Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity - Lk 17:11-19

 

Trinity 14

Lk 17:11-19

                                                                            9/5/21

 

          During last year, many of us came to know isolation in a way that we had not known it before.  The Covid lock downs that were implemented in the spring of 2020 were originally supposed to be brief – they were supposed to “flatten the curve.”  But instead, as we know, they dragged on for much longer.

          During that time, we were not able to gather together here at church for the Divine Service.  School was cancelled and students did not have the opportunity to be with each other.  Nursing homes and assisted living facilities were locked down so that family could not visit, and in some settings residents were essentially confined to their apartments.

Many people who have health conditions felt the need to be especially careful.  They lived in their homes and apartments, and limited interaction with the outside world to a bare minimum.  Families didn’t see each other for their normal visits.  Sometimes this was because both sides felt the need to maintain isolation – at other times it was because only one side felt this way.

The lock downs were aimed at maintaining public health.  But an unintended consequence of the lock downs was the impact they had on public mental health.  The isolation and loneliness led to a rise in depression.  This was tragically evident in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  What is surprising is that the group that reported that the highest experience of loneliness and isolation were older teens and young adults.

Last year’s lock down gives us a better understanding of what the ten lepers in our Gospel lesson experienced in their lives.  As I have mentioned in the past, when the Bible speaks of “leprosy,” we are never sure exactly what kind of condition it is describing.  It’s unlikely that this was the leprosy that we have known in the modern world. Instead, it was probably a whole range of skin diseases and conditions.

Whatever the exact physical condition, the impact on the individual was devastating.  Leprosy made a person ritually unclean according the Law of Moses. Contact with a leprous individual made that person ritually unclean as well, and a lengthy process was required to reverse this.  Lepers were not able to worship at the temple. Because they brought uncleanness to any whom they touched, lepers were not allowed to live in the normal settings of family and village.  Lepers were truly isolated and cut off from every day life.  The only company they had were other lepers – other individuals who were experiencing the same suffering. 

In our Gospel lesson we learn, “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance 

and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  Everything about this description fits with what we know about how lepers lived in the first century. Lepers couldn’t work a job to earn a living.  They were dependent on family, friends, and alms provided by strangers for their food and sustenance.  In order to receive these things, lepers stayed near villages, but of course, could not be in them.  Lepers had to cry out “Unclean, unclean” in order to warn away others. They couldn’t approach other people, and instead had to cry out to them from a distance.

          The ten lepers in our text stood off at a distance and cried out. They said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  In the Gospels we learn that the healing miracles of Jesus were a central feature of his ministry.  Reports about these miracles spread far and wide.  When the lepers became aware that Jesus was approaching the village that they lived near, they stood of at a distance and called upon him.   

Their cry was a remarkable example of faith. They said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  The lepers called Jesus “master.”  In Luke’s Gospel, only the apostles use this term to address Jesus.  This tells us that they approached Jesus in true faith. 

And their plea was very simple: “Have mercy on us.”  This phrase means, “Help us!”  They approached Jesus.  They called him master in faith.  They pleaded for his help.  Their words acknowledged that they were totally dependent on him.  Their faith was comprised by two key factors. First, they believed that Jesus was willing to help them.  Second, they believed that Jesus had the power to help them.

Luke reports: “When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  The priests in Jerusalem were the ones who had the authority to declare a person clean – to authorize that a person no longer had to live as a leper. 

It is very important and pause to think about what is happening here. This is not like the event reported in the Gospel of Matthew in which a leper came to Jesus and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”  On that occasion we learn that Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the leper, saying, “I will; be clean.” And then immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Instead, in our text, Jesus tells ten men who are still lepers to go and show themselves to the priests.  The lepers started out on their way to Jerusalem because they believed Jesus’ word.  Nothing had actually happened yet. They still had leprosy.  Yet because Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest, they obeyed his word. They trusted his word. They believed his word.

Next Luke tells us: “And as they went they were cleansed.”  The Greek grammar here is absolutely clear.  When they started out for Jerusalem, they were still lepers.  It was only as they were making the journey that they were healed.  Jesus’ word provided healing, but it did not do so immediately.  Instead, there were moments when the lepers had nothing more than Jesus’ word of promise.  Yet because they believed in Jesus, they trusted his word in the absence of immediate results.

