A Second Sermon for Thursday of Holy Week, or 'Maundy Thursday' — by Dr. Martin Luther

On Wednesdays through the Lenten Season this year (2013), we published sermons from Dr. Adolph Hoenecke (1835-1908), who is among the most important theologians of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), and from Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann (1883-1965), a prolific author, educator, historian and theologian of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (LCMS) and among the more significant figures of 20^th Century American Lutheranism. We will do the same through Holy Week. Except for today, Maundy Thursday. Instead of Dr. Hoenecke and Dr. Kretzmann, we will hear from Dr. Martin Luther himself, from his Hauspostille.

Normally, we read sermons from Dr. Luther's Hauspostille as they come to us in the collection recently edited by Eugene F.A. Klug, and translated by him and others. This is the same Hauspostille included in the seven-volume Complete Sermons of Martin Luther published by Baker Book House. There were two collections of Luther's Hauspostille: one from the stenographic notes of Veit Dietrich and one from those of Georg Roerer, both of whom copied the words of Luther as he preached to his students in his home. Roerer's notes were published in 1539 without Luther's approval, while those of Veit Dietrich were published later, in 1545, and carried with them Luther's endorsement. The newly translated Hauspostille contained in the Baker publication comes from the Roerer collection of Luther's Hauspostille, under the rationale that “the consensus of scholars has more and more moved in the direction of Roerer's transcription of Luther's house postils as the source most complete, exact, and trustworthy.”¹

We will not be reading a sermon from Roerer's collection, however. Missing from that collection, and contained only in Veit Dietrich's collection, are two Maundy Thursday sermons from the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. Veit Dietrich's collection of Dr. Luther's Hauspostille was translated from German into English in 1871. In this post, we publish Luther's Second Sermon for the Day of the Lord's Supper, from the second English edition of that translation effort, published in 1884.²

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A Sermon for Maundy Thursday

Second Sermon for the Day of the Lord's Supper
by Dr. Martin Luther²

Text: Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. (1 Corinthians 11:27-34)

This text is of great importance and deserves to be attentively considered by Christians. We have already learned, from the previous sermon, how the people misunderstood these words, so as to deprive themselves of the comfort contained in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, yea, even shunned it as something dangerous. It is true, Judas did not receive this Sacrament to his consolation or amendment. There were also many among the Corinthians, as St. Paul tells us, who received it unworthily, and thus brought upon themselves bodily and spiritual punishment. There is indeed a difference in the reception of this Sacrament; some partake of it worthily and unto eternal life, but others unworthily unto condemnation, inasmuch as they do not repent and have true faith. Hence it is of the first importance that we learn to know what is meant by the expression “eating and drinking worthily or unworthily.”

A Sermon for Thursday of Holy Week, or 'Maundy Thursday': “The Holy Sacrament” — by Dr. Martin Luther

On Wednesdays through the Lenten Season this year (2013), we published sermons from Dr. Adolph Hoenecke (1835-1908), who is among the most important theologians of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), and from Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann (1883-1965), a prolific author, educator, historian and theologian of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (LCMS) and among the more significant figures of 20^th Century American Lutheranism. We will do the same through Holy Week. Except for today, Maundy Thursday. Instead of Dr. Hoenecke and Dr. Kretzmann, we will hear from Dr. Martin Luther himself, from his Hauspostille.

Normally, we read sermons from Dr. Luther's Hauspostille as they come to us in the collection recently edited by Eugene F. A. Klug, and translated by him and others. This is the same Hauspostille included in the seven-volume Complete Sermons of Martin Luther published by Baker Book House. There were two original collections of Luther's Hauspostille: one from the stenographic notes of Veit Dietrich and one from those of Georg Roerer, both of whom copied the words of Luther as he preached to his students in his home. Roerer's notes were published in 1539 without Luther's approval, while those of Veit Dietrich were published later, in 1545, and carried with them Luther's endorsement. The newly translated Hauspostille contained in the Baker publication comes from the Roerer collection of Luther's Hauspostille, under the rationale that “the consensus of scholars has more and more moved in the direction of Roerer's transcription of Luther's house postils as the source most complete, exact, and trustworthy.”¹

We will not be reading a sermon from Roerer's collection, however. Missing from that collection, and contained only in Veit Dietrich's collection, are two Maundy Thursday sermons from the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. Veit Dietrich's collection of Dr. Luther's Hauspostille was translated from German into English in 1871. In this post, we publish Luther's First Sermon for the Day of the Lord's Supper, from the second English edition of that translation effort, published in 1884.²

(NOTE: Due to the length of this sermon, I have taken the liberty of adding subheadings,
to break up the content for those with short attention span.)

