passover – From the Pulpit

Posted on April 3, 2026 by pastorkevinjud

The Miraculous Life-Saving Blood of the Lamb

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Maundy Thursday 2026
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
April 2, 2026
Exodus 12:1-14, 1 Corinthians 11:23-32, John 13:1-17, 31b-35

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Today let’s talk about the miraculous, life-saving power of Lamb’s blood. In our Old Testament reading we learn about the Passover when God killed the first born of all of Egypt but passed over the houses of the children of Israel. What was different about those houses? They were marked with the blood of a lamb. God instructs the children of Israel to select a lamb on the 10th day of the first month and kill it on the 14th day of the month, and then roast it and eat it. They are instructed to take the blood of the lamb and paint it on the doorposts and lintel of their homes. These households marked with the blood of the lamb are saved from the death of the first born. Why does this work? Because God said so.

God commands the children of Israel to continue to celebrate the Passover each year to remember what He did for them by saving them with the blood of the Lamb. The Lord tells Moses and Aaron, Exodus 12:14 (ESV) 14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.” Lamb and unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Lamb to remember the life-saving power of lamb’s blood. Unleavened bread to remember they had to leave in haste. Bitter herbs to remind them of the bitterness of their life of slavery.

Fast forward 1,500 years and we find Jesus celebrating the Passover with His disciples on that fateful Thursday evening. We now call it Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday. Maundy means mandate from the Latin Mandatum. It is command Thursday. At dinner that night Jesus gives three commands. In the Gospel of John it is recorded that Jesus washes the disciples’ feet as an example to them to do likewise. John 13:14–15 (ESV) 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” This command to humbly serve one another is a warning to guard against thinking you are greater than your master Jesus and that serving others is beneath you. You also should do as Jesus has done for you.

After washing their feet Jesus gives the disciples the second command. John 13:34–35 (ESV) 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Humbly serve one another. Love one another. The third command is not given in the Gospel of John, but we receive it in Matthew, Mark and Luke and it is summarized by St. Paul in our epistle reading from 1 Corinthians. The Corinthian church is having issues because they are overemphasizing the supper part of the Lord’s Supper and are focusing on a meal. But it seems the meal is happening at the expense of it being the Lord’s meal. Some are eating, some go hungry, some are getting drunk. They are not waiting for each other. The rich are getting fed, but not the poor. Paul seeks to set them straight as to what Jesus has commanded in His third command that Thursday evening. 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (ESV) 23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

On that Thursday, before going to Gethsemane, Jesus transforms the Passover meal into the Lord’s Supper. The bread is the body of the Lamb of God for you. “Take, eat, this is my body.” “Do this…in remembrance of me.” The wine was added to the Passover feast to remember God’s expressions of redemption in the Exodus. Jesus takes the cup after supper known as the cup of redemption or blessing and gives it to the disciples. Matthew 26:27–28 (ESV) 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.” Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

That Thursday Jesus is on His way to the cross to be sacrificed as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. He sheds His blood on the wood of the cross to cover over all your sins. As the blood of the lambs in Egypt saved the children of Israel, the blood of the Lamb of God saves you from eternal death and damnation. By rising from the dead Jesus shows the life-saving power of Lamb’s blood. The blood of the Lamb of God gives you eternal life.

Paul says what he received from the Lord he is delivering to the Corinthian church. What we, as the Church, have received from the Lord we are today delivering to our young people who have prepared for their first communion. This is one of three means God uses to deliver the grace of Jesus Christ to His people. Grace is getting what you do not deserve. Jesus gives you forgiveness of all your sins even though you do not deserve it. He delivers forgiveness of sins in the water and word of baptism. He delivers forgiveness in the Word of God and Word of Absolution, and He delivers forgiveness of sins in His body and blood, in, with and under the bread and wine of Holy Communion. What is delivered to our young people today they will one day deliver to their children by bringing them to the waters of Holy Baptism and to the altar of the Lord.

To be worthy to receive the Sacrament of the Altar is to know that you are a sinner and be sorry for your sins. It is to know you need the Lord’s forgiveness. It is to know that Jesus has promised that in the Lord’s Supper He delivers forgiveness to you in His Body and Blood. The blood of the lamb in Egypt worked because God said it would work. The saving power of the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God in Holy Communion works because Jesus says it will work. You trust God’s word.

