new covenant

Maundy Thursday-His Hour Had Come

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And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 
Luke 22:15 ESV

The word Maundy, in the title, Maundy Thursday means command. This is because at the Last Supper, Jesus gave His disciples the command to love one another and to wash one another’s feet. But for Jesus this night meant much more. At the Last Supper Jesus would give us the communion bread and cup. And in a strange way, the Last Supper also reminds me of being in Junior High, (more than a few years ago!). Back then, the most important decision of my day was who to sit with at lunch. Considering the fact that at the Last Supper, Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, Peter deny Him and the rest turn tail and run, it is amazing that He was really wanted to sit them. Yet, for Jesus, this was not just tolerating being with them, it was the highlight of His final days on earth. And despite the significance of the hour and even after having walked with Jesus for years, none of them understood what was going on. But Jesus knew that, understanding or not, this was the crucial time to break the bread and share the cup of the New Covenant, and that gives me hope. I have hope because I am often also not understanding what God is doing in my life, and yet the bread and cup which Jesus passed to His disciples, is still being passed to all me today. I will never deserve it, I sometimes don’t remember what it cost Him, and yet He still passes me the broken bread, He still blesses the cup, and just as when He sang a hymn with them, He sings with me. Then Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He knew that His hour had come; His betrayer was at hand; His friends would run away, but He, the Lamb of God would stay behind, knowing that His hour had come when He would take away the sins of the world!

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Two Cups

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And said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. John 2:10-11 ESV

I have sometimes wondered why the first miracle Jesus did was to fill wine cups by turning ordinary water into delicious wine. Why didn’t He cleanse a leper, give a blind man sight, or raise someone from the dead? But then I remember another cup and another dinner table, where Jesus sat down to eat with His disciples, He took a cup, but this time He didn’t change water into wine. Instead, He told them that the wine in His cup was His blood, and then He passed it to them to drink. Today we receive that cup when we take communion. Our communion cup is different from the ones the people drank from at the wedding because even though Jesus gave them miraculous wine, eventually their cups ran dry. Just like the blood of the Old Covenant never really worked, those people, just like us, have lied, stolen, lusted, or hated. But the good news for us today is that Jesus didn’t come to fill our cups with old wine. He came to miraculously transform the ordinary water of our old life into the wonderful wine of something new. The cup that Jesus offers us is filled with the new wine of His blood, and each time we receive communion we are reminded that His blood paid the price for our salvation and set us free from sin. And this cup is not reserved only for special guests but for anyone who comes and drinks and then follows the Lamb of God who came to take away our sin!

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Luke 22:20 ESV
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Sharing Communion Apart

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Sharing communion apart seems to be a contradiction in terms and yet it is very much a reality many of us are living out in this Corona virus world. I wrote this devotional for my people from the various nursing homes where I normally would be visiting every week. Though it is a personal message specifically for them, I thought it might also be an encouragement to you as well.

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.”                                        1 Corinthians 11:23- 24 ESV

While we have been apart for more than two months one thing which I have missed the most is being able to share communion with you. You may be wondering if there is some way we can still remember this holy meal. The answer is a resounding yes! We can still be together in heart if not in person in the three important parts of our Lord’s last supper. First we Repent. Just as Jesus prayed with His disciples, we must also pray and not only give thanks as Jesus did, but also ask for forgiveness so that God can clean our hearts and prepare us for communion.

Second; we Receive the bread and the cup; but not only from the hands of a priest or a pastor. Instead we recall Jesus as the Living Bread. He is the one who is giving Himself to us. It is from His hands that we receive such a gift. He also passes us the cup which holds His life spilled out on the cross for ours. As we receive His life into us He washes our past away and gives us new life in Him. Last of all we do this and Remember. It is not that we are recalling something forgotten but instead it is an honoring of His death and a celebration of His life; until he comes again. Oh I am looking forward to the day when I can be with you again to have communion. But until then be sure to repent; receive and remember as often as you can because our hope is our looking forward not to a return to normal but to the return of Jesus to this world!

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