ’s hands and puts his hand into Christ’s side, he would never believe is quite profound. He is confessing that only in the wounds of Christ will he find salvation. He has taken the words of Jesus seriously and insists on seeing the wounds by which his salvation is won.

His denial to believe without visual proof is consistent with St. John’s Gospel. His absolute denial to believe is blasphemy. “I will NEVER believe unless I see the wounds.”[4] This is where Thomas begins to get into trouble. He is obstinate. He refuses to believe the words of those sent by Jesus to proclaim the forgiveness of sins. He refuses to believe his brother pastors.

Putting this evidence together, we can see that Thomas believed he could do it himself. He was not gathered with the others because he knew better than them. Thomas is the man who can recite the catechism from heart, so he doesn’t think he needs to come to church. He is the man who daily reads the portals of prayer so that he doesn’t need to read the bible. Thomas is the man who doesn’t like the personality of the pastor, so he chooses to disagree with his teaching, avoid Bible Study, and nod off during the sermon. Thomas willingly stays away from the church because he thinks he knows better than those who gather.

Christ promised the apostles, “Where two or three are gathered, there I am in their midst.”[5] The apostles had gathered, albeit in fear, but they had gathered. They did not neglect the coming together of the saints, even if they did so with imperfect motives. Thomas refused. He believed he could make it on his own without the support of the brethren.

Eight days after Easter, the following Sunday, the apostles made sure Thomas was with them. Why eight days? Because it was the following Sunday. They were gathered to pray, read Scripture, sing hymns, worship Christ, and even to commune with Him. They knew Jesus would come back because He promised to be where His people are gathered to hear His word and receive His gifts. This is the definition of the church – the gathering of the saints to hears God’s word and receive His gifts. And the apostles made sure Thomas wouldn’t miss it this time.

Today is called “Quasimodo Geniti” after the antiphon of the introit, “As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word.”[6] It is eight days after Easter. The apostles recognize not only are all people as newborn babes, but Thomas especially is a newborn babe. He doesn’t know what is best for him. For all we know, Thomas was dragged kicking and screaming into the room that day. But because the other apostles love him, they do what is good for him. They are being good pastors by not giving him what he wants (solitude) but giving him what he needs – the pure spiritual milk, the pure doctrine of the of the Word.

Thanks be to God the apostles loved Thomas enough to do what was good for him. They brought him to church, where Jesus would be found. Then Jesus commands Thomas to touch His wounds and Thomas cries out, “My Lord and my God!”[7] He is convicted by the word of Christ and his heart is converted. He repented of his sins against the First and Third commandments and his sins against his brothers.

It is in this context that Jesus proclaims a divine blessing upon all who have not seen and yet believe. He is speaking of you and me. Thomas blasphemed Christ by denying to believe anything without seeing. You are blessed for believing without sight. This marks the transition in St. John’s Gospel between Jesus’ earthly ministry, when He could be seen walking through the door, and His exalted ministry, when He is present without sight on every altar throughout the world.

Do not follow Thomas’s example of unbelief. Do not cut yourself off from the physical presence of Christ and the church. The other apostles knew to gather together, and Christ would be present. Thomas sought Jesus in his own heart and faith rather than in holy mother church.

Do follow Thomas’s example in zeal and confession. Repent of your sins and boldly cry out, “My Lord and my God!” Seek the Lord in His flesh, given for you. Seek Him in His blood, shed for you. Seek Him in the public proclamation of God’s word. Finally, seek Him in the words breathed out by His apostles: pastors. To them He has given the authority to preach and teach you concerning the Word of God. You may not always like what you hear, even as Thomas thought he knew better, but it is the duty of the Pastor, as a loving father, to guide you as a newborn babe to that which is good for you.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. John 1:14

[2] St. John 1:18

[3] St. John 11:16

[4] St. John 20:25.

[5] St. Matthew 18:20.

[6] St. Luke 24:5-6.

[7] St. John 20:28.

The Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord (Easter)

 The Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord – April 20, 2025

Psalm 8; Job 19:23-27; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8

St. Mark 16:1-20

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.[1]

The fast is over, and the feast has begun. Christ the Lord, who was slain, is risen from the dead. Alleluia! Christ has conquered sin and death, buried them in the grave, never to rise again. Alleluia! Our hope, our faith, rests on the historic reality of the resurrection of Christ. “Had Christ, who once was slain, not burst His three-day prison, our faith had been in vain: But now has Christ arisen!”[2] Alleluia!