The Lord’s Supper is a celebration of the life-saving power of the blood of the Lamb. You are a sinner needing forgiveness as you confessed at the beginning of the service. You know forgiveness is found in the Lord’s Supper. You are here to receive the Lord’s grace for you. Welcome to the table of the Lord. Amen.

Posted on April 18, 2025April 18, 2025 by pastorkevinjud

A New Covenant

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Maundy Thursday 2025
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
April 17, 2025
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 10:15-25, Luke 22:7-20

Time is growing short — down to mere hours. Jesus is well aware of what will happen. The disciples should be aware, but they are, like us, pretty thick-headed at times. Jesus and the 12 disciples are gathered together in the upper room to eat the Passover meal. Passover is the annual remembrance of God delivering the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt.The Israelites are instructed to kill an unblemished year-old male lamb and take its blood and paint it on the doorposts and lintel of their home. The Lord will see the blood marking and the destroyer will pass over that house. The Israelites are protected from the destroyer who kills the first born of all of Egypt.Each year the Jews remember the Passover on the 14th day of the first month.

On this Thursday night, after dinner, Jesus will be betrayed into the hands of the Jewish religious leaders. He will be arrested and beaten and tried in a late night kangaroo court and condemned to death. Chaos and hatred and pain and humiliation are coming for Jesus, but, for now, it is calm and peaceful in the upper room as Jesus eats the Passover with His disciples.

Luke 22:19 (ESV) 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Something momentous is happening here. What does He mean? “This is my Body?” What does He mean, “Given for you?”

Luke 22:20 (ESV) 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

This is a new covenant instituted as a last will and testament that will be sealed on Friday with Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. This new covenant is prophesied by Jeremiah 900 years earlier. Jeremiah 31:31–32 (ESV) 31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.”

A new covenant… not marked with the blood of a lamb, but a new covenant in the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Jeremiah 31:33–34 (ESV) 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

At the Passover dinner that night Jesus gives the cup of the new covenant. The cup of the new covenant… in the blood of Jesus… for the forgiveness of your iniquity… so Jesus will remember your sin no more. This is the cup of salvation, but this is not the only cup Jesus talks about that night.

When the Supper is completed and Jesus has transformed the Passover meal into the Lord’s Supper, Jesus and the disciples, minus Judas, go down Mt. Zion, across the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means oil press. Olives are grown there and pressed for oil for cooking and lamps. In Gethsemane Jesus withdraws by Himself and prays, Luke 22:42 (ESV) 42 … “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

This is the cup of God’s wrath; punishment for disobedience and rebellion. Jeremiah 25:15–16 (ESV) 15 Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.”

Jesus will drink the cup of God’s wrath to forgive your sins. He takes your punishment so God no longer holds your sin against you. He gives you His Body in the bread of the Lord’s Supper and His blood in the cup of the new covenant. He delivers to you, over and over, His promise of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath down to the dregs for you so He can give you the cup of salvation.

The cup of salvation is offered to everyone and yet so many refuse this gift. Many follow false gods and believe they are saved by their own works. Others desire for autonomy makes them refuse Jesus’ gifts in the new covenant. They want to be Lord of their own life and have their own feelings be their authority. They reject Jesus and remain in their sin and they will have to drink the cup of God’s wrath for themselves.

Revelation 14:9–10 (ESV) 9 … “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for you. You have been set apart from the multitude of unbelievers in the holy ark of the Christian Church. Stay alert to the devil’s deceptions trying to separate you from Jesus. Remain in Christ and drink the cup of salvation.

And how do you know that all of this is true? How do you know that Jesus really meant what He said that Thursday in the upper room? You know it is true because Sunday is coming. All the power and intensity of Thursday and Friday are brought to a culmination on Sunday morning with the empty tomb.

Today we have a number of young people receiving the Lord’s Supper for the first time. To be worthy to receive Holy Communion is to have faith in these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” These baptized children of God know they are sinners who need forgiveness. They know they have been given forgiveness in the waters of baptism and in Jesus’ words of absolution. And they know that in the bread and wine of Holy Communion they will receive into themselves the Body and Blood of Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

You are in the new covenant — sealed with the blood of Jesus. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who gives you faith to hear and believe God’s law to bring you to repentance and to hear and believe the Good News of forgiveness in Jesus. Receive Jesus’ abundant forgiveness and love and let His love and forgiveness flow abundantly from you to the world. On the first Maundy Thursday John 13:34 (ESV) 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

Come to the altar of the Lord and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of yours sins and to remember Jesus’ promise to you in the new covenant, the new testament in His blood begun that first Maundy Thursday. You are blessed in the new covenant. Jesus forgives your iniquity and remembers your sin no more. Amen.

