Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Matthew 26:18
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  March 2, 2022

Back in 1977, Pastor William Lauterbach wrote a commentary on the events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. It is called, “The Crucial Hours.” It’s the inspiration for our midweek services this year. What do you think of when you hear that word, crucial? Extremely important, critical, essential? Interestingly, the word crucial comes from the Latin word for “cross.” What a marvelous connection we see in this season of Lent! The events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday are truly “crucial” because they all led to Jesus’ cross. And so it is our privilege to look at those Crucial Hours and consider how critical and essential they were for Jesus, for those around him, and for us. 

Today, we consider Jesus’ words from Matthew 26:18, “I will keep the Passover.” It’s so matter of fact. Of course, that’s what Jesus was going to do–keep the Passover. We’ve gotten used to this by now, haven’t we? Jesus is always keeping God’s commands. And so of course he was going to keep God’s command to celebrate the Passover, that remembrance of God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt, that fateful day when the angel of death put to death every firstborn male as a judgment on Pharaoh for not letting God’s people go. The name of the festival doesn’t come from death, but from deliverance. That angel passed over the homes that had the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts. This was a celebration of life, not death. 

And so of course Jesus was going to keep the Passover. That’s what every Jew was doing, right? Well, maybe not every Jew. Undoubtedly, there were some Jews who thought it wasn’t a big deal if they didn’t keep the Passover every year. There were probably some who thought it was good enough to keep most of the Passover. They would get together for a meal, but not worry about the details. And there were certainly some who were keeping the Passover right down to the last detail, at least outwardly, but their hearts were somewhere else–more concerned about this Jesus problem and plotting how they could kill him. 

But, Jesus, of course, Jesus was going to keep the Passover. But do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? Do you see how much we are taking this for granted? What do we mean, “of course”? If anyone had something to keep him from keeping the Passover, it was Jesus. He had the Sanhedrin trying to get rid of him. He had a traitor lying in wait among his disciples. If anyone ever had a good excuse to skip the Passover or to modify the Passover or to do the Passover his own way this year, it was Jesus! If anyone could have said, “I need some “me” time. I need to put myself first right now,” it would have been Jesus. But he didn’t. He kept the Passover. And it was crucial that he did!

It’s an interesting choice of word–”keep.” It comes from the Greek word which is often translated to “make” or “do.” It makes us think of how people talk about the Commandments, doesn’t it? And yet, aren’t there times when we believe that we have more pressing things on our minds; times when instead of doing God’s will, instead of keeping the Commandments, we can set them aside for now. We confidently say, “I will keep God’s commandments…” but then we add, “later.” ‘I will keep the Third Commandment…next weekend, because I have more important things to do this weekend. I will keep God’s commandments…when it’s not inconvenient for me. I will keep God’s commandments…at least the really important ones. I will keep God’s commandments…at least more often than I break them.” Even our best efforts to keep the commandments, all of our good intentions, fall woefully short of what’s expected. 

What Jesus says here in Matthew 26 should not be something we take for granted or get used to hearing. This simple statement should stop us in our tracks and cause us to marvel at how amazing this is. If there’s a tendency to focus on one aspect of Jesus’ work of saving us, we tend to focus on the suffering and the dying, and with good reason. However, we dare not lose sight of what took place before the suffering and the dying, what we call Jesus’ active obedience. It was crucial! It was crucial that  Jesus actively obeyed every single aspect of God’s Law. He says earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. Amen I tell you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not even the smallest letter, or even part of a letter, will in any way pass away from the Law until everything is fulfilled.” 

Have you ever forgotten to dot an “I” or cross a “t?” That’s essentially the illustration that Jesus is using here. Every last detail, not even part of a letter would be left out! That’s how seriously Jesus took his task of saving us! That’s how much he cares for you. And so Jesus kept the Passover that evening. He took charge of the whole affair. He arranged for a place to celebrate with his disciples. He made sure that they would have a lamb without blemish or defect, that the bread would be unleavened. Everything was done just as it was prescribed. 

But even more so than just the celebration of the meal, Jesus truly kept the Passover by fulfilling it himself. You see, the Passover is all about Jesus. It points to Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus didn’t just observe the Passover in that upper room, he kept the Passover as he went to the cross, a lamb without blemish or defect, having fully kept the law. He went to the cross so that his blood would be shed and would cover over all of our sins, all of the times that we’ve failed to keep the commandments. And it’s because Jesus did what was crucial, fulfilled the Law, kept the Passover perfectly, we can celebrate. We can celebrate all that Christ has done for us and show our love to him by striving to keep those commandments. 

This season of Lent is a wonderful opportunity to show your love for your Savior! And how do you do that? By allowing him to serve you with his Word and Sacrament as you go to his house for worship. By remembering all that Jesus has done for you and asking him to help you reflect that love as you serve others. By regarding his commandments as holy and striving to keep even the smallest and seemingly insignificant ones.  

May we never take for granted what Jesus did for us by keeping the Passover. May it never become commonplace. May we use this Lenten season as a time to marvel and wonder at how Jesus not only died for us, but just as importantly, how he lived for us. God grant it for Jesus’ sake, Amen.