Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

Jesus had summed up the commandments when He said, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind [citing Dt 6:5]... And... you shall love your neighbour as yourself [citing Leviticus 19:18]. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). It is Maundy Thursday, the night of the new mandate or commandment that Jesus has given to His disciples.

 

The commandment is not new in the sense of it being something that was never commanded before. For the new commandment, Jesus said, is “Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). It is still a commandment to love your neighbour. But perhaps instead of “love your neighbour as yourself,” Jesus has now commanded, “Love one another...as I have loved you.”

 

Inseparably tied to this new commandment to love is the new covenant that Jesus gave on the same night. “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). When the old covenant was given through Moses to the people, it was made over the sacrifice of oxen and their blood. Moses “took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient’” (Exodus 24:7), obedient to the Lord’s commandments.

 

That Book of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments. The same commandments which Jesus summed up as “love God and love your neighbour.” Then Moses threw the blood of the oxen that had been sacrificed, the blood made holy at the altar of sacrifice, and he threw that holy blood upon the people (v. 8), as they promised to keep the commandments.

 

The new covenant in Jesus’ blood is a covenant not with the blood of bulls or goats, but with the holy and precious blood of the Son of God. He is the sacrifice upon which this covenant is made. He gives us His holy blood in the cup of wine that is made holy by His decree: “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” That holy blood is thrown down our throats. We are forgiven for all of our sins against the love of God and of the neighbour. And we also commit ourselves to do all that the Lord has commanded, that is, to love one another as He has loved us.

 

The words of the institution of this new testament were heard in the Epistle reading for today. St. Paul repeated those words to the Christians in Corinth, words which they knew well from their celebrations of the Lord’s Supper. But in his letter to them, St. Paul uses those very words as he admonishes them about their sins against love for their neighbour.

 

This section of his letter begins: “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you... When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What!... Do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not” (1 Corinthians 11:18-22). And then come the words of our Epistle: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread...” (v. 23ff).

 

And after the words of institution, St. Paul continues to admonish, warn, and condemn them. “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (v. 27). Their lack of love for one another was a profaning of the body and blood of Jesus, which was given for their sins upon the cross and distributed to them in this holy supper.

 

If they were disregarding their love for one another they were disregarding the love of Jesus for them, the gift of His body and blood distributed for their salvation. And the same is true of us. Our lack of love for one another profanes the body and blood of Jesus. It makes the Holy Supper of His body and blood just a regular snack to convince ourselves and others that we are His disciples.

 

Jesus said, “Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” That kind of love is defined in this chapter of Paul’s letter as: healing all divisions among us; putting others before ourselves; caring for the hungry; and giving to those in need.

 

On the night of the institution of this supper, when this new commandment was given along with the new covenant, Jesus washed the disciples feet. It was not so that all disciples of Jesus everywhere should wash one another’s feet. Rather, it was a demonstration of the kind of humiliating love we ought to have for one another.

 

There are times when our neighbours need their feet washed, and we should be willing and eager to do for them what is needed: washing their feet, wiping their chin as we feed those who cannot feed themselves, changing their clothes and cleaning them and their bedding when needed. You can see how the Christian Church naturally founded hospitals and care homes of every description. It was in following this example. And when we find care homes where people can be lovingly looked after, that does not eliminate our opportunities to continue to care for them ourselves. It gives us greater opportunity.

 

On this same night Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). That doesn’t mean that we should all look for opportunities to be crucified and ignore every other opportunity to show love. Rather, we should recognize, in every act of love, the laying down of the life for the sake of the neighbour. Jesus demonstrated this very clearly when he washed the feet of his disciples. It was a foreshadowing of His crucifixion that would occur the very next morning.

 

“He laid aside His outer garments” (John 13:4), as He would later be stripped of His robes and the soldiers would divide them and cast lots for them (19:23-24). “He took a towel and tied it around His waist” (13:4), assuming the form of a slave. “He poured water into a basin” (v. 5), as blood and water would pour out of His pierced side (19:34). “And began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him” (13:5), just as His death washed away our sins and wiped us clean from all our iniquities.

 

To love your neighbour as Jesus has loved you means to willingly be humiliated in order to serve them, to become a slave to them for the sake of the Law of God. That Law is summarized in the commandments which tell us how to love our neighbour, to suffer in your body as you pour out your love upon them, and to forgive them their trespasses as God in heaven has forgiven you.

 

To love your neighbour as Jesus has loved you is to keep the commandments: to honour your father and mother; to preserve and care for the life of your neighbour; to uphold family bonds; to protect and improve their property; to preserve their reputation; and to be content with your calling to love one another. It is the new commandment, now put upon you with the holy blood of Jesus.

 

His blood washes, cleanses, purifies, and sanctifies you to be a holy disciple of Jesus. To love your neighbour as Jesus has loved you is to preach the Gospel to them in your acts of love. It shows them Jesus, who ultimately fulfilled those commandments of love toward neighbour by giving His life for all on the cross.

 

One of the post-communion collects that we often pray after receiving the Lord’s Supper pleads, “we implore You that of Your mercy You would strengthen us through the same [body and blood we have just received] in faith toward You and in fervent love toward one another” (Lutheran Service Book, 166, 183, 201, 212, 218). That is exactly what the body and blood of Christ do for us when we receive them in the Lord’s Supper. Although we often focus on the forgiveness of sins we receive, inseparable from that holiness is the love of Jesus for His disciples poured into us. It is a love that once acknowledged, cannot fail to increase our love for one another.

 

But as in the case with some of the Christians in Corinth, if the gift of the body and blood of Jesus on the cross and in our mouths is forgotten or ignored in this holy meal, then not only do we fail to receive His love, we fail to love one another. And instead of being forgiven for our sins, our guilt is compounded and its effects deprive our neighbour of love while bringing us to death and everlasting condemnation in hell.

 

Yet the love of Jesus is so great that it is not limited to one moment on the cross some two thousand years ago. His love is present and poured out in this holy meal wherever and whenever it is celebrated. His words of promise bring His body and blood to you in love. They are here for you to receive in thanksgiving and to reciprocate in loving trust toward God and a fervent, burning love to your neighbour.

 

Only His loving action on the cross can cleanse and purify you from any sin of neglect of this holy gift or of neglect of your neighbour. Whatever you may have failed to do in thought, word, or deed, is wiped away as surely as Jesus kneeling before Peter and the other disciples with a towel around His waist and water poured out in a basin.

 

Jesus’ loving action toward His disciples did not stop on that night. It did not stop on the following day when He hung dead upon the cross. It did not stop when He rose from the dead or even when He ascended bodily into heaven. Jesus’ love continues to be poured out for you in this cup, the new testament in His blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins.

 

With a constant supply of the love of Jesus pouring out for you, you do not need to be afraid to humble yourself before Him or before your neighbour. You do not need to hesitate to show sacrificial love to one another. The command to love one another comes with the reminder of His never-failing love for you.