Over Our Carelessness
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Jesus’ Bucket List Is A Bucket Full of Blessings
4.14.22 [Matthew 26:17-19] Maundy Thursday
Expiration dates are for gallons of milk, not people. We may think we’d appreciate the clarity of having a date stamped on our shoulder indicating the day we would expire. We think it would change how we live. Knowing when your last day will be, before it comes to pass, would help us make preparations, might help us make the most of every moment, could help us come to grips with death. Or so we think.
Sometimes, people are told, by medical experts, how long they can expect to live. An oncologist may look at the rapid nature at which the cancer is growing and tell his patient how long he can expect to live. But even this is nothing more than an educated guess. Doctors can be wrong.
Yet, even though we know that doctors can be wrong, when a person receives a terminal diagnosis with a timeline, they change how they live.
People with failing health don’t fritter away their remaining days. They don’t go back to the office. They don’t spend time refreshing their Facebook feed. They don’t watch reality TV. They live differently.
Even old habits die quickly when you find out you’re quickly dying. Some people might work feverishly on their bucket list—packing their last days full of joyful, new experiences.
Some become bitter. The pain and the stress of their impending death makes them treat everyone around them really poorly.
Others become kind of paralyzed by the news. They don’t know how to take it; how to tell others. They just kind of hope it goes away.
People react very differently when they find out they’re dying soon. We understand why. So we don’t criticize a dying person for doing dangerous things, loses their temper, or just mentally checking out. It would be hard to imagine anyone, knowing they had but a day or so left, living life like normal. But you don’t have to imagine it. Because it happened. Actually that’s what’s happening in our text this evening. Let me read a few verses for you from the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.
Mt 26:17-18 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate (keep) the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ”
On the day before the day stamped on his shoulder not just for his expiration, but for his excruciating suffering and death—Jesus continued to live as he always had. He knew exactly what was about to happen to him. He called it Mt 26:18 his appointed time. He called it Jn. 12:23 his hour of glory. Mt 26:1-2 Earlier, he told his disciples: “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
Yet, we do not see Jesus embroiled in the bitterness, or going for a Jerusalem joy-ride, or paralyzed by fear of his impending suffering and death. He lives as he always lived. Worshiping the one true God. Mt. 5:17 Fulfilling the Law and Prophets in our place. We may take that for granted, but search the Old Testament. Only three time in the days after Samuel are we told that Israel celebrated the Passover. And that was when they were enjoying the Promised Land!
When we consider the challenges Jesus was facing, the stress he was under, the fickle company that surrounded him, we ought to stand in awe of his devotion to the Law. When we see dedication, his devoutness, & his faithfulness we ought to be ashamed.
Facing fewer challenges, under less stress, and with more loyal and encouraging friends, we simply don’t make worshiping the Lord the priority it should be. You know what God deserves:
Lk. 10:27 All your heart…soul… strength…and mind Pr. 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him. He will make your paths straight. Jn. 4:24 Worship God in spirit and in truth. 1 Th. 5:16-18 Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances. This is God’s will.
Yet how often don’t we struggle to live this way—even when things are going well? Can we really claim to be loving the Lord with our all, when we’re get frustrated by who’s not here, or who’s preaching, or what song we are or are not singing? It’s fine to have good friends at church, favorite preachers or hymns, but have we forgotten that we gather here to praise God, not please ourselves?
When we make plans for the future is the question that guides us: What is God’s will for me and all that he has committed to my care? Or is it: What do I want to do? What’s gonna make me happy?
When we face moments where things get tight, tense, or trying, do we rejoice in how God is about to reveal his wisdom & love? Do we 1 Pt. 5:7 cast our cares upon him, knowing and trusting that he cares for us & Rm. 8:28 acts in our best interest?
Do we look for reasons to Ps. 107:1 give thanks to the Lord even when things look bleak? Far too often, in stressful situations we behave selfishly. We make conscientiously sinful choices and then, after the fact, offer lame excuses about how we couldn’t help ourselves or we were too overwhelmed in the moment.
