Holy/Maundy Thursday
March 20, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
There Will Be Blood (Exod. 24:3-11; Heb. 9:11-22;
Matt. 26:17-30)
There Will Be Blood. When God saves a people and
takes them for his own, there will be blood. There
always has been.
There had been blood on the night of the Passover, the
exodus from Egypt, when the Lord God brought his
people Israel out of bondage. On that night, death
was coming to every household in Egypt. But the Lord
provided a way of escape. Tell the people, Moses, to
take a lamb without blemish or spot, slay it, and take
the blood of the lamb and spread it on the doorposts.
The blood will be a sign for death to pass over that
house, and you, my people, you will be spared. On
that night there was blood, the blood of the Passover
Lamb, and the result was deliverance from death and
liberation from bondage.
There had been blood on Mount Sinai, when the Lord God
gathered Israel unto himself, to make them his holy
people, to establish his covenant with them. Moses
met with the Lord on Mount Sinai and came down with
the Ten Commandments, a way of life fitting for Gods
holy people. The people said they would keep all
these words and do them. Moses then sealed the
covenant with blood. He took the blood of oxen,
calves, and goats and threw it on the altar and on the
people. Behold the blood of the covenant that the
Lord has made with you in accordance with all these
words. On Mount Sinai there was blood, the blood of
the covenant, and the result was a people belonging to
the Lord, to do his will and walk in his ways.
There had been blood at the tabernacle and the temple,
where sacrifices were made to atone for the sins of
the people. You see, though the people had said, All
that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be
obedient--though they had said that, they didnt
follow through. They did not do all that the Lord had
spoken. They did not keep his words, do his will, and
walk in his ways. They broke Gods good commandments,
time and time again. Their sins were an offense
against the Lord, and they needed to be atoned for.
Are we any better? How good of a job have we done to
keep Gods words, do his will, and walk in his ways?
Judged against the mirror of the Ten Commandments, not
so good. Have we let other gods get in the way? Have
we brought honor or shame to the name we bear as
Christians? How well do we hold Gods word sacred and
gladly hear and learn it? Do we live according to
Gods good order he has established for life in this
world? Do we treat our neighbor with the love and
care we have for ourselves? To these piercing and
penetrating questions of the law, we must confess that
we too have sinned against the Lord. We are no better
than Israel of old. We need forgiveness as much as
they did.
For ancient Israel, the Lord in his mercy provided
sacrifices for sins, to be offered first at the
tabernacle and then later at the temple. Sacrifices
for sins, the blood of bulls and goats and lambs.
Offerings of all kinds, whole burnt offerings, with
the blood sprinkled on the altar. The tabernacle and
temple were like a slaughterhouse, a bloody butcher
shop, showing the extent of the peoples sin, the
death that sin brings, and the extent of Gods mercy
to forgive sin. Sacrifices were offered daily,
because the sins of the people mounted up daily. And
one comprehensive sacrifice was offered yearly, on the
Day of Atonement.
There was blood on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur,
the one day of the year when the high priest, and only
the high priest, entered into the Holy of Holies and
sprinkled blood on the mercy seat of the Ark of the
Covenant. This was the annual comprehensive
sacrifice, to cover all the sins of the people, even
those that may have been missed in the daily
sacrifices. On the Day of Atonement there was blood,
to cover and atone for the sins of the people.
Indeed, as the writer to the Hebrews says, under
the law almost everything is purified with blood, and
without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
of sins.
But the very fact that these sacrifices had to be
repeated, day after day, year after year--this showed
that the blood of goats and calves could not really do
the job, once and for all. That would remain for the
one to whom all those previous sacrifices pointed.
There was one final sacrifice still to be made.
Therefore when we come to Jesus, the fulfillment of
the Passover Lamb, the mediator of a new covenant on
Mount Calvary, the once-and-for-all final sacrifice
for sin--when we come now to Jesus, of course there
will be blood. For without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness of sins. God had established
that pattern from the beginning, and now it is being
brought to completion. There will be deliverance from
death and liberation from bondage. There will be a
holy people belonging to the Lord. There will be
forgiveness for their sins. Therefore, there will be
blood.
Innocent blood. Christ came doing the will of God,
keeping the commandments without spot or blemish. He
is Israel reduced to one, the one obedient Son of the
Father. Even Judas realizes, too late, that he has
betrayed innocent blood. Jesus is the holy, innocent,
spotless Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice to be
made. There will be blood, innocent blood, shed in
these next 24 hours, on the night our Lord is betrayed
and on the day when he is beaten, flogged, crowned
with thorns, nailed to a cross, and pierced through
with a spear. There will be blood.
Precious blood. Judas, you settled for too cheap a
price! Thirty pieces of silver does not come close to
even one drop of this holy precious blood. For this
is the blood of the holy Son of God come in the flesh.
This blood has infinite, surpassing worth. There is
nothing to compare. If God, the Son of God, sheds his
own blood on behalf of sinners, this has more value
than all the silver and gold piled up high to heaven.
This holy precious blood brings to completion what all
the blood of goats and bulls and calves and lambs
could only point ahead to. I believe that Jesus
Christ . . . has redeemed me, a lost and condemned
person, purchased and won me from all sins, from
death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold
or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with
his innocent suffering and death.
There will be blood, forgiving blood, redeeming blood,
to plead for you before the throne of God, when your
sins come before his face. Jesus your high priest has
entered into the heavenly holy places and he presents
his holy blood as the perfect sacrifice for your sins.
Jesus is pleading your case for you! The blood of
Jesus pleads to the skies and for our pardon cries!
Do not let your sins cause you despair. Your sins are
forgiven by the blood of Christ! There will be blood
interceding for you before the throne of heaven on the
day of judgment. And you, my friend, you will be
declared not guilty, cleansed and free, and you will
be welcomed into heaven forever because of this
forgiving blood of the Lamb!
And to assure you of this, there will be blood, even
now, here in this Sacrament. On this night when our
Lord was betrayed, he instituted this blessed
Sacrament of his Body and Blood--so that you would
know and believe and receive into your dying body his
own life-saving body and blood. Take, eat; this is
my body. Drink of it, all of you, for this is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many
for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus solemn words
tell us what he is giving us here and what we are
receiving into our mouth: His very body, his very
blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of
sins. No greater gift could he give us. This is just
what sinners like you and me need: forgiveness, life,
and eternal salvation, given and guaranteed by the
all-availing sacrifice of Christs body and blood.
Yes, there will be blood here at this altar tonight.
Innocent, precious blood. The blood of the Lamb who
was slain. Therefore there will be deliverance from
death. There will be a holy people of God. There
will be forgiveness for sins. It is all here, for
you. There will be blood--the blood of your Savior,
Jesus Christ!
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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