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1 Year Lectionary – Maundy Thursday – Thursday, April 14, 2022 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:27	The holy gospel according to saint john the 13th chapter glory to
0:34	you o lord now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come
0:40	to depart out of this world to the father having loved his own who were in the world he loved them to the end
0:46	during supper when the devil had already put it into the heart of judas iscariot
0:51	simon’s son to betray him Jesus knowing that the father had given all things
0:57	into his hands and that he had come from god and was going back to god he rose
1:02	from supper he laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel he tied it around his waist
1:08	then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to
1:14	wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him he said to simon peter
1:19	and said to him he came to simon peter who said to him lord do you wash my feet and jesus
1:26	answered him what i am doing you do not understand now but afterwards you will understand
1:32	peter said to him you shall never wash my feet jesus answered
1:37	if i do not wash you you have no share with me simon peter said to him lord not my feet
1:45	only but also my hands and my head and jesus said to him the one who has bathed
1:50	does not need to wash except for his feet but is completely clean and you are clean but not every one of you for he
1:58	knew who was to betray him and that is why he said not all of you are clean when he had washed their feet and put
2:05	out his idle garments and resumed his place he said to them do you understand what i have done to
2:12	you you call me teacher and lord and you are right for i for so i am
2:18	if then your lord and teacher have washed your feet you also ought to wash
2:24	one another’s feet for i have given you an example that also that you should do
2:29	just as i have done to you this is the gospel of the lord in the
2:34	name of jesus amen well this is it this is the night this
2:40	is the night that jesus is up all night long he’s got just
2:47	a little bit of time not much before he is arrested
2:52	and then found guilty of blasphemy even though he didn’t blaspheme and then he doesn’t
2:59	even make even the slightest effort whatsoever to defend himself because all of this
3:06	was according to the father’s plan and you’ll note then we are now officially kind of drawing to the end of
3:13	the lenten season which has been a penitential season a time for us to reflect
3:18	in our on our own lives in light of the ten commandments and uh if you would by
3:23	the power of the holy spirit not our own efforts by the power of the holy spirit intensify
3:29	our warfare against our own sinful flesh the devil and the world which always conspired to
3:37	lead us into temptation but it’s here what we’re going to note what a what an endearing picture christ gives us today
3:45	of his love of his mercy of his kindness and his desire in fact will
3:53	that that same love that is exemplified in his humbling himself and watching the
4:00	feet of his disciples that that same love then pours from christ to us
4:06	and then overflows from us to others you know i was i was really excited to see that
4:13	i received a gift from the the discord flock that’s what they call themselves what a great
4:19	name the discord flock i think i think more churches should
4:24	call themselves that they would be more honest if they did but the the reality is is that discord is the exact opposite
4:31	of what christ has called us to and so it let me let me kind of put it this way
4:36	if we examine this story christ this is the beginning of his passion there is one fellow among the 12
4:45	who is going to betray christ and it’s such such a sad sad account one of the church
4:53	fathers he said of judas that he was slumbering in the sleep of avarice
4:59	you see you know that sin kind of kills us and puts us back to sleep it reminds me of the words of the
5:05	book of hebrews chapter 3 therefore as the holy spirit says today if you hear god’s voice
5:12	don’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to
5:18	the test and saw my works they saw him for 40 years therefore i was provoked with that generation and said they
5:25	always go astray in their heart they have not known my ways as i swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest so
5:33	take care brothers take care lest there be in any of you unbelieving hearts
5:40	leading you to fall away from the living god so exhort one another every day as long
5:46	as it is called today so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness
5:51	of sin sin is deceitful and here’s the thing the world now has people out there who
5:58	are writing books they’re getting they’re getting celebrity spots on the oprah on the you know on the oprah
6:04	network and things like this and they’re they’re telling you a spirituality that goes something like this
6:09	you need to follow your authentic self stop denying yourself and just go
6:16	wherever your heart wants you to go man you know you want to leave your spouse go for it find that soul mate of yours
6:24	you you want you want to transition to a different gender do oh good you do it
6:29	man you know it doesn’t matter if you leave your children or not or divorce your family it doesn’t matter the wake
6:35	of wreckage and heartache that you leave behind you oh just you got to be true to your
6:41	authentic self this is how they talk right and that is not
6:47	freedom that is 100 percent
6:52	bondage in slavery it is it is don’t let any of you
6:58	have your hearts hardened by what the deceitfulness
7:03	of sin and it’s such a tragic story what ends up happening to judas it really
7:09	truly is but in that regard then let’s consider our gospel text we’ll tease out