The experience of the ten lepers in our text speaks very directly to what we often experience in our life.  There are times when we know God’s promises of love and care, but all that we can see are the problems, the challenges, and the hardships that are not going away.  When this is the case, we are faced with the temptation to doubt God. We are tempted to doubt God’s Word and wonder what good it does us.  We are tempted to get angry with God.

As we think about this experience, and how we react to it, we need to stop and pay careful attention to the first verse of our Gospel lesson. There Luke writes: “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.”  This is one of a series of repeating statements in the Gospel of Luke, that are usually called “travel notices.”  They call our attention back to a key fact: Jesus is making his final trip to Jerusalem. 

In chapter nine we read, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Much of Luke’s Gospel takes place as Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. On three different occasions, our Lord tells the disciples about what will happen when they get there.  Just before entering Jerusalem, Jesus said in the third of these, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

Jesus Christ is journeying to Jerusalem for the final time.  There he will be taken up on the cross. On the night he was betrayed, our Lord said, “For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.”  Jesus quoted Isaiah chapter 53 and applied it to himself. Though he was the sinless Son of God, Jesus died on the cross to fulfill these words: “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus died in order to win forgiveness for us.  But as he had said, on the third day he rose from the dead.  When the women went to the tomb early on Easter morning, the tomb was empty and the angels told them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And Jesus wasn’t only taken up as he hung on the cross.  The risen Lord was with the disciples for forty days, and then he was taken up as he ascended into heaven – as he was exalted to the right hand of God.

It is the risen and ascended Lord – the One who has all authority – who calls us to trust in his word.  In faith the lepers started out to Jerusalem when nothing yet had happened.  We can have faith in God’s promise of love and care in the mist of challenging circumstance because we already know what has happened.  We trust Jesus’ word because we know it is the word of the risen and ascended Lord who loved us so much that he died for our sins in order to give us forgiveness.

The lepers are a great example of faith.  When the opportunity presented itself and Jesus came to their village, they lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  Jesus still comes to us, and unlike the lepers we don’t have to stand off afar. 

Immediately after our text the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come.  Our Lord answered them: “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”  Jesus was telling them that he was the presence of the kingdom of God – the reign of God – in their midst.

The risen Lord is still the presence of God’s kingdom in our midst.  He speaks his Word to us in its different forms – all of which call us to trust and believe in him.  He does this in the word of Scripture as it is read and preached.  He does this through Holy Baptism and Absolution.  He does this through the Sacrament of the Altar as he gives us his true body and blood, given and shed for you. Through this word the Spirit strengthens us in faith so that we can continue to believe and trust in the midst of all circumstances.

And lest I ignore the second half of our text, it is this word that also causes us to return praising God and giving thanks for the salvation he has given us in Christ.  We give thanks that because of Jesus we have forgiveness and eternal life.  We give thanks that because of Jesus, we know that we will share in his resurrection on the Last Day.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

             

 

 

 

Commemoration of Gregory the Great, Pastor

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Gregory the Great, Pastor.  One of the great leaders in Europe at the close of the sixth century, Gregory served in both the secular and sacred arenas of his era. As mayor of Rome, he restored economic vitality to his native city, which had been weakened by enemy invasions, pillage, and plague. After he sold his extensive properties and donated the proceeds to help the poor, he entered into full-time service in the Church. On September 3, 590 A.D., Gregory was elected to lead the church in Rome. As Bishop of Rome he oversaw changes and growth in the areas of church music and liturgical development, missionary outreach to northern Europe, and the establishment of a church-year calendar still used by many churches in the western World today. His book on pastoral care became a standard until the 20th century.

Collect of the Day:

Almighty and merciful God, You raised up Gregory of Rome to be a pastor to those who shepherd God’s flock and inspired him to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to the English people.  Preserve in Your Church the catholic and apostolic faith that Your people may continue to be fruitful in every good work and receive the crown of glory that never fades away; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one  God, now and forever.

 

Commemoration of Hannah

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Hannah.  Hannah was the favored wife of Elkanah, the Ephraimite, and the devout mother of the prophet Samuel. He was born to her after years of bitter barrenness (1 Sam 1:6–8) and fervent prayers for a son (1:9–18). After she weaned her son, Hannah expressed her gratitude by returning him for service in the House of the Lord at Shiloh (1:24–28). Her prayer (psalm) of thanksgiving (2:1–10) begins with the words, “My heart exults in Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord.” This song foreshadows the Magnificat, the Song of Mary centuries later (Lk 1:46–55). The name Hannah derives from the Hebrew word for “grace.” She is remembered and honored for joyfully having kept the vow she made before her son’s birth and offering him for lifelong service to God.

