Maundy Thursday
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III
In addition to the emphasis of reconciliation between God and his people, a central motif of the Maundy Thursday and any service of Holy Communion, the Gospel for Maundy Thursday (Mark 14:12-26) concentrates the attention of the church on one of the other fruits of the Eucharist, the New Covenant God makes with his people in the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary.
The Prayer of the Day
The Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A, contains comments on LBW prayers, which typically emphasize "a new commandment," "a wonderful sacrament," and "a memorial of your suffering and death." Most Maundy Thursday prayers tend to concentrate on the institution of the Lord's Supper. None mentions the "new covenant" concept of Mark 14:24.
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 116 - This psalm received attention in the Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A.
Psalm 78:14-20, 23-25 (E) - Here is a recitation of the ordeals of the people of Israel on their forty-year trek through the wilderness, detailing their doubt that God would be able to feed them. He had brought forth water from a rock, but food was another matter. "They tested God in their hearts, demanding food for their craving. They railed against God and said, 'Can God set a table in the wilderness?' " He did - by sending down manna from heaven every single day of their trek. The typology of the psalm points to the meal which Jesus instituted to complete the new covenant that God made in him with all people.
The readings:
Exodus 24:3-11 (L)
The significance of this passage for Maundy Thursday is that it reveals the role of sacrificial blood in the covenants of God: first in the blood that Moses threw on the altar; and second, on the people as well. In Mark 14:24, Jesus says, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." The ultimate sacrifice which people can offer to God is their "blood," their life - the ultimate gift that they can make in response to God's grace and mercy. Jesus made that sacrifice when he died, and his blood was, in a sense, poured up on the altar of God. But that blood must also be "thrown" on the people of God, and that takes place in the Eucharist. William Cowper put it this way in one of his hymns:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains
Dear dying Lamb, thy precious Blood
Shall never lose its power;
'Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.
The blood of Christ is "put upon" the people of God when they receive the cup he gave.
Exodus 12:1-14a (E)
Part of the Exodus story is told in this passage (and a crucial part of it, at that) because this reading speaks of the institution of the Passover by God. It is God who gives detailed instructions about the sacrifice of a lamb, ordering the Israelites to put some of the blood on the lintel and the doorposts of their homes, and to roast and consume the entire lamb. Anything left over is to be burned the next morning. (This may have been partly responsible for the practice in some Christian denominations of drinking all of the wine, or pouring any not consumed upon the ground, although it doesn't account for "reserving" the leftover bread.) The last verse directs the people to comprehend this "memorial" and to celebrate it as a "feast to the Lord."
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (18-21) (L)
It is the shorter reading that has relevance to the Mark 12 Gospel, because Paul explains the meaning of the Holy Communion to the congregation at Corinth. In a way, he turns the sacrament around, because he speaks first about the blood, and only then about the bread. The "cup of blessing," as he calls the act of drinking wine, is actually "a participation" in the blood - the death - of Jesus Christ. By receiving the cup, his blood covers the faith-ful communicants. The bread, in the same manner, is a participation in the body of Christ. Since there is one loaf, there is one body and believers are members of it. The longer reading had literal meaning for the Corinthian Church, but little meaning for Christians today.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (27-32) (E)
This text received consideration and commentary in the Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A.
Mark 14:12-26 (L)
Mark makes it clear in this pericope that the Holy Communion is, for him and the early church, a Christian Passover. The Easter vigil, built as it is around the pertinent Old Testament reading, affirms the connection between the Passover of the Jews and the Passover of Christians in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mark, therefore, simply shows how the Eucharist was celebrated in the church to which he belonged. He gives no details of the Passover meal, which must have preceded the Lord's Supper. Perhaps the practice in Corinth of a common meal that preceded the Holy Communion was a development from the Passover meal, as well as active participation in the body of Christ. Mark merely records part of the formula, "Take; this is my body," but he says of the cup, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." Here, then, is the theological connection between the Exodus 24 reading and this lection, for as the blood was thrown upon the people by Moses as participation in the Covenant, so the drinking of the cup (Jesus' "blood") is participation in the New Covenant established in Jesus' death.