By all measures of how we understand history, the events of the past, there can be no objection to the reality of the resurrection. Only the logic of fallen man can insist Christ did not rise. Only the sin-stained conscience can claim, “I’ve never seen someone rise from the dead, therefore Christ couldn’t have risen.”

And yet the consolation of souls does not end with the historic reality of Christ’s resurrection. We mustn’t hear the story of the resurrection in the same way we hear and understand Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, Washington crossing the Delaware, or Gordon’s last stand at Khartoum. Christ did not just rise from the dead. He rose for you. His resurrection is your resurrection. There is a great gulf of difference between “Christ is a Savior and King” and “Christ is my Savior and King.”

Yet even the Christian conscience, still assaulted by sin, struggles with this notion. Christ’s own disciples scarcely believed that He had risen from the dead. We stand separated from the historic event by 2,000 years, making it even harder to accept. Yet Christ said, “Go and tell my brothers.”[3] Brothers and sisters in Christ, He was speaking of you.

“You have heard in the Passion how Christ let Himself be crucified and buried and how sin and death trampled Him underfoot. Satan and the sins of the world lie on Him in the tomb. Sin, death, and the devil are His lord. Therefore you must look into His tomb and realize that my sins and my death tear Him apart and oppress Him. There the devil regards himself as secure, and the chief priests boast and rejoice: He is gone and will not return.

“But in the instant when they believe Him destroyed, the Lion tears Himself away from sin, death, hell, and the jaws of the devil and rips them to shreds with His teeth. This is our comfort, that Christ comes forth: Death, sin, and the devil cannot hold Him. The sin of the entire world is powerless. When He appears to Mary Magdalene, one sees in Him neither death nor sin nor sadness, but sheer life and joy. There I see that the Lor is mine and treads on the devil. Then I find my sins, torment, and devil where I ought to find them. There is the seed of the woman, who has struck the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15), and says, ‘Death, you shall die; Hell, you shall be defeated!’ Here is the victor.”[4]

It is a Christian art to regard Christ as the One alone whose business it is to deal with our sins. Malformed by sin, our conscience wants to believe that either we can manage sin on our own or that nothing can be done about our sin. In the first case, if we could manage sin on our own, then we have no need for Christ. His death would be in vain, and salvation would be according to your own ability to prove yourself righteous before the Almighty God. You must be perfect as God is perfect. What a silly, self-righteous notion that we could approach God in our filth and demand salvation.

In the second case, despair over your sin, there is nothing you can do. Faced with sin, temptation, plague, and assaults of the devil, you have no recourse…except to abandon what your conscience says and turn to Christ. Look to what He has said and what He has done. Christ did not die and rise for Himself. He gained nothing for Himself. He died and rose again for you, to give you everything that already belonged to Him. He is the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”[5] He took your sins into death and the grave, and there they remain. He rose the spotless lamb, no longer bearing your sins because they remained in the grave. The devil will try to convince you otherwise, but you know the truth – Christ has arisen for you! The deadly power of death is gone for Christ has destroyed it.

When your sins lie on Christ, you can see what they’ve done. They crushed Him on the cross and drove Him deep into the ground. “But because today He comes forth from the grave and remains in honor and glory, everything that the devil, sin, and death have done is destroyed.”[6] This idea is foreign and contrary to human reason, yet the Scriptures still stand. The Scriptures do not lie when they say your sins lie on Christ and if they are on Him, they are not accounted to you. The Christian has no sin and is a lord over sin. This is most certainly true.

And satan cannot stand this. He has a tremendous labor to fight against the resurrection and accuse Christians. We can stare into the very pits of hell and proclaim, “You who have tortured and killed Christ, now you get what you deserve! You thought you had won the victory but your coup de gras did nothing but ensure your defeat. Christ is risen and you are defeated!”

The devil works hard to tear this truth from our hearts. That is why we stand on the truth of the resurrection apart from the thoughts of our hearts. The witness of the God-breathed Scriptures and the objective testimony of history cannot be overthrown. It is true this day just as it was true that first Easter morning. Christ is risen! Alleluia!

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] This sermon is inspired by Martin Luther, “Easter Sunday Morning, March 28, 1529: The Resurrection of Christ and Its Meaning,” The 1529 Holy Week and Easter Sermons of Dr. Martin Luther, Translated by Irving L. Sandberg (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1998), 119-127.

