Mark 14:12, 22-25

“The Last Supper”

Today, we begin a new series of sermons in which we will be taking an in depth look at the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life. And in this first sermon, we will be focusing on the Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples.

But before we get into the Last Supper, I want to share with you something that we learned while we were over in the Holy Land. This is all recorded in the Scriptures, but it became more understandable for us as we actually retraced the steps of Jesus. Scripture tells us that most of Jesus’ ministry was conducted around the Sea of Galilee. If you look at the map on the screen, you can see this small body of water in the northern part of Israel. But when we come to the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life, we have to come all the way down to the bottom of the map … a 75 mile journey to Jerusalem. And it is here that Jesus has come with his disciples to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. Actually, it is here that Jesus has come to die.

You remember how Jesus entered the city on what we call “Palm Sunday”. He entered the city through the Mount of Olives, from which you can overlook the entire city, and you remember it was there he wept over the city. As he entered the city, he was greeted by people waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna to the Son of David!” They believed that Jesus could be the Messiah … a Messiah that would set them free from Roman oppression. So, they were crying out, “Save us now, Jesus! Deliver us now!” After this joyful entrance into the City of Jerusalem, it was getting late, so Jesus went back to Bethany, where he spent the night.

On Monday morning, Jesus went back into Jerusalem and entered the Temple for the first time. And as he entered through the Court of the Gentiles, where all nations were invited to pray, what he found was a market place. People were buying and selling all kinds of things. And Jesus became angry about this. This was meant to be a place where all people could come and pray, yet “You’ve turned it into a den of thieves,” he said. So, he turned over the money changers’ tables and he drove out those who were buying and selling. And when he did this, he infuriated the religious leaders.

Jesus continued to return to the Temple each day … Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, teaching in the Temple courts. And each day, he would push harder on his religious reforms. Each day, he challenged the religious leaders. He would say things like, “Whoa unto you Scribes and Pharisees, you are hypocrites!” Because they were like white-washed tombs … beautiful on the outside, but filled with filth on the inside. He told the people, “Do what the religious leaders teach you to do, but don’t live like they live, for they are like the blind leading the blind.” And every time he would say something like this, it would infuriate the religious leaders even more. So finally, they decided that this man had to die.

By Thursday, it was clear that they had devised a plot to put him to death. Each day, you could feel the tension growing. So, by Thursday Jesus was no longer showing his face publically in the Temple Courts. He was staying outside of Jerusalem. And so, he tells Peter and John to go into the city and prepare the Feast of the Passover for them. They were to find a secret place for them to eat, so no one could find them.

Jesus said, “There will be a sign for you. You will find a man carrying a water jug.” This was a woman’s job, so when they saw a man carrying a water jug, that would be a clear sign. They were to follow this man to a house where there would be an Upper Room. And they were to talk to the master of that house and ask him, “Where is the place that we will be eating the Passover Seder.” So, Peter and John went into Jerusalem and found it just as Jesus told them. This had to be the home of a wealthy man who was willing to risk his status and his life in order to host Jesus for this Passover Seder meal.

Around 3:00 that day, in preparation for this meal, Peter and John would have taken a lamb to the Temple to be slaughtered by the Priests. The blood of the lamb would have been poured around the basin of the altar as the people sang the Psalms. The priests would then butcher the lamb properly and then Peter and John would have roasted it for 3-4 hours.

That takes us up to around 7 PM when Jesus and the other disciples would have made their way into the city and to the Upper Room. And there they gathered for the Passover Seder meal. Jesus is very intentional here … this Last Supper takes place as a Passover meal. So, it is important for us to understand what is really happening here.

If you go all the way back to Exodus 12 you find the story of how the Children of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. For 400 years, they had cried out to God to deliver them and finally, God sent Moses to deliver them. We all remember how God brought plague after plague upon the land, but Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go. Then finally God said, “I will perform one last terrible deed upon this land and Pharaoh will have to let my people my go. I will send the Angel of Death to pass through the land of Egypt. Every first born in every house will perish this night.”

But God said to Moses, “Tell the children of Israel to take a lamb and slaughter it. Then put the blood of the lamb over the doorpost of their homes. When the Angel of Death comes to their homes, he will pass over them and go on to the next.” Hence, the name: “Passover”.