7:15	a few things one of the things i thought was funny and as i was you know studying and getting ready for the sermon reading
7:21	some of the church fathers it’s like almost to a t you know when you look at their sermons on this text
7:28	they they they they’ll go now before the feast of the passover full stop and then
7:33	they just have to just go right into a full explanation which is which isn’t a bad thing to do if you think about it
7:39	you know i just find it an interesting thing you know we got to stop on the word passover and there’s an important
7:45	word we just read in the book of exodus about the very very first passover and
7:52	you’ll note then that the the story itself of the passover sounds hauntingly familiar as in regards
8:00	to the lord’s supper in fact the passover is the type and shadow if you
8:05	would regarding the lord’s supper itself so there’s the children of israel
8:11	enslaved to a snake hat guy right you know a stand-in for the devil and
8:16	they can’t free themselves but god by ten mighty acts of judgment
8:23	is just going toe-to-toe with snake hat dude and
8:29	bringing all him and his entire empire to their knees
8:36	all of this in order to save his people
8:41	and beloved isn’t that what we’re about to see happen tomorrow
8:48	as the prophecy goes in genesis god said that the seed of the woman
8:54	would crush the head of the serpent
8:59	crush his head and this is good news for us so there in the old testament moses
9:05	and aaron they’re in the land of egypt and god is commanded this is the feast this is the night of nights and for you
9:13	in fact your whole calendar year is going to be centered around this
9:19	event this shall be your first month you’ll tell it to all the congregation of israel that on the tenth day of this
9:26	month every man shall take a lamb according to their father’s houses a lamb for a household oh it reminds me
9:33	of that text that says of jesus behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world
9:39	those are the words of john the baptist he will take
9:45	count it up for the number that you need you shall make your count for the lamb your lamb will be without blemish
9:52	that sounds like jesus right tempted in every way that we were yet is without sin
9:58	you can take it from the sheep of the goats you shall keep it until the 14th day of this month and you’re going to
10:03	note here jesus is celebrating the passover and the very next day
10:09	he’s going to the cross not a coincidence
10:14	totally on purpose 100 planned so they shall eat the flesh that
10:20	night eat the flesh of their passover land that sounds well sounds yummy
10:27	how many of you have lamb on on easter right it’s it’s you know you see lamb or ham i think lamb is the more biblical of
10:34	the two right but the idea then here is is that in the lord’s supper what do we receive it is exactly what jesus says it
10:42	is it’s his body and blood given in shed for the forgiveness of your sins and
10:48	you’re going to note here that with the passover lamb begins an unbroken
10:55	thing in scripture all right think of it this way so there you show up
11:01	a long time later centuries later you show up at the temple right and you’ve got yourself a
11:08	sin offering and you offer up that sin offering what do you do with that thing after
11:13	it’s been offered up well part of it goes to the priest and what do the priests do with it they eat it
11:19	and what do you do if part of it comes back to you what do you do with it you eat it you’re going to note here
11:25	that over and again sin sacrifices are consumed it’s an interesting thing that we see in
11:32	scripture and so all of this is prefiguring what christ is going to do on the cross and then what he’s going to
11:39	do for us moving forward as we in covenant with him
11:45	feast on his very body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins
11:50	it is exactly as cr as christ says it is so he said so let’s see they will eat
11:57	the flesh that night do not eat of it raw or boiled you shall let none of it remain until the morning in this manner
12:03	you shall eat it your belt fastened your sandals and your feet your staff and you shall eat it in haste it is the lord’s
12:10	passover and then you’ll note then when did they sacrifice these animals
12:16	at twilight no now you sit there and go all right twilight when when does that begin
12:23	three in the afternoon the the correlations between christ’s
12:29	crucifixion are unmistakable christ cries out from the
12:35	cross my god my god why have you forsaken me and into your hands i commit my spirit
12:42	it is finished and he gives up his he gives up his spirit
12:47	and he dies at the same time of the evening sacrifice the same time the passover
12:54	lambs are slaughtered it’s an interesting thing when you consider it and then what will happen then
13:02	god says i will pass through the land of egypt that
13:07	night i will strike all the firstborn in the land of egypt both man and beast and on
13:13	all the gods of egypt i will execute judgment i am yahweh now we’ve heard that god you know over
13:20	and again you hear it said that well on the night of the passover the destroyer comes through but according to what we
13:26	just read here who’s the destroyer god
13:31	and you’re going to note the only thing that distinguishes the difference
13:36	between those who believe yahweh and those who don’t is the blood of the lamb
13:44	it’s the only thing and here is the thing on the day of judgment it is the same
13:50	on the day of judgment that’s what all of this is kind of prefiguring when god judges satan judges the world
13:57	brings egypt and babylon crashing down and i’m talking kind of like in type and
14:02	shadow there and he brings everybody into judgment the only thing that keeps god in his
14:09	wrath from having us join the rest of the world
14:15	is the blood of the lamb you see it is christ’s blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins
14:21	that reconciles you to god it is christ’s derelict body bruised beaten scourged
14:28	nailed to a tree that bloody beyond recognition
14:34	that saves you and saves me and it is his blood
14:39	that is on us in us that we consume every time we have the
14:45	lord’s supper and you’ll note then this promise that god would pass over
14:51	that’s true for us as well in the new covenant because all of this was was type and shadow in fact
14:58	we are in the exodus now so the blood shall be a sign for you on
15:04	the houses where you are when i god says i see the blood i will pass over you no
15:10	plague will befall you to destroy you when i strike the land of egypt this day
15:15	shall be for you a memorial day and you shall keep it as a feast to yahweh throughout your generations
15:21	aye yes the passover is indeed most appropriate to hang on to and
15:27	understand how christ fulfills it all of that type and shadow he is our passover
15:32	lamb and this is why you know we don’t we don’t have seder dinners on monday thursday that’s you get the idea
15:39	so when jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father having loved his own who were in
15:45	the world he even loved them to the end and he still keeps on loving them by the way this is not saying that well once he
15:52	died he stopped loving him that’s that’s not what it says so during the supper when the devil had already put into a
15:59	heart of judas iscariot simon said to betray him jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hand and
16:05	that he had come from god and was going back to god he rose from supper
16:11	he laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel he tied it
16:17	around his waist
16:28	we’re not like this i i’m not like this
16:33	you and i um we want to be number one right isn’t
16:39	this world all about climbing to the top notoriety or
16:45	having power and influence and and and you just think about
16:51	jesus isn’t about any of that i it was absolutely tragic as i
16:58	have been watching the stories and the documentaries regarding hillsong the fall of carl
17:06	lentz the fall of brian houston and these are men who were all all about
17:11	power and money a story just came out this week where people who worked at hillsong
17:17	new york city said that working under lentz that you know it gave them
17:22	mental illnesses sounds extreme but it actually makes sense because these men
17:28	were all about themselves they preached about themselves and they taught the people
17:34	who came to their services all about how to be like them
17:40	but not to be like jesus and this is the point have you ever had that experience when
17:47	you see a text like this it stands in such stark juxtaposition
17:54	to what we’re all like inherently because we are of our father the devil we we
18:02	want these the power and the glory like the devil that something like this
18:07	stands out in such stark contrast that you can’t help but get that little check
18:13	inside of your throat and and maybe even tear up a little bit
18:19	it is the kindness of god it is the mercy of jesus his humanity
18:26	and humility that makes me realize that i’ve got a problem
18:33	it actually convicts me of my own evil and i think maybe it does you too
18:39	so there’s jesus king of kings lord of lords god of god
18:45	light of light very god of very god by nature god
18:50	taking up a towel putting it around his waist and
18:56	doing the job of well the lowest servant in in in the house or the lowest slave
19:03	in the house this is the job that no slave wanted and there’s
19:08	jesus and and simon like me and like you he he’s he’s
19:14	oh no no no no it’s not supposed to be this way
19:19	lord do you wash my feet peter said
19:29	what i’m doing you don’t understand now afterwards you will
19:36	afterwards you will and it’s here where i’ll plug this in i always love when i read the church
19:43	fathers or i read a sermon on these texts and and somebody gives me another insight into scripture that i hadn’t
19:50	seen before and it might seem like a throwaway connection but it’s really not
19:56	if you if you would go back with me to the book of exodus you don’t have to go there i’ll read it to you but exodus
20:02	chapter 30 god is giving moses the instructions on how to build the
20:07	tabernacle the very very first worship
20:13	building it’s a temporal thing that can move around worship facility there we go
20:19	first worship facility for the israelites and well god is
20:25	consecrating and setting apart the levites they’re going to be the ones who are responsible for doing the priestly
20:31	duties in the tabernacle and then you get this little detail
20:37	that god says that moses needs to make a bronze basin for washing
20:43	in hebrew it’s a mikvah right so yahweh said to moses you shall also make a basin of bronze with its stand of bronze
20:51	for washing you shall put it between the tent of meeting in the altar and you
20:57	shall put water in it in which aaron and his son shall wash their hands and their feet
21:02	when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister to burn
21:08	to burn a food offering to yahweh they shall wash with water so that they may
21:13	not die they shall wash their hands and their feet so that they may not die it shall be a statute forever and and
21:20	here’s the basic idea the basic idea here is that well
21:27	the old in the old testament the levites before they could enter into the tabernacle or go into the holy of holies
21:35	or go in to pick up the ark of the covenant in order to carry it
21:40	outside they all had to wash they had to wash or they would die right and so
21:46	one of the church fathers put it this way that what christ is doing here in part
21:52	not in total but in part is he is washing the feet of his disciples
