Good afternoon, Internet. Today, I want to talk to you about my personal favorite part of the liturgy, the Sanctus. Many parts of Lutheran liturgy contain Latin names to certain parts of the service, and the Sanctus is one of many. Sanctus is Latin for "Holy". If any part of the service has been recognized as providing a glimpse of
heaven, it's the Sanctus: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven
and earth are full of your glory." This is the eternal song of the
angels who hover over the throne of God in the vision of heaven that was
given to Isaiah (Is. 6:1-4). Such was the splendor of their song that
the very foundations of the threshold of the temple trembled at the
sound.
At first glance, these words appear to be out of place at this point in
the service. Nevertheless, the reality is that there is nothing in this
entire world that compares with the miracle of Jesus' bodily presence to
feed his people. In this meal God is breaking into our world to give us
life. No wonder our repeated cry is "Hosanna in the highest," for what
is more needed in this dying world than the Lord's salvation?
The second half of the Sanctus contains a statement as bold as the first.
Here we have our own little Palm Sunday. Just as the crowds cried out
to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, so do we declare, "Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord" (Mt. 21:9; Ps. 118:26). Heaven continues
to break into our world as Jesus, our humble king, comes riding into our
midst in the Lord's name. This confession in the Sanctus of Jesus' real
presence is so significant that Luther proposed moving the Sanctus
after the Words of Institution in order to highlight the reality of the
words we sing.
Blessed Eastertide,
Manny Tovar
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