As Jesus returned to Jerusalem, he began making preparations to celebrate the Passover with his friends that Thursday evening. This last supper was to be the culmination of his disciple's training and a time when he would deliver essential teaching about the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit and what the future would hold for them, and for us. The Lord's Supper is meant to be a moment of reflection and remembrance, an opportunity for fellowship and a time of worship and thanksgiving. On the evening before Jesus was crucified, He established this memorial meal with His apostles. Luke 22:14-20 records the dinner:
When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. I have
fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I
tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
When we call the supper Communion, it reminds us of the special
relationship Jesus desires with us. We love a relational God who is personally
invested in our lives and who earnestly desires connection with us.
The Passover was a feast God ordained for remembering how He delivered the
people of Israel from bondage and slavery in Egypt. They sacrificed a lamb,
placed it's blood as a covering over their door to protect them as a destroying
angel passed them by, or passed over them and then ate a meal
of roasted lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The next day, they left
Egypt. Jesus is OUR Passover lamb. He was sacrificed for us so that we can be
delivered from bondage and slavery to sin. His blood is our covering and
protection from death. Let's take a moment and reflect on the powerful
symbolism Jesus introduced as He ate the Passover with His friends.
Here are the 2 Elements of the Lord's Supper:
THE BREAD
At the dinner, Jesus presented His new Supper:
And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them and said This is my
body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
The bread of the Passover was unleavened, meaning that it did not have any
yeast in it. There is a popular saying in the Bible:
Don't you know that a little leaven, leavens the whole lump of dough? -1
Corinthians 5:6
Paul uses yeast to describe the invasive way that sin spreads. When Jesus
used unleavened bread as a symbol of his body, it teaches us 4 things.
1. Jesus Lived A Sinless Life
The unleavened bread reminds us that Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life and
we will one day be conformed to His image.
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as
indeed you are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore,
let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and
evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians
5:7-8)
2. Jesus' Suffering and Death Was Substitutionary
His body was given for us. He was the substitute for us, taking the punishment
we deserved for our sins. While it is true that, in accordance with prophecy,
none of Jesus' bones were fractured, just like the bread, His body was broken
for us. He was beat up, beaten with rods, scourged, forced to carry his cross
until his body could take it no more, brutally crucified, then pierced through
with a sword to puncture vital organs and make sure He was dead.
He was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities.
The punishment for our peace was on him and by his stripes, we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:5)
3. Jesus Rose from the Grave
Unlike a nice yeasty roll, unleavened bread does not mold. Unleavened Bread is
the bread of haste. It is also much better to take with you on a journey
because it won't go bad.
Psalm 16:10, quoted again in Acts 13:35 declares:
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol. You will not allow your Holy One to
see decay.
Because Jesus was sinless and perfect, he did not rot in the grave, but was
raised to life.
4. Jesus' Spirit Sustains Us
Jesus nourishes and refreshes our souls through His Spirit in our lives. In
John 6:35:
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."
THE CUP
After breaking the bread, Jesus
presented the second element of his memorial meal, the cup.
In the same way, He also took the cup after supper and said:
"This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, which is poured out for
you."
If you were a young Jewish man in the 1st century and you wanted to gain a
bride, you would go to her home and meet with the young lady and her father.
After carefully making your intentions known and presenting a Covenant, or
marriage agreement, you would pour a glass of wine. If the father approved of
the Proposal, he would drink from the cup. If the prospective bride agreed, she
would drink from the cup. If everyone drank from the cup, then you had an
accord and the couple was betrothed. The bridegroom would then depart to go
prepare a place for them to build their life together saying similar words to
what Jesus said at the last supper as recorded in John 14:3:
I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am, you may
be also.
Sometimes in church we sing: "like a bride waiting for her groom,
we'll be a church waiting for you." This is precisely the metaphor the Bible
uses to describe Jesus’ relationship to his bride, the church. The cup of
communion reminds us of our Covenant with Christ.
A young man would also leave a gift, a sign or promise of his true intentions
toward the woman. In modern culture, an engagement ring is given. Jesus has
also given us such a gift. In 2 Corinthians 1:22, we are told that God has:
...placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of
what is to come.