[2] This Joyful Eastertide, refrain, LSB 482; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:14, 20.

[3] St. Matthew 28:10.

[4] Luther, “Easter Sunday Morning,” 124.

[5] St. John 1:29.

[6] Luther, “Easter Sunday Morning,” 125.

The Easter Vigil

 The Great Vigil of Easter – April 19, 2025

Genesis 1:1-3:24; Genesis 7:1-9:17; Exodus 14:10-15:1; Daniel 3:1-30

St. Matthew 28:1-7

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Easter Vigil bridges the gap between the Crucifixion on Good Friday and the Feast of the Resurrection on Easter morning. We began in darkness as we kindled a new flame. This flame is to represent the Light of Christ, by which the Word of God is revealed to us. He is the light shining in dark places and He illumines the Scriptures so that we might understand them. Only in Christ can we understand what it is the Scriptures say to us concerning faith.

Having lit the new flame, we heard four prophecies of God’s great works within creation: Creation and the Fall, the Flood, Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea, and the Fiery Furnace. Each of these is a description of God’s activity in the world to save His people, His mercy and gracious love toward man. They are at the same time a description of His judgment against sin.

We then entered the service of Holy Baptism, in which we remembered the gracious promises made to us in the waters of Holy Baptism. We repeated the vows and declarations made at Holy Baptism not because they needed to be renewed or strengthened, but to remind ourselves of what Baptism is and what glorious blessings it bestows.

Then there was the Service of Prayer, a unique litany. This service of prayer is a plea to God that the benefits of His salvation would come to us this very night. And during the hymn which followed, our church was transformed. The paraments and altar appointments returned, now clothed in white and gold, the lights came on, and we sang the Gloria in Excelsis, the song of the angels that fell silent 70 days ago. The transition from Lent to Easter is now complete, having heard of Christ’s glorious resurrection from the dead. And soon, we will feast on that very same body that though once dead, is now living.

That first Easter morning, God sent an angel to announce the resurrection of Christ. The women had come to see a tomb, the place of the dead, but the angel gently corrects their intentions. It is not a tomb, not a dead man they seek, but the living Christ. We are going to pay very close attention to the words of the angel’s message this evening.

First, he proclaims, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.”[1] That last part should really say, “Jesus, the Crucified One.” It expresses something that happened in the past but is an ongoing reality. That is not to say that Jesus is still being crucified. Rather, the crucifixion is the defining characteristic of Christ. In this way, He loved us, namely that He bore our sins on the cross and buried them in the grave, so that when He rose again, death would be conquered, and our sins would remain forever in the grave. He is eternally The Crucified because He is eternally our substitute. The Crucified One is the eternal sacrifice given once and for all.

The angel continues, “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.”[2] Again, this needs clarification. The phrase, “He is risen” should be something like, “He rose.” It expresses a one-time event in the past that is concluded, finished, done, over with. It is as much as saying “He won. Period.” Christ’s resurrection is the final nail in satan’s coffin. It is the seal on your salvation. His resurrection is your resurrection, so much can you place your hope and confidence on Him. If He was raised from the dead, so shall you.

It might seem odd to think that the ongoing characteristic of Christ is that He is the Crucified One while the resurrection is a singular past event. It might seem like they should be the other way around. Yet this is the beauty of the angel’s message. The Crucified One is the all atoning sacrifice for sinners yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is the sacrificial Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. His forgiveness is not a one-time event. It endures for all time.

His resurrection, on the other hand, needed only happen once and to be done. The death stroke against death is complete, finished. “Satan, you thought you had triumphed when they placed my Lord in the grave, but He rose. You are finished. Christ won. You lost. Period.”

Finally, the angel says, “Indeed Christ is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.”[3] Here, the translation of the angel’s message is correct and oh so beautiful. “He is going before you.” Christ is one the move. He did not rise to sit idle. He isn’t fleeing from man. He is on the move, going from place to place, to be with man. He leads and He follows. He goes before the women to Galilee, to bring Himself to the nations, that all who hear His word and receive Christ will receive the benefits of the Crucified One.

So too, He goes before you this evening. He goes before you as your Christ. He goes before you to be with you and to lead you unto your heavenly home. Christ is the Crucified One for you today and always. Christ rose for you, that you would rise with Him. Christ is going before you to show you the way to everlasting life.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Matthew 28:5.

[2] St. Matthew 28:6.

[3] St. Matthew 28:7.

