MAUNDY THURSDAY

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the, etc! Great is your love which you bore toward us lost sinners in your heart. Not only did you become a man to help us, nor were you ashamed to call us sinners your brethren, but when you desired to end your visible sojourning amongst us, you instituted a most gracious testament in which you named all who long for you the heirs of your body and blood, your complete reconciliation and righteousness, and all the heavenly gifts so dearly won for us. We, therefore, pray, let us come to a right knowledge of your Holy Supper, grant us a living and humble faith in the miracle of your gracious meal, and let us at all times partake of it through you as worthy guests to our comfort, to our strengthening, and to our salvation. Help us that we never lose this precious means of grace but preserve it unto us by your grace until you come again. To that end bless also the preaching of your Word today for the . sake of your promise. Amen.

Dear friends in Christ Jesus!

It was today when the Son of God in the last night of his mysterious suffering and a few hours before his death instituted the testament which he left behind for his followers after his return to the Father.

This day, therefore, reminds us of a most important blessing of our Savior.

The Holy Supper has always been esteemed by the true Church as a great, precious, sacred thing.

The first Christians celebrated it almost daily, especially during periods of persecution, in order to be ready every day for death; thus they showed an inner love, rich and poor, great and humble gave each other the kiss of peace as brethren. The Holy Supper was viewed as the most glorious divine arsenal in which invincible weapons were received for the spiritual battle; it was looked on as the best traveling expense money for the journey into the dark valley of death.

One showed it the greatest respect. No unbeliever, no known sinner was admitted. A respectful silence of this mysterious sacrament was observed over against the heathen. After the sacrament was celebrated they spoke to one another about the suffering of Jesus Christ. Often the Christians had to suffer much because of the Lord's Supper for the heathen persecutors supposed that according to their confession they ate human flesh and drank human blood. That the Lord's Supper was celebrated merely as a memorial to Christ's suffering is something of which one does not find a trace in the ancient church.

Of course, we find that the antichristian papacy soon began to declare that this Supper was sacrificing Christ's body and blood again; from this finally emerged the fearful abomination of the mass, which is still to be found in the papal church.

Through the Reformation the true doctrine and the proper use of the Holy Supper was at last brought to light; but sad to say, this feast of love soon became a cause for a great fearful breach in the Protestant church. The greater number of those who recognized the error of the papal church fell into the opposite error of Scriptural truth. If before superstition was embraced, now many began to judge the divine truth on the basis of their blind reason.

Therefore, the Lutheran Church has remained the only one which has held firmly to the pure doctrine of the Holy Supper; otherwise, no other denomination in all Christendom has it. Our Church confesses many precious truths which other confessions also embrace, but in the preservation of the unadulterated sacrament she now stands alone inthe whole world.

God has chosen our dear Evangelical Lutheran Church in these last times so that she may preserve what according to Christ's will should occur until he comes; our Church is the divinely chosen preserver of the seal of the forgiveness of sins.

This day is, therefore, especially for Lutheran Christians a holy, important day which reminds them partly of great treasures entrusted to them by God, partly of important duties laid upon them. Permit me today to speak to you on this subject.

The text. 1 Corinthians 11:23-32.

"I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you." With these words the apostle begins the story of the institution of the Lord's Supper. Now why does the apostle place this assurance at this point? Because it is of utmost importance to have the Holy Supper pure and unadulterated, in its true meaning, and according to the institution of the Lord. This, therefore, induces me to answer the question:

WHY MUST WE BELIEVE THAT THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST

ARE TRULY PRESENT IN THE HOLY SUPPER?

I answer: because

I. This Belief Rests upon the Most Certain and Unchangeable. Foundation,

II. Without this Belief all of God's Word must Become Unreliable, and finally,

III. We would be Robbed of Great and Boundless Comfort if we lost this Belief.

I.

Deciding the question: In the Lord's Supper is the true body and blood of Christ present? has brought untold misery upon all Christendom.

If this were about an obscure point in Christian doctrine, then it certainly would be better to be silent about it and let everyone follow his best convictions in a matter which no one could settle with certainty.

But here something entirely different is at stake. The question is: Shall we follow God's Word or not? is Christ the Truth or not? is Christ almighty or not? is Christ's flesh merely human flesh or not? is his blood powerless human blood or not?

At the institution of his Holy Testament Christ, who sees into the future as well as into the past, who must have known that great discord would arise over his words, as he hands his disciples the consecrated bread and cup, says, "This is," etc. Do we find obscurity here? a difficulty? ambiguity? Is a subtle explanation needed to disclose unclear, hidden words? No, nothing like this at all. Certainly, if we follow Christ's word, we will arrive at no other meaning than this: Christ's body and blood in the consecrated, etc ., is offered the communicant; he is truly and essentially present and is, therefore, received by all communicants. No one doubts what I mean when I hand him a container of

water and say, Take and drink, this is water. Will he suppose that I want to say, The container is turned into water, or that it only signifies water? Certainly not. What else is Christ saying when he says, "Take," etc.? There is not the slightest doubt: If we do not want to believe that the body and blood of Jesus Christ is truly and essentially present in the Lord's Supper, we must depart from the simplest and clearest words of Jesus Christ.

It is said: True, it may be that the words of institution indicate that in, with, and under those visible elements lie hidden the invisible, heavenly treasures and are give us, but how is it possible that that one body could be received in one and the same hour in thousands upon thousands of churches by millions of Christians today and perhaps yesterday as well, yes, almost daily for almost the past 2,000 years and in the future also without being used up?

Those who speak thus could be asked: Tell us, how is it possible for the sun to shine brightly these 6,000 years into thousands upon thousands of valleys and caves and rooms and millions of eyes without losing or using up its light? You are silent? You cannot grasp the miracle of nature and yet you do not deny them, but you want to deny that miracle of grace because you likewise cannot grasp it?

You see from this: No one can excuse his unbelief because a thing seems impossible, for with God nothing is impossible; God has revealed this to us in nature.

Is it not terrible for a Christian to depart without rhyme or reason from a clear, lucid, plain, simple word of Jesus Christ because is does not seem possible?

And who is he who spoke these clear and plain words? He is the Truthful, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise, the Omnipresent, the Son of the living God, who is God and man in one person; he utters these words in the last hours of his earthly existence; he utters them at the institution of his testament.

He speaks these words, of whom we read, "I am the Way," etc. Should Christ speak the truth everywhere but not here? He speaks these words, of whom Peter says, "Lord, thou knowest all things;" should Christ have known everything except that all Christendom would be split over his last words, or would he not have been so wise as to use other words in order to avoid this misfortune? He speaks these words, who testifies of himself, "Lo, I am with you," etc; should Christ be able to be present everywhere in a special mysterious way except in the Holy Sacrament? He speaks these words, who says of himself, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth;" should Christ have all power but not the power of being in the Lord's Supper with his body and blood.

With his body Christ passed through locked doors, through the sealed stone of the grave without breaking the seal; should he not be able to enter our body invisibly? Christ ascended bodily to heaven and now as also the Son of man sits at God's right hand; should that body which sits at God's right hand, hence is everywhere with divine majesty, not be able to be present graciously in the Holy Sacrament? With five loaves and two small fish Christ fed 5,000 men and twelve baskets remained; should he find it impossible to feed his Christendom with that body in which dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, with which the divine nature is intimately united as warmth with hot air and boiling water, more closely than fire with glowing steel? What glorious spiritual characteristics the soul imparts to our body! should the divine nature not have imparted to Christ's human nature no glorious divine characteristics?

Beyond a doubt: If we want to say that we believe in Christ, we must also believe that his body and blood are truly and essentially present in his covenant meal, for this faith is borne by three great unbreakable pillars: The first pillar is Christ's Word, the second his truthfulness, the third his divine power. So the first reason why we should not swerve from the belief that Christ's body and blood are truly and essentially present in the Holy Supper is: We would not be giving up a teaching over which battles are still fought, over which much can be said for and against, but we would have to let go of an unchangeable certain truth of God's Word.

II.

But, my friends, the question concerns not only this one truth; the certainty of all of God's Word is at stake; this we would immediately have to give up the moment we surrender the belief that the body and blood of Jesus Christ are truly and essentially present in the Lord's Supper; that is the second reason: Without this belief all of God's Word must become uncertain.

