The Lord's Supper
12On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
13So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' 15He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."
16The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
17When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me."
19They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?"
20"It is one of the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."
22While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."
23Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
24"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. 25"I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."
26When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
BACKGROUND READING:
Psalm 113-118
Dig Deeper
All cultures, especially ours, tend to celebrate and commemorate important events by sharing a meal together. Nearly all of us have been to a birthday meal, an anniversary meal, or a celebratory meal of some kind. There seems to be something ingrained in us that we mark special events with a meal together with our friends and family. It is a way that all those present in the meal can share in the food together as well as sharing in what the meal means.
This is much the same purpose of the Jewish festivals. Most of them were connected to some aspect of God freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and shaping them to be his people. The Passover was the chief among these festival times. It was a meal that commemorated the night when God caused the firstborn of all Egyptian households to die, yet spared his people from the same fate. It pointed to the fact that they once were and still considered themselves to be God’s free people. That’s why this meal was not only a social statement, it was also a deeply political statement. It said that despite appearances, they were not going to be subject to Rome for long. They were intended to be God’s free people, and they would be soon once he acted on their behalf and ushered in the age to come.
As far as his disciples are concerned, they will be celebrating Passover. Jesus has something different in mind. He is someone greater than Moses that has been, for some time now, acting out a new exodus. Now the time has come. He is at the Red Sea, about to go face to face with one far more powerful and evil than Pharaoh. He will face an enemy far bigger than the Egyptians. And this meal will be far greater than any Passover meal that has preceded it.
It definitely seems that Jesus intended to institute this new meal as a replacement celebration for his followers. This meal was vitally important to Jesus; it would say to his followers what he most wanted to say to them, and it would be observed every week, not just once a year. It is the meal that signifies that only through his death can his followers experience life. It was a celebration of sorts, celebrating the fact that the kingdom of God had arrived. Believers could now enter into God’s kingdom and be joined with him in the present age and the age to come. This is why John, in the Revelation, refers to the weekly communion as the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).
Jesus has been trying to explain his death to his followers for some time now, and this is what this meal will do. During the meal it was the job of the father to retell the event of the Passover (They would also sing Psalms 113-118, the hallel, which is probably the hymn that is mentioned in verse 26). Jesus most likely fulfilled that role, except rather than tying the bread and wine back to the Exodus of Moses, he gave them new meaning. They would be his blood and his body. This was the new exodus and his coming actions would free the world from their sin.
Yes this would be a celebration, but a rather bitter-sweet one for his disciples. Throughout his kingdom-announcing ministry, Jesus had been to numerous meals, parties, and celebrations. This meal would bring all of those celebrations together in this one symbolic meal. This is how the kingdom would come. It was through this meal that he would not only explain the meaning of his death, but the meal would continue to bring its work of freedom again and again as it is celebrated each week.
The bread, symbolizing the body, would point back to animal sacrifice of the Old Covenant. It would, however, point back even farther, to the Garden of Eden. That was when Adam and Eve sinned and first felt the shame of sin. They tried to cover that shame with leaves but could not do it on their own. God took the body of an animal and covered their shame. This is what Jesus was doing once-and-for-all. The body would, of course, also point ahead to Christ’s new Temple, his new body, the New Covenant Church. The blood was also vitally important. The life of any creature is, after all, in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). Because sin caused death, it was only the spilling of blood that would pay the price for sins. Animal sacrifice was temporary, but this blood, the blood of Christ, would pay for all sin permanently. Just as the blood of animals was sprinkled in the Temple to cleanse it so that sinful people could enter, so would Jesus’ blood be sprinkled in the heavenly Temple so that humans could enter into God’s presence.
Although this meal was a celebration of sorts, it was also colored by sorrow. Not the least of things causing that was the fact that Jesus knew that one of his own would betray him. What is incredible is that it appears that Jesus knew for some time that Judas would betray him, yet his disciples never knew. That means that Jesus never treated Judas differently from the others, despite his knowledge of Judas’ betrayal.
Devotional Thought
Jesus knew that Judas would betray him and yet behaved in such a way that those around both of them never knew. Could this be said of the way you treat people who have wronged you? Jesus said that we should love our enemies. Do you really love your enemies? How you treat those who mistreat you is really a good indicator of how seriously you take Jesus’ words.
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