Luke 22.7-23

Today we have come to one of the most well-known episodes in the life of Jesus: his last supper with his disciples before his crucifixion.

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.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Sacraments:

Today we have come to one of the most well-known episodes in the life of Jesus: his last supper with his disciples before his crucifixion.

Transsubstantiation—Catholics

Consubstantiation—Luther

It begins on a definite low note: Satan has just enticed Judas to make a deal with the Jewish religious authorities, who wish to kill Jesus. Judas says he will let them know the next time they are in a secluded place, so that they can arrest him far away from the eyes of the crowd.

Historically, a highly contentious point in the life of the church

If you remember, the Passo

Spiritual Presence—Christ is present among his people in a particular way when they partake of the sacraments together.

This is what we mean when we say they are a “means of grace”—they are a particular way in which God provides sanctifying grace (not saving grace) to his people.

In the minds of Jesus and his disciples, the Passover is the climactic event of the Bible up to this point—God’s faithfulness in providing salvation for his people (cf. Ex. 12)

But something needs to happen first. Jesus plans on taking a final meal with his disciples, and instituting what we call the Lord’s Supper.

In other words, the sacraments help Christians become more like Christ through their repeated observance and celebration.

We see in v. 7 that the time of the feast of the Passover has arrived. Jerusalem is now swarming with people, which would have made it very difficult to get a room for the night.

Remembrance—a simple remembering (the classic Baptist position)

But this is important—Jesus needs to have this final meal with his disciples, in an unknown place where they wouldn’t be interrupted, where Judas couldn’t warn the authorities of their presence. So God provides.

So Jesus sends two of his closest disciples, Peter and John, on a secret mission. He tells them what to look for, and they find everything ready, exactly as Jesus said it would be.

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.

We saw this last week, but this serves as a reminder: Jesus was in complete control of what was about to happen to him. He wasn’t being tricked by Satan’s schemes—he, and no one else, would decide where and when he would be arrested.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

But before that, he had something important to do. Jesus needed to have this final meal with his disciples, in an unknown place where they wouldn’t be interrupted, where Judas couldn’t warn the authorities of their presence. It wasn’t time for him to be arrested yet; he had one last thing to do, one last meal to eat with his disciples before his death.

So God provided.

In v. 14, Jesus and his disciples arrive at the upper room, all prepared and ready. They sit down at the table to celebrate the feast of the Passover.

Christ re-institutes the Passover for his own purposes

The tradition of ratifying covenants around meals—Noah, Abraham, Moses…

Now, it’s important, as we go into this passage, to remember what they were actually there to celebrate—it is no coincidence that Jesus chose this particular moment to have this particular conversation with his disciples.

The Passover was one of the climactic moments in Jewish life. If you really want to understand what was going on during the Passover, the best place to start would be Exodus chapter 12.

We don’t have time to read the whole passage, but in we see the story of Moses’s intervention to free the Hebrews come to its climax. The people of Israel have been in slavery in Egypt for many years; they have been crying out to God to free them.

And God responds by sending them Moses, a Hebrew who was raised as the adopted son of the Pharaoh’s daughter. He is sent by God to convince the Pharaoh to let the people go free.

In reality, God does the convincing: when the Pharaoh obstinately refuses to free the people, God sends a series of plagues to terrorize him. A couple times he starts to waver in his resolve, then changes his mind.

And finally, God sends one final plague: he sents an angel to kill all the firstborn—animals and humans—in Egypt. He gives the people of Israel a sign to show the angel, so the angel would not come into their houses and kill their firstborn. They are to slaughter a lamb, and wipe its blood on the doorposts of the house. When the angel sees the blood of the lamb, it will pass over their houses, and not come in.

And this is what happens. The Egyptians suffer devastating loss, but the Hebrews lose no one. The Pharaoh is so distraught after losing his own child that he lets the people of Israel go free.

In other words, God shows his faithfulness by saving his people through the sacrificial blood of a lamb, shed in their place.

Why the insistence that the setup of the meal will happen this way?

That’s what the Jews are celebrating when they celebrate the Passover.

