Advent 3 - Midweek Service - 12-16-09

Advent 3, Midweek
One Year Lectionary,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (December 16, 2009)

“The Tastes of Christ”

Readings:
Deuteronomy 8:11-16
Psalm 34
Romans 14:17-23
Matthew 26:26-29

Sermon Form: Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel reading of St. Matthew the 26th chapter, especially the following verses.

Matthew 26:26-29 (ESV)

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

The sense of taste connects so directly with our minds and with our memories. I can think of no other time of year when so much cooking, baking, and memories are packed into so few weeks and days. Between the time of Thanksgiving to the feast on Christmas day, tastes and memories are filled to the brim and overflowing. The taste of favorite foods for consumption and comparison fill and overload our lives. It is wonderful to think how connected our bodies are with the tastes of seasonal dishes. These special holiday meals bring us to another place or time. We can easily admit that our taste is connected to our personal past history recorded in our minds. And we also anticipate those special meals to come.

Throughout all the history of God’s relationship with man, from the time of man’s creation to the end of all time, God gives man salvation from a broken world and the anticipation of the feast to come. In the beginning, God created the man Adam in His own image, and He gave Eve to Adam. And God set them in paradise, forbidding them to taste of only one thing. For there in the Garden of Eden, God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die."(Gen. 3:3) Yet they did taste that fruit, so man was directed that from that time forth he would, "eat the plants of the field, eat bread, and ultimately he would die, returning to the dust from which he was created."(Gen 3:18-19) And from that time forth all of mankind was subject to the sin of Adam, and so all who followed his tasted death too. Man had disobeyed, and the fruit would not taste so sweet. Yet, if this were the end of man’s history, and if God’s grace to ended at the Garden gate, it would be a tragic meal indeed. It would be a sad day indeed if this would have been the beginning of an unknown taste of eternal perfection.

Yet as Adam and Eve had sons and daughters that began to fill the earth, sin and evil remained in the world. Finally a time came when, “The LORD was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.”(Gen. 6:5) And so it came to a time when the LORD found favor with Noah and said to Him, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.”(Gen. 6:13) So Noah and His Family, eight people in all gathered animals as God had instructed, and they brought forth “every kind of food that [was] to be eaten and [they] stored it away as food for Noah’s family and the animals.”(Gen 6:21) And the first thing Noah did upon stepping from the Ark was to build and altar to sacrifice some of those animals to the Lord. God set His promise to never flood the earth again, “even though [He knew that] every inclination of man’s heart is evil from his childhood.” (Gen 8:21)

And the Bible is full of the evil deeds of man. The groaning for the taste of a better meal by the captive Israelites. No sooner was their bitter cry for freedom from the Egyptians heard than the soon complained of the taste of the over-abundant manna and quail which literally fell on the ground before them. They still wanted the taste of a better meal. Time after time, the people of God cried, time after time heard there cry. And time after time the people soon turned back toward their sinful lives.

The prophet Job would say, “One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.” (Job 21:23-26) The common thread is a return to sin. Whether the sin is committed wholly at ease and secure, whether in bitterness, or in lack of prosperity, the result is the same for all who do not repent. They will lie down and just return to the dust from which they were made.

But for those who repent and ask forgiveness the Psalmist writes, “taste and see that the lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”(Psalm 34) Again, our Epistle lesson tells us, “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit....Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.”(Rom. 14:17, 20) Paul was speaking to a people who took refuge in the rules and preparation of the food of men, rather than looking to God where the true feast is enjoyed.

And that true feast was given to us by God’s own Son Jesus Christ. For on that Maundy Thursday night Jesus instituted a feast beyond all compare. For in this meal Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed took bread and when He had given thank He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, Eat, This is my body and He said to them take drink this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This was no memorial meal, this was a meal in which God Himself is present with you at His table. When you receive the Body and Blood of Christ, you have a foretaste of the feast to come. Your receive forgiveness, and your faith sealed by your baptism is strengthened and renewed. This meal that you will receive tonight is a taste of heaven here on earth. “Jesus, [was] crowned with glory and honor because of [His} the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”(Heb 2:9) On the cross Jesus tasted death for you, so that you will never have that taste eternal death. And someday when you do close your eyes to this world, death will not overcome you. No rather you will open your eyes in heaven, you lungs will fill with heavenly air, and you will taste the victory of our God. Because Jesus on that day, will drink it new with you in His Father’s Kingdom, and there you taste eternal life in God’s kingdom.

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

AMEN
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