Posted on March 30, 2024 by pastorkevinjud

Agnus Dei

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Bulletin

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Good Friday 2024
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
March 29, 2024

The Jewish father goes into the sheep pen to select the best year old male lamb. Once he has identified the perfect one he maneuvers to separate that lamb from the flock and pins him against the wall of the pen gets a hold of the frightened 120 pound animal and puts a rope around its neck so he can lead it out of the main pen to a special small pen made just for this lamb. Four days later the father will kill the lamb and collect its blood and paint the blood on the doorposts and lintel of his house. The Lord promised Moses that whoever’s house is marked by the blood of the lamb, that house will be protected when the Lord comes to kill the firstborn in all of Egypt. The Lord will pass over any house marked by the blood of the lamb.

The Jews would continue to kill a lamb, roast it and eat it every year on the 14th day of the first month to remember the Passover.

Over the centuries the blood of countless lambs was shed at the Temple in Jerusalem to atone for the sins of the children of Israel. As we learn in Hebrews 9:22 (ESV) 22 … without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” The blood of those lambs provides a partial cleansing; a temporary pardon. It allows life with God in this age, but not… in the age to come.

John the Baptist sees Jesus coming to the Jordan and declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Today we remember that the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, comes to Jerusalem for the Passover. He comes to Jerusalem for the festival that remembers how the blood of the lamb protected the children of Israel in Egypt. He comes to offer Himself as the perfect, final sacrifice to take away the sins of the world.

Jesus tries to prepare His disciples for what is going to happen. He tells them three separate times. As we heard in our Gospel reading a couple Sunday’s ago, the last warning and promise on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem is most specific. Mark 10:33–34 (ESV) 33 … “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

The Lamb enters Jerusalem on Sunday. On Thursday the Lamb of God eats the Passover meal with His disciples. There is a lamb on the table and there is the Lamb at the table. The Lamb transforms the once-a-year eating of lamb in remembrance of the Passover into the frequent eating of the Lamb for the forgiveness of sins. The Lamb gives you His body to eat and His blood to drink. Eating and drinking not only in remembrance of His death, but to receive the body and blood of the Lamb in, with and under the bread and wine for forgiveness and eternal life. In baptism and in Holy Communion you are marked by the blood of the Lamb. Ephesians 2:13 (ESV) 13 …now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

After dinner, the Lamb goes to the Garden with His disciples to pray and prepare. At the Garden the ones who will kill the Lamb choose from the flock the perfect Lamb for the sacrifice. They separate the Lamb from the flock, bind Him and lead Him off.

On Friday the bound Lamb is silently led to slaughter. Isaiah 53:7 (ESV) 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

The sinless Lamb is led to the slaughter and sheds His blood to save you from the Lord’s judgement. His blood is poured out and given to you. In your baptism you died with Christ and you were raised with Christ. Your sins are covered by the robe of Jesus’ righteousness made white by the blood of the Lamb. You are protected by the blood of the Lamb. 1 Peter 1:18–19 (ESV) 18 … you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Lucas Cranach the Elder was a German Renaissance artist in Wittenberg Germany at the time of Martin Luther. Cranach and his Son painted the altarpiece for St. Peter and Paul Church in Weimar Germany. There is a lot going on in this painting of Jesus’ crucifixion. One thing is that the artist paints himself into the altarpiece and depicts blood flowing from Jesus’ side arching down onto the artist’s own head. He wants to show that the blood of Christ is given directly to each Christian without an intermediary priest or saint.

Jesus’ blood flows directly to you and you are marked by the blood of the Lamb. You wear the robe of Christ’s righteousness which covers all your sins. Like the Jewish homes in Egypt, you are marked by the blood of the Lamb so, at the judgement on the Last Day, you will be protected from eternal death. 1 Corinthians 5:7 (ESV) 7 …For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

The sinless Lamb of God shed His blood for you to wash away all your sins. He gives His life in exchange for yours. He dies on the cross as the perfect, final sacrifice. His body is taken away, wrapped for burial and laid in a borrowed tomb. The Lamb has been slain…He shed His blood for you. You are marked by the blood of the Lamb. Amen.