Collect of the Day:

God the Father Almighty, maker of all things, You looked on the affliction of Your barren servant Hannah and did not forget her but answered her prayers with the gift of a son.  So hear our supplications and petitions and fill our emptiness, granting us trust in Your provision, so that we, like Hannah, might render unto You all thankfulness and praise, and delight in the miraculous birth of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Commemoration of Joshua

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Joshua.  Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, is first mentioned in Exodus 17 when he was chosen by Moses to fight the Amalakites, whom he defeated in a brilliant military victory. He was placed in charge of the Tent of Meeting (Ex. 33:11) and was a member of the tribal representatives sent to survey the land of Canaan (Num 13:8). Later, he was appointed by God to succeed Moses as Israel’s commander-in-chief. He eventually led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land and directed the Israelites’ capture of Jericho. He is remembered especially for his final address to the Israelites, in which he challenged them to serve God faithfully (Josh 24:1–27), concluding with the memorable words, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (24:15).

 Collect of the Day: Lord Jesus Christ, Your servant Joshua led the children of Israel through the waters of the Jordan River into a land flowing with milk and honey.  As our Joshua, lead us, we pray, through the waters of our Baptism into the promised land of eternal life with You; who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

 

Sermon for the Feast of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

                                                                 Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

                                                            Mk 6:14-29

                                                            8/29/21

 

          The Gonzaga basketball team entered into the National Championship game of this past spring’s NCAA tournament with a record of 31 and 0.  It had been an incredible year, and they were on the verge of doing what no team had done since the 1976 Indiana team – complete an undefeated season.

          Winning leads you to expect that you will win, and in great teams it becomes part of their mentality that no matter what happens in a game, they are going to win.  Pair that confidence with a talented team and you have a recipe for tremendous success.

          As Gonzaga headed into the championship game, the experience of the semi-final game could only have confirmed their expectation of victory.  A Gonzaga player hit a thirty seven foot shot at the buzzer to beat UCLA in overtime.  But in the championship game, Baylor beat Gonzaga 86 to 70 – and the game didn’t even feel that close. Baylor destroyed Gonzaga, and the team and its fans were left with the feeling that it wasn’t supposed to end this way.

          As we listen to the Gospel lesson for the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, it is understandable if we are left with the same feeling. After all, this is John the Baptist. His conception and birth was the miraculous gift of God to the faithful and aged couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth. His birth was announced by the angel Gabriel who told Zechariah, “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

          This is the one who bore witness to Jesus Christ before he was even born, as he leapt in the womb of Elizabeth for joy when the pregnant Mary and Elizabeth met. This is the one of whom Zechariah prophesied by the Holy Spirit, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins.”

          John was the “prophesied prophet” the one of whom Isaiah wrote: “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”  After all those expectations created by his birth, John did not disappoint.  He showed up in the wilderness of Judea looking like the prophet Elijah as he was dressed in camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist.  Mark tells us, “John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

          John did something that no one had ever done before.  Ritual washings were common in first century Judaism.  However, these were all self-administered.  John was given the name “the baptizer” because he applied this washing to others. He announced, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  John said that God’s end time reign was about to arrive, and that people needed to repent in preparation for this. By submitting to John’s baptism, people demonstrated their repentance as they looked for God’s reign to arrive, and they received forgiveness.  And John was clear about how this reign would arrive.  He said, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

          John made a very great impression.  People flocked from all around to the Jordan river to hear him preach and to receive his baptism.  And it’s not just the New Testament that tells us about the impact John had.  Writing almost sixty years later, the Jewish historian Josephus considered John the Baptist to have been so significant that he included a report about John in the account of Jewish history that he wrote.

          At this time, King Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea as a vassal king of the Roman Empire. Herod ruled these lands, but he answered to Rome and was under their control. Herod was married to the daughter of Aretas IV, the King of Nabatea, the kingdom that bordered his lands.  Herod’s brother Philip, who also ruled portions of Palestine, was married to a woman named Herodias.  However, Herod divorced his wife, Herodias divorced Philip, and then Herod and Herodias were married.

John called people to repentance.  John was a prophet, and just like the prophets of the Old Testament he wasn’t afraid to call all people to repentance – including those who were powerful. So John declared to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” Herod’s action of marrying his brother’s wife was forbidden by the Book of Leviticus.