Good Friday

Good Friday – April 18, 2025

Hosea 6:1-6; Habakkuk 3:2-4; Exodus 12:1-11; Psalm 140

St. John 18-19

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty…you are still in your sins…If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”[1] The death and resurrection of Christ are the center, the heart, of our faith. This is because Christ vicariously (that is, in the place of man) rendered to God, who was wrathful over our sin, a satisfaction which changed His wrath into grace toward us.[2] The vicarious satisfaction of God’s wrath on your behalf is the focus of our service today.

Pilate asked the Jews, “Shall I crucify your King?”[3] All Christians ought to consider that question. All Christians ought to be bothered by how to answer it. Knowing the depth of your own sin, it seems impossible to answer, “Yes! Crucify Him!” You know that it is your sin that ultimately put Christ on the cross. He lived a perfect life. There was no sin in Him. He knew no sin and yet He died the death of a criminal because of your sin. No one desires to see an innocent life taken. It is even more difficult to know that the innocent life was taken because of you.

At the same time, knowing the depth of God’s love for you, knowing what the Scriptures say about the Christ, and knowing that God will raise the innocent Lamb from the dead, Christians are also obligated to answer Pilate’s question with, “Yes, crucify Him.” It is this dichotomy that I hope to lay before you this afternoon by looking 1) first at the immutable justice of God; 2) second, what it means that Christ is our substitute; and 3) finally, the benefits of Christ’s substitution.

I.                   The Immutable Justice of God

God’s immutable justice demands perfect obedience to His Law and pronounces eternal damnation on all who transgress.[4] This justice is an inherent quality in God. He is perfect in every way and will not stand in the presence of imperfection. As for the demand of perfect obedience, that is precisely how God created the universe. In the beginning, He called all things good. With the creation of man, He called all things very good. Man was created in original righteousness. His will was perfectly conformed to God’s will. Adam and Eve trusted God more fully and obeyed His Law more precisely than we can even imagine.

The proclamation of eternal damnation on all who transgress was also present at the beginning. God told Adam and Eve that should they transgress His Law, they would surely die. The consequence of sin is death, not strictly because one logically follows the other, like one domino hitting the next, but because of God’s judgment against transgression. God passed the death sentence for the transgression of sin because it is a tearing of the relationship between man and God. It is a destruction of the relationship into which God first created man. If God is life, then severing our connection to Him via sin is to choose death. Therefore, God’s judgment of death for transgression does logically follow, even if the cause and power of death is God’s proclamation, not logic. It is the Word of God that makes death deadly.

Some might try to comfort themselves by saying that God’s justice and proclamation of damnation for transgression of that justice only apply in general, to His general governing of the world. However, this is not the case. Scripture is clear, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them;”[5] “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”[6] All means all. Everyone means every individual person. Every person is born a sinner, a consequence of original sin, and every person continues to sin. Stumble in one minor point of God’s Law and you are guilty of it all.[7]

It is our own guilt and shame that would plead with Pilate to reconsider. Knowledge of sin leads us to realize that we are not worth the death of another, let alone the innocent death of Christ.

II.                Christ is the Substitute

Yet it is the very death of Christ that pleads on our behalf. The hour of His crucifixion is the hour of His glorification. It is the very reason He came into our flesh. “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.”[8] Motivated by the deep, eternal, divine love for man, Christ made Himself lower than the angels that He might reconcile us to the Father and plead our case before the Divine Judge. He willingly accepted the obligation to stand in man’s stead both to keep the Law perfectly and bear the punishment the Law exacts on transgression.[9]

By standing in the of man, Christ fulfills both elements of God’s justice. He perfectly kept the Law. He was obedient in every way, even triumphing over the temptations of satan that were the demise of Adam and Eve. He was obedient to death, even death on a cross.[10]

Christ’s death was gruesome. He was tortured, stricken, smitten, and afflicted. His face and body were unrecognizable as He hung on the tree. He suffered physical and spiritual pain on a scale billions of times greater than we can imagine. He knew the pain He must endure on your behalf. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He begged the Father that if there was another way to save mankind, any other way, to let it be so.[11] And yet, He faithfully submitted to His Father, knowing what must happen. What mother’s heart isn’t broken by the suffering of her child? And yet any mother would give anything to suffer in her child’s place. So too, Christ is willing to suffer even this on behalf of His beloved.