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A Sermon for Maundy Thursday

First Sermon for the Day of the Lord's Supper
by Dr. Martin Luther²

The Holy Supper

Text: For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:22-26)

According to a time-honored usage, more people come to the Lord's Table at this season than at any other time during the year. This fact, together with the urgent necessity that on a stated day the doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper be plainly taught the people from the pulpit, prompts us to consider now the words of St. Paul, which you have heard read in our text. From these words we learn that this Sacrament was in no wise instituted or introduced by men, but by Christ Himself. In the night in which He was betrayed He instituted it for His disciples, yea for all Christians, that it might be unto them His Testament, His parting gift, full of great comfort and blessing.

Remember the cup of salvation - Holy Thursday sermon

This sermon was written for the saints at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to be preached on Holy Thursday, 2012.

Exodus 12:1-14 + Psalm 116 + 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 + John 13:1-15

Tonight begins the first of the Three Holy Days, from sunset to sunset, according to Creation Time – first evening and then morning each day. It would take a full twenty-four hours – or maybe just a lifetime – to do justice to all the events that took place during the twenty-four hours of that very first Holy Day that began at sunset on Maundy Thursday and ended at the eerie sunset of Good Friday.

So many memorable and meaningful events took place on that Thursday night. The love of Jesus on display as he washed his disciples feet. The command for them to walk in his footsteps of love, self-sacrifice and lowly service. The Passover meal. The predicted betrayal, abandonment and denial. The High Priestly prayer of Jesus – for his disciples back then, and also for his disciples now. The Garden of Gethsemane. The anguish of Jesus’ soul.

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with me.” And then, with sweat dripping like blood, Jesus prayed three times to his Father to “take this cup” from him, “if it is your will. My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

And the Father’s will was done. Jesus drank from the cup. And that brings us back to the one thing I would ask you remember tonight, or at least, the one thing I would ask you focus your attention on. On Palm Sunday I asked you to remember one thing above all else – to remember Jesus riding on a donkey. Tonight, as we begin the first of the Three Holy Days, remember the cup.

We sang about it already in the Psalm this evening, and since we’ve been considering the Psalms throughout our Lenten journey this year, let’s include them for the Three Holy Days, too. In Psalm 116 we sang the words of the Messiah, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.”

Now the interesting thing about the Messianic Psalms is that, though they were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, they were written from the perspective of the Messiah both as the events are transpiring in his life, and also as he looks back on it all after it’s all over.

Listen to the words of Jesus in Psalm 116, “I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.” You see the perspective of the Messiah there? It’s as if Holy Week is already over and done and the Father has already heard him and delivered him from his enemies on Easter Sunday. But the Psalm gives us a window into what Jesus was going through as Holy Week was happening.

“The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of the grave laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD: O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!” Sounds just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, doesn’t it?

Then he gives thanks to the Lord, “For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” Sounds like Easter Sunday, doesn’t it?

But see what had to happen in between. A cup had to be drunk. In order for sinful mankind to be able to drink salvation from God’s cup, the sinless Son of Man had to first drink the cup of wrath, the cup of punishment, the cup of torture and death. And when he asked his Father to take it from him and his Father didn’t do it, what did Jesus do with that cup? Oh, he could have thrown it down on the ground and let God’s wrath against sin be poured out onto sinners. Remember, he said in the Garden when Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus, “Put your sword away… Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

Instead of dropping the cup, Jesus drank it – drank it down to its dregs. He had to be brought low, lower and lower and lower, down to the point of death, even death on a cross.

But as he says in the Psalm, “When I was brought low, he saved me.” The cup of wrath and suffering for sin had been emptied. And now the cup of Jesus is filled to the brim with salvation – not just for himself in his glorious resurrection, but with salvation that he pours down the throats of his people.

What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

That’s not just a figurative expression. Jesus literally poured his salvation – his forgiveness and his life, into a cup on Maundy Thursday and gave it to his disciples to drink, not just once, but to do this in remembrance of him, to lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, to drink from it often and to proclaim his death again and again until he comes.

