Text: Luke 22:7-20
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13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
Past
Whenever the Jews gather to celebrate the annual feast and festival of the Passover, one of the youngest family members asks.
“What does this supper mean?”
The head of the household repeats for all present. The story of God's deliverance of the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. Similarly, as we gather to commemorate the institution of the Lord Supper, we might well ask:
What does this supper mean?
Our text answers this question as it views the Lord supper from three perspectives the past, the present, and the future.
Before Jesus instituted the Lord supper, he celebrated with his disciples, the ancient feast of the Passover.
As the shadows of the evening came on that first Maundy Thursday, Jesus told Peter and John to go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat.
“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.
What is amazing about all this is that Jesus saw everything that was to happen as though it had already taken place.
He is our omniscient, Lord.
When the disciples and Jesus reached the upper room, the savior said:
15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
The Passover, you will recall. Was celebrated every year to commemorate God's deliverance of Israel from the 400-year bondage in Egypt. The book of Exodus gives us the account of their wilderness journey and escape.
You remember how God sent Moses to Pharaoh with the command let my people go and when pharaoh refused to release the children of Israel from bondage, God sent 10 plagues one after another.
Among them, frogs, locus, boils, hail, flies and the rivers turned to blood. And at last God resolved to send the angel of death through Egypt to kill the first born of all the living.
To protect the houses of the Israelites, God commanded each family member to slay a lamb without blemish and to put the blood on the door post so that the angel of death would pass over their houses.
The next day God led his people safely through the parted waters of the Red Sea, while the pursuing Egyptian army perished in the waters as they came together again.
Ever since, the Jews have been celebrating the Passover each year to recall how God redeemed them from the bondage of Egypt.
The Lord’s Supper too, is a feast of remembrance too.
After instituting the Lord's Supper, Jesus:
19 … 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.”
Christ has delivered us from a bondage far worse than that of slavery in Egypt.
For by nature, all men are the slaves of sin, death, and the devil.
As St. Paul writes in Romans:
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men[a] because all sinned—
All men by nature are subject to the cruel tyrant, the devil and to eternal death.
As little as the children of Israel could free themselves from their life of slavery, so little, can any man free himself from sin and dearth.
But Jesus Christ did deliver us.
John, the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said:
“Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
As the Passover lamb, was without blemish and without spot, so too Jesus, was wholly harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.
He kept God's law perfect for us as our substitute.
But, more than that, he was God's great sacrificial lamb offered on the altar of the cross for the sins of the world.
He took upon himself the guilt and the punishment of our sin as a substitute.
He gave his body and his shed his blood for us.
As writer to the Hebrews 9 says:
12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
And in Isaiah 53:
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
And, 1 John 1:7:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
So, the blood of Jesus Christ saves us from eternal death.
8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The glorious liberty and freedom of the children of God is what we ought to think of every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper. Our Exodus from sin and death.
Our hearts ought to swell with joy every time we hear the words:
“This is my body which is given for you. This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.”
For these words assure us that we have been redeemed through the holy and precious blood of Christ. How eagerly we ought to join the grateful refrain!
Present
The Lord supper is not only a memorial to God's grace made known to you and me once for all in Christ.
It is also a gift of God for us Christians here, and now!
Christ's intention, as he instituted the Lord supper, was to give his disciples an abiding gift of grace.
He took the bread gave thanks broke it and gave it to the disciple saying, this is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.
He took the cup of wine and said, this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.
In these words, Jesus assures the disciples that they were receiving bread and wine in a natural manner, but also that in, with, and under the bread and wine, in the sacramental union they were receiving his true body and blood in a supernatural manner as well.
But, more than that, Christ added the promise intended for each of the disciples.
“This is my body which is given for you. “
“This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.”
The disciples were to know that each time they celebrated the Lord Supper, Christ was offering and giving them the forgiveness of sins.
The very words of institution carried the promise of pardon.
What a blessing the Lord supper is for us.
Our greatest need in life is for the assurance of the forgiveness of sin.
Pilgrims on our journey through life, we sin every day against God and our neighbors in thought word and deed.
And how often we neglect to do the good that we should.
How often our conscience is accuses of wrongs that we have done or good left undone.
Where shall we go with our guilt?
In the Lord supper, Jesus invites us:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt 11:28
When we hear of comfort are burdened with sin:
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
Luke 18:13
Or, even the Prodigal as he contemplates his situation:
18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
Luke 15:18
Like the prodigal we come to the Lord's supper with joy and confidence to hear The Promise:
This is my body given for you.
This cup and the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.
Here. Christ says to each penitent center. I forgive you, go in peace. And as a pledge and seal of that forgiveness, he gives us his true body and blood.
Accepting this promise in faith, we can go on our way rejoicing.
Assured that God has blotted out our sins and has cast them behind his back and drowned them in the depths of the sea of his grace.
What a precious gift the Lord Supper is!
How eagerly we ought to receive this sacrament frequently to have the assurance of God's love and forgiveness of our sins.
Future
With deep emotions, Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room on the first Maundy Thursday evening. Jesus expressed his deep feeling in these words:
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.”
The time of parting had come.
Jesus was now to suffer and he knew it well. At the same time, the disciples were to be without his gracious presence for a time.
However, Jesus sees beyond the cross to the open grave to the hill of the ascension to his own coronation at the right hand of God is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
At the same time, he sees the dawn of his Kingdom of glory. When the disciples, together with all the redeemed, would be with him forever.
So, the Lord's Supper ought to remind us of the day when we will join the company of the redeemed to be with Christ forever.
Our celebration of the Lord supper is a foretaste of the blessedness of heaven.
For as we gather at the Lord's table, we express our fellowship with the Lord and with one another in the body and blood of Christ.
Paul reminds us:
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
And with one another gathered to the Lord, our bodies shall be made like Christ's glorious body.
We shall see God face-to-face. We shall be forever with the Lord and the glory. What a day and supreme joy and glory awaits us all!
As we continue to celebrate the Lord's supper for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith let us fill our hearts with joy as we reflect upon Christ death for us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
Modified Concordia Pulpit Rev. Henry Eggold c 1976
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