"Three Things To Think About

When You Celebrate Lord's Supper"

Sermonettes on Luke 22:14-23

Saint Mark's, Watertown

Pastor Karl Walther

April 20, 2000

My friends, how many times are you liable to celebrate Lord's Supper before you die? I got to thinking about that, and I ran the numbers on it. For example, our eighth graders who are receiving Lord's Supper for the first time this evening-- if they receive Lord's Supper once a month to the end of their lives, they will likely receive Lord's Supper more than seven hundred times. If they receive Lord's Supper once a week, and that would be really good-- if they receive Lord's Supper once a week, they will likely receive it more than three thousand times!

You know: when you do something that regularly, it can get to be not only a habit (which is really good), but also an empty habit (which is not really good). That's why it's a very good thing for us to return to God's Word -- tonight it's Luke's account of the very first Holy Communion -- where we recover for ourselves once again some of the richness of this blessed sacrament. We read Luke chapter twenty-two, verses fourteen through twenty-three:

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

On the basis of these words from the Lord, allow me to suggest to you today:

THREE THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WHEN YOU CELEBRATE LORD'S SUPPER.

First of all: LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATES OUR PASSOVER.

Secondly: LORD'S SUPPER IS OUR REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST.

And finally: LORD'S SUPPER PRECEDES CHRIST'S BETRAYAL FOR US.

Sermonette One: Lord's Supper Celebrates Our Passover

My friends: did you notice, first of all, how closely Luke connects Lord's Supper with the Passover? When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." Those words remind us that not only did Jesus institute Lord's Supper at the time of the Passover, Lord's Supper represented a fulfillment of the Passover.

And as if to emphasize the point by repeating it, we read of Jesus that: After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." God's saving, ruling activity through the Gospel was about reach its pinnacle in Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection-- and Passover was never going to be the same.

All of that leads us to ask, "What was Passover like in Jesus' day?" Well, let me tell you.... Passover took place on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On that day the Jewish people swept their houses clean of all yeast. It was then their task to select the Passover Lambs: year-old males, without any defect, from either the sheep or the goats. These were slaughtered at the temple in Jerusalem between 2:30 & 5:30 in the afternoon.

That Passover evening every year, the Jewish people gathered together in their families and ate the Passover meal. It had four parts....

First, each participant had a sip of wine and a taste of bitter herbs. The bitter herbs reminded the Jewish people of the many decades of hard labor in brick and mortar -- and sometimes without even straw -- that their millions of ancestors suffered some fifteen hundred years earlier in captivity in Egypt.

Secondly, with a sip of wine on the part of all, the participants told to each other the Passover story of their ancestors' release from Egypt-- how God promised deliverance through Moses, how God plagued Pharaoh and the others with nine mighty plagues, how the tenth plague brought death to every firstborn male in Egypt (human and cattle), and how Pharaoh finally urged the Israelites to leave.

Third, the Passover participants ate the meal itself. They ate unleavened bread-- a reminder of their forefathers' hasty exit from Egypt, preventing them from adding any yeast to their bread. They ate the passover lamb-- a reminder of the original lambs, whose death and blood on the lintels and doorframes God had used a millennium and a half earlier: so that his destroying angel passed over the Israelites' homes. And they consumed more bitter herbs, as well as another cup of wine.

Fourth and finally, the family sang together psalms 113 through 118-- all songs in celebration of the deliverance the Lord had arranged for their ancestors, so long ago.

Brothers and sisters: it was during that final real Passover celebration I just described that Jesus reminds us: Lord's Supper Celebrates Our Passover.

Think of it...! In Lord's Supper we dine on our Passover Lamb: also a male in the prime of life and without any defect -- without any sin at all. This was Jesus Christ. It was Jesus' bitter suffering for our sins that took the place of our suffering: which is why no bitter herbs accompany Lord's Supper today. It's Jesus' blood, shed for us, that marks the lintels and doorframes of our hearts: so that God refrains from loosing his anger over our sin to destroy us in death-- and in an eternal existence in hell. It's Jesus Christ who has swept the yeast of sin out of the households of our lives.