Do you still sin after your baptism? Yes, you do. Do you still have bitter enemies who can attack your faith in Christ and beat it to a pulp? Yes, you do. But you have been given a cup of salvation, filled with the precious blood of the Lamb of God, filled for you to drink.

It’s not a symbol of Jesus’ blood. By the power of Jesus’ word, it is his blood. It’s not a symbol of salvation. By the power of Jesus’ word, it is salvation and forgiveness and life for all who believe in the words and promises of Jesus – given for you, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. No sin is wicked enough, no enemy is strong enough to undo Jesus’ words of promise. He pours his salvation into this cup, and so administers a lethal dose to death.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Even your death is precious to your Father in heaven, because you have been united to his precious Son, Jesus Christ, whose death was also precious in the Lord’s sight, precious enough to satisfy God’s wrath against every sinner. Your death, when it comes, will be precious to your Father in heaven, because you have drunk from his cup of salvation, week in and week out, and so you have received the medicine of immortality, a better Tree of Life, God’s seal and pledge that, though you die, you will live.

And isn’t that what that other Psalm says, too? You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Ps. 23:5-6)

Remember the cup of Jesus – the cup that he drank, and the cup that he has filled with his salvation, with his blood, poured out for you. The table is ready. Drink from his cup and live. Amen.

Holy Week Sermons - Holy Thursday

(This sermon is part of a Lenten series that covers the Six Chief Parts of Luther's Small Catechism. Catechism emphasis for Holy Thursday: The Sacrament of the Altar.)

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What is this meal that we celebrate so often here at our church and that awaits us again on this Holy Thursday? What is the Sacrament of the Altar?

It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ for us Christians to eat and to drink.

You take and eat bread. But at the same time, whether you believe it or not, you are really and truly also taking and eating the very body of Jesus: the same body once broken on the cross, the same body that was laid in a tomb, the same body that rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. That’s the body that also graces our altar and enters our mouths.

You take and drink wine. But at the same time, whether you believe it or not, you are really and truly also taking and drinking the very blood of Jesus: the blood of the new testament Passover Lamb, the same blood once shed by floggings and by beatings, by a crown of thorns, by nails and by spear. The bread is not a symbol of a body that is located elsewhere, nor is the wine a symbol of the blood that poured out of Jesus’ side long ago. The bread is his body; the wine is his blood.

Why is he present here with the bread and wine? What blessing do we receive through this eating and drinking?

That is shown us by these words, "Given” and “poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins." Through these words we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in this sacrament. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

It’s all about the forgiveness of sins. If you have no sins that need forgiving, then by all means, stay away from the Supper. If you have no fear, no doubt, no weaknesses common to man, then by all means, stay away from the Supper. If you have a faith that can never be moved or shaken or disturbed, if your “love for one another” is already perfect, if you are “fed up” with Jesus, as it were, and feel no need for this communion with him, then by all means stay away from the Supper. It isn’t for you. It’s only for sinners who yearn to be close to Christ, who long to be touched again by his sacrifice, who desire to receive from his hand the forgiveness of sins.

But, weren’t we already offered and given forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism? Do we somehow lose that forgiveness and die again so that we need to be re-forgiven at every Communion, re-saved, resurrected to life again every week? Or do we somehow rack up a whole host of sins during the week that make God angry with us again and that need to be erased again by the body and blood of Christ? No, no, we shouldn’t think of forgiveness that way.

The forgiveness of sins – a right standing before God, an open door to heaven is what Jesus won for you by his death on the cross as the Substitute of all men. Where Christ is found, there is complete forgiveness – there and only there. What joins you to Christ is faith in him for the forgiveness of sins, faith that comes from hearing his promise. You were brought into him by baptism, through faith in his blood, and in him, your sins were counted – are counted – as forgiven, not once, not piecemeal, but always and completely.

