3-25-2018 Is It Time to Eat? Luke 22:7-30
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Introduction: The Word-phrase “Post Haste”
Some of you know that I sometimes use the word-phrase “post haste”. The word-phrase “post haste” came into usage during the reign of Henry VIII of England. Relays of horses were stationed in strategic towns in England. When a letter was stamped “posthaste,” it meant “ride for thy life!” If a carrier was caught delaying on route, he was hanged!
Letters of the sixteenth century often bore a drawing of a letter carrier suspended from the gallows. Beneath the drawing occurred the words: “Haste! Post haste! Haste for thy life!” What a friendly reminder of the importance of those messages!
This Easter season ought to stamp posthaste on our hearts with the most important message that we have the privilege to carry. And while our lives may not be at stake, somebody else’s eternal life, is which is then even more weighty than being hanged.
Today is Palm Sunday! So let’s mount our horses and ride with the Good News of Eternal Hope being sent by our King, made possible by the new covenant!
Transition:
This morning, I want to talk about Thursday. This Thursday, you might hear or you could say: “Happy Maundy Thursday!” The word “Maundy [mŏnˊdē]” means “new commandment” and this is how this coming Thursday gets its title. It is a Latin translation of “mandatum novum” which literally translates to “new commandment”. Maundy Thursday is, then, all about this “new commandment” greatly attributed to Jesus’ words in John 13:
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This new commandment is seen throughout Christendom as being ratified on Maundy Thursday. Today, we will look, therefore, at the new covenant being sealed the Thursday of the Holy Week - with the relationship that YHWH has established between Himself and us right on the night before Jesus gave His life. This is of huge theological importance! Last week we were in Luke 19 and so this morning let us return to Luke and go to chapter 22 starting in verse 7:
Scripture Reading:
7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” 9 They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” 10 He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters 11 and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” 13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” 23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. 24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. 28 “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, 29 and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
A lot can be gleaned theologically in this one passage alone, but for this morning I want to focus on the exact moment that Christ instituted this new covenant.
Transition:
Today we symbolically remember the cost of the covenant as we come to the table of our Lord.
I. Passover Me the Bread
I. Passover Me the Bread
It is important to understand what exactly is a covenant and how does it apply when God is involved. in short a covenant is much like today’s business deals you have two parties that have something to gain from making the Covenant and both parties agree on consequences for either side not living up to the obligations of the Covenant. But unlike business deals today, each side swore that if they did not live up to the Covenant, they would be deserving of being chopped up into bits and pieces. However, something was quite unique with God’s first Covenant to man. This first of a kind business deal was between Abraham and YHWH. Other than it involving the Creator of the universe, the other most unique thing about this deal is the obligation to fulfill the deal was only one-sided. In other words, Abraham got the best deal of all time: he had zero obligation and responsibility to the conditions of the Covenant! other than being the very first Covenant between God and man it was also the very first Covenant that was unconditional— but the unconditional element is not always characteristic of a covenant between God and man. For instance, fast forward history a bit, and you’ll read about the Covenant between Moses and YHWH—which was very conditional on the obedience of the nation of Israel. You know this, but what I really want to show you is HOW this covenant was ratified: in Exodus 24:7-8 =
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
The sprinkling of the blood ratified the relationship. It approved and sanctioned it formally—just as any agreement made between any government officials would need to be ratified by formal membership.
And now, as a remembrance, it is not the outer act of sprinkling that ratifies this new covenant but by taking it inside of us— for example, the partaking of the elements of communion. This really might convey that this is a matter of the inner man, of the heart - with YHWH.
Part of this condition of obedience to the mosaic covenant is what ties into this morning’s passage. This leads us to the Passover. The first Passover was the moment when God “passed over” the Israelite homes in Egypt during the 10th plague.