The bustling activity of Jerusalem would have made it hard to get a room for the night.

Let’s read together, in , starting at verse 7.

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.

So Jesus, at this final Passover meal with his disciples, re-institutes the Passover for his own purposes. He shows in this meal how, just as God saved his people in the past, he continues to save his people in the present.

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.

But this was important—so God provided.

Now before we get into the text itself, we need to take a minute to examine some of the baggage we have around this topic. (There is a lot, and we’ll need to wade through a lot of that baggage before we can see this clearly.

And I’ll give you a fair warning right off the bat: we’re going to have to leave our typical model of sticking to one primary text, because we’re trying to see what the Bible says about the Lord’s Supper, and there are a few other passages in the Bible which complement what Luke says here. You can’t establish a doctrine on only one text, if there are other texts in the Bible to complete it. So we’ll be skipping around a good bit.

A reminder that Jesus was in control of what was about to happen to him. He wasn’t going to let Judas know where this was happening, because it wasn’t time for him to be arrested yet—he had things to do first.

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.

Before we get into what Jesus does and says here, let’s take a minute to talk about all the baggage we bring to the Lord’s Supper. Because this subject carries with it so much baggage that we can easily miss the forest for the trees.

If you’ve been to church before, you’ve probably seen the Lord’s Supper in one form or another. It’s the part of the service where we take bread, and we take juice or wine, and we remember what Christ did for us together.

It sounds like a simple matter, but it is anything but simple. Few topics have stirred up more controversy throughout the history of Christianity than this one. And a lot of the baggage we bring to the table on this topic comes from what evangelical culture has done with over the years.

Few topics have stirred up more controversy throughout the history of Christianity than this one—particularly between Catholics and Protestants.

If you’ve been to church before, you’ve probably seen the Lord’s Supper in one form or another. It’s the part of the service where we take bread, and we take juice or wine, and we remember what Christ did for us together.

For example, how many people grew up seeing the Lord’s Supper presented as a private time—a moment to personally reflect on our sins, and on what Christ did for us on the cross? We’d take it at the same time, but we’d do it with eyes closed, silently prayerful. Now obviously reflection is not a bad thing; thinking about our sin and what Christ did for us is not a bad thing. But I’ll maintain that the Lord’s Supper is not meant to be a private moment.

Another area of baggage comes from the language we use. The Lord’s Supper (or Communion, as it’s often called in evangelical circles) is one of the ordinances, or sacraments, that Christ himself instituted.

Now, already we’ve got some baggage there, because if you grew up Catholic you’ll probably hear that word quite differently than a Protestant would.

comes from what the Protestant church, and particularly evangelicals, have done with the Lord’s Supper over time.

one of the ordinances, or sacraments, that Christ himself instituted. Now, already we’ve got some baggage there, because if you grew up Catholic you’ll probably hear that word “sacrament” quite differently than a Protestant would.

That can be tricky, because if you grew up Catholic, you’ll probably hear that word “sacrament” quite differently than a Protestant would.

One way of articulating the Catholic view came from Thomas Aquinas. He said that on the cross, Jesus Christ built up a “storehouse of merit”, and the sacraments are the means by which Christians access that merit. That is, on the cross, Christ provided all the grace we’d need, but we don’t get it automatically; we access it through the sacraments. So according to that view, the sacraments are a way of making sure we always have saving grace from God.

But one way of articulating the Catholic view came from Thomas Aquinas. He said that on the cross, Jesus Christ built up a “storehouse of merit”, and the sacraments are the means by which Christians access that merit. That is, on the cross, Christ provided all the grace we’d need, but we don’t get it automatically; we access it through the sacraments. So according to that view, the sacraments are a way of making sure we always have saving grace from God.

That’s not what we believe. For Protestants, the sacraments are particular means by which Christ helps his people become more like him, in a unique way. They’re not the only way he does this—he does it through the Bible and prayer and preaching and the community of believers, etc.—but the sacraments are a particular means he’s given us, to help us grow more like him, in a unique way.