But your faith-connection to Christ is like a slender thread, and you are literally surrounded by enemies who have targeted that thread, who seek to cut it and sever your connection to Jesus, to pull you away from him, and so to pull you away from God’s forgiveness and life. You know who those enemies are, I think: The devil, the world and your sinful nature. As long as you live on earth, you live in enemy territory and your faith-connection to Jesus is vulnerable, which is why Jesus wasn’t content to give you only a once-in-a-lifetime baptism, wasn’t satisfied to give you only a spoken word of absolution. Those things tie you to Jesus, too, and to the forgiveness that is yours in him. No, Jesus knew that the slender thread of your faith would need to be nourished by something tangible, would need to be fed and fortified by a powerful food in the face of so many and such ruthless enemies.

And so God has given a remedy against them, a medicine to save you from them, to protect and to strengthen the precious faith that clings to Christ. That remedy, that medicine, that divine food for the soul is the Sacrament of the Altar.

How can a meal shared together in church be such a powerful medicine for the soul? How can eating and drinking do such great things?

It is certainly not the eating and drinking that does such things, but the words "Given” and “poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins." These words are the main thing in the sacrament, along with the eating and drinking. And whoever believes these words has what they plainly say, the forgiveness of sins.

As always, the Word of God accomplishes everything; the promise of God is what turns simple bread and wine into something much greater. And here it’s important to keep in mind this distinction: forgiveness earned and forgiveness distributed. Forgiveness of sins was purchased for the world at the cross of Christ. His crucified body, his poured-out blood were the purchase price. But you and I weren’t there. You and I cannot receive that forgiveness from Christ unless he crosses time and space to bring it to us, and that’s precisely what he does in the Holy Supper. His Word, joined to bread and wine, brings Calvary’s sacrifice to you and to me. He comes to this altar and gives you himself, and with himself, the promise of forgiveness being applied to each one who eats and who drinks.

Who is worthy to participate in such a meal? Who is properly prepared to receive this sacrament?

Fasting and other outward preparations may serve a good purpose, but he is properly prepared who believes these words, "Given” and “poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins." But whoever does not believe these words or doubts them is not prepared, because the words "for you" require nothing but hearts that believe.

If you understand all that’s been said so far about the Sacrament of the Altar, then there are only two reasons I can think of why a communicant member of a Lutheran church wouldn’t go to Communion often, if at all possible. Either you don’t think you need it, or you don’t think you deserve it.

If you don’t think you need it, well, that’s a sure sign that you do need it. Here’s Luther’s advice:

If someone asks, “What, then, shall I do if I cannot feel such distress or experience hunger and thirst for the Sacrament?” Answer, “For those who are of such a mind that they do not realize their condition I know no better counsel than that they put their hand into their shirt to check whether they have flesh and blood. And if you find that you do, then go, for your good, to St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. Hear what sort of a fruit your flesh is:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these.”

Therefore, if you cannot discern this, at least believe the Scriptures. They will not lie to you, and they know your flesh better than you yourself. Yes, St. Paul further concludes in Romans 7:18, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” If St. Paul may speak this way about his flesh, we cannot assume to be better or more holy than him. But the fact that we do not feel our weakness just makes things worse. It is a sign that there is a leprous flesh in us that can’t feel anything. And yet, the leprosy rages and keeps spreading. As we have said, if you are quite dead to all sensibility, still believe the Scriptures, which pronounce sentence upon you. In short, the less you feel your sins and infirmities, the more reason you have to go to the Sacrament to seek help and a remedy. (Large Catechism)

My friends, don’t think for a single moment that you are the great exception, that you are the sinless or the strong one who, unlike the rest of us poor sinners, could never fall away from Christ, and so who can take or leave the Sacrament of the Altar according to your whim on any given day. When you begin to think like that, you have already begun to fall away.

But if you do know your need for Christ, your need to receive him and, with him, all his forgiveness and all his strength in the Sacrament, but you don’t think somehow that you deserve this Communion with Christ and so would consider not approaching the altar, then stop and remember – Christ wants no communion with the deserving. He wants to be associated with sinners only. Now if you doubt that word and think that Jesus is a liar who really only wants the good, strong people of this world at his table and turns sinners away, then, by all means, stay away from the Lord’s Supper. Anyone who calls Jesus a liar is not prepared for it.

But if you know your need and you trust in your Savior’s invitation, then come, take and eat – now, and whenever you feel your sin pressing hard and the world pulling you away and the devil shooting his flaming arrows at the slender thread of your faith. Come and receive the God-given medicine against sin, death and condemnation. The Sacrament of the Altar is most definitely “for you.” Amen.