Yet Herod showed John who had the power, as he had John imprisoned.  We learn in our text that Herod was fascinated with John the Baptist.  He knew that he was a righteous and holy man.  Herod enjoyed listening to John, even though he didn’t know what to make of what John said.  On the other hand, Herodias was vindictive against John and wanted him dead. Herod’s fascination with John prevented this, but Herodias was clearly looking for an opportunity to have John killed.

That chance presented itself when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles, military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.  Herodias’ daughter from her previous marriage, whom Josephus tells us was named Salome, came and danced for Herod and his entourage.  Our text says that “she pleased Herod and his guests.”  There is no real doubt that the dance was intended to sexually arouse the men, and she succeeded.  Undoubtedly feeling the wine and caught up in the moment, Herod promised the girl whatever she wanted.

Salome asked Herodias what she should request. Herodias finally had her opportunity and so she said: “The head of John the Baptist.” Salome dutifully returned immediately to the king and said, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”  Herod was truly grieved.  He didn’t want John dead, but he was trapped by his own words.  He had John beheaded, and then Mark tells us about the macabre scene, how he “brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.” The vengeful Herodias used her daughter and received her prize: the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

          We hear our text this morning, and we are left feeling: It wasn’t supposed to end this way.  John the Baptist, the mighty prophet is killed for speaking the truth.  And the end time prophet dies in this way – he ends up with his head on a platter as the result of a salacious dance and the vengeful will of an evil woman.

We don’t think it should end this way. And that’s because we don’t want to admit that God works in the way of the cross.  John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ.  John came to prepare the way and to point to Jesus. He did this in his life and ministry. And he did this in his death.  John the Baptist’s death – his martyrdom – points forward to what Jesus will experience.

Matthew tells us that after the Transfiguration, as Jesus and the three disciples went down the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus about the prophecy that Elijah would come.  Next he reports: “Jesus said, ‘But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”

Before the Transfiguration, Peter had confessed Jesus as the Christ.  Mark reports after this: “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

Peter didn’t want to hear about Jesus’ suffering and death. He didn’t want to hear about the way of the cross.  Yet immediately after this, Jesus made it clear that the way of the cross is something that would be true of all who believe in him.  He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.” 

Jesus came to walk the way of the cross for us.  He said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  The incarnate Son of God entered into our world to suffer and die for us.  He came to offer himself as the ransom for us – as the One who received God’s punishment against our sins, so that we might be forgiven.

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we live as the forgiven people of God.  But this forgiveness does not mean that we escape the cross. After all, Jesus said that those who follow him must take up the cross. Our Lord has told us that following him will involve suffering.  In our day this means that our witness about Jesus Christ will be assaulted because it speaks of sin, and how Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.  It means that our witness about life lived according the Sixth Commandment will receive rejection and will be attacked. 

Yet the way of the cross is not simply the fact that we receive opposition and difficulty because we are Christians.  It is also the fact that we are God’s children and yet we experience suffering and hardship.  God says he loves us, yet we, our family, and friends are diagnosed with cancer and other diseases.  God says he loves us, yet we face struggles at school and at our job. God says he loves us, yet we face tension and challenges in the relationships of our family.

In our text, we see that the death of John the Baptist pointed forward to the death of Jesus Christ. Our Lord told the disciples that he must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed.  But he also said that after three days he would rise again.  It is in the resurrection of Jesus that we find the strength to take up the cross and follow Jesus.  It is in the resurrection of Jesus that we find the hope to trust in God in midst of the circumstances that seem to contradict his love.

Jesus Christ is the crucified and risen Lord.  God worked through the cross to give us forgiveness, and Jesus received the judgment for sin in our place.  But when he raised Jesus from the dead, he defeated death and showed us that the cross was not the absence of God.  Instead, the cross of Good Friday was God’s most powerful action to win forgiveness as he gave his own Son as the sacrifice in our place.  Because we have seen him do this in order give us salvation, we know that we can also trust that God still loves us and is at work in our lives even when circumstances seem to contradict this.  The resurrection of Jesus gives us this hope – it allows us to see these situations in a completely different way.  It enables us to trust and believe in God’s love and care for us no matter what things may look like.

