Mark
Dear Friends in Christ,
The words of our text are familiar. We know immediately what they are talking about. We also know why we just heard them, because it was on this night that Jesus Christ instituted Holy Communion for His Church.
Holy Communion is a precious and satisfying gift of God that is especially important and meaningful to His people. It will now be our privilege to spend the next several minutes together in a blessed review of this beloved sacrament...
For this past Lenten season we have been visiting the Places
of the Passion. Tonight we’d like to
look at the events of that first Maundy Thursday as we return to the place
where we began on Ash Wednesday – a non-descript upper room somewhere inside
the city of
But if the room was ordinary, the wonders that flowed out of it certainly were not. Let’s follow the Gospel writer Mark to
The Upper Room:
As we work our way through this text, we find that there is a progression of events that build up and culminate in Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper. We’re going to follow these rhythms and divide our text into three sections, or chapters. For the sake of interest we’ll give each of these chapters a title…
Chapter One: THE STAGE IS SET
12 On the
first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice
the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and
make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into
the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he
enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover
with my disciples?’ 15 He
will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us
there.” 16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things
just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
The “Feast of Unleavened Bread” was an eight day period
during which time Jews ate only unleavened bread. This “Feast” (which was really anything but)
was a reminder of the haste with which God’s people fled the slavery of
Passover was one of the high holy days on the Jewish calendar. Every Jew observed it and celebrated it as a sacred ritual. Therefore, the immediate stage that needed to be set for the events of that first Maundy Thursday was a large enough place for Jesus and His disciples to celebrate the Passover together…
So, just like He did on Palm Sunday, Jesus sends a couple of
His disciples to make the necessary provisions.
And just like Palm Sunday, He gives them explicit instructions. And just like Palm Sunday, the disciples “found things just as Jesus told them.”
Let’s not overlook the great lesson and comfort found in the
reliability of Jesus’ words here.
Because He who is reliable when He speaks of little things like finding
a room is equally reliable when He speaks of
big things, like the promise of forgiveness and salvation for all who
look to Him as Savior and Lord…
“So they prepared the Passover.” This is extremely significant, because Passover – established by God some 1500 years earlier – is the larger, historical stage upon which the events of that night are played out. Remember what Passover was? Let’s review…
After the King of Egypt refused to let the People of Israel
go as God through Moses had commanded him, the Lord brought plagues upon the
land. Ten to be specific. The last of the ten plagues visited upon
Before this plague took place, God gave His people some
specific instructions. Among other
things, they were to sacrifice a perfect lamb and then paint the doorframes of
their houses with its blood so the Angel of Death would “pass over” them. The people of
The parallel is striking – and intentional. Soon the Passover and all it symbolized would
find its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
It’s not a coincidence that Jesus instituted Lord’s Supper on this
historical stage. And it’s no wonder
that the Apostle Paul in First Corinthians (5:7) refers to Jesus as “our
Passover Lamb.” We, too, are
saved from death – eternal death – through the sacrificial blood of a Perfect
Lamb. John the Baptist hit the nail on
the head when he pointed to Jesus and said:
“Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
So the stage is set. Immediately with the procurement of a room. Historically with the Passover. And we are reminded and comforted once again with how God plans everything out for the well-being of His people. This leads us to…
Chapter Two: A SAD REALITY SETS
IN
17 When
evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the
table eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who
is eating with me.” 19 They were saddened, and one by one they said
to him, “Surely not I?” 20 “It
is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is
written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be
better for him if he had not been born.”
The sad reality is this: Lurking among the disciples was a traitor. Someone who would start the wheels in motion that would eventually result in Christ hanging on a cross. It is interesting to note that the disciples are not sure who it is. Jesus knows, but they don’t. So they begin to wonder aloud.
But as Jesus points out, sad as this was, and sad as what it would result in, it had to be. Because this was all part of the plan. This passage in Psalm 41 found its highest fulfillment in the events of this night: “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”
But there is an even higher fulfillment being worked out here. The recurrent theme throughout the Old Testament and the basis for the entire, sophisticated religious sacrificial system God established among His people was this principle: Sin is serious business. So serious that there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.
It’s getting personal now. Because we are sinners. Which means blood needs to be shed. But the blood to be shed for our sins would not be our own. The ultimate sacrifice for sin and the blood that was to be shed once and for all for the entire world belonged to Jesus Christ. This is the great exchange. The guiltless for the guilty. In theological terms we speak of the “vicarious atonement,” meaning Christ as our substitute (the root meaning for the word “vicar”) has put us in a state of “at-one-ment” with God through His substitutionary sacrifice.
And He was ready. “The Son of Man will go, just as it is written about Him.” Or as it is stated in one of our Lenten
hymns: “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining
If sin is poison, the sacrificed body and blood of Jesus is the antidote. And in order that we may be reminded of this again and again in a concrete way, we proceed to
Chapter Three: A TIMELESS GIFT
IS GIVEN
22 While
they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to
his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took the cup, gave
thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 “This is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “I tell you the truth, I will not
drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the
The key to understanding the magnitude of the gift Christ gives us in His Supper is found in the little word, “is.” What is the Lord’s Supper? It is the very body and blood of Christ which, in the words of the Reformation fathers, is “in, with and under” the bread and wine. In other words, Jesus Christ, in a supernatural yet very real way, is present in the Lord’s Supper.
This Bible truth (which we call the doctrine of “the Real Presence”) is a mystery of faith. Nevertheless, it is the clear statement of Jesus…
A revered man of God and respected Lutheran theologian of the late 16th Century by the name of Martin Chemnitz wrote a classic work on the subject of the Lord’s Supper. A point he makes repeatedly is that the Lord’s Supper was the last will and testament of Jesus, so He would naturally choose His words carefully so as not to be misunderstood. And what He conveyed with His words is that His body and blood is really present with the bread and wine, because “is” means “is.”
This is the timeless gift Christ gives us in the Lord’s Supper: the very body and blood once given and shed for our redemption now is given to us as the personal assurance of our forgiveness and salvation. Every time we take Lord’s Supper Jesus comes to us as individuals and, in essence, says “I loved you enough to die for you… and here is the proof. Touch and taste and feel…”
Furthermore, Jesus tells us every time we take Lord’s Supper
we receive a foretaste of the “
And what an impact such a gift has on us! First of all, it strengthens our faith. How can we not leave the Lord’s Table
spiritually stronger as we hear what Christ has done for us? How can we not be positively, inwardly, spiritually
and emotionally affected by the words, “Given
and shed for you” – read me – “for
the forgiveness of sins?”
In addition, the Lord’s Supper cements our relationship with Jesus. How can we not love Him more and more who poured out His lifeblood for us? How can we not be motivated to ever increasingly live our lives to the glory and honor of Him who died for our sins?
Finally, the Lord’s Supper also empowers us who have been so fully and freely forgiven by Christ to be forgiving toward others. Think of this. How can we hold grudges and animosities toward others when we consider the width and length and depth of the forgiveness that has been bestowed upon us? How can we, whose “sins were like scarlet” but now stand “white as snow” in the eyes of God possibly consider consciously choosing to not forgive others who have slighted us far lesser than we have slighted Christ?
Yes, it’s quite a gift we have been given in the Lord’s Supper. And it’s a gift which, in a matter of minutes, we will once again be offered…
So let’s bring our thoughts to a close. Tonight we have returned to the Upper Room on that first Maundy Thursday. In three chapters we have briefly reviewed the history of that night. To simply call the Upper Room and all that it means “a place of blessing” seems vastly understated. But maybe that’s the best we mortals can do…
Glory be to Jesus. Amen.