John 13:1-5 (E)
The Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A, considers this reading and gives homiletical commentary and sermon suggestions for parish preachers.
A Sermon on the Gospel, Mark 14:12-26 (L) - "From Soothsayer to Savior."
One of the interesting details in this story is that there was an "unknown man of Holy Thursday." (Dr. Harry F. Baughman, for President and Professor of Preaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, once preached a sermon that was titled, "The Unknown Man of Palm Sunday." One could virtually duplicate that sermon for Maundy Thursday, and one could develop an interesting and, even, intriguing homily.) But the spotlight is on Jesus, not on the "unknown man," who owned the home where the "last supper" was held. For the second time in the story, Jesus is cast in the role of a soothsayer, a prophet who, like Elijah and Elisha, was able to foretell certain events that would take place in the future. On both of those occasions (the first was his entrance into Jerusalem), Jesus predicted that the disciples would find an "unknown man," one of whom would be the owner of the colt, the other would be the owner of a home, who obviously knew about Jesus and may even have been one of his followers. This story shows Jesus as something of a soothsayer first, which was preliminary to his role as Savior.
1. Jesus demonstrated that he had the power of a soothsayer when the time was at hand for his arrest, conviction, and crucifixion. His prediction about the man carrying a jug of water was correct. The man gave over to Jesus and the disciples an upper room in his home for the Passover meal.
2. Jesus turned the Passover into a Christian celebration of the goodness and grace of the loving Father for all of the people in the world. He instituted a new supper, which involved the eating of bread and the drinking of wine - his body and his blood - by the faithful.
3. The cup, to Mark, is the guarantee that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross means that the blood of Christ has been, as it were, splattered upon every human being. And just as the blood of the lamb Moses showered on the people in the Exodus account of the Passover, so the blood of Jesus protects and washes clean every person who drinks of that cup - his blood. It is indeed the blood of the New Covenant and it is meant for all people.
4. So, as we remember his death, we recall his words as we come to his table, "This is my body.... This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
(Note: I would not preach a sermon on the Exodus/Passover reading, but would more likely incorporate it, perhaps in the form of a story/illustration, in the sermon on Mark 14. The emphasis on Maundy Thursday is on the meal that belongs to the "new passover" in Jesus' death and resurrection.)
The Prayer of the Day
The Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A, contains comments on LBW prayers, which typically emphasize "a new commandment," "a wonderful sacrament," and "a memorial of your suffering and death." Most Maundy Thursday prayers tend to concentrate on the institution of the Lord's Supper. None mentions the "new covenant" concept of Mark 14:24.
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 116 - This psalm received attention in the Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A.
Psalm 78:14-20, 23-25 (E) - Here is a recitation of the ordeals of the people of Israel on their forty-year trek through the wilderness, detailing their doubt that God would be able to feed them. He had brought forth water from a rock, but food was another matter. "They tested God in their hearts, demanding food for their craving. They railed against God and said, 'Can God set a table in the wilderness?' " He did - by sending down manna from heaven every single day of their trek. The typology of the psalm points to the meal which Jesus instituted to complete the new covenant that God made in him with all people.
The readings:
Exodus 24:3-11 (L)
The significance of this passage for Maundy Thursday is that it reveals the role of sacrificial blood in the covenants of God: first in the blood that Moses threw on the altar; and second, on the people as well. In Mark 14:24, Jesus says, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." The ultimate sacrifice which people can offer to God is their "blood," their life - the ultimate gift that they can make in response to God's grace and mercy. Jesus made that sacrifice when he died, and his blood was, in a sense, poured up on the altar of God. But that blood must also be "thrown" on the people of God, and that takes place in the Eucharist. William Cowper put it this way in one of his hymns:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains
Dear dying Lamb, thy precious Blood
Shall never lose its power;
'Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.
The blood of Christ is "put upon" the people of God when they receive the cup he gave.