That night, the people of Israel did as they were instructed, then they cooked the lamb and shared together one last meal before they would be delivered the next day. That night, the Angel of Death passed through the land and there was great sorrow as the first born of every household died, even in Pharaoh’s home. And finally, Pharaoh demanded that the Israelites leave, so that no more suffering would be upon his people.

As the Israelites left the land of Egypt and entered the wilderness, they were born as a nation and a people. Those who had been slaves, were now free! This is what is celebrated in the Passover. And in Exodus 12, God commands the Children of Israel, “From this time forward, every year you are to celebrate this Passover Meal, so that you may teach your children and your children’s children that you were once slaves, but now you are free.”

To this day, the Jews still celebrate this meal in remembrance of what God did for them. I don’t know if you have had the opportunity to actually participate in a Jewish Passover Seder, but it is a meal that is filled with ritual. They have a book called “The Haggadah”, which means, “the telling”. This meal is for the purpose of “telling” the story of how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. It includes great food, singing, and discussion of what this meal means. Symbolic foods are included that help tell this story of redemption … bitter herbs; salty water; an apple mixture that resembles the mortar of bricks; a lamb’s bone; matzah (unleavened) bread; and 4 cups of wine representing the 4 promises that God gave to his people.

The Passover Seder begins at sundown and lasts anywhere from 4 – 6 hours. So, we can understand why afterwards in the Garden, the disciples were falling asleep. It was probably 11 or 12 at midnight by the time they entered the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.

John’s Gospel gives us the most complete account of what happened at the Last Supper. John’s Gospel is 21 chapters long and 5 of those chapters (25%) are devoted to what Jesus says and does at the Last Supper.

Now, the Passover is meant to be a festive and celebrative time, as people remember with joy that once they were not a people, but now they are God’s people … once we were slaves, but now they are free. But at the Passover Seder with Jesus, it was not so celebratory. Everyone was wondering what was going to happen to Jesus and his disciples. What would Jesus choose to do?

There was anxiety in the air, and this was compounded when Jesus turned to the disciples and said, “One of you will betray me.” Jesus already knew which one it was, but he didn’t say. So, each one of the disciples began to ask, “Is it I Lord?” Jesus finally says, “It is the one who dips his bread in the bowl with me.” The reality is that Jesus could have said, “All of you will betray me.” We know that Judas was the one who would lead the Temple Guards to the Garden to arrest Jesus. But Peter would also deny Jesus that night three times and the rest of the disciples would all desert Jesus. All of his closest friends would betray him, deny him, and desert him that evening.

And so, this is a question that still rings in all of our ears, even today. “When have you been Judas? When have you been Peter? When have you betrayed him, denied him, or deserted him?” The reality is that all of us have or will. There will be times when we will all betray Jesus by our actions … by our thoughts … or by the things that we were supposed to do, yet didn’t do. There were times when I should have stood up and spoken up, but instead I was quiet, because I was too afraid to be counted as one of his disciples. All of us will do this from time to time.

The Season of Lent was established by the Christian Church as a time for those who had denied Jesus under persecution to repent and to be welcomed back into the fold and to receive Holy Communion again. At this Last Supper, Jesus knew what the disciples would do, yet he still washed their feet … even Judas’ feet. He still served all of them the bread and the wine, even Judas and Peter. Knowing all this, he still looked at them and said, “You are no longer my servants, but you are my friends.”

Every friend you have is going to deny you, desert you, or betray you at some point. And somewhere along the way, you are going to do the same to your friends. Even though Jesus knew this, he still loved them. Jesus knows the things you have done and he knows the things you’re going to do, yet he still loves you and longs for you to come back. This is part of what the Season of Lent is all about … returning to the One we have all betrayed.

After announcing his betrayal, Jesus does something most unusual. He took the Matzah bread as traditionally done and he blessed it. “Blessed are you O King and Ruler of the universe who has commanded us to eat this matzah.” But then, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take and eat, this is my body given for you.” Now, this was strange. This was not part of the Passover Seder.

