COMEMMORATION: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PREPARING GOSPEL
Luke 22:7-20: LIFEWAY SPRING QUARTERLY 2021 SESSION 8
Celebrations, Feasts, Funerals, Memorials, Meals… All of these are ways we maintain memory the way we remember important events, and important people to us; more than just “reminders” they connect us to one another. They encourage us by reminding us of the past, setting our resolutions for today, and bring hopeful expectations for tomorrow. Meals and memorials are more but not less than memory they are “commemoration” that join us together on life’s journey- shared meals tell us we are family, re-establish common bonds and encourage us to keep working together through those bonds today for a brighter future tomorrow. There is nothing more “commemorating” (joining us together in memory through identification with ONE’S person and actions in the past) from scripture than the ordinances of believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In today’s lesson we are going to take a brief look at Luke’s account of Jesus’ inauguration of the Lord’s Supper and the “communion we share in His sacrifice for our salvation as a result. I want to focus not on the establishment of “ritual” or even the “running of” a Lord’s Supper Service. Nor do I want to leave us with a “static” and merely passive understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice where we ONLY reflect and contemplate on the meaning of His death- as important as that is… Yes, we must reflect and contemplate but that reflection and contemplation should challenge, encourage, remind, and prepare us for service as a body of believers under His identity, sacrifice and authority like it did the disciples. For in Jesus’ transformation of the Old Covenant Passover through preparation for His death and resurrection by the inauguration of the New Covenant of His body and blood we find our commemoration with Him and each other leading us to live as Jesus lived through His Spirit living in us! As we study let’s remember our interpretive framework from Luke of: Jesus and the Gospel as a gift given from Heaven, Jesus and the Gospel as a gift humbly received, and Jesus and the Gospel as a gift proclaimed. Let’s take a look!
The most important thing we need to know about the Lord’s Supper Ordinance (Ordinance- meaning something we do commanded from scripture that symbolizes or reminds of a GREATER Spiritual Truth about God and His work in and among us for our salvation and spiritual welfare) is that we are commemorating what Jesus inaugurated in order that our Faith may be strengthened in Him so that we may be prepared to serve sacrificially as Jesus did. Let’s unpack this by looking at the passage… There are two major sections in Luke’s account- the preparation which begins in verse 7 and ends in verse 14 and the establishment and meaning of the ordinance from verse 15 to 20. It is no accident that Luke spends more time with the “preparation”. “The Passion of Christ” (the Gospel story of Jesus’ Jerusalem journey to the cross, grave and resurrection) is the highest climax of rising action in the Bible and the illustrative heart of the Gospels it’s like the time of the last darkness of night and the first rays of sunlight to strike the Grand Canyon where the contrast of light and shadow is most dramatic and complete. Luke begins verse 7 with “the Day of Unleavened Bread came…” this is the day when the Passover Lamb would be slaughtered before sundown to celebrate and remember the Death Angel passing over the Children of Israel because the “blood of the lamb” covered their household.
That first Passover Feast was one of expectation, haste, fear, confusion, deliverance and sorrow. Imagine eating huddled together rejoicing over the power of God’s delivering and faithful hand at that very moment while at the same time shuddering with tasteless bread (matzo) and bitter herbs between your teeth as you listen to the mournful cries of your unbelieving neighbors outside your door as Death and righteous judgment moved from house to house passing over some and entering others! What will happen when death comes to my door? What can I claim to bar his taking? Fast forward to Luke’s Gospel- Jesus is the Perfect unblemished Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World (John 1:29). His blood not only covers us from our deserved death and separation from God but cleanses us from all unrighteousness and sin! His New Covenant goes further than the old- from Heaven to earth to eternity! Verse 7 tells us “this day” has come. Jesus and His Disciples have triumphantly entered Jerusalem but now (later in the week) they are 13 among a crowd of what most scholars believe to be 2 ½ million people who have come on pilgrimage for the feast. Jesus then tells Peter and John to “go and make preparations for the feast” in a city where they had no lodging, money was short and reservations had NOT been made “two years in advance” for any kind of booking like they would be needed for the way Jesus wants to commemorate Passover with His friends. Jesus might as well have just asked them to feed another 5000 people- that would be easier! Perhaps the Disciples trust in Jesus has grown- they only ask one question: “Where?” And Jesus provides. They are met and welcomed by the strange sight of a man carrying a water jug (a task reserved for women in the ancient world) and everything is just as Jesus said it would be just like the angels said in Luke 2, and just as Jesus will tell them concerning His death and resurrection. You can trust the word, promises and plans of the Sovereign Son of God. Yet the disciples needed to be reminded of this over and over as their faith grew and so do we. God provides and we make preparations based on His provisions…