The other big difference people often ask about is about what happens when we take the Lord’s Supper. The classic Catholic view is called “transsubstantiation,” and it means that the bread and the wine literally become the body and blood of Christ when you receive it, without losing their physical properties.

In Protestantism, we only have two: the Lord’s Supper and baptism. And we believe those are the only sacraments Christ instituted because in the Bible, those are the only ones he actually institutes.

All that to say that when Christians are baptized, and when Christians take the Lord’s Supper, God is giving them grace to become more like Christ, in a unique way. (We’ll get into why they’re unique a little later.)

There’s one more difference—and here we get at the heart of the matter. What happens when we take the Lord’s Supper? The classic Catholic view is called “transsubstantiation,” and it means that the bread and the wine literally become the body and blood of Christ when you receive it, without losing their physical properties.

That’s not what we believe. The bread is just bread, the juice is just juice. They do not become anything else. But we would hold that Christ helps his people grow in holiness, in a particular way, when we take the sacraments—the Lord’s Supper and baptism. This is what we mean when we call these two institutions the “means of grace.”

I know that sounds vaguely mystical, so a lot of people will be wary of that idea. But it’s not at all mystical. Don’t freak out on me yet—as we go on, one of my goals will be to explain why it makes sense that the sacraments help us grow in Christ in a particular way.

So to do that, let’s go to the Bible, and see what the Bible has to say about it. We’ll be mainly in Luke today, of course, but since we’re talking about such a large topic, we’ll also make side visits to Matthew and 1 Corinthians to help us get a larger picture of what the Bible says.

n the rest of our time today, I want to try and show you why that is.

Let’s go back to our text in 2.

For example, how many people grew up seeing the Lord’s Supper presented as a private time—a moment to personally reflect on our sins, and on what Christ did for us on the cross? We’d take it at the same time, but we’d do it with eyes closed, silently prayerful. Now obviously reflection is not a bad thing; thinking about our sin and what Christ did for us is not a bad thing. But

The way it plays out in church

Every week?

Once a quarter?

Spiritual presence or merely remembrance?

Private time of reflection or communal time of celebration?

We see in v. 7 that the time of the feast of the Passover has arrived. Jerusalem is now swarming with people, which would have made it very difficult to get a room for the night.

So Jesus sends two of his closest disciples, Peter and John, on a secret mission. He tells them what to look for, and they find everything ready, exactly as Jesus said it would be.

We saw this last week, but this serves as a reminder: Jesus was in complete control of what was about to happen to him. He wasn’t being tricked by Satan’s schemes—he, and no one else, would decide where and when he would be arrested.

But before that, he had something important to do. Jesus needed to have this final meal with his disciples, in an unknown place where they wouldn’t be interrupted, where Judas couldn’t warn the authorities of their presence. It wasn’t time for him to be arrested yet; he had one last thing to do, one last meal to eat with his disciples before his death.

So God provided.

In v. 14, Jesus and his disciples arrive at the upper room, all prepared and ready. They sit down at the table to celebrate the feast of the Passover.

Now, it’s important, as we go into this passage, to remember what they were actually there to celebrate—it is no coincidence that Jesus chose this particular moment to have this particular conversation with his disciples.

The Passover was one of the climactic moments in Jewish life. If you really want to understand what was going on during the Passover, the best place to start would be Exodus chapter 12.

We don’t have time to read the whole passage, but in we see the story of Moses’s intervention to free the Hebrews come to its climax. The people of Israel have been in slavery in Egypt for many years; they have been crying out to God to free them.

And God responds by sending them Moses, a Hebrew who was raised as the adopted son of the Pharaoh’s daughter. He is sent by God to convince the Pharaoh to let the people go free.

In reality, God does the convincing: when the Pharaoh obstinately refuses to free the people, God sends a series of plagues to terrorize him. A couple times he starts to waver in his resolve, then changes his mind.

And finally, God sends one final plague: he sents an angel to kill all the firstborn—animals and humans—in Egypt. He gives the people of Israel a sign to show the angel, so the angel would not come into their houses and kill their firstborn. They are to slaughter a lamb, and wipe its blood on the doorposts of the house. When the angel sees the blood of the lamb, it will pass over their houses, and spare their firstborn.