21:58	so that they are clean so that they can carry the ark of the
22:03	good news of christ and him crucified for our sins out into the world
22:09	is it not christ who makes us a kingdom of priests and so you’ll note then that
22:14	each of us as a kingdom of priests we too are washed in the waters of baptisms
22:19	christ washes away our sins unites us with him in his death and his resurrection it is is a washing of
22:27	regeneration and all the wonderful promises of scripture what a great connection man i wish i’d seen it myself
22:34	but one of my best secrets is is that i’m
22:40	really good at reading and in taking things in and weaving from the wisdom of
22:45	others and those who preceded us but you get the idea here but man what a beautiful idea
22:50	so what i’m doing you don’t understand now afterwards you will understand it
22:57	and you can just see peter at this point you’re never gonna wash my feet lord
23:04	this bucks up against all of that still latent self-glory
23:12	tendencies of peter this is the guy who in just a few minutes is going to say to
23:17	jesus after jesus said the scripture must be fulfilled he’s going i’m going to strike the shepherd and all the sheep
23:22	are going to be scattered and and peter’s going to say even if everyone else deserves you lord i will not right
23:29	okay it’s still in there and hit it’s
23:35	christ’s crucifixion and his kindness and his washing it that just it really
23:40	is challenging to that demonic way of thinking for peter
23:49	you’ll never wash my feet jesus said if i don’t wash you you have no share with me
23:54	checkmate right so simon peter said lord then not my
24:01	feet also my hands my head just wash me lord no one who has bathed does
24:06	the one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet but it’s completely clean you are clean not every
24:12	one of you and here jesus is using term of clean referring to those who have faith in
24:18	christ judas doesn’t and so judas is the one who is not clean as one of the church
24:25	father says he’s slumbering in the sleep of avarice all right so jesus knew who was betrayed
24:31	them so when he had washed their feet he put on his outer garments
24:36	and he resumed his place do you understand what i’ve done to you
24:43	you call me teacher you call me lord you’re right for so i am
24:49	if then your lord and your teacher have washed your feet you also ought to wash one
24:55	another’s feet for i have given you an example that you also should do just as i have done for
25:02	you truly i say to you servant is not greater than his master nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him if you
25:08	know these things blessed are you if you do them and so christ here is telling us to have
25:14	that same love beloved let us love one another john writes in his epistle
25:21	for love is of god everyone who loves is born of god and knows god
25:26	the one who doesn’t love doesn’t know god because god is
25:32	love so put away the the ambition
25:37	put away the vain glorious conceit put it all away
25:42	stop thinking about numbers and bank accounts and influence and all that just put it all
25:49	away christ became the lowest of the low and he says that a servant is not
25:56	greater than his master and you’ll note that in saying this christ has taken the world’s values and
26:02	just flipped them and you can always tell when people are still listening to the world’s values
26:09	because it’s not in line with any of this in fact what jesus did is so kind and in
26:17	just another two chapters later here’s what jesus says this is my commandment
26:23	that you love one another as i have loved you and so listen to what i’m going to say
26:29	here we lutherans we like to talk about law and gospel we like to make a proper
26:36	distinction and absolutely the command to love is law
26:41	but this command of love cannot be accomplished apart from the gospel in fact it is only the gospel
26:48	that brings this thing to life my this is my commandment that you love one another because greater love has no
26:56	one than this that someone laid down his life
27:02	for his friends you are my friends
27:07	if you do what i command so no longer do i call you servants the servant does not know what the master is
27:13	doing but i have called you friends for all that i have heard from my father i have made known to you you didn’t
27:20	choose me i chose you and i pointed you that you should go and bear fruit and
27:25	that your fruit would abide so that whatever you ask of the father in my name that he may give you
27:30	so brothers and sisters jesus is our
27:36	friend no greater love than this
27:42	that someone laid down his life for his friends you are his friend
27:47	he laid down his life for you he instituted the lord’s supper
27:53	for you he took on the the crown of thorns for you he was
28:00	he let his back be scourged and opened up and ripped to shreds
28:07	for you he was nailed to the cross hands and feet
28:12	for you and he breathed his last after suffering in the dark for your sins
28:19	so that you can be his friend and you’ll note then if you believe this
28:26	you have nothing to fear on the day of judgment at all you have there’s no reason to shrink back in fear of god’s
28:26	judgment because god has sent his only begotten son
28:38	and he has laid down his life for his friends and he proves it not only in word
28:45	but indeed and so this monday thursday although we’re gathering
28:52	on the internet as we get ready to consider the sufferings and passion of christ
29:00	let us repent of our ambition let us repent of all the ways in which
29:07	we have vain gloriously set ourselves up over others rather than humbly
29:12	taking on a towel and washing the feet of the saints
29:18	the lowest of the low are down there but also the faithful of the faithful
29:24	in the name of Jesus amen

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