The Lord’s Supper

March 24, 2013 Background Scripture: Luke 22:1 – 38 Lesson Passage: Luke 22:14 – 30 Every time I revisit the account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, I come away with a renewed sense of divine privilege and favor. The cost of salvation was so high that one can’t help but pause and wonder how often we fail to think of our salvation in the context of its true value. Celebrating the Lord’s Supper (or Communion) allows us that time of reflection. Luke records the Supper against the backdrop of events that occurred around it. There are the schemes and negotiations of the religious leaders in cahoots with the traitor, Judas Iscariot, which preceded the celebration. Then there are the misguided personal ambitions of the disciples of Jesus who appear to be missing the point that Jesus is making concerning the connection between his crucifixion and the Passover lamb which was the centerpiece of the celebration of the miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egypt thousands of years prior. Rather than listen and understand this most important point, the disciples were preoccupied playing one-upmanship with each other. In the midst of these events, actions and general attitudes, Jesus was teaching the most theologically significant lesson that mankind would ever receive. God was about to reveal a previously hidden divine plan to rescue man from the sin that had condemned him to eternal damnation. Jesus was God in flesh and he was about to give himself as a sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. At such a moment as this, how could one of his handpicked disciples be in cahoots with his enemies to publically disgrace him? As Jesus explained the symbolism of the Passover lamb that represented the true nature of God’s plan of redemption for humanity, how could his personally selected followers be more concerned with which one of them would become more important than the others? How could Jesus restrain himself rather than “go off” on them because of their pettiness, selfishness, and greed? In spite of this less than ideal backdrop of events, Jesus taught the lesson of The Lord’s Supper with simplicity and detail. After the Passover Meal was ended, Jesus took unleavened bread from the table and blessed it. He broke it and distributed it to his disciples and asked them to receive it and eat it as symbolic of his body that was about to be given for mankind. He then took the cup of wine that was on the table and blessed it. He instructed his disciples to drink of it and receive it as symbolic of his blood that was about to be shed when he would pour out his life to take away the sins of the world. Jesus’ blood would be the seal of approval on the new covenant God was establishing with humanity. God had declared that sin’s penalty would be death. Jesus stepped in as a substitute for sinful man so that his death would satisfy the divine requirement. This would all be brought about within hours through beatings, public humiliation, and finally Jesus’ death. His last words prior to death: It is finished. This simple meal of unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine would be all that is necessary to symbolize God’s plan of redemption. We thank God for “The Lord’s Supper”. Robert C. Hudson March 12, 2013