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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be
sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us
to eat the Passover.”
“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.
He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.”
Luke 22:7-20
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
It was the last full day Jesus would have on earth, the fifth day in what is known as Passion Week. This day on the Christian calendar is also typically referred to as Maundy Thursday, the day Jesus shared the His final Passover meal with His disciples, which is why we find Communion often referred to as "The Last Supper".
The Gospel of Matthew tells us that it was the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, a seven day period to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt (Matthew 26:17). And because the Israelites departed Egypt in haste, they had no time to make bread as they usually would. The bread was without yeast, which was also called leaven, and therefore the why we find “unleavened bread” in the festival title.
So given all this, we have the framework for the events taking place in our scripture passage today. It is Thursday, the fifth day of Passion Week, the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and the day that the Passover meal would be partaken. Let’s look again at our scripture passage from Luke’s Gospel to see what transpired and the call of Jesus to remember Him:
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.
He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” Luke 22:7-20
Since it was the day the Passover meal was to be eaten, we find two of Jesus’ disciples, Peter and John, asking their Lord where preparations for the meal were to be made, preparations that would require the sacrifice of a Passover Lamb. Ironically the next day, Jesus, the One John the Baptist proclaimed as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29), would be sacrificed Himself on Calvary’s cross so anyone who would believe in Him would have the opportunity for death to pass over them, not perishing but rather living on for all eternity in Heaven (John 3:16). In fact, when we look at Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, we find him sharing this:
“Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
In response to His disciples’ question, we find Jesus giving very specific instructions to Peter and John, two of His most trusted followers who perfectly carried out the direction they were given. Indeed, things happened just as Jesus said they would as they met the owner of the house where the meal would occur and were led to a furnished upper room where all Passover preparations could be made.
Later that day in the evening, Jesus arrived with the rest of the disciples and they sat down to eat the Passover meal together. We should keep in mind that the disciples had no idea of what was going to transpire across the next 24 hours but Jesus well knew what was ahead. For before evening would fall the following day, He would be dead and catalyst that would propel Him down the road to crucifixion would be the betrayal He would suffer at the hands of one of the twelve who were dining with Him.
The scriptures show us that this wasn’t something that Jesus kept secret because when we study the other Gospels we find that He clearly identified Judas Iscariot as His betrayer (John 13:26). Despite this, Judas still went ahead and sold out his Master for a mere thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16), the amount required to be paid to a master if their slave was accidentally killed (Exodus 21:32). It’s a sad testimony as to just how far he (Judas) had fallen into sin, taken there by none other than Satan himself (John 13:27).
Back to the Passover meal for with the disclosure of His coming betrayal out of the way, Jesus got down to what The Last Supper has been known best for, Jesus sharing the bread and the cup with His disciples while giving them a call to remember Him.
First, we read where Jesus took the bread and, after He gave thanks, broke it while telling His disciples that it symbolized His body which would be given up for them. The next day, this would literally happen as He would endure severe beating at the hands of Roman soldiers before being nailed by His hands and feet to a wooden cross and hoisted up to die in public humiliation. We need to always remember that Jesus suffered greatly to save His people, bearing all the judgment for sin upon Himself while paying the penalty that every sinner really deserved.
It was this suffering and brokenness that Jesus didn’t want His disciples to forget. Every time they would break bread together in Communion, present and future, they were to remember Him and the great substitutionary sacrifice He willingly carried out, purchasing the pardon of anyone who would simply place their trust and belief in Him as Savior. In the end translation, He died to a multitude of His disciples could gain eternal life.
After breaking the bread, we see Jesus take the cup, telling His disciples of its significance. For every time they would drink from it, they were to remember the crimson blood that poured out of His body at the cross, a shed blood that would wash them white as snow from their sins, a shed blood that would usher in God’s new covenant, not just for the Jews but the Gentiles (non-Jews) as well. Jesus’ sacrifice was the final one ever needed for the atonement of sins and anyone placing their trust and hope in Him would become a legitimate child of the God Most High and co-heir to His blessed Kingdom (Romans 8:9-17).
Friends, as the classic hymn reminds us, “Jesus Paid It All” and all to Him we owe. He allowed His body to be broken in place of ours and shed His blood, not ours, to bring atonement for our sins. So whenever we participate in the Lord’s Supper (or Communion or the Holy Eucharist…other names for this sacrament), we need to answer the call of Jesus to do it in remembrance of Him. It’s the least we can do to honor Him for all that He pain and suffering He endured to save us.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
