The Last Supper (Matthew 26.17-29)

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.” Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” (Matthew 26:17-29)

Change can be difficult to accept, especially for religious people. For religious people their traditions give them a sense of meaning and define their identity. But when something new comes and the old is suddenly obsolete, it can create a crisis. What was once familiar is not strange and the world does not make sense anymore. And so we naturally resist change and hang on to what is familiar and therefore coherent and brings comfort. What is new may not make sense and we are disturbed so we seek for something to bring back our sense of balance and security. We often revert back to the old ways because they are familiar and comforting, even if the new is something better. Change for the sake of change, or just trying to be hip and keep up with the latest trend, is not necessarily a better way it just may be different. If we are going to change then the new thing should be superior to the old or the change will be pointless and frustrating.

Jesus makes things new and this means that Jesus brings change.

What Christians call the Last Supper, which included the institution of the Lord’s Supper, is all about change. Over two-thousand years removed from this event it seems old to us and not new at all. But what Jesus did at the Last Supper was something new and even revolutionary. But because of all the history separating us from this event it does not seem revolutionary to us because it has become old and familiar, even a tradition. Christianity as a whole has become traditional instead of revolutionary. But if we fail to see the newness of what Jesus brought to the world and we settle for the dry husk of traditionalism, the fault is ours for failing to see and understand the true nature of the Kingdom of God.

Human nature always seems to be lagging behind the Divine purpose. But we must catch up to the new thing God is doing in the world through Christ or we will miss out on it entirely. The Kingdom of God will move on with or without us but we could be left on the outside of the door. God’s purpose will continue to advance in spite of human failure and unbelief, even in spite of efforts to reject or frustrate God’s plan. This principle is vividly illustrated in the events surrounding Jesus’ death. Not only does human obtuseness fail to stop the purpose of God, but God is even able to use human failure and rebellion to accomplish His will. And so one of the great lessons of the Gospel is that nothing God plans to do can be stopped! If we resist Him we will be the ones left behind in the dust of Divine history.

A vivid illustration of this truth is seen in the story of the Exodus, which lies directly beneath the account of the Last Supper.

The people of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for over four centuries. It seemed that the purpose of God, that had been revealed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had ground to a halt. God’s promise was the Abraham’s descendants would inherit the Promised Land of Canaan. But they are slaves in Egypt. So how can they inhabit Canaan? Egypt was a world power, being one of the great civilizations of the ancient world. Pharaoh had no intention of losing his free labor force. Was this situation going to frustrate the purpose of God? Could God overcome the will of Egypt and bring His people out of bondage and into the Promised Land?

We know the rest of that story.

The Exodus seems like ancient history to us. It is another old Bible story that gave birth to an old tradition called the Passover. So there is Jesus, preparing to eat the Passover with His disciples as every Jew did each year. The Passover was one of those traditions that stand like granite monuments along the highway of human history which cannot and should not be changed.

The Passover was that terrifying night when the Death Angel passed over Egypt to kill the firstborn. It was the final act in a drama of judgment. But that judgment on Egypt was Israel’s salvation. And they ate that first Passover meal in haste, making ready to leave Egypt for good. The Passover lamb was killed and the blood applied to the door-frames of Jewish homes, setting them apart from the Egyptians, and giving a sign to the Death Angel who would pass over each home marked with the blood of the lamb sparing that home from judgment and death. God told the Israelites to remember this event each year by preparing a meal just like the one they prepared that night so long ago in Egypt. So each year a Passover lamb was slain.

The people had to be ready to leave Egypt immediately, so there was no time for the bread they made for this special meal to rise. The bread had to be unleavened. So during the Passover no yeast could be found anywhere in their homes and all the bread they ate had to be unleavened. You have to learn to do without certain things when you are getting ready to leave!

The blood of a lamb and bread made without yeast are object lessons designed to teach us something. And we should be thankful God uses such concrete objects, like a lamb and some unleavened bread, instead of expecting us to learn spiritual things in the abstract. The blood of an innocent lamb and bread minus the yeast teach us about the need for sin to be covered and removed from our lives. Like the nation of Egypt, we are all under the black cloud of God’s judgment and death. Sin works its way through our lives like yeast growing in bread dough. Sin must be covered and removed or we will be judged and die in Egypt, never to enter God’s Promised Land.

