The Fourth Chief Part: Holy Baptism
Good Shepherd Lutheran – Yucaipa, California
April 9-10, 2020
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In the name of the Father, and of ✝ the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Two days, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, bring together in one all to which the words of our Lord Jesus Christ pointed us. When He promised Nicodemus a new birth, a birth from above by water and the Holy Spirit in Baptism, He kept that promise when on the night He was betrayed, He washed His disciples’ feet in loving, sacrificial service, and when He poured out His blood like water on the day of His crucifixion. When He said that His body is true food and His blood is true drink, He backed up the Christian’s spiritual feeding on Christ in faith with a real, in-the-mouth gift of His true body and blood, sacrificed on Calvary and hidden in, with, and under bread and wine in the Holy Supper that He hosted for the Twelve, saying, “Do this, often, in remembrance of Me.”

It never does well for us to doubt the words of Christ. I don’t think we intentionally do so, but when we react in fear or anxiety at our situation around us, or when our faith doesn’t seem as strong as we wanted it to be, then we fall for the temptation to doubt the words that give us salvation and life. The words of Christ on these two days, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, remove not only our anxieties and fears, but most importantly they remove our sins, our barriers to God our Father and the eternal life He designed for us to enjoy. The words of Christ accompany the holy actions of the God-Man Jesus that are described on these two days with the richest detail in all four of our Gospel books. When He says, whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, that means Jesus has done everything necessary to back up that unbelievably comforting promise that’s given to every Baptized Christian.

The Words of our Lord are spoken not only on Maundy Thursday, the night that Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Altar, but every time we participate together in Holy Communion. This repetition of Christ’s Words comprises the remembrance that Jesus desired from our hearts every time our lips receive the purchase price for our heavenly home. When Jesus said this Bread is His Body, we should believe His Word. When He says this Wine is His Blood, we should believe His Word. No further thought on our part is needed; we don’t need to guess whether the bread changes into Christ’s Body at the moment it touches our lips or sometime before. Or that the wine has to be red in order to look like Christ’s Blood. Just believe the Words, and it is so. Jesus takes care of all the rest. And on the Cross, when Jesus says, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do, we can be certain that we are forgiven too. The suffering and death that He went through on these two important days guarantee those words and bring them home to us.

Good thing that Christ’s Words bring salvation home! That’s where we are stuck for another couple weeks! We must remember that we are the Church, and no amount of government-mandated separation or social-distancing can destroy the Church. Even though we are robbed of our usual way of gathering to hear Christ’s all-important words on these two big days, we still have the Voice of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, guiding us with His saving Words, and backing up those words with the actions that we recall and worship with holy adoration. Blessings to you on these two holy days, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday!

Pr. Mark Stirdivant