Last Supper

SONG: CHRIST OUR HOPE IN LIFE AND DEATH

Luke Following Jesus Brings Focus Last Supper

Text: Luke 22:1-20

Intro: In his sermon, “The Greatest of These,” Mark Buchanan told the following story:

“A group of children was once asked, ‘What does ‘love’ mean?” Here are some sample answers:

Rebekah, 8, said, ‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time—even when his hands got arthritis, too. That’s love.’ Billy, 4, said, ‘When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’ Bobby, 7, says, ‘Love is what’s in the room at Christmas, if you stop opening presents and listen.’ Tommy, 6, says, ‘Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.’ Cindy, 8, says, ‘During my piano recital, I was on a stage, and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me, and I saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. And I wasn’t scared anymore.’ Jessica, 8, says, ‘You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.’ Today, we are going to see love throughout the text. How Jesus loved those who betrayed him. Jesus gives us a way to remember His love for us and how we reveal our love for Him through our daily lives.

1. Setting the scene 22:1-6
   1. Luke has been outlining the final week of Jesus’ life.
      1. Luke 19 begins with Palm Sunday as Jesus traveled to Jerusalem to observe the Passover; every Jewish male over the age of 21 was required to observe one of the three major Jewish feasts, of which the Passover was one.
      2. Luke 20-21 happens in the courtyard.
      3. Luke 22 shares the last passover meal. Jesus will be crucified within 24-36 hours.
2. Betrayal
3. The religious elite wanted to kill Jesus and keep their popularity.
4. Judas saw Jesus heal, raise the dead, and deliver people from the demonic, but in the end, he chose to deny Jesus. Why? It could be because Jesus did not meet his expectations - he expected a political messiah, and he wasn’t measuring up.
5. Jesus loved Judas. Judas betrayed Jesus. When Paul shares the story of Jesus’ final passover with his disciples, he states the betrayal of Jesus. Jesus understands our relational pain.
6. The night of the last supper between Jesus and the disciples, Jesus washed Judas’ feet. He announced to the disciples that one of them would betray him, and they didn’t know who it would be, considering it could be any of them. John 13:21-22
7. Satan, the religious elite, and the government agreed that Jesus should die, but the purpose of Jesus’ trip to Jerusalem was that his time had come to die.
8. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He would be the final payment for man’s sins.

• Dan Meyer, in his sermon "Why Remember the Passion?":

Years ago, I traveled to Ecuador and spent a couple of weeks traveling in the mountains. The Quechua Indian people I met there lived amidst the most mind-numbing squalor. The disease and disfigured bodies were heartbreaking. The bugs and stench were everywhere. People were living in a hole in the ground and calling it a house. They were feeding on rotten food and prizing garbage as possessions. But they didn't know it. Why? Because everyone lived that way. They lived completely unaware of what it means to be a genuinely healthy human being. They did not know what an abundant life truly looked like.

That is our problem, too. It's the reason we think of ourselves as largely innocent people—people who have little to do with bringing about the Cross of Christ. We don't realize how spiritually sick and undeveloped we are. In Psalm 14, David says that the one fully healthy Being in the universe views the human race as we might view those Quechua villagers—only the gap between his life and that of our village is so much larger. "The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. But all have turned aside. They have together become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one." In other words, we live as condemned people and don't even know it.

1. Jesus gives people the opportunity to submit their lives to Him and live under His authority. (Gospel) Brief Invitation

• There are two ways the Bible says you can get to heaven. Plan A is to earn it. That's the performance plan. And to earn it, you only have to do this: never sin and always do what's right for the entire time that you live. Just be perfect.

Since none of us qualify for Plan A, God came up with Plan B, which is this: You trust Jesus Christ when he says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He was the only perfect person who ever lived, because he was God. He came so we could know what God is like. And by trusting and establishing a relationship with him, you get in on his goodness.

Ron Dunn took his young son to a carnival one time for his birthday. His son picked six boys to go with him, so Ron bought a roll of tickets. Every line he'd come up to, he'd pull off seven tickets and give them to all the kids. When they got to the Ferris wheel, all of a sudden, there was this eighth little kid with his hand out.

Ron said, "Who are you?" The kid said, "I'm Johnny." Ron said, "Who are you, Johnny?" Johnny said, "I'm your son's new friend. And he said you would give me a ticket." Ron asked me, "Do you think I gave him one? Absolutely."

