Last Supper

At the Table With Jesus

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And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
Luke 22:24 KJV

Communion is among the oldest and holiest practices in the Christian church. Jesus broke the bread and passed the cup, to his disciples, and those disciples broke the bread and passed the cup to others. As I sit in church every Sunday waiting for communion, I sometimes think of how, after 2,000 years, the bread and cup are still being passed. That night as the disciples sat around the Passover table, to commemorate God’s deliverance of His people out of Egypt, little did they know that even a greater deliverance was to about happen. The Bible tells us that Jesus longed to share that meal with them. He was getting ready to introduce them to a New Covenant between God and man and it would be bought with His own body and blood. Yet on the eve of the greatest sacrifice of love that the world would ever know, the disciples were arguing about which one of them was the most important. If you will permit me, let’s try to imagine their conversations.

Andrew: “Come on Peter, you are always trying to act like the big shot, but I want to remind you that it was me, who introduced you to Jesus and when Jesus needed bread, it was me who found the kid with the five loaves of bread!”
Peter: “Yes, but you were all there when Jesus said, “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church!”
John: “Alright already, that’s enough!  We don’t know what Jesus meant by that, especially since just five minutes later He called you Satan and told you to get behind Him. What you all have to admit is that He loves me the most!”

Two thousand years have passed and only the conversations have changed. “We baptize better!” “No but we send more missionaries!” “We live a holier life!” “We are the most blessed!” And yet, Jesus after listening to us, doesn’t just slap Himself on the forehead shouting, “You lunkheads! I’m out of here! What in the world ever possessed me to agree to be born in a stable in the first place!” No, instead Jesus still passes the bread. Jesus still blesses the cup. Jesus still washes our feet, and Jesus still gives His life. Our hope is built, not on our wonderful behavior, our polite conversation or our accomplishments. As the hymn reminds us, “Our hope is built on Jesus’ blood and righteousness. We all must all still come, one by one to eat the bread and to drink the cup given to us by the hands of Jesus, “My body, which is given for you…. This cup is the New Covenant in My blood.” How great a salvation! How wonderful our Lord! How precious His promises! How unchanging is His love!

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Working all Things Together For Good

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And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28 NKJV

As you are preparing for Thanksgiving, you may be tracking down the family china, defrosting the turkey or running to the store for eggnog. The details of the day with its hustle and bustle sometimes muddle the point of the holiday for a moment. For Jesus and His disciples, the preparing for the Passover were very much the same. Special food had to be bought, a table laid out and certain decorations set in place. While we bring to mind the Pilgrims, the Native Americans and the Mayflower they were remembering their deliverance from Egypt. It was sort of what I like to call – The Jewish Thanksgiving.

And it struck me, that on that special night, that things were not what they appeared. Just beyond the candlelight of that table, the religious leaders were putting plans in motion to arrest Jesus and have him executed. Everything looked good while the disciples were at the table with Jesus, but the reality for Jesus was that the worst day of His life, lay straight ahead. Judas would betray Him, Peter deny Him and all of them whose feet He washed, would run away.

For Jesus, the song He sang with His disciples as they left for the Garden must have had some sadness to it. With the same bittersweet sense of loss that many of us face at Thanksgiving, Jesus still trusted His Father to work all things together for good. He couldn’t see it yet, but His betrayal, led to our salvation, His last meal would still be shared today, and His cross would give forgiveness of sins to hundreds of millions around the world. And when in times of grief or discouragement we wonder how all things are working together for good, remember that even Jesus cried out to His Father for another way. Yet, at His lowest point, Jesus surrendered to His Father’s will, “Not my will but Yours be done”. And His Father answered that prayer, but it was three days later. There God had completed working everything together for good. Then Jesus gave life in the place of death, eternal joy for temporary sorrows and a golden crown in the place of thorns! Why not crown Him Lord over all we are passing through today and believe with all our hearts that He is working all things together for our good?

Saving the Best for Last

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And Last He took the Cup

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.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:25-26 ESV

While we listened to quiet music, preparing to receive communion last Sunday, my mind turned back fifty years to memories of a farm where we once lived. In those days, my mornings began at a quarter to five. In the chilly darkness, I would stumble out to the barn where, our cow Blondie waited for me to bring her ground corn and hay. As I went about my work, she contentedly munched on ground corn and Kansas City, our cat watched expectantly hoping for the few drops of milk I sometimes sent her way. Twenty minutes later I would return with a bucket of warm fresh milk. This was poured through cheese cloth and allowed to settle, till the cream rose to the top. That cream we skimmed off and set aside. That very best part of the milk we saved for last.

And saving the best for last, is exactly what Jesus did at the very first communion table. While the disciples were still arguing over which of them was most important, Christ took the precious bread and the cup to try and show them what must soon happen on a terrible cross, waiting just up the road for Him. After three years, during which they had shared countless adventures, sailed through storms and seen miracles, the disciples still had much to learn. So, as they sat together at the Last Supper, Jesus gave thanks, then took the bread saying, “This is my body,” and then the cup, saying, “This is the new covenant in my blood.”

Two thousand years later it is no different. We still have the privilege with uncounted millions of others who have believed before us, to drink His cup, and remember that for Jesus, it meant the cross. For Him that cup was filled with suffering, but He drank off its bitterness and left for us the sweetness of the best for last. This New Covenant cup, bought with His blood, for us is filled with mercy, love and eternal life. All that Jesus asks us is that as we receive, we remember Him – until He comes again!