In Luke’s Gospel the “little faith” of the disciples is shown when they make preparations and act on what God has already provided and shown. When we get to Luke’s sequel of the book of Acts the disciples turned Apostles show a maturing faith that follows and trusts in the Holy Spirit’s leadership not after but AS He provides… We need to do the same today. When and as God provides for us we act and obey on and in it. The disciples made preparations in accordance with Jesus’ will and from what He provided. He equipped them to act. God does not call the equipped but equips those He calls for His glory and purposes. And Jesus’ purpose in inaugurating the Lord’s Supper is to remind equip, and encourage the disciples and us to keep our trust in Him and His death and resurrection for salvation as the spiritual glue that keeps us together. We don’t just “remember and memorial Jesus” we “co- remember and co-memorial” commemorate Him. When we get to verse 14 we’ve gone from the “day” to the “hour” something monumental is about to happen- the stage is set for famous last words that will forever be our first words of memory in times of hardship and strife for the Kingdom that will bind us together, strengthen and encourage us as we endure our own sacrifices and hardships for Jesus’ sake, the Kingdom and our neighbor- the birth of the New Covenant.
In verse 15 Jesus begins by telling the disciples how much He has desired to spend this intimate time with them. As the rest of the Gospels note (especially John –with the Upper Room Discourse of Jn 13-17) Jesus sees the meal as a tool to teach, train, commemorate, fellowship, and encourage His disciples and ALL disciples of His everywhere till He returns. There is a strong “future component” to Luke’s Gospel- what Jesus does “today” in the text have ramifications for all eternity. Yet, although the future is controlled by Jesus’ sovereign will, though nothing then, now or forever can thwart Jesus’ mission or plan His followers are not to be “passive” by-standers, and receptive yet static sponges simply absorbing the Gospel but not acting upon it. For many Christians today the Lord’s Supper has become little more than passive, boring ritual and ceremony. We do it “because we’re told to…” Seldom do we look at verse 15 and 16 and consider that Jesus is coming back. Seldom do we consider that with every promise and mention of the future in Luke there is also the importance of being prepared for that future thru Jesus and His cross and resurrection- of understanding the importance of the “beforehand” in front of that future.
We are all excited about Jesus’ return and of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper with Him in heaven! But are we ready for Him? Are we preparing? Have you ever met an unprepared Eagle Scout? The idea is preposterous even if it would have made a great Don Knott’s comedy. Jesus desired to have this meal “before he suffered” (v.15) because His disciples needed to be prepared for His suffering and later their own. Sometimes we don’t see suffering coming, but we should expect it- and we should prepare for it beforehand through knowing scripture, God’s promises and remembering why Jesus suffered for us, and how He handled it so that we may be better equipped ourselves when it does come (1 Peter 2:18-25; 4:12-19, Col 3:12-17, Heb 12:1-6). When we eat the bread and drink the cup we are not only proclaiming WHAT Jesus HAS DONE for us and identifying Him as Son of God and Son of Man for us but we are also identifying with His mission and His sufferings. We can give thanks (v. 17) because Jesus will fulfill all righteousness because the Kingdom of God is coming and His broken body and poured out blood has given us not only mercy and grace but everything we need to be servants and ambassadors of His Kingdom by His Word and the Holy Spirit within us.
When the memory of Jesus, and the commemoration of His death and resurrection are at the center of our minds, hearts and hands as a body of believers we will be equipped to live for Him and to live as He lived as a testimony, proclamation, and witness to the World and our neighbor. The disciples didn’t’ understand this at the time but they did understand it later. Jesus’ equipping them paid off in dividends and it will pay off for us when we trust Him, remember Him and act on His Word. So let Jesus’ Gospel prepare you today for service in His name by the commemoration of the LORD’s Supper. Prepare from the base of gift and sacrifice that Jesus is and what our Lord and Savior has done on our behalf and make yourself ready beforehand to eat of the brokenness of His suffering, and drink of the sacrifice of His life poured out for you and remember that the Kingdom is coming- with great celebration and joy in the morning at the great Supper of the Lamb of God!
All the Best! Darrin.