As you look at the screen, notice the stripes and the piercings on the matzah bread. As I discovered on our trip to the Holy Land, Jesus used object lessons with the common things around him to convey his teachings. And I can imagine Jesus giving them the bread and saying, “Look at it … this is a picture of what I am doing.” Within a few hours, he would have the stripes upon his back and his body would be pierced from the nails. “By his stripes,” the Scriptures say, “we would be healed.”

Then he takes the cup … and after giving the traditional blessing, he says something most unexpected. He says, “This is my blood of the covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin.” Surely, there were questions. “What is Jesus talking about? That’s not part of the Passover Seder!” You see, Jesus was transforming and changing the Passover Seder in that moment. He was giving us something new … the Eucharist – Holy Communion.

No doubt, the disciples recognized those familiar words, “This is my blood of the covenant.” Those words come from Exodus 24:8, where Moses says that God is entering into a covenant relationship with his people. God says, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” And Moses takes blood and he sprinkles it onto the people saying, “This is the blood of the covenant.” Jesus is now saying, “This is my blood of the covenant.”

They probably remembered the words from Jeremiah 31:31-34, where the people of Israel had been unfaithful to this covenant, so God says, “I will enter into a new covenant with you.” Listen to these words in Jeremiah 31:31. Surely, Jesus had these words in mind when he spoke those words over the cup:

“The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

This was probably the Scripture that Jesus had in mind as he took the cup and said, “This is my blood of the new covenant.” A new covenant was being established here, not just with Israel, but with all of humanity. It is a new covenant, in which God seeks to save us all from our slavery from sin and death. It is a new covenant, in which God seeks to give us new life and a new beginning. It is a new covenant, in which God seeks to take those who are no people and for all who follow Jesus Christ, he makes them into his people … his bride. You see, Jesus is doing something profound here. He is transforming what it means to be in relationship with God. He’s inviting all people to come and to be children of God.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Paul notes that Jesus commanded us to, “Do this in remembrance of him”, just like the Passover Seder was meant to be done in remembrance of God’s deliverance from Egypt each year. And for the Jews, the Passover Seder is the central act of remembrance that defines them as a people. Likewise, for Christians, the Last Supper would now become the meal by which we would remember our story.

You know, the Jews have a profound way of looking at their Passover Seder and it would have to have been the way that Jesus looked at it as well. The Passover reminded them of how they cried out to God as slaves in Egypt and God delivered them. It is the story of their identity … how they were born as a people and how they began as slaves, but now are free. And remembering this story helps them to have faith toward the future. No matter what they encounter in this life, and God knows the Jewish people have encountered more than their share, but no matter what comes, they trust in a God who is faithful, who is merciful, and who will deliver them. And this shapes who they are as a people.

And this is our story as well. When we receive the Bread and the Wine, we remember the moment that we were born as God’s people. When we receive the Bread and the Wine, we remember how we were saved and that our salvation came at the cost of Jesus laying down his life for us. We remember that we were once slaves to sin and death, but now we are free.

To be a follower of Jesus Christ, you have to get this story! This is what shapes our lives. This is our defining story. This tells us who we are and where we came from. It’s the story of our birth as a people. Once we were slaves to sin and death, but upon receiving the bread and the cup of Jesus, trusting in his grace and choosing to follow him, we are set free. And so, every time we take the bread and the wine, we remember this.

This is how this meal is meant to affect us as followers of Jesus Christ. “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”. So, this was meant to be a meal of thanksgiving … a celebratory event, because it defines who we are, whose we are, and where we’re going.

So, I ask you this question. What memories define you? What memories of the past do you keep playing over and over, because they define who you are today? Was it abuse as a child? Was it alcoholic parents? Or a time when someone hurt you? Which of those memories are defining you? Because, whatever memory is defining you, there is one memory that is meant to define you more than any other. It is the memory that comes with certain words … words that we hear every month when we have Holy Communion:

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread. He gave thanks to God. He blessed it and he broke, and he said to his disciples, “This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Likewise, after the supper was over Jesus took the cup and when he had given thanks to God, he said to his disciples, “This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of your sins. As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, as a holy and living sacrifice to you, O God.

These are the words and this is the meal that is meant to define us. From this moment on, the disciples were never the same. And every time that they sat down around a table, and broke the bread and shared the cup, they remembered Jesus and what he had done for them. Today, we do the same.