…“Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
(Matthew 26:26-27)
SCRIPTURE READINGS
HYMNS FOR THE DAY
- Hymn of the Day | ” Jesus, in Your Dying Woes” (LSB 447) stanzas 16-18
- Communion Distribution
- “O Perfect Life of Love” (LSB 452)
- “When You Woke That Thursday Morning (LSB 445)
- “O Lord, We Praise Thee” (LSB 617)
- Closing Hymn | “The Infant Priest Was Holy Born” (LSB 624)
Sermon Starter
The trial is over; the verdict is in and the sentence has been handed down. The Innocent One has been declared guilty and has been delivered over to His accusers to be put to death by Crucifixion.
Jesus Christ came in the fullness of time to be subject to the scrutiny of the cross — the most gruesome and humiliating form of execution that mankind has ever known. Crucifixion in the simplest of terms is death by slow and painful suffocation. The diabolical creativity of the mind of the one who invented this wretched form of capital punishment is mere testimony to the ugly state of the corrupted mind of God’s once beautiful and now Fallen creature. The one who was lovingly shaped and formed with divine care and masterful skill has turned his face away from his maker. God made man to be a product of love; a masterpiece and testimony to the One who created the world from nothing; we were to be a legacy of eternal joy and love. Yet it is our fault that everything is in such disarray. It is our first parents (Adam and Eve) who rebelled against the love of God and we have taken this legacy of love and turned it into a legacy of evil—and hate.
Collect of the Day
O Lord, in this wondrous Sacrament You have left us a remembrance of Your passion. Grant that we may so receive the sacred mystery of Your body and blood that the fruits of Your redemption may continually be manifest in us; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.