In View of God's Mercy: Maundy Thursday

Communion with Each Other

For three years Jesus had communed with his disciples. He traveled with them and taught them. He ministered among them and lived with them. But perhaps the time of closest fellowship was when they ate together at the evening meal. After a long day of ministering, they would relax, talk, share experiences, and laugh over food and drink. These meals were times in which they experienced meaningful community with the Lord and with each other.

For us as well, many times our closest communion with each other is when we share food together. The regular evening dinner with your family is a high point of your day. It may be the only daily occasion in which mom, dad, and kids are together to eat and share the happenings of the day. Or the meal may be a special event which marks our relationships: birthdays, holidays, weddings, anniversaries, funerals. In each of these events we gather around food to enrich our relationships and share our love for each other.

Jesus delighted to eat and drink with people. Doing so expressed his mission to live in fellowship with others.

Now it was the Thursday night of passion week. Jesus knows that he will die the very next day. This is why some people refer to this meal as the “last supper.” But in fact Christ makes it clear that this is not his last meal with them. He does something to assure them that his communion with them would continue into eternity. For twenty centuries since, we have referred to this meal as “Holy Communion.” But in what ways is it communion?

I. The Communion of Bread and Wine with Christ’s Body and Blood

The word communion means literally to be “united together.” Communion occurs when two or more distinct entities are united together as one. At the first level the Lord’s Supper is communion because it is a uniting together of physical and spiritual elements. Christ’s body is united with the bread and his blood is united with the wine. Jesus instituted this supernatural communion on that Maundy Thursday. The evangelist Matthew records what happened in our text:

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28).

Notice what happened here. Jesus took bread and said, “This is my body.” He took the cup filled with wine and said, “This is my blood.” He identifies the bread of this sacred meal with his body and the wine with his blood. There is a communion of the elements—bread with body and wine with blood. The apostle Paul affirms this reality when he writes in 1 Corinthians 10:16 (KJV): “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”

How can this communion of bread with body and wine with blood occur? It is a mystery to our human minds. We cannot explain it scientifically or analyze it chemically. We simply trust what Jesus says and promises. We believe that the consecrated bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper communicate the Lord’s body and blood to us. Jesus says, “This is my body; this is my blood.” And we say, “Amen.” It is a communion of bread with Christ’s body and wine with Christ’s blood.

II. The Communion of Christ with Us

The second level of communion in the Lord’s Supper is, however, what is most important. It is the communion between Jesus and us. For in instituting this sacred meal Jesus not only said “This is my body” and “This is my blood,” but he also said “Take, eat” and “Drink of it, all of you.” Jesus gave the bread to his disciples and directed them to eat it. He also gave them the cup of wine to drink.

Since there is a communion between the bread and Christ’s body and between the wine and Christ’s blood, when we eat and drink these we receive Christ himself. He is really present in this food, and so when we receive it he is really present in us. There is no closer communion than that.

In an extraordinary way, Jesus comes to us in the consecrated bread and wine to be present in us. Since he is holy, his holy presence indwells us. This is why it is called Holy Communion. And his holy presence within us makes us holy before God. This is why Jesus says: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). It is for the forgiveness of sins that Jesus gives us this holy meal. This is why the Lord’s Supper is not for sinless people, but it is for sinners.

Today you have come to this worship service infected with sin and burdened by guilt. But the Lord now offers you deliverance from that sin and guilt through his sacred supper. His body and blood are given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Of course, to receive forgiveness you must acknowledge that you are a sinner. We don’t receive the benefits of the Lord’s Supper unless we recognize our need for it. In preparation for the supper we repent of our sinfulness and confess our sins. As the bread is broken and the cup is poured, Christ’s body and blood serve as agents of mercy to us who are broken by sin and thirsting for righteousness.

In the words of our text from Matthew 26, Jesus offers his body and blood of the new covenant to those who will receive it in repentant faith. As we partake of this meal, we commune with the holy God who in turn imparts to us his righteousness and holiness. In receiving his righteousness, our sins are removed and we are saved from eternal condemnation. We eat Christ’s body and drink his blood in view of God’s mercy, recognizing that in this meal we receive his mercy.

III. The Ongoing Communion

After instituting the Lord’s Supper and distributing the bread and wine to his disciples, Jesus makes a final statement: “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).

Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples and created a new gift for them that would be ongoing—a feast that would sustain them in the time period between his ascension in heaven and his return in glory. That is the time in which we now live. During his earthly ministry Jesus ate regularly with his followers and friends. In these words he informs his disciples that this form of fellowship was now ended until the Father’s kingdom is realized in the eternal eon.

But until that final banquet begins, Jesus provides us with the ongoing feast of fellowship that we know as the Lord’s Supper. Every time we gather around the table of the Lord and eat his body and drink his blood, we partake in the new covenant community, and we participate in a holy communion. This is an ongoing meal that we regularly join. The apostle Paul says we are to partake of it often: “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). The meal that Jesus instituted on Maundy Thursday is not the “last supper.” Instead, it is the beginning of an ongoing feast of fellowship and communion that we share with Christ and with fellow Christians until Jesus comes again.

Conclusion

A devout Christian woman was hospitalized in the cancer ward. Her pastor visited her there regularly. This woman asked the pastor to bring her Holy Communion on a weekly basis. She deeply desired to receive the bread and wine, and she expressed the reasons to her pastor. She said: “I appreciate the care and medicine of my doctors and nurses. But in bringing the Lord’s body and blood to me, you bring the best medicine of all. This makes me well forever.”

In saying this, the woman did not expect to recover from her cancer. She knew that she would die from it. But she did expect to be healed of her sin. She trusted that because of her communion with Christ the Savior, she would be delivered from sin and eternal death. In faith, she recognized the surpassing value of the body and blood of her Lord. So she treasured Holy Communion.

On this Maundy Thursday, and for all the days of our earthly life, may we treasure the gift of Holy Communion. In the bread and wine we recognize Christ’s body and blood. And by receiving these, we commune with God. We receive his mercy in this holy meal, and in view of God’s mercy, we rejoice.