Sermon Summary

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SERMON TRANSCRIPT:

Mathew 26: 17-30 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened bread, the disciples asked, “where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” and he replied “go into the city to a certain man and tell him the teacher says my appointed time is near I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. When evening came Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve and while they were eating he said “I tell you the truth one of you will betray me.” They were very sad and they began to say to them one after another, “surely not I Lord”. Jesus replied “the one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me” The son of man will go just as it is written about him but whoa to that man who betrays the son of man, it would be better for him if it he had not been born and Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi am I the one?” Jesus answered, “Yes it is you.” While they were eating Jesus took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying “take and eat, this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, “drink from it, all of you, 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 of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it anew in my Fathers Kingdom.”
When they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives.
This is the word of the Lord.

Sunday, March 4, 2007
We are in a sermon series where we are looking at the 24 hours that changed the world. Those 24 hours are from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon the burial. The last 24 hours of Jesus earthly life. Last week we dealt with the teaching. There are five chapters of teaching between Palm Sunday and Thursday evening’s meal. Five chapters of teachings where Jesus systematically went about turning the world upside down and offending all these different groups of people. Pharisees, Sadducees, Disciples, Herodias, AntiHerodians. Today we are dealing with the supper. That happened on Thursday night. All these different things we project onto that supper and desire out of that supper. This is one of the most central things of the Christian Faith. People gather to do the Lords Supper all the time. There are a lot of different views and perspectives and pictures of it.
First let’s look at all the different ways we look at it. First let’s look at this slide

T he joke I heard a long time ago was that Jesus sat down with his disciples and said, "Anyone who wants in the picture get on this side of the table." Who eats a meal like that? I can see how it would be hard to get a three dimensional view of this. Also this is not the way a third century table would have been. If you look on other paintings you can see through the windows DaVinci’s home, not Israel. Despite what the movies say there isn’t a lot of secret stuff in this picture. This is meant to be a picture of what Jesus said when he stated “one of you will betray me.” Then the reaction of the disciples are to that statement. Their response is “surely you don’t mean me Lord.” When a lot of us think about the Lords supper we think about the repentance and how fallen we are. How separated we are from Jesus. Let’s take another look at the Lords supper.

This is an Orthodox replication of it. In Orthodox iconography, they made icons and a stylistic way of looking at it. Kind of flat. Protestant churches say that in the Orthodox Church they worship icons or they pray to icons. They don’t. They are visual representations that they are to pray through and add the dimension of prayer and God to it. This is a representation that reminds us that communion is something prayerful. To point us to something beyond and deeper than what we can see.
This picture you may have not seen before.

I like this representation. They look like they are sitting around a camp fire. This reminds us that the Lords supper would have been dark. It happened at night as the shadows fell outside. The meal continued. They had oil lamps on the tables to provide light. A simple oil lamp. Mysterious. Drawn into the light. Intimate. The Lords supper has elements of that.
This next one I jokingly call “football Jesus”.

This is an American representation. Well trimmed beard, broad shoulders. Alone. Just the host. Alone. Breaking Bread. Some people look at communion like “tea for two” intimate and one on one with Jesus. There is an important element to that. We need to be one on one focused relationship with Jesus Christ. I like to add the communal part to it because it is typically a community meal. This reminds us that we are one on one with him at this time.
This next picture is a contemporary picture of the Lords table.

This one seems to think we are free to read into it as we see it. I like the fish on the picture. A reminder. This one is far out and a different setting that we think of. The walls fade away and we see the mountains and the ocean.

The disciples are in this picture depicting the Lords Supper.

They are huddled down in prayer. Jesus is pointing up to this whole world out there. This picture reminds me of my spiritual walk. I like the meditative huddle. Sometimes I wonder if I look down when there is something drawing us out. A good reminder.

This next one reminds us of how in the gospel of John it says that while they were there at the meal Jesus knelt at their feet and washed their feet reminding them to be a servant.