Exodus 12:1-14a (E)
Part of the Exodus story is told in this passage (and a crucial part of it, at that) because this reading speaks of the institution of the Passover by God. It is God who gives detailed instructions about the sacrifice of a lamb, ordering the Israelites to put some of the blood on the lintel and the doorposts of their homes, and to roast and consume the entire lamb. Anything left over is to be burned the next morning. (This may have been partly responsible for the practice in some Christian denominations of drinking all of the wine, or pouring any not consumed upon the ground, although it doesn't account for "reserving" the leftover bread.) The last verse directs the people to comprehend this "memorial" and to celebrate it as a "feast to the Lord."
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (18-21) (L)
It is the shorter reading that has relevance to the Mark 12 Gospel, because Paul explains the meaning of the Holy Communion to the congregation at Corinth. In a way, he turns the sacrament around, because he speaks first about the blood, and only then about the bread. The "cup of blessing," as he calls the act of drinking wine, is actually "a participation" in the blood - the death - of Jesus Christ. By receiving the cup, his blood covers the faith-ful communicants. The bread, in the same manner, is a participation in the body of Christ. Since there is one loaf, there is one body and believers are members of it. The longer reading had literal meaning for the Corinthian Church, but little meaning for Christians today.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (27-32) (E)
This text received consideration and commentary in the Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A.
Mark 14:12-26 (L)
Mark makes it clear in this pericope that the Holy Communion is, for him and the early church, a Christian Passover. The Easter vigil, built as it is around the pertinent Old Testament reading, affirms the connection between the Passover of the Jews and the Passover of Christians in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mark, therefore, simply shows how the Eucharist was celebrated in the church to which he belonged. He gives no details of the Passover meal, which must have preceded the Lord's Supper. Perhaps the practice in Corinth of a common meal that preceded the Holy Communion was a development from the Passover meal, as well as active participation in the body of Christ. Mark merely records part of the formula, "Take; this is my body," but he says of the cup, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." Here, then, is the theological connection between the Exodus 24 reading and this lection, for as the blood was thrown upon the people by Moses as participation in the Covenant, so the drinking of the cup (Jesus' "blood") is participation in the New Covenant established in Jesus' death.
John 13:1-5 (E)
The Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A, considers this reading and gives homiletical commentary and sermon suggestions for parish preachers.
A Sermon on the Gospel, Mark 14:12-26 (L) - "From Soothsayer to Savior."
One of the interesting details in this story is that there was an "unknown man of Holy Thursday." (Dr. Harry F. Baughman, for President and Professor of Preaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, once preached a sermon that was titled, "The Unknown Man of Palm Sunday." One could virtually duplicate that sermon for Maundy Thursday, and one could develop an interesting and, even, intriguing homily.) But the spotlight is on Jesus, not on the "unknown man," who owned the home where the "last supper" was held. For the second time in the story, Jesus is cast in the role of a soothsayer, a prophet who, like Elijah and Elisha, was able to foretell certain events that would take place in the future. On both of those occasions (the first was his entrance into Jerusalem), Jesus predicted that the disciples would find an "unknown man," one of whom would be the owner of the colt, the other would be the owner of a home, who obviously knew about Jesus and may even have been one of his followers. This story shows Jesus as something of a soothsayer first, which was preliminary to his role as Savior.
1. Jesus demonstrated that he had the power of a soothsayer when the time was at hand for his arrest, conviction, and crucifixion. His prediction about the man carrying a jug of water was correct. The man gave over to Jesus and the disciples an upper room in his home for the Passover meal.
2. Jesus turned the Passover into a Christian celebration of the goodness and grace of the loving Father for all of the people in the world. He instituted a new supper, which involved the eating of bread and the drinking of wine - his body and his blood - by the faithful.
3. The cup, to Mark, is the guarantee that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross means that the blood of Christ has been, as it were, splattered upon every human being. And just as the blood of the lamb Moses showered on the people in the Exodus account of the Passover, so the blood of Jesus protects and washes clean every person who drinks of that cup - his blood. It is indeed the blood of the New Covenant and it is meant for all people.
4. So, as we remember his death, we recall his words as we come to his table, "This is my body.... This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
(Note: I would not preach a sermon on the Exodus/Passover reading, but would more likely incorporate it, perhaps in the form of a story/illustration, in the sermon on Mark 14. The emphasis on Maundy Thursday is on the meal that belongs to the "new passover" in Jesus' death and resurrection.)