And that is what happens. The Egyptians suffer devastating loss, but the Hebrews lose no one. The Pharaoh is so distraught after losing his own child that he lets the people of Israel go free.

In other words, God shows his faithfulness by saving his people through the sacrificial blood of a lamb, shed in their place.

That’s what the Jews are celebrating when they celebrate the Passover.

So Jesus, at this final Passover meal with his disciples, reappropriates the Passover for his own purposes. He shows in this meal how, just as God saved his people in the past, he continues to save his people in the present.

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.”

Now, here we see why we don’t believe in transsubstantiation. In this verse we can see clearly that he is speaking metaphorically. When Jesus held out the bread for them and said, “This is my body,” none of the disciples would logically think that bread was literally his body, because his body was there in the room with them.

He’s speaking figuratively, saying, “This is a picture, or a symbol, of my body, which is given for you.” There is a definite ritualistic tone to the proceedings here, and clearly the disciples understood that, because they kept on receiving it in this way, and so have we all, ever since.

So it’s a symbol of his body. We get that.

But what does Jesus mean when he gives them the bread, and tells them to eat it (cf. ), and then says, “Do this in remembrance of me?”

Or to put it another way, how would eating a piece of bread help Jesus’s disciples remember him?

So if he’s not speaking literally, then what does he mean

We actually understand this better than we think we do, and very naturally. The bread is physical, tangible—you can feel it, you can see it, you can taste it. Physical stimuli, over time, builds up memory.

Think about it—why do we hug our kids? Because we love them, sure—it feels great to hug your kids.

Have you ever wondered why, when Jesus wanted his disciples to remember something in a particular way, he gave them this? Why give them this physical, tangible thing—bread in their mouths—to remind his people of what he did for them?

But that’s not all there is to it. My dad hugged me a lot when I was little, and he regularly told me he loved me. (Usually, he did both at the same time.)

Obviously, that doesn’t happen as often now, because I live far away and don’t see him as often. But even now that I’m an adult, every time my dad hugs me, I remember his love for me in a particular way.

And I don’t have to go through the process of actually thinking, This hug is the means by which my father expresses his love for me. It’s sense memory, in action. I feel his embrace, and I feel his love, because over time the two have become inextricably linked in my mind.

Why give them this physical, tangible thing—bread in their mouths—to remind his people of what he did for them?

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

v. 14-17: Jesus’s intense longing to share this moment with his disciples before his death.

“I will not eat…I will not drink...” The anticipated joys of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb ()—the ultimate Passover feast, where he will celebrate God’s salvation with ALL his people.

Why v. 17? Why won’t he drink wine until his kingdom comes?

Without even having to think about it, when my dad hugs me, I feel his love for me in a particular way.

The Lord’s Supper: historical debate

Sacraments:

Transsubstantiation—Catholics

Consubstantiation—Luther

Spiritual Presence—Christ is present among his people in a particular way when they partake of the sacraments together.

This is what we mean when we say they are a “means of grace”—they are a particular way in which God provides sanctifying grace (not saving grace) to his people.

In other words, the sacraments help Christians become more like Christ through their repeated observance and celebration.

Remembrance—a simple remembering (the classic Baptist position)

In the minds of Jesus and his disciples, the Passover is the climactic event of the Bible up to this point—God’s faithfulness in providing salvation for his people (cf. )

Christ re-institutes the Passover for his own purposes

And without having to think about it, I feel my love for him.

The tradition of ratifying covenants around meals—Noah, Abraham, Moses…

Reminder: Jesus reappropriates the Jewish Passover, building upon the rich history of God’s delivrance of his people, to show how God continues to do exactly the same thing through him.

The unleavened bread: the bread of affliction, a reminder of their escape from Egypt—.

We are in constant danger of forgetting the grace of Christ. We are constantly bombarded with other things scrambling for our attention, other stimuli trying to get us to pay attention to them. We need help remembering.

So Christ gave his people something physical, something tangible, something that would build memory over time. Something that would reform our hearts and minds, that would call us back to what we know is true, and help our hearts remember him, and to respond in kind.

