April 1-Maundy Thursday-St. Luke 22:7-20

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

‘Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”’ (Vv. 7, 8)

Have you ever had an important dinner at your house? Very likely you have, it may have been that dinner when you invited the boss for dinner or a client. It may have been that time you invited someone from the bank over for dinner because you wanted to make a good impression before you borrowed money for a big project. We have all had some important meal to prepare for.

Actually, we all have such a meal every year. This Sunday we will all return home after Easter service to celebrate a meal with family and the resurrection of our Lord. We do the same thing at Christmas time; we celebrate then the birth of our Savior. Each of these important meals comes after we have gone to church to worship the Savior and to eat and drink with Him as He feeds us His Body and Blood.

Yet, do you prepare haphazardly? Do you break from established tradition during the meal? At Christmas each year, our family reads the account of Christ’s birth from St. Luke’s Gospel. Our boys would be thoroughly confused if we broke from that and read from St. John, or worse, did not read anything at all. You also likely have your own family traditions that always happen either on Christmas Day or on Easter Day.

If you read that passage in Luke 22 sometime, ‘Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”’ (Vv. 7, 8) Notice that Jesus waits for the actual day of the feast to do anything about preparations! He is not scrambling around the previous few weeks trying to gather in the necessary supplies. Jesus is not asking around among the disciples at the end of last year’s Passover celebration, which was this week, for a host or hostess for this meal. Something we find remarkable since He states later in our reading that He had been looking forward to this with great anticipation. ‘“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”’ (Vv. 15, 16) Yet, it is good, we think, that Jesus gives this task to two of the disciples from His inner circle of three. Jesus tasks Peter and John with finding the proper place for this final Passover that He would eat with them.

The directions though sound quite random to us. ‘He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them’. (Vv. 10-13) When we hear these verses or read them ourselves, it seems as if Jesus is telling these men: “Well, wander about the city until you see a likely guy to follow. Oh, make sure he is carrying a water jug. His master’s house is the place. Tell him the Teacher has need of a guestroom”. An odd set of directions. After all, didn’t everyone carry water jugs? Well, actually, that portion would have been very specific. Men did not normally carry water jugs. This man would have stood out in a crowd no matter what.

The other part, about asking the master of the house for a guestroom might have made Peter and John feel a bit awkward. Have you ever considered walking up to a random house, of someone you don’t know, and asking for a guestroom during Christmastime or at Easter? No, I have not either. These two men would have thought this an odd thing indeed. Everyone that week would have been full to overflowing with guests of their own, or even paying visitors using any extra space as a place to sleep for the Passover feast. Walking in Jerusalem that week would have been like trying to walk around at the fairgrounds during the State Fair. There was a reason other than spending time with friends that Jesus and His disciples stayed in Bethany that week. They all knew there was no room for them in Jerusalem.

Peter and John knew all this. It would have been a strange request indeed for Jesus to tell them to ask someone if they had a spare guestroom. Yet, that is exactly what Jesus told them to do. That is exactly what they found when they followed these strange directions.

Think about the Communion liturgy now. If you like turn to it in your hymnal, specifically the Words of Institution on page 171. ‘And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise with the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”’ (Vv. 19, 20) Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Well, these were not the quite the normal things done during the Passover meal. Remember, God gave specific instructions to Moses about how the Israelites were to eat the Passover meal (Exodus 13:3-16). Oh, sure, there were a series of cups; there was bread and a meal. The structure was there, but the prayers that Jesus gave for this cup and for this bread were different.

All of this would have caused the apostles to perk their ears up and listen. Actually Jesus’ statement that He earnestly desired to eat this Passover with them before He suffered would have made them listen a bit better. They were not just going through the motions this time around. The apostles were listening closely to see why Jesus had broken with the regular Passover liturgy.

So, why did He?

Jesus broke from the established Passover liturgy because as I said on Sunday, He is the true Passover Lamb. That is, the liturgy of the feast of Unleavened Bread has been fulfilled. The true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world has come. The firstborn of all the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth has come and He has come to pay the price for our sins on the cross. Jesus has redeemed you. Jesus has forgiven you. Jesus has given you, right now, salvation from sin death and the devil and eternal life with Him. None of this is to be given later. We do not have to earn any of this by a righteous life. All of this was given to you fully and in truth in your baptism (Small Catechism IV: 2nd Question)

You who are now baptized and living that baptismal life of repentance have been chosen for this from before the creation of the world. It was God’s intention from that moment to adopt you as His sons through Christ Jesus, according to His will. In Jesus we have redemption and forgiveness of sins (see, Ephesians 1:3-6).

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen