The New Testament Passover remains forever

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Maundy Thursday

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

Once in a while someone will ask me if there’s any benefit to holding a Passover Seder as Christians. We see other Christian churches doing it. Even some Lutherans have tried it. It’s certainly useful for us to understand what the Old Testament Passover was and what its meal signified. But you don’t have to participate in it in order to understand it, any more than you have to be circumcised to understand circumcision. To bring the Passover and its meal back up from the Old Testament and repeat it, when we have a New Testament replacement for it that is so vastly superior to it—I can’t think of a good reason ever to do it. It wouldn’t be right to celebrate and to stare at the shadow when we have in our midst the very body that cast the shadow. As Paul writes to the Colossians, the Old Testament festivals were all a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

For 1,500 years, from the days of Moses until Maundy Thursday, God’s people Israel were commanded to celebrate the Passover in commemoration of that night in Egypt when God’s destroying angel passed over the houses of the Israelites who had painted the blood of the Passover lamb on their doors. Jesus was eager to celebrate the Passover meal with His disciples, because He, the very Lamb of God, was about to fulfill it and replace it with something better. Now, even though Jews have continued to observe the Passover for the 2,000 years since that Maundy Thursday—in fact, tomorrow is the beginning of the Jewish celebration—the truth is, the Passover that Jesus celebrated with His disciples on Maundy Thursday was the very last legitimate Old Testament Passover in history, even as it was the beginning of the New Testament Passover that has no ending date, but keeps going on and on and on until the end of the world.

Let’s take a moment to compare the Old Testament Passover with the New Testament Passover. And as we do, we’ll see just how far superior the New Testament Passover is.

Both Passovers were instituted by God. The OT Passover was about deliverance from slavery in Egypt. That slavery was horrible. It was oppressive and painful and sometimes lethal. But it was still only temporal and only a superficial slavery—a slavery of the body, but not of the soul. The NT Passover is about deliverance from a slavery that is far worse, a slavery of both body and soul, a slavery to sin and to death and to the power of the devil, all of which are far worse taskmasters than the Egyptian Pharaoh ever was. And worst of all, the slavery to sin cuts a person off from God and continues even after death, continues for all eternity.

The OT Passover involved a spotless young lamb. Actually, it involved thousands of spotless young lambs, one for each Israelite household in Egypt. To kill a lamb was nothing out of the ordinary. But the NT Passover involves a single Lamb, the Lamb of God, the only-begotten Son of God and Son of Man, one perfect, sinless life whose blood is infinitely precious. To slaughter a thousand lambs is nothing. But to slaughter the Lamb of God? That means everything.

At the OT Passover, only the firstborn of the families in Egypt was at risk, so only the firstborn was actually saved by the lamb’s blood painted on the doorframes of the house. But all men are subject to death and condemnation, because all men are sinners. So when the blood of the Lamb of God is applied to the heart through faith and Holy Baptism, it saves from death everyone to whom it is applied. It doesn’t just save the firstborn. It saves the whole family of believers by means of the death of the Firstborn—the Firstborn Son of God.

The OT Passover meal consisted (chiefly) of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs, as God commanded Moses. The lamb had to be roasted in the fire. The bread had to be unleavened, both because of the haste with which it had to be made on that first Passover in Egypt, and as a symbol of the sinlessness that was required to approach God. The herbs had to be bitter to remind them of their bitter slavery in Egypt. There are no bitter herbs in the NT Passover meal, instituted by Christ on Maundy Thursday. All the bitterness of sin and death was tasted by Christ for us on that very night and on the next day. The NT Passover meal consists of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and the wine of joy and celebration.

It also consists of lamb. Not the meat of an animal, but the very body and blood of the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us on the cross—His body and blood that are truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine, so that the bread is His true body, and the wine is His true blood—the body and blood of the Lamb, a true communion with our Savior Jesus Christ in which He visits us here, in space and time, gives us Himself and unites us to His death and resurrection.

The OT Passover happened only once at the time of Moses. All the Jewish Passovers after that first Passover were mere commemorations. There was no more destroying angel, there was no more blood on the doorframes of Jewish houses; just a remembrance of God’s great deliverance of their Israelite forefathers. The NT Passover is also a remembrance—“This do in remembrance of Me,” Jesus said. But the NT Passover is more than just a remembrance of something that happened in the past. It’s an ongoing thing, an ongoing remembrance of Christ who not only died as the Passover Lamb but rose from the dead, lives to save His people, and is really present with us in His Supper. His blood is constantly being applied to sinners through the Means of Grace. Our deliverance from sin and death is constantly being carried out by Him, and His body and blood are offered to His people “as often as you drink it,” as often as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. He continues to forgive us our sins by these Means, and by them He continues to preserve us in the faith and guard and protect us from sin, death, and Satan until He brings us safely into His heavenly kingdom.

The OT Passover was part of the Old Covenant that was always destined to pass away and be replaced by the New Covenant, the New Testament in the blood of Jesus the Christ. So we will never celebrate a Passover Seder at our church. It’s already been fulfilled. It’s obsolete. It has been replaced by something far, far better. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has given us His Holy Supper, the Eucharist, which both replaces and surpasses all that came before. This is the New Testament Passover, the Christian Passover, the Passover that we call “Easter” and the Passover meal that we call the Lord’s Supper. And we will continue to celebrate it, not only on Maundy Thursday, not only on Easter, but every Sunday and sometimes in between for the rest of our earthly lives, proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes. Amen.

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A portrait of betrayal and denial

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Holy Tuesday

+  Luke 22-23  +

Certain details of the Passion History are repeated by all four Evangelists and should be emblazoned on our memories. The one I’d like to focus on for just a moment this evening is the betrayal of Judas and the denials of Peter. And this is what I want you to grasp: all Christians may fall into one or the other of these sins, but not necessarily both. Jesus speaks of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial quite differently. About betrayal He says, Truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed! It would be good for that man if he had not been born. While about Peter’s denial, He says, Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.

The betrayer, like Judas, is the Christian who is baptized, who begins in faith. But over time, he becomes disillusioned with the Jesus whom the Bible describes to us. His faith flickers and then dies. He remains in the Church, but in his heart, the Word of Christ no longer dwells richly. His heart is on earthly pleasures, earthly gain. He’s already a dead branch on the Vine. He is truly a hypocrite, a pretender, pretending to be a Christian on the outside, but not one on the inside. And at some point, he turns his back on Jesus entirely, by turning his back on the sound doctrine of the Word and leaving the Church, or even by turning against the members of Christ and speaking evil of them.

The denier, like Peter, is the Christian who is baptized, who begins in faith and who grows in faith. He recognizes his sin, that he deserves to die because of it. But he also recognizes the grace of the Lord Jesus and finds God’s mercy in Him. He knows and confesses Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. He remains in the Church because he knows it’s the best place to be. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! He is genuinely devoted to following Jesus, genuinely penitent and believing. But he still carries around the sinful flesh, which is always weak. He grows too confident in his own devotion, too sure of his own strength. He doesn’t listen to His Lord’s warnings to watch and pray. And then, when he is suddenly in danger, when he is afraid, when he is distracted, when he is put on the spot, he speaks or he acts as if he didn’t know Jesus or His Word, and he gives into temptation and falls.

Now, there is a way back for both the betrayer and the denier, when they recognize their sin. But recognizing the sin is only the first step. Judas recognized his sin of betraying innocent blood. But he never did trust in Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, either before his betrayal or after. His remorse wasn’t accompanied by faith. Peter, on the other hand, eventually recognized his sin of denial and the sin of self-confidence that came before it, and he wept over it, and trusted in his dear Lord Jesus to receive him back, sinner though he was. And, of course, all was forgiven, and Peter was restored, not only to a place in Christ’s kingdom, but to His office as apostle, and given the honor of suffering for Christ in the future.

Be careful of the preachers who accuse all Christians of being betrayers like Judas. That’s not how the Scriptures speak. Not every Christian becomes a Judas. But many, and maybe all, fall into the sin of denial, like Peter, maybe not as crassly, but on some level. Learn from Peter not to say, “That could never happen to me! I would never do that!” And when you fall, learn from Peter to repent. Learn from Peter to return to the Lord Jesus and to seek mercy from Him. You will find it, as Peter did. For Christ didn’t suffer and die for the innocent, but for the guilty. He didn’t suffer for the righteous, but for sinners, to bring them to repentance, and to give them the forgiveness of sins and the life everlasting that He purchased for them by His blood. Amen.

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Thy will be done

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Holy Monday

+  Mark 14-15  +

Thy will be done. That’s how Jesus ended His three prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane. But it wasn’t how Jesus began His prayers, was it? He began His prayers being “troubled, distressed, and exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” He began His prayers, pleading for the watchfulness and encouragement of His friends. He began His prayers earnestly begging His Almighty Father to “take this cup” from Him, to make a different way for the human race to be redeemed—a way that didn’t involve the great agony that He knew awaited Him. He dreaded the cup that was being poured out for Him. He wasn’t eager to drink it. It wasn’t easy for Him to pray, “Thy will be done.”