After the bread, he gave them the cup. V. 20:

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.”

Now if you know your Bible well, you’ll immediately see why he says what he does here, but I don’t want to assume anything, so let’s ask the question: What is the new covenant he’s talking about? And what does it have to do with blood?

The bread represents his body—the heavy symbolism of Judaism would have been in their minds; never would the disciples have mistaken Jesus as saying the bread was literally his body, because his body was there, with them.

The Lord’s Supper: historical debate

Sacraments:

Transubstantiation—Catholics

Consubstantiation—Luther

No—the bread represents his body—the heavy symbolism of Judaism would have been in their minds; never would the disciples have mistaken Jesus as saying the bread was literally his body, because his body was there, with them.

Spiritual Presence—Christ is present among his people in a particular way when they partake of the sacraments together.

This is what we mean when we say they are a “means of grace”—they are a particular way in which God provides sanctifying grace (not saving grace) to his people.

To understand that, we have to go back to the beginning.

In other words, the sacraments help Christians become more like Christ through their repeated observance and celebration.

Remembrance—a simple remembering (the classic Baptist position)

The way it plays out in church

Every week?

Once a quarter?

Spiritual presence or merely remembrance?

Private time of reflection or communal time of celebration?

The bread: remember me

God created the world; he created man; and man rebelled against God—and through that rebellion, sin entered the world and brought with it corruption and death. Since then, man was separated from God’s presence.

Why did he choose this physical, tangible image to remind his people of what he did for them?

Why do we hug our kids?

Because we love them, sure—it feels wonderful to hug your kids.

But that’s not all. My dad hugged me a lot when I was little, and he constantly told me he loved me (usually at the same time).

Obviously, that doesn’t happen as often now, because I live in a different country and I don’t see him often.

But even now, every time my dad hugs me, I remember his love for me.

And I don’t have to go through the process of literally thinking, This is a way my dad expresses his love for me. It’s sense memory, in action. I feel his embrace, and I feel his love, because over time the two became inextricably linked in my mind.

And without even having to think about it, I feel my love for him.

We are in constant danger of forgetting. Communion reforms our hearts and minds to remember what Christ has done for us, and to respond accordingly.

Contrasting his atoning work with the Old Covenant’s copious blood sacrifices.

The cup: the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you.

And from the earliest pages of the Bible, we see the beginnings of God’s plan to bring his presence back to the people he created.

He chose a people for himself, the people of Israel, and he made a covenant with them. If the people obeyed God’s law and followed his good rules for them, they would be his people, and he would dwell with them as their God.

And in , we see the inauguration of this covenant.

It’s a startling scene. They slaughtered animals, put the blood in basins, pour half the blood against the altar, and throw the rest of the blood on the people.

It was a gory mess, filled with symbolism.

The gory mess underlined how serious sin is, and it taught that the only appropriate punishment for sin is death. Obviously, if God killed them, they wouldn’t be his people anymore, because they’d be dead. So he provided a ritual of sacrifice for them: animals would be killed in their place, essentially taking the punishment for their sins, so that they could be declared righteous.

These sacrifices were to be repeated on a regular basis, because the people—as you quickly see if you read the Old Testament—were constantly breaking God’s law. They never managed to obey him. Their sin played on repeat, so the sacrifices had to be repeated as well.

The blood was necessary because even if the people of Israel had been adopted by God as his people, they were still sinful; the only appropriate punishment for sin is death. And obviously if God killed them, they wouldn’t be his people anymore, because they’d be dead. So he provided a ritual of sacrifice for them: animals would be killed in their place, essentially taking the punishment for their sins, so that they could be declared righteous.

When Jesus gives his disciples the cup to drink, and says, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, he is contrasting what he is doing with the Old Covenant’s copious blood sacrifices.

In just a few hours, Jesus would be arrested. He would be falsely accused and convicted. He would be tortured, and he would be crucified.

At his crucifixion, he would take on himself the sins of his people, and he would be punished in their place, for their sins—exactly like the animals of the Old Covenant sacrifices.