For those Israelites, who were obedient to God by listening to the instruction of sacrificing a lamb and putting the blood on the doorpost, this one act of obedience saved them from the wrath of God—which was sure death for the firstborn in the Egyptian households. I trust you’re familiar with the rest of that story, but I’ll point out that the Israelites were also commanded to remember this miracle by celebrating the Passover annually with a feast which eventually developed into a week long party.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”
Jesus uses his last night alive in the natural flesh within the context of this Passover remembrance to convey an intense message that He is the blood sacrifice, just like the lambs’ blood on the doorpost, that will keep them safe and deliver them from the wrath of God.
In 1 Corinthians 5:7, the apostle Paul explicitly calls Jesus as the sacrificed Passover animal.
Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
So then, our only act obedience is to believe and accept this sacrificial lamb. Once again, we now have an unconditional covenant that we are free to accept the terms.
“What Terms?” you ask! Great Question! Jesus answers that! John 6:53-54
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
To eat Jesus’ body means to believe and to follow Christ. So we must eat His bread!
Transition:
But that is not all! Jesus also says eating is not quite all to it so:
II. Passover Me the Cup
II. Passover Me the Cup
We together must also drink from the cup. Jesus also says after eating:
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Why does He mention BOTH eating and drinking? What does our drinking of the cup mean to our relationship with God? Great questions this morning!!!
Jesus tells us here that the cup is the covenant. Jesus is not talking about the cup itself, but what the cup contains. Elsewhere, the Bible uses the word “cup” figuratively which makes for an interesting study. But for now, we’ll be satisfied that the contents of the cup are extremely important mainly because it is YHWH who symbolically serves the drink to represent His sealing of the covenant—”Really? is it really YHWH?” Yes! Look in the O.T.:
Psalm 16:5 -
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
It is God the Father who decides what is in the cup of our life - what we will experience or take in and we will drink from the cup which God sets before us.
This also includes the cup of God’s wrath:
Psalm 75:8 -
For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
and again in the N.T.:
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.
However, in this cup for Christ— it contained the suffering and death God had set before Him. Look back at our passage and go down to verse 42 where Jesus says:
saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
And then later in John’s account: John 18:11 -
So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
BUT there is also the cup of salvation!
Psalm 116:13 -
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord,
And so this morning Jesus Christ invites us to drink of the cup of His blood
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
BUT what does it contain? What does it represent?
It contains the blood of the sacrifice by which He enabled us to be in a restored, pure relationship with YHWH.
It contains the means by which we again are seen as friends rather than enemies of YHWH. Hebrews 9:22 says
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Christ had to shed His blood or there would be no relationship between us and God. With no blood, we would still be enemies of God.
This cup contains the Father reminding us that He had His Son die on the cross and that, now because of HIm, we have a restored relationship.
When we drink of this cup, we declare this new covenant of YHWH as we remember the cost. How appropriate with Good Friday approaching!
So What?
So What?
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Today we again renew our response, our covenant response. We again remember our commitment ourselves to God. And unless we do, we have no relationship with God.
Conclusion:
Unless we drink of this cup and eat of this bread, we will be forced to drink of the cup of God’s wrath—You know I am not talking about salvation through partaking in communion. But what I am saying is unless we believe in Christ and trust in Him, we have no part in His Father, nor in His Kingdom.
So the cup is before us this morning along with organic unleavened bread. It contains the promise, the covenant, and the means by which we internalize that promise. It is also humbling because it proclaims that we need Christ. That we could not pay for own sins, but He had to do so on our behalf. Yet it is joyful because of the life it gives to us.
Are you able to eat from the tree of life with us this morning? Can you come and drink from the river of life that flows from the throne of God? Do you again remember that your relationship with the Lord came at a price you couldn’t ever pay?
If you can and do, confirm and remember the new covenant you have with YHWH today. Celebrate what God has done for us and in us.
The cup and the bread is waiting for you—fill yourself with it. Fill yourself with the promise of God - the cup of salvation and the bread of life.