Other versions call the Spirit our Guarantee. Just like a
bridegroom gave a gift to his future bride as a sign of his true intentions,
Jesus has promised us a future home together in heaven and given us His Spirit
as a token of his promise.
He compares the fruit of the vine that we drink from the cup to his own blood.
The Bible says:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on
the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes
atonement by the life. (Leviticus 17:11)
When we take the cup, we remember that Jesus spilled his blood for us,
making atonement for our sins and reconciling us to God. With our
drinking, we show that we have accepted his sacrifice and entered into a
covenant with him.
Jesus ate a complete Passover meal with his disciples that
evening. There is important symbolism in the other elements as well.
BITTER HERBS
At the original Passover meal, they were instructed to eat bitter
herbs. For centuries these herbs have been used as a symbol for the bitterness
of the captivity of the Hebrew people in Egypt under the harsh oppression of
Pharoah. The herbs served as a reminder through the ages that God worked
through Moses to set his people free. By that same line of thinking, we might
stop and remember that we were all once in the bitterness and bondage of
slavery to sin and oppressed by the devil, but Jesus came to destroy the works
of the devil and set us from bondage to sin.
But I believe there is more to these bitter herbs. The bitter
herbs that were native to the region were known as good medicine, able to
cleanse, purify and detoxify the body. In the same way that the Hebrews were
cleansed from the inside out physically, we need to be purified
from the inside out--spiritually.
Unlike the Passover meal, we do not eat bitter herbs at the Lord's
Supper because Jesus has already endured the bitterness of the cross and
provided all that is necessary for our cleansing and atonement. We need HIM to
clean us up.
THE LAMB
We don't sacrifice a lamb, because Jesus is our Passover Lamb and
the last sacrifice ever needed. As John the Baptist said:
Behold the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world.
When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we should remember the
finished work of Christ on the cross and we should also remember that the work
of the Holy Spirit in our lives is ongoing.
When we accept Jesus, repent and are Baptized, we are JUSTIFIED in
God's eyes. We are immediately put into a right standing and a repaired
relationship with God---Forever. When we take the Lord's Supper, we are
reminded that we are still being SANCTIFIED, or made Holy. We are being
transformed to be more like Jesus. We experience Baptism once. We take
communion over and over again. We receive the Holy Spirit once. He changes us
and transforms us throughout our lives so that we look more and more like Jesus
Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.
The repeated taking of communion reminds us that God isn't
finished with us yet. He's still working by His Spirit in us, throughout our
lives.
Taking the Lord's Supper is a serious and wonderful occasion.
1. It is a MEMORIAL that helps us remember Jesus' sacrifice and
teach others.
2. It is a time of THANKSGIVING as we consider with gratitude what
God has done for us.
3. It is an opportunity for FELLOWSHIP with other believers.
4. It is an act of WORSHIP where we connect with God and
experience His Presence.
Jesus and His disciples highlighted the worship aspect by singing
a hymn together at the conclusion of the meal, but truly, the entire supper is
an act of worship.
At the supper, after Judas left, Jesus delivered a lengthy teaching
emphasizing the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives as our comforter,
teacher and counselor and His very real Presence with us and within us. (John
14:15-27, 15:1-9, 26, 16:13) We should remember this in our own observance of
communion.
He shared these words to comfort his disciples and for those who
accept his invitation:
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to
you as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled or afraid.
As He inaugurated the meal, Jesus said that he would not eat it
again until his kingdom had come. There will come a day when the church will be
united with Christ and we will eat a celebratory wedding feast together in
heaven. Until then, we eat this meal to remind us of the joy that awaits us. Revelation
3:20 records Jesus invitation for all to come to his supper:
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens
the door I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
The invitation has been extended, will you eat supper with Jesus?
Here are links to the other articles in this series:
Palm Sunday: Passion Week Part 1
Psalm 22: The Song of the Cross (Passion Week Part 3)
Resurrection Sunday: The Whole Story (Passion Week Part 4)
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