What’s more, He had a choice, unlike us. We don’t always have a choice whether or not to suffer; we’re all subject to various kinds of suffering in this world, because we’re sinners; we’re subject to the curse. But Jesus wasn’t. As we heard yesterday in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus told Peter, He could have asked His Father, and His Father would have sent twelve legions of angels to prevent Jesus’ arrest and His eventual crucifixion. He had a choice, because an innocent man, a sinless man, never has to suffer, never has to die. He is protected by God’s own Law, and God would have to deny Himself before He could force a sinless man to suffer and die.

So Jesus had a choice. Which would He choose? To avoid the suffering He didn’t deserve, or to drink the cup of suffering that mankind does deserve? In the end, He chose to leave the decision up to His dear Father. Thy will be done. “More than anything Father, I want to do what You know is best. I suffer willingly whatever You would have Me suffer.” And clearly there was no other way to redeem the fallen human race, or else the Father would never have willed for His Son to drink that terrible cup.

You know how hard it is to pray, “Thy will be done.” You know how hard it is to set aside your own desires, your own wishes, your own control over your own life. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. We’re prone to complain when we suffer. We’re prone to choose a sinful path, or the path of least resistance, rather than the path that honors God. And some people fall into such despair and unbelief that they choose to end their suffering—to end their life—rather than to submit to the Father’s will, rather than to pray, “Thy will be done.”

So let the perfect example of Jesus first bring you to repentance for the desire that lives at the bottom of your heart to have your will trump God’s will. And above all, trust in the One who became obedient to death, because His submission covers your complaining. His trust in His’s Father’s will earned a pardon for all your distrust.

Give thanks to God and learn from Jesus to pray, “Thy will be done,” even when it’s hard, even when it hurts. Be ready to drink whatever cup the Father pours for you, because you know that God’s will is truly best. It meant great suffering for Jesus, but in the end, it was good. It was right. It purchased the kingdom of heaven for us. God’s will may allow pain and suffering, which may be to discipline us, or which may be, as in the case of Jesus, to accomplish an even greater purpose. Learn to trust, like Jesus did. Learn to pray, “Thy will be done,” in every prayer, in every circumstance, and then, like Jesus, embrace His will. Your God will not abandon you. Amen.

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The sweet smell of death

Posted on March 25, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Palm Sunday

Philippians 2:5-11  +  Matthew 21:1-9  +  Matthew 26-27

Just a few words this morning; you’ve already heard the Passion History, and you’ll hear it again and again this week—the same story but with a few extra details each time and a slightly different perspective provided by each Evangelist, and each day we’ll focus for a few moments on a different aspect of that Passion History.

Today, on Palm Sunday, we focus on Jesus’ humble but triumphal entry into Jerusalem. You’re familiar with the donkey and with the prophecies of Israel’s king riding into Jerusalem in humility to save His people from their sins. You’re familiar with the Palm branches, with the loud Hosanna’s that were sung. But what is that sweet smell coming from Jesus as He passes by?

It’s from the night before Palm Sunday, when Jesus was in Bethany, at Simon the Leper’s house for a supper in Jesus’ honor, as you heard at the beginning of the Passion History. It’s John who tells us when exactly that meal took place, and that the woman who anointed Jesus there with that expensive perfume was actually Mary, the sister of Martha and of Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead not long before this, and that she anointed not only Jesus’ head, but also His feet, and wiped them with her hair. The perfume, the fragrant oil that she spent on Jesus was worth about a year’s wages. And the scent of it—a whole pound of it!—must have still lingered till the next day, and very possibly throughout the week.

By the end of that week, that same head, now fragrant with perfume, would be crowned with thorns and dripping with blood. By the end of that week, those same feet would be pierced by a nail and pinned to a cross. By the end of that week, the body of Jesus would lie buried in a tomb.

And Mary knew it. Because she’d been listening. The disciples thought it was a waste on Mary’s part, to lavish such a costly gift on Jesus—a gift better given to the poor. But He defended her: Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.

That was the last straw for Judas. It’s what sent him running to the chief priests, ready to betray Jesus into their hands. Why? Because he was so disappointed in Jesus. Because he thought this Christ would bring him earthly glory—riches, power, comfort, respect. But all Jesus turned out to be was a Christ who was determined to die.

Please, take the time this week to come and to hear, to meditate on Jesus’ determination to die, with the love and the devotion of Mary, because, for as gruesome as the story is, there’s a sweet smell underneath, the sweet smell of death. You can still catch it as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He goes willingly to His death so that we might live. He suffers for our sins so that we might go free. He is wounded so that we might be healed. He is buried in the earth, but only till the third day, when the sweet smell of death turns into the sweet smell of victory, for Jesus, and for all who are not disappointed in Him. Amen.