But his sacrifice would be different, because he was not only not an animal, he was more than a mere man. He was the Son of God—God made man. He lived the perfect life God’s people were commanded to live. He is the first and only man who perfectly obeyed every law of the Old Covenant.

So his death for the people would not be like the death of animals, which had to be repeated without end.

Through Christ’s atoning death on the cross for his people, the sacrifice was made—once and for all.

You see, the New Covenant Christ establishes with his people is the same as the Old Covenant—blood sacrifice offered for the sins of the people—except this time, the sacrifice is offered once, at the beginning of the covenant, never to be required again. It is done.

And the cup Jesus gave his disciples in this moment was the symbol, the physical picture, of that covenant.

: the inauguration of the Old Covenant.

In the same way that the bread reforms our hearts to remember his body, which was broken for us, the cup reforms our hearts to remember that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient. He has established a covenant with his people, and he has met all its requirements. He obeyed where we couldn’t, and he was the sacrifice we could never offer.

Everything of significance is doused with blood: half on the other, the other half on the people.

A gory mess, filled with symbolism.

In the light of all of that, there’s one more question we need to ask: what do the sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—do for us? Why do we receive them?

what do the sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—do for us? Why do we receive them?

They are both signs pointing to the New Covenant Christ has established with his people. Baptism is the sign of our entrance into the New Covenant, and the Lord’s Supper is the sign of the perpetual renewal of the New Covenant.

One theologian put it this way: “The sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—are the means by which the people of God rehearse the story of God communally.”

So they are both intimately related to one another.

When a Christian is baptized as Christ commanded, that Christian publicly declares that he or she has entered into the New Covenant through faith in Christ; and the church publicly declares that we affirm and welcome the Christian into the New Covenant community.

And when we, the church, receive the Lord’s Supper together, we publicly affirm to one another that all of us are continually receiving all the benefits Christ purchased for us through his death. Paul said in ,

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

We “proclaim the Lord’s death”…to whom? To each other. That’s why, when we take the Lord’s Supper here, we ask you to get up out of your seats, and to take the bread and the cup from someone else’s hands. We want you to look a brother or a sister in the eyes when you do it, as a reminder to both of you that the covenant that Christ established with his people is PERMANENT, and ongoing, and we are continually benefitting from it.

Let me get really practical for a minute. There are weeks when you’ll come in here, and just be totally in the clouds. You're thinking about other things, the sermon was boring, whatever (I know how it is, my feelings aren’t hurt).

Or there are weeks when you feel broken. Broken by the songs that we’ve sung, the Scripture we’ve read. During the preaching of the Word, your heart was convicted, you’ve recognized sin in your own life, and you just feel crushed under the weight of it all.

In either case, the Lord’s Supper is there to remind us that no matter what we’re feeling, Christ’s sacrifice is enough, and his covenant with us has not moved.

But the Lord’s Supper is here to remind us

Or maybe it has nothing to do with sin or spiritual things. Maybe you just came in completely destroyed by loss. I’ve told the story about several years ago, when Loanne and I suffered a series of miscarriages, before Zadie was born. I remember the first time we were back with you guys after that first miscarriage; we were still reeling.

And I can tell you that when I received the Lord’s Supper with you, I felt the presence and the goodness of Christ in a unique way, because I was reminded that his goodness toward me wasn’t effected in the slightest by the pain I was feeling. He was still there, andhis covenant with us had not changed.

And I felt the same thing the first time I received the Lord’s Supper after Zadie’s birth. In the joy I felt on that day, I took the bread, and I took the cup, and I was just overwhelmed with gratitude that, for all the goodness he had shown to us that week in giving us a healthy, beautiful baby girl, that was nothing in comparison to the goodness he showed us in his covenant with us.

The Lord’s Supper is a weekly reminder of what is actually true about us: we are his, and he is Lord and King, offered once and for all for our sins.

So it is a weighty moment, absolutely; but it’s not a mournful moment. When we take the Lord’s Supper, we aren’t celebrating death or loss; we’re remembering the faithfulness of our God, who has provided salvation for his people.