Far too often, even in good times, children of God say they are too busy for worship in God’s house every single week or to spend time in his Word each day. Far too often, the only regular prayers we offer to the Lord are rote, rushed, and really thoughtless. Just because that’s what we know we should do before we eat a meal.
Far too often, in painful trials we are proud, not prayerful. Far too often, we are quick to complain about what we don’t have—that we think we deserve—than thankful or joyful for God’s goodness.
Even now, we want to mount some kind of a defense. We want to point out all the times we have gone to worship, all the times we have prayed, all the times we have trusted in the Lord, all the times we have been grateful, joyful, and content.
But God’s Law is not a spiritual bucket list. Obedience does not mean you have done the things God demands a time or two. It means habitual. Continual. Every single time. Even when it is tough. Even when times are stressful. Even when circumstances and other people make it nearly impossible. Gal. 3:10 Everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law is cursed. But Gal. 3:13 Christ became that curse in our place. He lived righteously to Gal. 3:13 redeem us Titus 2:14 from all our wickedness, & Gal. 3:13 from the curse of the law.
So tonight, as we focus Jesus’ dedication, his devoutness, and his faithfulness on the day before he died, instead of being ashamed, let us be appreciative, joyful, and strengthened. This is what Jesus wants for all those who have been redeemed by his holy, 1 Pt. 1:19 precious blood.
As Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples, he was keeping God’s Law. He was Ex. 12:14 commemorating the day that the one, true God rescued his people from slavery Ex. 13:16 with his mighty hand. He was celebrating God’s power, mercy, and desire to Ex. 3:7 hear the cry of his people, to come and save them. He was meeting the requirements of the Law. Demonstrating to us that there was no set of circumstances that invalidates the Law of the Lord. There is never an excuse for failing to obey.
But Jesus wasn’t just keeping the Passover, he was fulfilling it and furnishing us with its blessings. Jesus wasn’t just celebrating God redeeming his Israel, he was about to secure that gift for the world.
Jesus submitted himself to the demands of the Passover so that he might endow us with its blessings. Jn. 1:29 The Lamb of God took away the sin of the world. Jesus shed his holy, precious blood 1 Pt. 1:18 to redeem us from sin’s empty way of life & to fill our lives with his gifts.
Because of Jesus’s commitment to our salvation, this meal is filled with blessings we could never imagine, much less earn. In the Lord’s Supper, we are gifted total forgiveness of sins. It is not more complete than the proclamation of absolution—both are gifts from God. But this meal has a very personal nature.
When you receive the bread and drink from the cup you are personally receiving from the Son of God his body and blood and all of the good things he promises. Jesus’ last will and testament, his divine bucket list, was to give you and me a bucket full of priceless spiritual blessings. Forgiveness of sins. Peace that passes all understanding. Having been redeemed from sin’s empty way of life we now enjoy the life to the full that the Son of God promised. God taking away our guilt and shame works newness of life. God feeding our souls provides strength for sanctified living. God gathering us around his table where he serves as host and meal is like a joyful Christian family dinner.
In this meal, we enjoy the blessed support of our brothers and sisters in Christ. In this meal, we express & enjoy Christian fellowship. As we exercise our faith together, the God who gifts us faith draws us together more and more. We not only become more equipped to bear each other’s burdens, to forgive one another as we have been forgiven, but we become more joyful in doing so. This meal is a foretaste of the bliss that awaits us in heaven. This meal reminds us that we are not marked with an expiration date, but an exaltation date.
One day we will breath our last breath of air in this sin-polluted world, but on that day we will not breath our last. On that day, we will be set free from sin’s tyranny and the devil’s wiles. On that day, our souls will go to the God who made them. On that day, we will taste and see what our appetite has been whetted for. On that day, we will not celebrate the Passover in an upper room for but an evening, but we will celebrate the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in the mansions of heaven forever. Amen.