Sermon -- Maundy Thursday (April 17, 2025)

HEBREWS 10:15-25

JESUS GIVES US A NEW AND ENDURING COVENANT.

In the name + of Jesus.

     The covenant that the Lord had established with Israel at Mt. Sinai was a holy arrangement between God and his redeemed people.  While the Lord was always faithful to his end of this covenant, God’s people were not.  Sinners proved themselves sinners—no matter how great the blessings were for obedience and no matter how harsh the punishments were for disobedience.  The Ten Commandments still carry blessings and curses.  In his explanation to the Conclusion to the Commandments, Martin Luther wrote, “God threatens to punish all who transgress these commandments.  Therefore we should fear his anger and not disobey what he commands.  But he promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these commandments.  Therefore we should love and trust in him and gladly obey what he commands” (Luther’s Small Catechism).  The threats do not keep us from sinning against his word, and the promises are not enough to have us willingly and consistently do the good God desires.  The old covenant was destined to fail—not on God’s part, but on ours.  A new covenant is needed if it is to endure and if we are truly to benefit from it.

     The old covenant also limited access to the Lord’s presence.  In some respects, we have such limitations today.  Our president is a servant of the people, but no citizen can just walk into the Oval Office to speak with the president.  You need to have an appointment, go through a background check, and endure a slew of security measures if you would even have a chance to see the president.  A senator would have easier access than a mayor, and a mayor would have easier access than you.  But there are limits on all people.

     In a similar way, access to God was granted only as God directed.  Non-Israelites were kept the farthest out—restricted to the outer courtyard of the Temple.  Israelite women could get a little closer.  Israelite men could enter the area where the altar was.  Priests could enter the temple itself.  But a thick curtain prohibited entrance into the Holy of Holies. They couldn’t even peak inside of it.  Sewn into the curtain were two cherubim which guarded the way into the Holy of Holies just as cherubim guarded the way back into the Garden of Eden.  That curtain preached its own sermon: Sinners cannot stand in God’s holy presence.  The curtain declared physically what Isaiah proclaimed verbally: “It is your guilt that has separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2).

     The only one who was ever granted access to the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, was the high priest.  He was restricted to one day a year, and he was not allowed behind the curtain unless he came with a sacrifice of blood.  If access to the Lord was so restrictive where God chose to dwell with people on earth, how could people hope to dwell with God in his heavenly presence?  A new covenant would be needed if it is to endure and if we are truly to benefit from it.

     Jesus gives us a new and enduring covenant.  The writer to the Hebrews goes on at length to explain how everything about Jesus is superior to the old covenant.  That is what the whole letter is about.  Regarding access to the Lord, he writes, “we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place through the blood of Jesus.  It is a new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh.  We also have a great priest over the house of God” (Hebrews 10:19-21).  Jesus is our great high priest who entered into the very presence of God.  He did not take the blood of goats or bulls; rather, Jesus entered heaven itself with his own blood.  Jesus is both the high priest and the sacrificial victim.  He presented his own holy, precious blood which was shed in his innocent sufferings and death on our behalf.  This perfect sacrifice is pleasing to the heavenly Father, establishing peace with him and securing us a place with him. 

     Jesus gives us a new and enduring covenant.  The barrier that had stood between us and our Lord was our sin.  Remember: “It is your guilt that has separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2).  But our Lord Jesus has taken away the sin of the world.  Listen to what St. Matthew records about the death of Jesus.  “After Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.  Suddenly, the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:50-51).  That curtain which had forbidden access to the Holy of Holies was rent in two the moment Jesus died.  Now no barrier stands between us and our Lord.  All sins were punished and purged by Jesus’ death.  Since sin has been taken away, there is nothing to prohibit your access to God anymore.  There is no pecking order in our access to God’s presence.  Whether man or woman, lay person or clergy, young or old, single or married, Jew or Gentile—all have the same access to God.  For, all have the same Savior, and all live under the same, enduring covenant.  Jesus grants us eternal access to the Father.  Jesus gives us a new and enduring covenant.

     So, why would this new covenant endure where the old covenant failed?  It is because the Lord has not made any demands of you for this covenant to be fulfilled.  He does not ask you to contribute anything.  Jesus fulfilled the Law for you with his perfect obedience.  Jesus took up your sin to suffer its curse for you.  Then Jesus overcame death by his resurrection and opened up heaven to you.  He has done it all and delivers the blessings to you.  Since it is all God’s work, this is the new covenant endures through all ages and in all circumstances. 

     But isn’t there anything for us to do?  What about faith?  What about repentance?  What about good works?  Aren’t these conditions to be met?  Don’t we need to do something to set us apart from the rest of mankind which is perishing?  Some suggest or insist that we must make some contribution toward our salvation.  They argue that our part proves why we are saved but others are not.

     What does the writer to the Hebrews say?  “The Holy Spirit also testifies in Scripture to us, for first he said: This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord.  I will put my laws on their hearts and I will write them on their mind” (Hebrews 10:15-16).  In other words, the faith that trusts God’s promises and receives his salvation—this faith God has worked in you.  The Holy Spirit has given you new life in Christ, and he sustains it in you.  He has put God’s law in your heart so that you not only believe it, but you also live according to it.  The repentance God calls for, he works in you so that you turn from sin and strive for holiness. 

     To be sure, there is something that sets you apart from the rest of mankind which is perishing: The Holy Spirit has set you apart.  He works repentance in you.  He sustains a living faith within you.  That is why this new covenant endures.  It is God who works in you to will and to work according to God’s good purpose.  And that is why God does not throw it back into your lap, as if God had left something undone.  The writer to the Hebrews declares God’s promise: “I will not remember their sins and their lawlessness any longer.  Now where these sins are forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (Hebrews 10:17-18).  You might remember your sins.  Even if you try to suppress the memory, the devil will dredge up the past.  He will accuse and convict.  You will try to find ways to forget and to eliminate the feelings of guilt.  But it is not necessary.  The only one who can condemn you for your sins is Jesus, and he has taken them away.  Instead, the Lord calls to remembrance the sacrifice he made once and for all.  Therefore, no more sacrifice is needed.  No conditions still need to be met.  Salvation has been secured.  Your access to God is unrestricted.  Jesus gives us a new and enduring covenant.

     To make you partakers of this new and enduring covenant, our Lord has given sacraments to his Church.  Once again, these are not acts that you do.  These are God’s gracious acts through which he delivers forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation to you.  In your baptism, you were cleansed of all sin.  You were united to Jesus in his death and resurrection.  The sinner was put to death, and the Lord raised up a saint. 

     Tonight, we especially remember the sacrament which the Lord gave to his church on the night he was betrayed.  In it, he makes us partakers and beneficiaries of his atoning sacrifice.  “He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same way, he took the cup after the supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is being poured out for you’” (Luke 22:19-20).  We not only remember the death of Jesus Christ, we also are in communion with it so that we receive forgiveness through it.  And our Lord remembers his covenant with us—that we are redeemed and reconciled to the Father through the blood of Jesus. 

     Jesus gives us a new and enduring covenant.  This is why the writer to the Hebrews urged his fellow Christians: “Let us hold on firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.  Let us also consider carefully how to spur each other on to love and good works.  Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing.  Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:23-25).  The only way we could nullify this covenant is if we abandon it.  Many Christians have wandered from the saving faith for one reason: They stopped gathering to hear the word and receive the sacrament.  But if we are faithful in receiving his gifts, he will be faithful in strengthening and keeping us in the saving faith.

     Jesus gives us a new and enduring covenant.  He entered the Most Holy Place with his holy, precious blood to gain access to God’s presence for us.  Then he gives us his holy, precious blood in the sacred feast to sustain us in the saving faith and to purify our spirits.  So, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, knowing that we have access to God’s presence.  When our last hour comes, he will send his angels for us.  The angels who had guarded the way to Paradise will usher us into Paradise to dwell in the very presence of God.  Then the covenant will endure.  For, as St. John promises, “God’s dwelling is with people. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people.  God himself will be with them, and he will be their God” (Revelation 21:3).

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.