Today is the Feast of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist.  John, the forerunner of Christ, died a death that pointed forward to what Christ would experience as he died on the cross for our sins. But on the third day Jesus rose from the dead.  And because he rose from the dead, there have been other martyrs – other witnesses, for that is what the word martyr means. Every man pictured on the east wall of the nave died as a martyr for Jesus Christ. Peter did. Paul did. James did. Stephen did. Peter, Paul, and James were willing to die because they had seen the risen Lord.  We don’t know how early Stephen became a disciple – whether he saw Jesus before his ascension.  But we know he believed because of the witness of the apostles, and as he died he saw the risen Lord standing at the right hand of God.  Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, and by the work of the Spirit we believe in our risen Lord for the forgiveness of sins, and receive the comfort of God’s love and care in all situations.   

 

      

  

 

         

 

Commemoration of Monica, Mother of Augustine

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Monica, Mother of Augustine.  A native of North Africa, Monica (A.D. 333–387) was the devoted mother of Saint Augustine. Throughout her life she sought the spiritual welfare of her children, especially that of her brilliant son, Augustine. Widowed at a young age, she devoted herself to her family, praying many years for Augustine’s conversion. When Augustine left North Africa to go to Italy, she followed him to Rome and then to Milan. There she had the joy of witnessing her son’s conversion to the Christian faith. Weakened by her travels, Monica died at Ostia, Italy on the journey she had hoped would take her back to her native Africa.

Collect of the Day:

O Lord, You strengthened Your patient servant Monica through spiritual discipline to persevere in offering her love, her prayers, and her tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine, their son.  Deepen our devotion to bring others, even our own family, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever.

Mark's thoughts: The Sanctus in the Service of the Sacrament - Why are we saying this?

 

In a previous post we considered the Preface and Proper Preface in the Service of the Sacrament.  We saw how these parts of the service fix our attention on what the Lord is about to do in the Sacrament, and introduce and express thanksgiving to God as the end of the Preface is followed by the Proper Preface. We noted that the Proper Preface gives thanks to God as it focuses on a particular part of God’s saving action that we meet in that season of the church year or particular feast day. 

 All of the Proper Prefaces end with the words, “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying….”  These words introduce the Sanctus and remind us that in the liturgy of the Divine Service we are part of something that is far greater than just the church building and the congregation members whom we see.

 In Revelation chapter 4, the apostle John is given a glimpse of heaven where God is seated on the throne, surrounded by the four living creatures (cherubim) and the twenty four elders (4:1-7).  In chapter 5, John then sees Christ, the Lamb between the throne and the living creatures, and states, “Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” (5:11).  We find that the risen and exalted Lord is surrounded by the angels.

 The book of Hebrews adds to this picture as it says:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-23)

 We find here a description of the saints, who are with Christ and the heavenly host.

 The Proper Preface, Preface, and Sanctus are preparation for Christ to be present in his true body and blood.  The risen Lord, who is true God and true man, uses the pastor in the Office of the Ministry to speak His Words of Institution over bread and wine.  Because of Lord’s action, it is his true body and blood, given and shed for us, which is on the altar and ready to be distributed to his people.

 The ending of the Proper Preface that introduces our praise in the Sanctus reminds us that as we gather around Christ to receive His body and blood in the Sacrament, we join the angels and saints who also gather around Him.  Because in the mystery of the Sacrament our Lord is enthroned at the right hand of the Father and present on every altar where the His Sacrament is celebrated, we gather together with the angels and saints around Christ. With good reason, the celebration of Sacrament of the Altar can be described as the experience of “heaven on earth.”

 The Sanctus is composed of two Bible passages.  In the first sentence of the Sanctus we sing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might: Heaven and earth are full of your glory.”  This is taken from Isaiah 6:1-3 where we are told:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

 The Latin word for “holy” is “sanctus.”  The Sanctus takes its name from the cry of the angels, “Holy, holy, holy,” that Isaiah heard in God’s presence.  We sing the words with which the angels praise God as they are in this presence (see also Revelation 4:8), and those words prepare us for the fact that we are about stand in the presence of the holy God who comes into our midst in His body and blood.

 In the rest of the Sanctus we sing, “Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest.”  These words are taken from Matthew 21:9 and occurred as Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday:

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:8-9)

The crowd was using words from Psalm 118:25-26.  In the Old Testament, the Hebrew “Hosanna” meant “save indeed” or “save now.” However, by the time of the New Testament it had become a shout of praise.  

The crowd used these words to praise and welcome Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. We now sing them in the Sanctus to greet Jesus Christ as He comes to us in His body and blood in the Sacrament. They prepare us for the miracle that is about to occur in the Sacrament.