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Biblical Emphases: The Piety of the Cross

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Judica – Lent 5

1 Corinthians 1:18-31  +  John 12:23-33

The final Biblical emphasis we’ll consider during our Lenten services this year I’m calling the ‘piety of the cross.’ It’s another emphasis found throughout the Bible, although the term ‘cross’ doesn’t show up until the New Testament, for obvious reasons. It’s also another somewhat unique emphasis of the Lutheran Church, sometimes referred to as the “theology of the cross” (Luther’s own term), as opposed to the “theology of glory.” But the term “piety” is also heavily used in our Lutheran writings, and the bearing of the cross is a large part of piety.

First, what is ‘piety’? It’s godliness. It’s religious devotion. Devoutness. To acknowledge that man owes devotion and reverence to God. Fulfilling one’s duties to God, what we would call the First Table of the Law, the first three Commandments. The opposite is ‘impiety,’ ‘wickedness,’ ‘godlessness’ or ‘ungodliness.’ The word ‘ungodly’ is another word for ‘impious.’ The ungodly behave as if they didn’t owe anything to God. They are ‘irreligious.’

The pagans actually understood piety relatively well; it’s part of the Law that God has written into the hearts of all men by nature, and it shows up in many mythologies, like the Aeneid, for example. Remembering to offer sacrifices, prayers, acknowledging the hand of the gods in one’s life, to give the gods the proper credit for the good that has happened, to appease their wrath for the bad, offering the right prayers for things you wanted, doing what the gods told you to do, regardless of the consequences you might face.

The pagans, of course, directed their devotion to the wrong gods, and therefore, made up their own sacrifices and their own duties, and they wrongly thought that their pious devotion earned them God’s favor.

As Christians, we know who the true God is, and we understand that it’s not a person’s piety or devotion that earns God’s favor or that makes up for our sins. Original sin makes that impossible, as we’ve learned. We’re justified by faith alone, as we’ve learned. But for believers, piety is still important, the sense of devotion toward God and the focus on devotion toward God, toward fulfilling the First Table of the Law. Trusting in God for everything. Regular prayer. Honoring the name of God and the reputation of God, first in your heart, but also before the world. Taking time to read and study God’s Word, to hear the preaching of it, and to devoutly observe the Sacraments God has given to be observed.

Piety flows from faith in Christ. We live to imitate our Lord Jesus. Look at the examples in Scripture of His devotion to His Father, from twelve years old in the Temple, to all the time He set aside for prayer, and for living to accomplish the work His Father had given Him to do.

What is that special piety or devotion ‘of the cross’? Jesus teaches us that, too. We heard in John 12, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified…Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

Last night, we watched The Passion of the Christ. It showed the great pain Jesus endured, but it also conveyed rather well His resoluteness, His willingness, His unflinching faith in His Father’s goodness through it all. He didn’t approach the cross ignorantly or fatalistically, nor did He approach it “gladly” or easily. He approached the cross, walked right up to it and embraced it, out of pure devotion to His Father, without any complaining or bitterness for having to endure it. That’s piety.

A large part of piety is to bear the cross patiently, to recognize God’s love and faithfulness even in the midst of suffering, and sometimes to choose suffering for God’s sake rather than to choose an easy path that leads away from God. No one should choose to suffer for suffering’s sake. But to accept suffering patiently, if it’s God’s will that you suffer, or to choose the cross because it’s God’s will, because to choose a different path would be against God’s Word—that’s what we mean by the piety of the cross.

That’s what we heard Jesus talk about in the second lesson tonight…He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

The Christian serves God, renders devotion to God, by following Jesus, and that path inevitably includes the cross.

But God’s glory is there behind the suffering, behind the loss, behind the foolishness of what we preach and what we believe, even as Christ was glorified in His suffering.

And God’s choosing is there in the weak things of this world, as we heard Paul tell the Corinthians in the first lesson. God chooses the weak things, the foolish things, the ignoble things to shame the wise.

So, instead of being ashamed of our lowliness or suffering or foolishness in the eyes of the world, piety means accepting it, embracing it, choosing it when you have a choice between being faithful to God or being faithless, and even giving thanks to God for it. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The world can’t understand the piety of the cross. As soon as things start to go poorly, as soon as life on earth becomes hard, the world says, do whatever it takes to make the pain go away. When the world sees the Christian bearing the cross, the world taunts and asks, Where is your God? Well, we know where our God was. He was being whipped and beaten and scourged. He was being tried and condemned to death. He was up there on a cross. That’s what next week is all about, a focus on the cross. With the strength of that focus, we’ll all be better equipped for that daily piety of the cross, for all the daily self-denial and the struggles that await us this side of heaven. And when people ask, Where is your God?, we’ll be able to answer with conviction, my God was there, bearing the cross for me, but now He’s risen and exalted and reigning at the right hand of God, and where He is, there will I be. Amen.

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