Knowing the depth of Christ’s love for us, that while we were yet sinners, He died for us, we ought to answer Pilate’s question, “If it is the Father’s will, then please, do not crucify Him; yet do not act according to our will, but let God’s will be done.”[12]

III.             The Benefits of Substitution

Through Christ’s substitutional obedience and death, God’s wrath against man was appeased, or in other words, the judgment of condemnation was set aside.^[13] The verdict was rendered, and the sentence was carried out, but not on you. Christ stood in your place and received the full sentence due to man for sin, and there is no double jeopardy in the divine courtroom. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”[14]

Having been justified by Christ, declared righteous before God, the relationship between God and man has been restored. That which was sundered by sin has been repaired through the death of Christ, which satisfied God’s wrath against sinners. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”[15]

There is sometimes the idea that faith or religion is for the purpose of personal fulfillment, comfort, encouragement, or self-actualization. That idea leads to the modern thought that while you might find fulfillment in Christ, someone else finds fulfillment in friendship, the teachings of the Buddha, or even a fine glass of whiskey. This thinking fails to realize that in Christ, we have something objective. A real change has happened outside of ourselves. Christ’s vicarious satisfaction is an objective truth that stands outside of our sense of fulfillment, joy, or encouragement. He has satisfied the wrath of God such that we are now reconciled with God. The restoration of this relationship means that we have access to the Father. We are declared free from the bondage of sin.

In this freedom, sure, we find a sense of fulfillment, joy, encouragement, and even happiness, but these benefits derive from the true benefit of the Cross – a restored relationship with God, an objective declaration of our innocence before God. The deadly power of death has been removed. It had no claim on Christ, the truly innocent One, and so now death has no claim on you. “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”[16]

We must never separate the Crucifixion from the Resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ is the sign that His sacrifice to the Father was accepted, pleasing to the Father, and that it made atonement for man. Death had no claim on Christ because He had no sin. Yet He bore the sins of the world, your sin, into death that it would be buried there in the tomb. It was necessary for Christ to die so that by His death, death would be destroyed.

And standing on this side of the Resurrection, our eyes opened like those of the disciples in Emmaus, we can hear Pilate’s question with new ears, “Shall I crucify your King?” Pilate and the Jews, though themselves agents of death and the devil, were also working to fulfill the way of salvation. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.[17] Therefore, we can confidently answer Pilate, “Yes, crucify our King because by His crucifixion, we shall be made righteous before God. Yes, crucify our King because by His death we are saved and the wicked shall be judged. Yes, crucify our King because in three days, He will be raised triumphant over the death you so wickedly have commanded.”

The cross of Christ is His glorification and the moment of our salvation. If there was any other way for salvation, even Christ found it preferable. Yet this was the only way to save sinners. And because Christ loves you, He endured the sins of the world by hanging on a tree. Thanks be to God that He “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”[18]

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 19.

[2] This definition of the vicarious satisfaction comes from Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, Volume 2 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1951), 344.

[3] St. John 19:15.

[4] Pieper, 344.

[5] Galatians 3:10.

[6] Romans 3:23.

[7] James 2:10.

[8] Galatians 4:4-5.

[9] Pieper, 345.

[10] Philippians 2:8.

[11] St. Matthew 26:39-46; St. Mark 14:35-42; St. Luke 22:41-44.

[12] Romans 5:8; St. Luke 22:42.

[13] Pieper, 346.

[14] Romans 3:23-24.

[15] Romans 8:1.

[16] 1 Corinthians 15:56-57.

[17] Hebrews 9:22.

[18] St. John 3:16.

Maundy Thursday

 Maundy Thursday – April 17, 2025

Psalm 67; Exodus 12:1-14; 1 Corinthians 11:20-32

St. John 13:1-15, 34-35

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

St. Paul writes of the Sacrament of the Altar, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you.”[1] The Sacrament we celebrate this evening is the same Sacrament St. Paul delivered to the Corinthians. More importantly, it is the same Sacrament Christ gave to His gathered disciples on the night on which He was betrayed. We participate in that same Supper, namely the very Body and Blood of Christ, given for you for the forgiveness of sins.

What you receive is the same Body and Blood of Christ that hung on the cross and rose from the grave three days later. So much is it the same, that it is not my reciting the Words of Christ that makes it the Sacrament. Rather, the speaking of the Verba marks these elements, this bread and wine, as participating in the very Words Christ spoke that first Maundy Thursday. These elements participate in the miracle of Christ Supper and thus are the Body and Blood of Christ, made so by His very words.