If we admit that one need not take Christ's word, "This is," etc., as they read but can substitute, It signifies, all certainty in God's Word is gone. Then others can say with the same right: Christ is not God's Son, he merely signifies that; there is no hell, no resurrection, no heaven, no judgment; all these, one could say, are merely, pictures, merely signs, merely symbols. For God did not become a man. Baptism is not the washing of regeneration. Then no promise, no comfort is any longer certain, if, oh poor depressed Christian, you could no longer safely and joyfully rely upon every word of your Savior.

Whoever denies the presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper must also deny the omnipresence of Christ's human nature, hence the communication of the divine attributes; where then is our redemption and reconciliation? Then it would not be true, when we read in Acts 20:28, that God by his own blood, etc., that the blood of God's Son cleanses us from all sins. Then merely a man died for us, then the ransom paid is not of divine importance, and everything which the Christian believes is a dream.

Beyond a doubt: Through the false doctrine of the Lord's Supper Satan is trying to open merely a small gap in the walls of the Christian Church in order to slip in with a thousand errors. Though the fall from the belief that the body and blood of Jesus Christ are truly and essentially present in the Holy Supper does not always bring such terrible results, it is nevertheless the way it comes about; it is the way to cast doubts upon all the clear words of divine revelation. And if those who do not believe in the presence of Christ's body and,blood in the supper really wanted to be honest, most would certainly admit that they had never earnestly believed that the Bible in all its words is the Word of the living God.

III.

The third and final reason why we should never swerve from the belief that the body, and blood of Christ is truly and essentially present in the Lord's Supper is this: We would be robbed of great and boundless comfort.

In the fact that Christ gives us his body and blood to eat and to drink in the Holy Supper lies an inexpressible comfort which is more easily experienced than described. What a support for our salvation it is that we are given to eat of his body in whose hand is all blessedness! Can he deny us his grace who causes us. miserable worms to share in his nature so that we can say: We are flesh of his flesh? Who has ever hated his own flesh? How can Christ forget us

if he has united himself so intimately with us! How precious he must consider us who gives us his very self. What sin can be so great which the divine flesh does not reconcile! What impurity so great which this blood does not wash away! Which darts of Satan can be so fiery which must not be extinguished in this fountain! Which bonds of death so firm which this living flesh does not untie! The Holy. Supper with the body and blood of Jesus Christ is the new tree of life which stood in Paradise, which Christ has again planted in his kingdom of grace.

Oh adorable, comforting mystery! God's holy flesh which the angels worship and; archangels adore is food for sinners! The heavens rejoice and the earth is glad, but more so is the believer who partakes of such great gifts!

Even those who do not believe this have their devotion when they celebrate the Holy Sacrament, but it is merely a self-appointed devotion; they are satisfied with the shell without the kernel.

Oh, therefore, on the day of the institution of this Testament of eternal life which died for us, make this covenant, my dear friends: Never, never let us fall from the belief that the body and blood of Jesus Christ is truly and essentially present in the Lord's Supper.

Out of pure grace God has let us come to know this mystery; oh, let us cling to it and faithfully preserve it as a precious treasure. And if we leave nothing else behind for our dear children but this inheritance of our Redeemer, they inherit infinite treasures from us; therefore, let us inculcate it upon our children the moment they can talk. Here this belief is rare, very rare, and it is in great danger; oh, therefore, let us see to it with all our powers that we preserve this belief. I beseech you for the sake of God, for the sake of your salvation.

Or do you want to depart from God's clear words?

Or do you not think that by the false teachings of the Holy Supper all of God's Word, all the promises, truths, comfort, hope, warnings, and threats it contains will become uncertain?

Or do you want to despise the boundless comfort lying in the unadulterated Sacrament?

Oh, Jesus, help us! We confess our former unfaithfulness, blindness, neglect; do not take your Holy Sacrament from us; make us faithful, sanctify our hearts, and hands; preserve to our poor congregation this infinite treasure which we have inherited from our fathers; let us be witnesses of this truth also. Oh., let many others still come to this knowledge so that they will be sealed by your grace. Oh, remain with us, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!