It’s hard for us to see how something can be weighty and solemn, but joyful at the same time. At least it’s hard to see in this context, but in other contexts, we understand it just fine. Think of a wedding. We’ve celebrated two weddings in our church over the last two weeks.

Weddings are a big deal. This is no light affair. The things we gather to observe and reflect on when we gather for a wedding are massive.

But at the same time, what is more joyful than a wedding? (Or a wedding anniversary, which carry that same weight, and that same joy.)

Like a wedding anniversary, the Lord’s Supper is a weekly reminder of God’s grace to us—a reminder which is solemn, and weighty, but at the same time, joyful in the extreme.

Now I know that was a lot of information, and I won’t expect everyone to remember all of it. So very quickly, let’s try to recap.

The Lord’s Supper is a look back—a look back to God’s past faithfulness to save his people. It is a reminder of God’s delivrance of the people of Israel in Egypt; it is a reminder of God’s continued faithfulness in delivering them from their enemies and establishing them in their land; and it is a reminder of his ultimate faithfulness to us in Jesus Christ.

The Lord’s Supper is a look forward. I skipped over it before, Jesus gives them a cup and tells them to pass it around; and he says to them in v. 18:

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.”

Jesus is enjoying this meal with his disciples; it is a moment full of meaning for him.

But he is clear that as good as this meal is, it’s not the meal he’s really looking forward to. He is anticipating the joy of a future meal, which we see in —the meal he will have when he welcomes his church home with him in paradise. The Lord’s Supper is Advent, every week—a look forward to the return of our King, to the ultimate Passover feast, where we will celebrate God’s salvation together with all his people, and with the One who saved us.

And finally, the Lord’s Supper is a look around. When we receive the bread and the cup together, we are reminding one another that we are not alone in this. This is a personal moment, but it is anything but a private moment. This is a family meal, in which the people of God rehearse the story of God together.

The gory mess underlined the seriousness of sin.

The Lord’s Supper is a regular reminder of the covenant.

The gory mess taught that the payment of sin is death.

Contrasting his atoning work with the Old Covenant’s copious blood sacrifices.

Through his atoning, once-for-all death, it is done.

The New Covenant works the same as the Old Covenant—blood sacrifice offered for the sins of the people—except this time, the sacrifice is offered once, at the beginning of the covenant, never to be required again. It’s done.

The Lord’s Supper is a weekly reminder of the covenant. It (with baptism) is the means by which the people of God rehearse the story of God in community.

“Do this in remembrance of me”—we are in constant danger of forgetting. Communion reforms our hearts and minds to remember what Christ has done for us, and to respond accordingly.

So it is weighty, absolutely; but it is not mournful. When we take Communion, we are not remembering death; we are remembering faithfulness—the faithfulness of God, who provided salvation for his people.

How can something be weighty and solemn, but at the same time joyful? It’s hard to remember in this context, but in other contexts, we understand it just fine. Think of a wedding. We’ve celebrated two weddings in our church over the last two weeks.

Weddings are a big deal. This is no light affair. The things we gather to observe and reflect on when we gather for a wedding are massive.

But at the same time, what is more joyful than a wedding?

And wedding anniversaries carry with them that same weight, that same joy.

v. 21: Reminder: the betrayer is with me. Why share Communion with him?

Why would he let Judas be at this meal?

For one thing, Judas hadn’t betrayed him yet.

But I think it also serves as a reminder that his atoning work for us happened because of our sin. Judas is all of us: Jesus went to the cross because of our sin. And still, he invites us to sit at his table, as often as we will—he is instituting a repeated remembering of the Covenant.

Judas only came once: this would be his first and last Communion.

A look back (Ex. 12)

A look forward

v. 14-17: Jesus’s intense longing to share this moment with his disciples before his death.

“I will not eat…I will not drink...” The anticipated joys of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb ()—the ultimate Passover feast, where he will celebrate God’s salvation with ALL his people.

And a look around ()

Luke 22.7-23

Preparations (v. 7-13)

The Passover

Baggage

Preparations

The Passover

The Body (v. 19)

The New Covenant (v. 20)

Celebrating the Lord’s Supper

Conclusion