This Sacrament was given for us to “do this” often, namely eat and drink His Body and Blood, in remembrance of Him. The words, “in remembrance” mean to call to mind not only what the Sacrament is and what benefits it bestows, and those are chiefly what it refers to, but also the sacrifice made by Christ, through which we are saved. To receive the Sacrament in remembrance of Him is to remember Christ’s perfect life and death and to know that you are receiving the fruits of His righteousness in this very supper. You receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. None of these belong to you by right. They are not rewards for your work, knowledge, or personal righteousness. The Supper belongs to Christ and He has graciously called you to His table to receive everything that rightly belongs to Him. It is His forgiveness, life, and salvation that you receive.

And as this Supper rightly belongs to Him, it is the great gathering of the Body of Christ around His Holy Supper. It is a divine family meal, shared by those of the same faith, in a shared confession of Christ’s holy name.

Who, then, should receive the Sacrament? Simply, one who is worthy and well prepared. To be worthy to receive the Sacrament is to have faith in these words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

As for preparation, St. Paul says, “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” To be prepared to receive the Sacrament requires examination. This examination is best done according to the Small Catechism, under the section called, “Christian Questions with Their Answers.” In summary, this examination has four chief parts. First, it requires that you know that you are a sinner. This is necessary since the Sacrament offers the forgiveness of sins. If you have no sin, then you have no need of the Sacrament. If you think you have no sin, you deceive yourself, and again, you have no need of the Sacrament. Knowledge and awareness of your sin also makes you aware of your need for salvation, your need for a Savior.

The second part of this examination is to see if you are sorry for your sins. This is called “contrition.” One can be aware of his sin but not sorry, not sorrowful, over it. Such pride has no place in the Christian, nor does such a prideful man have a share in Christ’s Body. Rather, to know your sin and be sorry for it is to desire to be free from it, to be turned away from it, to be relieved of it.

The third part of this examination concerns faith. If sorrow over sin is the first part of repentance, the second part is faith, trust that Christ has and will forgive your sin. Trusting that Christ can, does, and will forgive your sins is nothing more than trusting that the words of Christ are true. “Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.” Christ has said it, and this I believe.

The final part of examination is the intention, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to resist the devil and walk in newness of life. This is the fruit of repentance. A Christian who receives the forgiveness of sins has received a new heart, and sincerely intends to strive against the temptations of the devil and walk in the light of Christ.

Such preparation requires at lease some intellectual ability. It requires the ability to speak or communicate an awareness of what is happening in the Sacrament. This is especially important for the relationship between the communicant and the Celebrant, the Pastor who is distributing the Lord’s Supper. He, as the steward of the mysteries of God, is responsible for distributing the Holy Communion according to Christ’s institution and command. And since St. Paul warns against receiving the Sacrament unworthily, it is necessary that the Pastor do everything he can to assure that those who receive it from him, receive it to their benefit and not to their judgment.

This means the Pastor must be able to discern that the communicant can and has examined himself. It means the Pastor must have the sense that this person knows he is a sinner, is sorry for his sins, has faith that Christ has forgiven his sins, and intends to bear fruit according to this faith. That requires communication and examination on the part of the Pastor.

What about those whose faith is weak or who are struggling with their faith? Should they commune? By all means! The True Body and Blood of Christ strengthens you in body and soul to life everlasting. If a Christian’s faith is weak, if he has been assaulted by the cares of this world or the temptations of the devil, there is nothing he needs more than the assurance of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation found in the Holy Supper. He needs to be fed on the medicine of immortality that he might go on in the strength of this holy food.

We each ought to be concerned with receiving the Sacrament worthily. The First Letter to the Corinthians makes it clear that to receive it unworthily and unprepared is to eat and drink to your own judgment. The Lord’s Supper is the medicine of immortality, but use any medicine incorrectly and it will harm you. Failure to consider the right use of the Sacrament runs the danger of receiving it to your temporal and eternal harm.

Who, then, should not receive the Sacrament of the Altar? First, those who are not Christians or are not baptized should not receive the Sacrament. They have no knowledge of sin according to the Word of God and do not trust in Christ for Salvation. If they are converts to Christianity who haven’t yet been baptized, they first need to receive the new birth of water and the Holy Spirit. Then, they may join in the glorious feast of Christ.