I know that the word “sin” is old-fashioned and out of vogue today. But God has gone to great lengths to teach us about sin and its effects on our lives. Though many do not accept this assessment of the human race, the real problem is sin. And God wants us to be aware of the problem because He aims to provide the solution. We cannot cover our own sin. We must accept the covering, or the atonement, that God will provide for us.

The Passover was the prelude to Exodus, which is Salvation. The Exodus was in turn the prelude to Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law, which is Covenant.

God was bringing His people out of bondage so that they could be with Him. God’s people were not to be set free to be their own Master, but to serve the God who redeemed them from slavery. And so a covenant was made. Moses brought the people out of Egypt to the mountain of God where He would make a covenant with them. They would be His people and He would be their God. God had already made a covenant with Abraham, from whom came the nation of Israel while down in Egypt. And so God had already made certain promises or commitment, which were reaffirmed to Isaac and then to Jacob. God intended to keep these promises. A covenant is a promise made between two parties in which a binding agreement or commitment is made and a relationship is formally established. Marriage is a covenant and God often referred to the nation of Israel as His wife. God intended to make Israel His wife and that was why He brought them out of bondage in Egypt. God makes covenants because God wants an intimate partner, not just a passing relationship with His people. Most people are not prepared for a covenant relationship with God. The human race has always been spiritually promiscuous, preferring to worship idols and pursuing other loves besides God.

God’s desire to make a covenant tells us something about God’s nature. First, it tells us about God’s grace. He is in no way obligated to make covenants with us. God has condescended to bind Himself to us in a covenant relationship and He only does this because He wants to, not because He has to. God owes us nothing. We owe Him everything. Secondly, a covenant tells us about God’s consistency or faithfulness. God can be trusted. He never changes as men do and therefore God will always keep His promises. So we should always believe the Word of God. Thirdly, covenant tells us about the love of God for His people. The love of God is only understood correctly in the context of covenant. If we don’t understand covenant we will cheapen the love of God and even underestimate His love, as if God wants to be a casual friend instead of an intimate partner. Without understanding covenant the love of God may be reduced to tolerance, where God lets us go our own way to live our lives apart from Him. But God’s love is more passionate, fiercer, and even more jealous than we are often prepared to accept! God’s purpose in make a covenant was to have a people for Himself, a people He would love and who would love Him in return while forsaking all other lovers.

The covenant God had previously made with Abraham and the covenant God made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai were not the same. But these covenants were made for the purpose of God taking a People for Himself. Why do we need to understand something about these covenants? Because at the Last Supper Jesus is bringing in a New Covenant, His very body and blood being the basis for this New Covenant. We call this covenant “new” but it is only new in its establishment not in its purpose or intention in the Divine will and plan. God had already promised this covenant in His original covenant promise to Abraham. God promised Abraham that “through you seed I will bless the world.” That “Seed” or descendant was Jesus Christ, through whom this New Covenant, which was actually the first and the original covenant, would be made. Law that was given through Moses at Mount Sinai was added to that original promise because of the problem of sin, says Paul in Galatians, until the time came for God to send His Son into the world. The Law taught us about sin so we would see our need for the Savior when He came!

A good meal, you see, takes some time to prepare. The finer the meal the longer the period or preparation. The Kingdom of God is compared to a feast and it has taken God a long time to prepare for it. But now the Table is set and we are all invited to come! It is actually a wedding feast. God is getting a Bride for His Son.

When Israel was told to remember what God had done for them they were given a meal to eat together. Eating has to do with fellowship, community, intimacy, and celebration. These things are all elements of entering a covenant relationship. Christians are never told to eat the Passover meal. This is not because the Passover is not important but because Jesus has brought something new and something better. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed! The Passover was the shadow and Christ is the reality. The reality is always superior to the shadow. So this Meal has been prepared and all that remains is for us to receive what God is giving us. What He wants to give us is Himself. If God has not withheld from us His only Son then there is nothing that God will not give to His beloved people!

When Christians come together to eat the Lord’s Supper we are looking back and remembering what God has done in the past, we are receiving His grace for our present need, and we are also looking forward with hope to the future. The writer of Hebrews captures all of the past, present, and the future in the three appearances of Christ:

“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:24-28 ESV).

1. He appeared to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
2. He is appearing now in the presence of God in heaven as our High Priest.
3. He will appear again to bring full salvation to His people who are waiting for Him.

When Israel ate that first Passover meal they did so to make ready for their Exodus from Egypt. In the same way, Christians eat the Lord’s Supper in anticipation of our Exodus from this present, evil world and our introduction into the Promised Land of the new heavens and the new earth.