And so it is that we sing songs of praise tonight. And like those Jewish families -- all celebratory together -- we (God's family together!) gather around the feast of our release from sin and death and hell: a release wrought by God's goodness, exercising itself in the form of our Passover Lamb Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermonette Two: Lord's Supper Is Our Remembrance Of Christ

My friends: the next words that Luke reports are no surprise to you. Smack dab in the middle of the celebration of the Passover, we read: And he took bread -- no doubt a rather small, but certainly flattened loaf -- gave thanks -- as we do before meals -- and broke it -- so that of that one loaf, each had a part. And he gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." So, in Lord's Supper, we really receive Christ's body. Jesus says so. And it's there not to judge us or harm us, but to benefit us by acquitting us. Its presence among us is an eternal monument to him.

In the same way -- never to be separated from eating the bread -- after the supper -- so maybe even with some time intervening -- he took the cup -- it had to have been about the size of one of our chalices -- saying, "This cup -- filled with the fruit of the vine: grape wine -- is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. So, in Lord's Supper, we really receive Christ's blood. Jesus says so. And just as importantly: it represents a new covenant between us and God. That's a new official agreement, given by God, and put into effect the way a will is: by death. And its presence among us is an eternal monument to him.

And so, brothers and sisters: Lord's Supper Is Our Real Remembrance Of Christ.

Think of it...! In Lord's Supper Jesus says, "Consider here how important it is that you remember me. Already I've provided you baptism to sign you into God's family. Already I've given you the Scriptures: seven hundred fifty thousand words in order for you to hear God's message of my forgiveness.

"That's still not enough, though. I want you not only to hear of me for forgiveness-- I want you to see me, and taste me, and feel me. Take and eat; this is my body given for you. The very body that lived a perfect life and accomplished all those miracles (and now has risen from the dead)-- take it, see it, eat it, feel it: so that you never ever forget it.

"Furthermore, as a second witness: Take and drink; this is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. The very blood I paid for your transgressions-- take it, see it, drink it, feel it: so that you never ever forget it.

And so it is that yearly we commemorate this occasion specially, and several times every week we offer Lord's Supper. How then can we fail to receive it regularly? Amen.

Sermonette Three: Lord's Supper Precedes Christ's Betrayal For Us

My friends: did you notice, finally, how closely Luke connects Lord's Supper with Christ's betrayal? Jesus continues: "But the hand of him who is going to betray me ... with mine on the table." Actually, there is no is there. It's entirely possible that Jesus means to say: "His hand was just moments ago with mine on the table." And the other accounts really suggest that strongly. Either way, there's that linkage: The first Lord's Supper took place in the very midst of betrayal.

Jesus continues: "The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." It's the sternest possible warning against anyone spurning God's goodness by failing to trust Christ. And of the apostles we read. They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. The verbiage is such that you suspect that the apostles were sure this would be accidental. But of course, Judas' betrayal of Christ wasn't accidental.

And so, brothers and sisters: Lord's Supper Precedes Christ's Betrayal For Us.

Think of it...! At the moment Christ instituted Lord's Supper, he was already in the very process of betrayal, at the very edge of his suffering. The conspiracy was already born. The plan was already hatched. Likely Judas was already on the way to inform the Jewish leaders of Jesus' whereabouts in a scant hour or two. Jesus knew it all-- and still, he ever so willingly gave himself up: just as Lord's Supper represents so well.

It means that every time you receive Lord's Supper, Jesus is saying, "I am willing to spend myself for you. Even my very body and blood I plunged into harm's way for you. It means that nothing is ever going to stop me from loving you. You have my guarantee!"

It also means that same way Judas' betrayal (in the midst of Lord's Supper) shocks us, we could not bring ourselves to betray Jesus again. So: as we take Lord's Supper, we've got to confess our sins-- acknowledging that truth he taught us. We've got to confess Christ as Savior-- acknowledging that truth he taught us. And we can't -- we can't! -- just keep on sinning, can we? Amen.