Second, those who cannot examine themselves should not receive the Sacrament. This includes infants, who have not yet obtained the intellectual ability to examine themselves. It also includes those with significantly progressed forms of dementia or alzheimer’s, who have lost the intellectual ability to examine themselves. Similarly, those who are unconscious should not commune. Finally, the uninstructed fit into this category. The uninstructed are not lacking in skill but are lacking in knowledge. They must first be shown from God’s Word what sin is, how to find sin within themselves, who Christ is, what He has done, and receive instruction in what it means to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Third, those who are openly unrepentant, living contrary to God’s Word, should not commune. These are those Christians who are aware of their sins but are not contrite over them or do not want to amend their life so as to flee from sin. This, by the way, includes sins against the Third Commandment. The one who was baptized and confirmed in a Lutheran Church but hasn’t come to the Divine Service since the Sunday after confirmation should not commune. He habitually lives contrary to God’s command to be in Church, to gather with the saints, to commune often, that is frequently.

In the preface to the Small Catechism, Dr. Luther says that someone who does not seek Holy Communion at least four times a year is not a Christian, and he is being generous. God commands frequent attendance to keep the Sabbath day holy. Attending once or twice a year, let alone a few times in a decade, does not mean you are a Christian. Such a one should not commune until he has received fresh instruction, examined himself and been examined such that he can make the bold confession, “I am a sinner for whom Christ died, and my soul needs the Sacrament that I might obtain the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.”

Fourth, Christians who are themselves unforgiving and refuse to be reconciled with their neighbors also ought not commune. Christ says, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”[2] To withhold forgiveness and refuse reconciliation is to slap Christ in the face. It is to say that your judgment is greater than God’s. He gave His life for you, to forgive your sins, yet you would refuse to forgive someone for their slight against you. Like the servant who begged for forgiveness from his master but refused to forgive the debt of another servant and was thrown into prison, the outcome for refusing to forgive is the same.

Finally, those of a different confession are not to commune together. Holy Communion is not just an individual act between you and God. It is a public expression of unity with those who kneel at the rail with you. It is a statement that you share the doctrine that is preached from this pulpit and distributed from this altar. It is a meal shared by a family, it is not for strangers off the street, foreigners to the family.

There are real distinctions between denominations. Any church body that ordains women does not believe the Scriptures to be without error. Any church who believes the Sacrament of the Altar is a symbol of Christ’s Body has a false understanding of who Christ is. A Church who gives any man other than Christ the authority to determine what sin is or who receives salvation does not believe what the Bible says concerning the forgiveness of sins and our justification before God. These are real, core differences that we should not overlook. There are certainly Christians in all Christian denominations but there is no unity. To commune together would be to confess a lie, a unity that doesn’t exist.

To a lesser degree, it is also important to remember that even within the Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod, a visitor to a church does not have an inherent right to commune. When you visit another congregation, you are a guest in their house. It is your responsibility to contact the Pastor ahead of time so that he knows to expect you. On the morning of, it is your responsibility to arrive early, introduce yourself, and ask permission to commune. It is fitting and proper for a guest to ask to participate in the family meal. And if the pastor, for whatever reason, asks you not to commune that day, you should not take offense. Your soul will not be harmed by not receiving the sacrament for that one day. You will still participate in the service. You will hear the Word of God by which man is saved. Your sins will be forgiven.

Regarding those who should not commune, the goal is always to move toward being able to commune. For the unbeliever, that they would be brought to faith in Christ, moved by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God to receive Christ as the only way to salvation. For the unrepentant and the unforgiving, that they would be shown the depth of their sin, moved by the Holy Spirit to confess that sin for what it is and return to the sheepfold of faith, sincerely fleeing from sin and clinging to Christ. For the uninstructed, that they would be instructed in the faith, taught the Word of God so that they might examine themselves and be found worthy and prepared to receive the Holy Communion. And finally, for those of a different confession, that they would see the errors taught in their denomination and brought to a right understanding of the Word of God, made to see the pure truth of God’s Word. The Church regularly prays for an end to all schisms. Christ has one Body and it is the sincere desire of all Christians that the Body of Christ would be united in a true confession of His Word.

The meal we share this evening is the Lord’s Supper. It is His meal where He is both host and food. We dine together, being united in one confession of Christ’s Holy Word. In this divine meal, we receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation because in this meal, we receive Christ, Himself. He gives His Body and Blood that we would be united with Him in body and soul.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] 1 Corinthians 11:23.

[2] St. Matthew 6:14-15.