St. Barnabas Anglican Church
Maundy Thursday, 2012
Welcome to this year’s celebration of Maundy Thursday, which is called by many outside the Anglican Communion Holy Thursday. We Anglicans call it “Maundy Thursday”, after the Latin verb “Mandate”, or command. This is an important night, but one that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves, perhaps because of its placement in Holy Week, or perhaps it takes a sense of the liturgical to fully appreciate its significance. Yet, one doesn’t have to be a liturgical Christian to appreciate the glory of this night. For several reasons, Maundy Thursday means a great deal to all orthodox Christians.
We can say without possibility of contradiction that this is a glorious night. On this night, approximately two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ changed everything. He changed from it meant to be master and servant. He changed our salvation from being one based on works to one based on grace. Finally, he changed our whole approach to God. Let’s consider each point briefly in turn.
First, Christ did what would have been unthinkable in the ancient world. He arose from supper, put off his own seamless robe, and wrapped himself in a towel. He then took a basin, filled it with water, and began to wash the disciples’ feet. Can you imagine? Here was the disciple’s Lord and Master performing the most menial, lowly, and humble task possible. Keep in mind that in the ancient Middle East, dirty, dusty and hot, offering to wash one’s guests’ feet was considered a great service. It was done, however, not by the master of the house, but by the lowliest servant. Yet here was Christ, who performed this task without flinching and without complaint. He actually redefined what being the master really is. In the really great organizations and companies, the manager or chief officer actually know what it means to in charge. It is not just the wielding of ego- driven authority, but the realization that the one who is in charge is actually servant of all. That is, without his or her services, the whole organization falters, or even crumbles into inefficiency. Yet, with Christ, there is so much more. Here is God Himself, the One who spoke the world into being, performing the task of a humble servant. His message for so doing is plain: do as I do. Jesus says, John 13:14-15 14” If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” Nothing could be plainer. We Christians, in love, are to serve one another, just as Christ our Lord has served us.
Next, on this glorious night, mankind’s salvation was translated from a works-oriented system to one based on faith and on the limitless mercies of God. On this glorious night, Jesus Christ changed the way we believe and the way we remember our salvation. For, it was on this night that Jesus Christ ushered mankind into the New Testament era, one based on hope and faith and trust.
How did this happen? How could this happen? Let’s review just a bit. St. Paul tells us in today’s Epistle from 1 Corinthians that Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and distributed it to the disciples. He said, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.” He then took the cup and did likewise, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye as oft as ye shall drink, in remembrance of me.” These words changed everything. Christ now offered Himself as the Passover Lamb to take away our sins. Moreover, this sacrifice was not temporary, needing to offered year by year to atone for the sins of the people. Rather, it was, in the words of the Prayer Book: “the one oblation of himself once offered: a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.”
The best authority to help us understand this is the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 9:
“For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” We know from our study of the Old Testament that the High Priest of Israel went once a year into the Holy of Holies in the Temple and offered blood for the sins of the people. This was what God commanded. It was not, however, a permanent or durable sacrifice to take away sins. It also could not purge the conscience of sins. Yet, in the fullness of time and in the wideness of God’s mercy, Jesus came. As the first chapter of Hebrews tells us: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”
The third major thing Christ changed this night is the way we approach God. Before, Man always approached God with fear and trembling, and always with a sacrifice.... Now, that sacrifice has been made for us. Now, our way to God has been made plain. Turning again to Hebrews, we read in Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Not with fear and trembling, but with the boldness and assurance of absolute Love on our side. We are not groveling slaves, crawling towards a tyrant, but rather free men in Christ joining in fellowship with our God through Christ.
Thus, Christ came, spoke, ministered, and died for us. He was betrayed into the hands of sinners, as we read on Palm Sunday. Despite man’s best efforts to kill Jesus for the world’s reasons, God’s Will was done and our salvation was secured. If we refer to the ninth chapter of Hebrews, we read: “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Thus, we reformed Christians, we Anglican Christians, and in fact, all Christians, don’t have to rely on a system of good works to try to earn our way into heaven, thank God. We rely instead on the “one, perfect and sufficient sacrifice” of Jesus Christ. That is what our Lord bequeathed to us in the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist.
Through the Supper, we remember His sacrifice of Himself for us. Through the Supper, we receive grace to be Christians, “little Christs” in the world; and through the Supper we are fed spiritually with Christ Himself. Bp. Sutton once said, “Through the liturgy of the Eucharist, we take Christ into ourselves, and we become part of Christ. This is a great mystery.’ Indeed it is, one which we will never fully understand, until, perhaps in Heaven God chooses to enlighten us. After all, our glorification in Heaven will be blessed, fulfilling and eternal.
Returning to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, indeed it is one of the greatest and most glorious mysteries. It is one of the greatest mysteries known to man, or better said, known to the household of faith. For it is only in the Body, the Church, and its graceful fellowship that one receives this mystery. Christ gave us the Church, he gave us the Eucharist, and now he gives us grace to carry on in His name, until we feast with Him in heaven.
We invite you to ponder these great and good mysteries tonight and always
This is indeed a great mystery. This is indeed a great gift to us. This is indeed a glorious night.
Cor. 11:26 “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till he come.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN
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