There is a verse in our Old Testament lesson for this evening that is peculiar. I don’t think I would have noticed it If I had not read this text in the context of our Maundy Thursday service, but on a night in which we remember the institution of the Lord’s supper it jumped out at me. The verse I am refereeing to is verse 11. There we read, “11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.” The vocabulary words of this verse are easy to translate, the sentence structure is simple, and the thought expressed is clearly understood. It is when you put this verse in context that it becomes peculiar.
The Israelites had been camped in front of Mount Sinai for three days when the LORD God descended on the mountain top. Their ears were filled with the crashing of thunder and the blasting of a trumpet, their eyes were blinded by the flashing of lightening that shot from a thick cloud that covered the mountain, their nostrils filled with the smell of smoke as the glory of the LORD consumed the mountain with fire, and as the LORD God settled on the mountain the earth beneath their feet shook. From that mountain top the LORD God spoke these words, “you shall have no other gods, you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy, honor your father and mother, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not lie, you shall not covet your neighbor’s house or his wife”.
The Israelites had been warned that no sinner could approach the holy LORD God almighty and live, and as they listened to the Law proclaimed from Sinai, they knew they were sinners, they knew they dare not approach the LORD God, they knew if they did approach, they would die, and so they shrank back in fear. I imagine the Israelites were happy when Moses told them they were to worship the LORD at a distance. Likewise, I imagine Aaron and the seventy elders were apprehensive when Moses told them they were going closer. As sounds of thunder filled their ears, the flash of lightening blinded their eyes, and the smell of smoke filled their noses I am not sure how much confidence Aaron and the elders placed in the bull’s blood that had been shed for them and sprinkled upon them. As they glimpsed the glory of the Great Lawgiver’s feet, I don’t know how sinners like Aaron and the elders mustered the courage to eat and to drink with the holy LORD God Almighty.
This eating and drinking with the holy LORD God Almighty is, as I have said, peculiar. Perhaps, this evening, the only thing more peculiar than this verse from our Old Testament lesson is you. You have just as many reasons to be anxious as you come forward to eat and drink with the LORD your God. The words the LORD God proclaimed from atop Mount Sinai still apply to you. Those words expose how you have failed to love the LORD our God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind and they expose how you have failed to love your neighbor as yourself.
Those words remind you that you are a sinner and yet, unlike the Israelites, you do not shrink back in fear. I know the sound of thunder does not fill your ears, the flash of lightening does not blind your eyes, the smell of smoke does not fill your nostrils and the earth does not shake beneath your feet, but surely you know that the host of this meal is the holy LORD God Almighty. You have no right to stand in His presence let alone approach the table of His holy Sacrament to eat and drink with Him, and yet you do approach, you do eat and drink, and most peculiar of all you seemingly do it with a great deal of confidence.
Of course, your behavior becomes less peculiar when I remember that you are camped in front of a different mountain and a different message has been proclaimed to you. It is not before Sinai you have gather, but before Golgotha. It is not the blood of a bull that has been shed for you, but the blood of The Lamb. It is not a series of “you shalls” and “you shall nots” that you hear, but “father forgive them” and “it is finished”. It is not the feet of the great lawgiver you see, but the face of the great forgiver. Though you are unworthy sinners there is no reason for you to be anxious as you gather around this table. Your sins exposed by Sinai have been forgiven by the savior sacrificed on Golgotha. When I remember that you are camped before a mountain where the gospel is proclaimed it makes sense that you would approach this table with confidence, in fact it would be peculiar if you didn’t.
Like Aaron and the elders, tonight you have been invited to come closer to the holy LORD God Almighty. In the holy sacrament of the LORD’s Supper, Jesus invites you to eat and to drink with the LORD your God. Amen