The Lord's Last Supper

Luke 22:14-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 31, 2016.

Today we will look at a passage where Jesus and his disciples celebrate the Passover meal, which is often called the Last Supper or the Lord’s Supper.  There is a dispute as to how this lines up with the feast days.  However, it quickly becomes more technical than would be helpful on a Sunday morning.  Thus we won’t go into it today.  Early Christians gave us many details that point to the timing.  But, things that are important to us were not always important to them.  Thus there is no doubt Jesus was born, but it was not important for the gospel writers to nail down the day of his birth, all this despite the fact that they give us many details regarding the timing of it.  So we have debates today that include the year of His crucifixion, date and year of his birth.  These kinds of questions have nothing in them that would cause concern to our faith in Jesus himself.  So we see Jesus making it clear to his disciples that everything he had come to do was coming to a head at this meal.

The Desire of Jesus

Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus displaying many different emotions.  We see him showing amazement at the faith of some and the lack of faith of others.  We see him moved with compassion for those who are sick and afflicted.  He is angry at the insolence of the religious leaders, and weeps over the death of his friend Lazarus.  In verse 15 Jesus makes a statement regarding his emotions that literally reads, “with strong desire I have strongly desired…”  This makes the statement one that emphasizes the strong desire that he has towards this meal with them.  In fact the word that is translated as fervent desire is usually used in a negative context for a person’s lust (strong desire) for something bad.  Of course, this meal with his disciples is not a bad thing.  Thus lust would not be a proper translation.  My point is to show that just as humans strongly desire that which is sin, and it seems to drive them towards sin, so Jesus is driven by a strong desire to this moment with his disciples.  His strong desire is not about the meal itself, but about what the meal represents for him and them.  Everything they have heard and experienced with Jesus up to now has been prologue to the events that will happen in the next four days.  Recognize that Jesus was “chomping at the bit” to accomplish these things, and yet also submitted to the timing of the Father.  May God help us to strongly desire His will and yet to also be submitted to His timing in our life.

In verse 16 Jesus specifically says that he will abstain from future Passover meals until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.  In verse 18 he also adds that he will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.  In some ways the death and resurrection of Jesus brings in the Kingdom of God.  However, not all aspects of the Kingdom of God have come to pass.  Just like Israel received a covenant, but had to wait 40 years to experience the fullness of it, so the Church has begun the Kingdom and yet awaits the fullness of the “millennial kingdom.”  Some point to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:9 as a time in the future where the preparation of the Church will have been completed and She will be brought before Christ never to be separated again.  Either way, at the Second Coming of Christ the kingdoms of this world will be taken up by Christ and given over to His saints.  It will be a great time of joy and celebration between Christ, the saints, and the heavenly hosts.

The New Covenant of Jesus

In verses 19-23 Jesus reveals that this meal is pointing to a new covenant, as opposed to the Old Covenant that God made with Moses and the people of Israel.  It is important to recognize the Lord’s position and actions here.  We see him as the director and giver of all good things.  He dispenses the food and drink to his disciples all the while pointing to a spiritual significance to these things.  Under the New Covenant Jesus would become our source of spiritual food and spiritual drink.  The people of the New Covenant must learn to feed spiritually upon the person, work, and teaching of Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at the spiritual significance that Jesus gives to the meal.  The original Passover pointed back to a time when Israel was spared from the Angel of Death in Egypt.  Now it would point forward to a time when all God’s people would be spared from the judgment of God, eternal death.  Specifically Jesus picks up the bread and the wine.  Just as he gave them bread to eat, so his life in human flesh was given to them as the bread from heaven.  He was surrendering this body as a sacrifice for our sins collectively and individually.  The wine was a symbol of the not just the literal blood that was shed at the cross, but of the spiritual work of atonement that it would accomplish.  He shed his blood in order “to cut” a new covenant with the Father.  We can stand in faith knowing that the Father will not diminish the death of His Son and turn His back on the New Covenant.  This is a sure covenant that can never be laid aside for another.  In fact, God made the first covenant so that they would be able to recognize the Eternal Covenant that He would give through His Son.  Thus, Jesus tells the disciples to now do the Passover meal in remembrance of Him.  This should not be seen as a confirmation that the Church should keep the festivals of the Old Testament.  Rather, the emphasis is on giving the old forms, new significance in Jesus.  He becomes the fulfiller of all that the old was signifying.  This new meal of the New Covenant would be from then on done in honor of Christ.  The early Church appears to have celebrated this meal far more than once a year.

The discussion transitions from the intimacy of what the meal represents to the warning that there is a betrayer in their midst.  Verse 22 says that the son of man “goes” as it has been determined.  He is not just talking about leaving the meal.  This term is a reference to his physical death and then later physical ascension.  These things have been determined by the counsels of God the Father and agreed to by the Son.  The sacrifice must be made, and not of bulls and goats.  Even though it is determined by God, this does not absolve Judas, who is the betrayer.  It didn’t have to be Judas.  It could have been another.  But, it was he who made the choices and embraced the horrible act of betrayal.  It is also determined that there will be a great falling away from the Truth in these last days.  However, you do not have to be one of those who choose apostasy.  Even today, there is an intimacy between true disciples and the Lord Jesus.  Yet, in the midst of such intimacy is a growing group who are not choosing intimacy with Jesus.  Rather, little by little they are turning from Him and having strong desires towards the things of this world.  A moment of betrayal will always follow such days.  Yet, even then, the sacrifice of Christ can still cover this.  Judas did not have to kill himself and go into eternity through an act of hopelessness.  He could have thrown himself on the mercy of God in repentance.  If you recognize that you have been walking away from the Lord and instead walking towards the world, then turn in repentance today.  The Lord has provided the sacrifice that will cover our sins.

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