4-02-2026  Maundy Thursday

“FOR MANY MEANS FOR YOU”

Text: Matthew 26:28

Thursday April 2, 2026 – Maundy Thursday

Trinity – Creston

       Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

       Our text for this Maundy Thursday is from Matthew 26:28 that was just proclaimed.

Let Us Pray: Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind us that you gave yourself for the many (Us that is). Amen.

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

We have spent a lot of time this Lent reflecting on the phrase “for us.” In the Holy Gospel, our Lord gives us an insight to how we know that all of His work is really for us.

We do this by looking at the words from Jesus: “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 26:27–28).

The events of the Holy Gospel take place during the night before He is betrayed. He has gathered in the Upper Room to share one last meal with His disciples, His closest friends, His confidants.

They are celebrating the Passover, the night when the angel of death visited the firstborn of Egypt. God saved the people of Israel with a mighty hand. He sent ten plagues to Egypt, and Pharaoh finally relented after the last one.

The Passover was celebrated each year as a reminder, yet more than a reminder. It bound the people of Israel to that night so many years ago. The cost was great, and the Lord kept His people safe from Egypt, even taking them through the Red Sea on dry ground.

But this night, the cost will be even greater.

Jesus gathers His disciples, whom He loves, to have a meal with them. But this night is not another celebration of the Passover, another remembrance of how God had taken care of them before. Tonight is something new.

When Jesus gives the disciples the bread and the cup, it becomes clear that He is giving them something different, something more. It is not just bread and wine that He gives them but His very body and blood, which is “poured out for many for the remission of sins.”

In giving them His very body and blood to eat and drink, Jesus makes clear that His life will be sacrificed for the sin of the world. He is not just another rabbi, another in a string of teachers peddling their wares in the face of Roman oppression. No, He is the very Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

But why does the text say “for many” and not “for everyone” or even “for you”? The point of the text saying “for many” is to highlight that Jesus’ sacrifice is not for a select few but for many. The point isn’t that this excludes anyone.

We know, for example, that God wants everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. No, it says “for many” so that you will know that you are part of this great work of the Lamb of God.

Tonight, Jesus’ “for many” means “for you.” Tonight, Jesus gives of Himself in a way that is unlike anyone or anything else. No god gives of his own flesh and blood for the salvation of the world. No God except Jesus, that is.

Tonight, we see that the great work of our Lord is part of the greater story of God’s work to redeem the world. In so doing, we see that our Lord’s gift of Himself was not new to the children of Israel. Far from it. This is what God had been doing from the very beginning.

Think back for a moment to the Old Testament Reading from Exodus 24. Moses took the sacrifice and put it upon both the altar and the people. He then took Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel up Mount Sinai.

The text says, “And they saw the God of Israel” (v. 10). He did not harm the elders, nor did He lay a hand upon them. Then the text says, “They beheld God, and ate and drank” (v. 11).

To see God is to be holy, for only one who is holy and pure may enter into the presence of God. The sacrifice had been made. The blood had been sprinkled upon the people, including the elders.

So when they entered into the presence of God, they did so as His children, holy and beloved. So they ate and drank because they were at peace with God.

Jesus’ blood was shed for you on the cross. The sacrifice that atoned—that is, paid for your sin—has been made. You have been washed and made clean in the blood of the Lamb.

In your Baptism, the blood of Christ now covers you. In Him, you are a new creation. You can stand before the throne of God because of His great work for your salvation.

“O Lord, We Praise Thee,” Luther’s hymn for the Lord’s Supper, puts it this way:

Thy holy body into death was given,

Life to win for us in heaven.

No greater love than this to Thee could bind us;

May this feast thereof remind us!

O Lord, have mercy!

Lord, Thy kindness did so constrain Thee

That Thy blood should bless and sustain me.

All our debt Thou hast paid;

Peace with God once more is made:

O Lord, have mercy! (LSB 617:2)

Come to the Table of the Lord, receive His gifts, which only He can give. Rest assured that when He says, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” it means for you here and now. Amen.