Maundy Thursday – Pr. Anderson sermon
Exodus 12:1-14 “The Taking of Blood for Your Redemption”
April 2, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Heavenly Father, who brought Your people out of Egypt by the way of a mighty Exodus, revealing Your power and great glory, may we praise You and thank You for all the wonders You still perform unto us. As the world tries to distract us from Your almighty presence, it succeeds in hiding You away from us. With Your presence forgotten, all we can then do is see the bitterness of life and the sin that has so deeply enslaved us. On this Maundy Thursday, may we continue to see and believe in Your almighty presence, the only perfect presence of love that shed perfect blood on the cross for the forgiveness of all our sins. May we find comfort gathered together with our family around the Means of Grace, where You provide for us the means to see You in our Passover. The Passover of death into life forever with You through the taking, eating, and drinking of Your holy body and precious blood. In Jesus’ name, our Passover Lamb. Amen.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 12th chapter of the book of Exodus. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
“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.
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who is the Passover Lamb, the Lamb sacrificed, the Lamb you take and eat, take and drink for the forgiveness of all your sins, dear fellow redeemed:
When an arrow has found its mark and hits an animal in the vitals, after giving it a few minutes, the hunter goes to search for blood. It is even better if you have found the arrow, because you can tell what kind of hit was made based on the blood. If it is bright pink with bubbles in it, this is a very good sign that you will find a reward at the end of the trail. For hunters, blood is a positive sign, but we know for people, it is not a good sign if you find blood. If we notice someone has blood on them, our first words are something to the effect of, “you are bleeding, where are you bleeding, and are you hurt?” It is a bad sign to see blood outside of someone because it means something is wrong. And something is wrong. And this wrong needs blood to fix it. Moses told the people, “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “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.” As the people were passed over by the blood of the lamb, you are passed over by the blood of Christ.
Why blood? What makes blood special? Blood equals life, and life comes from the creator. The Lord is the creator of everything, even nations when He says, “I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King” (Isaiah 43:15). The King has the power to give perfect judgment. This judgment sometimes looks easy to understand and sometimes it is not. As the Lord creates for Himself a special people because of His special plan for all of humanity, those who oppose Him will face a fierce judgment. God delivers His people and the deliverance in our text is one God wants the people to remember. He makes it their first national holiday. “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.” This nation suffering under slavery is being given a mandate that will be a part of their redemption. To start off the year with it reminds them that their whole life as the people of God is grounded in His redemptive act to save them from bondage.
This redemptive act will be visible to the people. As God Himself goes through the country, the people see the Passover with the visible sign of blood on the doorframe. This blood comes from a lamb out of the herd with a certain requirement. “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.” This is as perfect as you can get in a sinful world that requires the taking of blood for redemption. While this will have future implications about what is to come, so does the rest of this Passover meal. “They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.” The bitter herbs were a reminder of the bitterness of life. And they would definitely need to be reminded of this. For after watching these great miracles and one more miracle to come with the parting of the sea, the people of God’s creation would abandon Him and grumble against Him in the wilderness, a truly bitter thing.
And this bitter life remains with its judgment and consequences. Israel saw it with their own eyes in this event’s name. “It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.” The spiritual enemies of God have been enslaving the world, attempting to overwhelm it with a power that is no match to the finger of God. Demons continue to hide themselves in objects of this world, but God exposes them. The delusions of the Egyptian idols are struck down with the plagues. He reveals to us the bitterness they create and a bitterness we fall into when tempted with their power it doesn’t help us in our lives. If we manage to see the power of God, then we must acknowledge that freedom from slavery has responsibilities and there is a test of obedience. We note that Israel failed the test and even forgot to continue with the Passover. Like Israel, God has created us and has given us mandates. Mandates we will continue to struggle with because of sin. As we know our own bitter herbs, the way out is through the blood on the doorframe. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).
On that first Passover, the blood of forgiveness was put to action. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.” The blood surrounding the doorframe marks a home under the Lord’s protection. And protection is what we see in the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness protects a person from the Accuser. Knowing the Accuser continues to do as his name suggests, the best protection is to keep the mandate. And the small faithful would follow the mandate, waiting for the One in who the mandate was a picture of. Years after this event where the Lord saves His people, the Savior is found participating in the Passover meal. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing (John 2:23). As God was providing for His people and they witnessed His handy-work through the miracles that put their enemies to shame, Jesus also provides the people with signs putting His enemies to shame.
The greatest sign though is not the signs and wonders of the plagues of Exodus and the signs of healing and driving out of demons. The greatest sign is in the mandate, in the Word of God painting an image of His divine justice, divine passion, and divine mercy. A mandate that uses a perfect lamb and when slaughtered, a bone is not broken. And while this mandate would need to be continually done, because of the bitterness of the people, a new mandate was given. A mandate that would come from a sacrifice that was done once for all. A mandate you participate in because it was given to you. 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, 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.” 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” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). A new mandate, and like the old one it is taken together as a family, giving you the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
This is why, “The blood shall be a sign for you.” It reveals slavery to sin, bitterness, failed responsibilities, no account for obedience, and false idols imbedded into our lives. And as God knew from the beginning man would sin, knew before the creation of the nation He would call His own that they would be a stiff-necked people, and knowing all your trouble, He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). The Passover reveals the blood of a lamb saving God’s people from death. A holy day that pointed toward its very substitution with the Lamb, who would institute the taking of His body and blood that would be soon shed on the cross.
Just as Israel would take the blood and put it on their doorframe, you are also sprinkled with blood, Christ’s blood. A blood that doesn’t cover your doorframe, but covers you in your baptism. Realizing your sins of bitterness and brokenness of heart, you eagerly search for the One who covers you and you feed upon Him as He gives you a life sustaining food, immortality over death. With His great love, He makes a new covenant, a covenant that doesn’t need continued sacrifices of blood. A covenant for you to take from the one atoning Sacrifice. Finding blood reveals trouble as it points out wounds. Finding His blood from His wounds brings comfort and peace. As Israel looked ahead for Him in the Passover, you find Him in the taste of the feast in His Supper. Then when it is time, because of His blood given for you to take that comes from the cross, death passes over you, and you join Him in life at the heavenly feast which has no end. Amen.