Where in the World is God?
In, With, and Under the Bread and Wine
Mark 1412-26 / March 29, 2018 – Redeemer
Jesus told His disciples where the meal would be. Go into the city (that would be Jerusalem). You’ll meet a man carrying a jar of water. Follow him. When he enters the house, tell the master of the house that I need the guest room tonight. There we will have the Passover. Make it ready.
Jesus bound His disciples to His directions. If they went to Bethphage instead of Jerusalem they wouldn’t find the man carrying water. If they followed a woman carrying water or a man with no water they wouldn’t find the house. If they skipped all the directions and simply went back to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus house that night Jesus wouldn’t be there and they wouldn’t receive His gifts.
Jesus “earnestly desired to eat his Passover” with His disciples before He suffered. For here in this supper Jesus would give them, as He gives you tonight, the fruit of His suffering and death.
It was by a tree that the Serpent brought death to all mankind. Adam and Eve went to the one place they were forbidden to go. They ate fruit from a living tree and they died. Tomorrow, we observe the mystery that from a dead tree we receive life. For the cross was a dead tree, but when Jesus’ blood was smeared on that dead tree as the final and ultimate Passover Lamb, as the payment for the sin of all humanity, then He produced the fruit of life. As soon as Jesus died graves opened up around Jerusalem and the saints, those who looked for the coming Christ, came to life. Three days after He died Jesus Himself rose from the dead.
On that Thursday He was betrayed He gave directions to His disciples. Jerusalem. A man carrying water. A house. Ask about the guest room. Prepare it for us. When the disciples sat He also gave them directions – He took bread, blessed it, and gave it to them saying, “Take; this is my body.” He took a cup, gave thanks and gave it to them. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
Jesus’ disciples needed this meal. You need this meal. It is a matter of life and death. This is the fruit of Christ’s death. He carried in His flesh your sins, your guilt, your shame. He shed His blood to pay the cost of your sin – death. Once He died it was finished. Your death for sin is dead. Your debt for sin is paid. Your sin is forgiven. Forgiven you are righteous. Forgiven you are alive. Forgiven you will be raised. Jesus did that for you and He wants you to enjoy the fruit of the tree of the cross.
Where in the world is God? He is in, with, and under the bread and wine. Jesus directs you there, “Take, eat, this is my body. Take, drink, this cup is the new testament in my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
The last few weeks in Sunday Bible Study we have discussed the saying, “I am spiritual, but not religious.” Another way of saying that is, “I’m Christian, but I don’t go to church.” Or “You don’t have to go to church to believe.” You won’t find any of those statements in the Bible or in the mouth of Jesus. “I am spiritual, but not religious.”
The word religious comes from a Latin word which means “to bind or obligate.” In love Jesus bound Himself to certain places for you. He bound Himself to the flesh of a man, born of the Virgin Mary so you could look at Him and see God. He bound Himself to an unjust trial and the whips of Roman soldiers so that He would be sentenced to death. He bound Himself to a cross so He could suffer God’s wrath for your sin. He bound Himself to death for you, so you could leave your grave one day and join Him in the resurrection.
The night He was betrayed He bound His flesh to bread and His blood to wine so that you could receive Him and all of His gifts for you. That is what it means to be religious – Jesus Christ binds you to times and places where you can find Him and receive from Him the gifts He has for you. If you don’t want to be bound to the times and places of His choosing, then you won’t have Jesus and His gifts.
Can you think of any other aspect of life where you would want to be “spiritual but not religious”? Would that work for family meals? Tonight we’re going to be spiritual but not religious. Let’s not bind our appetites to the refrigerator, stove, and kitchen table where food is found and prepared and serve. Let’s just consider ourselves full by imagining we’ve eaten a feast of our favorite foods. See how that goes over. Try to demonstrate your love in that way – tell your children you love them, but never bind that love to your presence, to family traditions, to gifts and words, to reading stories and saying prayers at bedtime. Be spiritual, but not religious – see how that works.
Thanks be to God that in Jesus Christ He is religious, binding Himself to flesh, to life, to death, to the cross, to the tomb, and to a risen and living body. Where in the world is God? He is in, with, and under, the bread and wine, for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
29 March 2018 anno Domini