SONG: I SET MY HOPE ON JESUS

1. Passover Meal 22:7-23
   1. Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare the Passover room and meal. Jesus is in total control of all things. Nothing is outside of His control. Jesus sends Peter and John on this counterintelligence trip to secure the Passover location because his betrayal was not yet due.
   2. The Passover meal would have taken place around a triclinium, a Roman term for a U-shaped table. This table would provide an intimate setting, allowing you to eat with one hand and prop yourself up with the other.
   3. When you read this passage, you encounter what the church refers to as the Lord’s Supper, Communion, or the “Eucharist,” a Greek term meaning thanksgiving.
   4. Communion preserves an element of the Jewish passover. To understand communion effectively, we must first grasp the significance of the Jewish Passover, which the Jewish people have observed for over 1,400 years.
      1. In approximately 1800-1900 BC, about 70 descendants of Jacob migrated from Israel to Egypt to escape a famine, where they reunited with Joseph.
      2. Joseph and the current Pharaoh preserve them, but the next Pharaoh resents the Israelites, and they become enslaved for 430 years.
      3. These 70 people turn into a few million people over 430 years. The Hebrew slaves cry out to God for mercy, and God raises up Moses as their deliverer.
      4. Pharaoh doesn’t want to let the Israelites go, and God uses 10 plagues to wear Pharaoh out.
      5. The severity of the tenth plague included the death of the firstborn throughout the land.
      6. God gave careful instructions to the Israelites so they could be protected from the angel of death coming through the land. Kill a lamb and use a hyssop branch, which was similar to a paintbrush, and apply the lamb’s blood to the doorpost; then your home would be passed over and not experience death.
      7. Passover was an eight-day festival commemorating the deliverance of the Israelites. The 1st day was called the Passover, and the 7 days that followed were the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
      8. The bread was unleavened because the Israelites had to leave quickly and didn’t have time to add leaven or yeast, so that it couldn’t rise.
   5. Jesus is now sharing His passover feast with His Jewish disciples.
   6. In Jerusalem for passover, there were possibly a million people, and they would let thousands in at a time to bring their lamb before the priest. The head of the family would slit the throat, and the priest would collect the blood and throw it on the altar, take out the kidney and the fat, put it on the altar, which was on fire, and then skin the lamb. You would receive the lamb to take home and roast it for the passover.
   7. Jesus earnestly desired to take this Passover meal before his suffering 22:15. Jesus had his mind on both his suffering and sacrifice of death on the cross, as well as an ultimate final meal when all of his family would be together 22:16. Rev. 19:6-9
   8. At this final passover meal, Jesus creates what we call communion, when the church remembers Jesus’ payment for our sins. The Passover pointed to a greater deliverance than 430 years of slavery, but our deliverance from sin through Jesus.

SONG: WE RECEIVE

1. Bread
   1. Unleavened bread - in the OT was the bread of affliction, and now it represents Jesus’ body on the cross without sin.
   2. This is my body - not literally, but at the very least symbolically, and this symbolism matters. The presence of Jesus is with us as we take communion.
   3. Given for you - Jesus’ gift of Himself to you on the cross.
   4. Do this in remembrance of me - we do this because we are forgetful, and we must not forget what Jesus has done.

(Take the bread) 22:19

1. Blood
   1. New covenant in my blood - the Old Covenant was an ocean of blood from slain animals, giving a temporary covering for our sins. Heb. 10:4, 11 No dumb animal was competent to serve as a substitute for a human sinner. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, and our salvation rests on His blood, which has been poured out for us. Heb. 10:12-14 Jesus intentionally gave his life on the cross for our salvation. Our choice is to rejoice in the gift from Jesus on the cross or minimize it.

• A boy and his father were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon when a bumblebee flew in the car. The little boy, who was allergic to bee stings, was petrified. The father quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it. The boy grew frantic as it buzzed by him. Once again, the father reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his palm. There, stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee. "Do you see this?" he asked. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you." We do not need to fear death anymore. Christ has died and risen again. He has taken the sting from death.

1. The blood from the Lamb of God gives us protection from ultimate death, so we do not have to be afraid. 1 Cor. 5:7

(Take the juice) 22:20

SONG: LAMB OF GOD

NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD

1. Jesus Prepares His Followers for How To Live
   1. The disciples transition from a time of sweet fellowship with each other and Jesus to a prideful conversation about who is the greatest among them.
   2. Jesus defines greatness. Jesus compares greatness among the Gentiles or in the world and how God decides who is great.
      1. One who serves is used three times - the service of one who waits on tables.

• President Gerald Ford took his 1st vacation as president to Vail, Colorado, and at a dinner, his dog made a mess in the room. A servant ran out of the room and got some paper towels. When he returned, President Ford told him two things: ‘I may be the president, but I am first a man, and second, no one will clean up after my dog other than me.’

1. Jesus defines greatness as one who serves. He asks a question that seems to have an obvious answer, but doesn’t. Who is greater, the one who reclines or the one who serves? Jesus just finished washing their feet while they reclined.
2. Giftedness, abilities, or positions do not determine greatness in the kingdom of God, but towels do. Take up your towel and serve if you desire to be great.
3. They were seeking greatness here, and Jesus promised them greatness in eternity. He challenges them to live for greatness in His kingdom to come rather than greatness on this earth.
4. Jesus prepares Peter for spiritual warfare. Jesus knew exactly what Peter would experience in the next few hours.
   1. Jesus called Peter - Simon, Simon to get his attention and as a reminder that he would soon not act like a solid rock but would crumble.
   2. Peter would be under an attack from Satan.
   3. Jesus prays for Peter to have faith, not for him to avoid the spiritual attack. Heb. 7:25 Jesus prays for us today as well.
   4. Peter overestimated his faithfulness to Jesus. “I will follow you to prison and death.”
   5. Jesus fully knew Peter’s failure. He knew when, where, and how he would fail, but still had a plan for him because He also knew Peter would repent. Nothing is outside of God’s plan and purpose.
   6. Jesus knew Peter would fall, and he still had a plan for his life.
      1. Jesus’ plans for Peter included preaching the inaugural sermon of the church, as recorded in Acts 2, where 3,000 people would start following Jesus.
      2. God’s plans for Peter would unfold when Peter turned away from his failure and sin and turn back to Jesus.

Conclusion:

SONG: GRATITUDE