BFP 169/170: Thursday in Holy Week

169. Thursday in Holy Week. I.

Lord, teach us to understand
that which thou doest. Amen.

John 13, 1-15. Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

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There are no words of ours which can do justice to this grand text, or can bring out its wondrous beauty. Do thou therefore, O Lord, explain it to us. — The sinner who has been justified is pure and spotless in the sight of God, all his guilt is taken away, he is robed in the seamless and undivided garment of Christ; “there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” God has justified them; who, then, shall lay anything to their charge? The justified sinner has been born again, and lives in righteousness and purity. He has a new heart, which loves God and does his will. But he also has flesh and blood, and his life is therefore as yet imperfect; there is more or less of dust which clings to his feet. “Ye are clean,” said Jesus to his disciples; but see how their pride causes them to sin. Each of them wants to be first. In like manner all believers have many open and secret faults. Therefore we all the time stand in need of forgiveness and renewal. This is what the Lord means by the ceremony of washing the feet. If he did not grant us every day new forgiveness for the sins which still cling to us, we could not continue in fellowship with him. If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (John 1, 8). If you do not feel the need of daily forgiveness and continued sanctification, you are not a child of God, and cannot from your heart pray the Lord’s Prayer; for in this prayer we say: “Forgive us our trespasses.” You cannot receive forgiveness, if you do not ask it; for in that case you are not in the estate of grace, and have no part in Jesus. O, how important it is that we know our sin and obtain mercy! It is the only way in which we can continue in grace, increase in holiness, and become every day more pure in all our conversation. — But he whom the Lord has made clean, and whose feet are washed by him from day to day, can and shall also wash the feet of others. That is to say: He must serve the brethren in devoted love, bear with their faults, hide their infirmities, and help them to become better. This is what the Lord would have us do. Let none of his disciples regard himself as too good to bend down and wash a brother’s feet, however unclean they may be; and let none look on with unconcern when his brother strays into filthy paths and defiles himself with sin. Do as the Lord did. He was conscious of being the Almighty God, and yet he washed the feet of his sinful disciples. The greatest man is most humble. None save Jesus can make us clean; yet we also shall wash one another. He that understands this, let him practice it! He will find herein the true joy of life. — O, that I may be pure in thy sight, O Lord, and that I may have need only to wash the feet! Let me not be among those unhappy ones who will not allow thee to wash them. Sanctify me, O Lord; wash my feet. Let no filth of sin cling to me; sanctify me wholly and entirely, in spirit and soul and body. Give me humility and charity, that I may cheerfully wash the feet of the brethren. Give me to be like-minded unto thee, that I may do that which thou hast done. Amen.

Loving Jesus, gentle lamb,
In thy gracious hands I am:
Make me, Savior, what thou art,
Live thyself within my heart.

I shall then show forth thy praise,
Serve thee all my happy days:
Then the world shall always see,
Christ, the holy child, in me.

170. Thursday in Holy Week. II.

Wash us, O Lord, and clothe us,
and make us worthy guests at thy table. Amen.

1 Corinthians 11, 23-29. 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. 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.

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Among the things which the Lord revealed to Paul was instruction in regard to the Holy Supper. How important a matter is this sacrament, and how full of meaning! It was instituted in the most solemn night of the Lord’s life on earth; and after his ascension to heaven he gives Paul instruction concerning this sacrament, at the time of calling him to the office of an apostle. To Paul he repeats the exact words which he used when instituting the sacrament. The account which Paul gives after his meeting with the Savior tallies exactly with what the other apostles report in regard to the events of the night in which he was betrayed. Let us understand that the Holy Supper is of more importance in our Christian life than words can express; and let us therefore hold it in highest esteem, and approach it with reverence.

It was on this Thursday evening that he sat with his disciples in a room in Jerusalem. He had already sacrificed himself, and had been anointed as one who had already died for our sins. And now, before finally yielding up his spirit, this night, while eating the passover with his disciples, it is his will to institute this sacrament, which gives us his body and blood to eat and drink, and which carries us back to the time and place of his death of atonement for our sins. In the hour of his death it must be done, that we may not only receive his body and blood, which he sacrificed for us, but may also sit at the altar on which the sacrifice was made, and shew the Lord’s death. He took bread, gave thanks, brake it, and said: Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying: This cup is the new testament in my blood; this ye do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. The Lamb of the passover in a striking way represents Jesus; but that is all. Here, in this new sacrament, we surely must have something more than a mere sign or symbol; and the Lord declares in express words: This is my body. With divine omnipotence he gives the disciples his glorified and heavenly body, even while he still sits among them in the form of a servant; and by his almighty word he commands that the bread and wine of the sacrament shall, for all time, give us his true body and blood. As surely as Jesus is truthful and almighty, the Sacrament of the altar is “the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine.” But while the bread does not merely represent the body of Christ, neither does it cease to be bread, and become the body of the Lord instead. No; when you eat the bread of the sacrament, the Lord gives therein his body. He makes no mention of the bread, he speaks as you would in administering medicine to the sick. You call it after the healing drug which it contains, and say nothing about the water in which you give it. Because the body and blood of Christ is united with bread and wine in the sacrament, Paul says: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” What a precious thing is this sacrament! And it shall remain unchanged and unchangeable to the end of time; and the Christians who partake of it thereby proclaim their faith, that Christ, the Son of God, died, and lives, and shall come again in his glory.

The Christians of our day do not come as often as they should to the Lord’s table. The earliest Christians partook of this sacrament much more frequently. Is it not highly necessary in our case also to be strengthened in faith, quickened in love, to be more firmly established in hope, to come nearer to Jesus, to taste his divine goodness, to have a powerful reminder of his death, to be led deeper into communion with him in his suffering, to be more closely knit together in brotherly love, to be made more zealous in bearing witness concerning our Savior; in short, to become more Christlike? O, how great is our need of all this! Therefore, dear brethren in the Lord; make more diligent use of this sacrament than has heretofore been your practice. There is no other place here below where Christ comes so near to us. In this sacrament he has agreed to meet you; here he gives himself to you; here you are with him in that awful night of his suffering and death; here the fire of love sets your soul aglow; for himself has said: “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him.” Blessed supper, in which my Lord Jesus himself is set before me! I will come often to this thrice blessed feast.

Now, since the Holy Supper is the body and blood of the Lord, by virtue of his own word, so that all, believers and unbelievers, who partake of it, eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus; it is of paramount importance that we examine ourselves. The Spirit of God testifies that if you receive this sacrament unworthily, you are guilty of the Lord’s body and blood. You outrage the Lord himself, you betray him, you give him the kiss of Judas, you crucify and blaspheme him; you eat and drink damnation to yourself! In God’s name, examine yourself! He will give you the necessary light. But if you know yourself as one indeed unworthy, and sincerely desire to be cleansed of sin; and if you believe that the gifts received are the body and blood of Christ, then you are properly prepared to partake of this Supper. Do not neglect it, as do the many who despise the Lord’s command: “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Help us, O God, to come often and in the right way to thy Supper, there to be strengthened in our faith, to be made sure of thy favor, and to enter into a closer communion with thee and with all the saints. Guard us from the danger of eating and drinking damnation to ourselves. Forgive us the sins which we have committed when partaking of Holy Communion; and, when we come to thy Supper, do thou carry us back over time and space, that we may be with thee and the twelve on that Thursday night in the room in Jerusalem, and there may forget all things else, and taste nothing save thy love. Amen.

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Here see the bread of life; see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above;
Come to the feast of love; come ever knowing:
Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove.