L U K E 22 V1-23
his chapter
opens to begin Luke’s account of our Lord’s suffering and death. The events
take place at the last supper Jesus had with His Apostles. In a few hours He would be betrayed, and
taken away to be beaten and put on trial, and then taken to the Cross,
None of this would come as a surprise to Him,
it was all part of the divine plan which had been foretold. The chief priests and scribes wanted
desperately to have Jesus killed. The
very ones who should have welcomed Him as the Messiah, were the men who
conspired to end His life. They were
supposed to be godly men, some of them in direct line of succession to
Aaron.
The second step towards our Lord’s
crucifixion was the treachery of Judas, one of His own twelve Apostles. He had been with the Lord during His ministry,
heard Him teach, and seen Him perform miracles, and yet he turned out to be a
hypocrite betraying his Master.
The Jewish authorities were anxious to arrest
Jesus, but as there was only a small detachment of troops stationed in
Just as God is looking for people to be His
servants, so also is the devil. A person
can be an instrument for good or evil, but it needs us to open up a way for the
devil. There is no handle on the outside
of the door of the human heart, it must be opened from the inside. We all have to ask God as the psalmist did,
to search us try us and know our hearts.
The lengths
people will go to in religion and yet be without grace and sincerity, is far
greater than many others will recognise.
We see the love and lure of money; Judas did it all for cash. For love of money, Judas was willing to
betray His Lord.
This passage however, is closely associated
with the Passover feast. It was for this
feast that Jesus went to
The feast of Unleavened bread lasted for a
week in April, and the Passover meal was held on the first day. It commemorated the deliverance of the Jews,
from the tyranny of Egyptian slavery. Pharaoh
had refused to let the Jews leave, despite Moses pleas, and after God had
delivered nine plagues.
Finally after the tenth, the first born son
in all Egyptian families died, but the angel of death passed over all the
Jewish houses, which as a sign had the blood of a lamb sprayed on, and the
Jewish boys were spared. On that night, they left so quickly there was no time
to bake the bread with leaven, so it was unleavened bread they ate.
Every male Jew living within fifteen miles of
This feast, one of the most important in the
Jewish calendar, was one which every Jewish family would come together to
celebrate as one It was a solemn
remembrance for God bringing Israel out of slavery. .
The family
would eat bread which was without leaven,
the head of the household retells the Passover story, and prayers of
thanksgiving are made and four cups of wine are drunk. Still, the Jews keep the Passover and they
pray that next year they will do so in
It is
estimated that there were two million people in the city, when the last days of
Jesus were played out. Jesus knew what
He must do. The better class houses had
two rooms, one on top of the other, and it was common for a Rabbi to meet with
his followers to talk things over with them.
Jesus sent Peter and John to look for a man He described, to book an
upper room.
The feast
went on, and Jesus used the ancient symbols of bread and wine, to give them a
whole new meaning and significance. He
took the bread and said ‘this is my body’.
This is what is meant by a sacrament.
It is something which is normally a very ordinary thing,, which has
acquired a meaning far beyond itself.
In all our lives, there are things which have
a special significance for us, but to nobody else, because they bring back to
us a special person or occasion, bringing a meaning beyond ourselves. This is often some article, which belonged to
a loved one no longer with us.
The bread
which we eat at the Communion service is just common bread, but to the
Christian who understands, it represents the very body of Christ.
Jesus said
the cup, is the new covenant made at the price of His blood. Jesus is saying the ancient Jewish festival
will be fulfilled in Him. His blood will
be shed on the Cross, and He will die in our place, and figuratively the angel
of death passes over all our lives.
This is a
gift of God, because of God’s amazing grace.
He offers this gift to all, but to benefit and be saved, we have to
accept that gift.
The Jewish
system of sacrifice, was meant to restore that relationship between man and God,
by the offering of animal sacrifice to atone for sin. Jesus offered us an alternative relationship,
between us and God through His death. It
cost Jesus His life to restore that relationship.
The main object of the Lord’s Supper was to
remind Christians of Christ’s death for sinners. Jesus specifically told His Apostles that
they were to do what they did in remembrance of Him. So when we take the bread and wine, we are
not taking part in a sacrificial offering, but are commemorating what Jesus
did.
The bread is
to remind us of Jesus body, given on the Cross.
The wine we drink, is to remind us of the blood shed. They are to appeal
to our minds, to keep afresh the Jesus once and for all sacrifice. We are to do this in faith, and our faith is
increased by receiving the bread and wine.
Jesus however,
knew how easily the human mind forgets, so He commanded we do this to remember
Him. He calls us to enter in to the
reverence and peace of His house, and do it with other followers of Him.
The message of the Cross is the focal point of
Christianity. Billy Graham stated every
sermon he ever preached, would contain reference to the Cross, but it is not one
that every preacher adopts. In fact, I
cannot recall hearing such a sermon
The observance of Holy Communion, or
Eucharist or Mass, is a duty binding on all Christians. Jesus was quite emphatic on this point, and
we are called to obey.
I sincerely
believe the Lord will exonerate us at the present time in this country, for all
the main Church denominations have adopted services in contravention of
Scripture, which oblige Christians to attend Apostate places of worship.
Paul said
every time we come to take the sacrament, we are proclaiming the Lord’s death,
and we are to take it worthily. As we
come, we are acknowledging our faith, that He is our Lord and Savior, and
accept that He died for each one of us.
Since the
service of Holy Communion has become the normal main service of the Churches ,there
is always the danger that it is taken too casually or automatically, without
recognising it as something very significant.
Often people
in a Church, will use the time that is being taken for others to come forward,
as a time to chat with others about events in their lives, whereas it should be
used as a time for meditation on what is being celebrated.
We should not
consider all who commemorate, are true believers. Judas at the first service obviously wasn’t,
yet Jesus accepted him.
What has
often saddened me, is that I have seen devoted people, (mainly women I have to
say) coming to the Communion rail only for a blessing, because they have not
been confirmed. I know many priests and
churches support this action, and whilst I respect that view, I cannot ever
imagine Jesus would question whether a person of such faith was confirmed or
not. Neither do I.
If a person
has such faith and belief, which motivates them to come forward, and all I have
spoken, to say they would have liked to take the sacrament, then I have no
hesitation whatsoever in offering it to them.
Confirmation
is desirable and important within the Church, but I believe should not preclude
sincere faith being manifested.
When you take
Communion, remember the Cross and its message for you, and resolve to keep
trusting in its power.
We praise God
and seek to Glorify His Holy Name
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