This painting was given to the church by Pastor Rob Barton who served as associate pastor in 2002-2004. He gave it to us. He said hang this out in the staff area near the offices to remind us we are servants. As leaders come in they will walk past that and remember. Another aspect of the Lords Supper.

This is what the world thinks of when they think of the church, stained glass.

Stained glass spirituality is meant to be something out of touch or extravagant but not useful. But I love the way the sun shines through stained glass. Through our own window of the Lords supper there is just a hint of a halo around Jesus in this picture. In this picture that we are looking at the artist went nuts with halos and only one disciple doesn’t have one. Which means that’s probably Judas? I hadn’t noticed this before, a tipped over challis right in front of Judas. Stained glass is to let light shine through.

This picture you probably haven’t seen.

It looks like an old gothic type structure. This is called the upper room in Jerusalem. The actual building the Lords supper took place in was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. A thousand years later the crusaders built this chapel and in it is the Upper room. It is close to where it happened and this place has been made Holy by pilgrims coming and praying for 900 years. You can imagine, stone floors, hard plaster columns. Can you image what sound does in there. Sound reverberates. Sometimes the Lords supper isn’t a quiet intimate meal. Just a progression of pilgrims that come to the table. That place is also where you can see the benchmarks of war. It is set up to look toward the place where Jesus is buried and then when the Muslims came in during the crusader period they made a nitch to look toward Mecca. The Crusaders came in and redid with human discord, there in the very place where we honor the memory of the Lords supper.

Here is my favorite picture of the Lords supper.

That painting hangs on my office wall. My family always asks what to get for my birthday or Fathers Day. I never know what to tell them. They won’t buy guitars, so I tell them a shirt or something. One year I saw this and I asked Ann for this and she got it. It is called the Feast. The scripture underneath it says
“Come for all is now ready”
This is a table set in the skies. In the heavens. The table goes on….there is chairs and a place setting for everybody.
I like that there is a host place setting. It reminds you whose place setting it is. It is kind of neat that everything is empty yet. There is just the invitation-come.
It reminds us whose table it is. That in some way when we have the Lords supper here we are tied in with a heavenly banquet. This is what I want to add to all your other impressions and pictures of the Lords Supper. In biblical terms this is called the Messianic banquet. It means a messiah will come. At the culmination of all things when it is fulfilled, the Messiah will come and invite all the nations to come, all is now ready. It comes out in today’s scripture when Jesus is talking and he says “I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom”.
There is an element of the last supper, the mystery of the dark and light, of repentance and the shadow of the cross, the one on one time with Jesus and there is also this mention of a messianic banquet.

Right there in the story it points to something bigger than the last supper. All the way through the last supper. All the way through the gospel of Mathew the gospel writer refers to prophets and poets a lot of times as quoting from Isaiah. The idea of the Messianic banquet is expressed here, 500 years before the time of Jesus where the prophet says God will throw a feast for the people of the world. A feast of vintage wines. Seven courses of the finest foods. Lavish with gourmet deserts. If they had had chocolate then, they would have had chocolate at the Lords table. We expect this lavishness at the Messianic banquet.

Here on this mountain they are getting ready to be invaded by Iraq and they are going to destroy everything 500 years before the time of Jesus. Isaiah is prophesying in Jerusalem so it is on that mountain that he is referring to. Here on this mountain God will banish the pall of doom hanging over all peoples. The shadow darkening all the nations. Yes, he will banish death forever. God will wipe the tears from every face. He will remove every sign of disgrace from his people, even when we have betrayed him. He will erase that disgrace. Yes, God says so. The Messianic banquet you can now add to the Lords supper.

So here is what we are going to do today. Instead of a simple and austere funeral meal we have a lavish banquet here. I am going to invite you to feast. We have different breads and the cup here and I am going to invite you to serve each other. We have fine cheese. We have chocolate and desserts. I asked for a chocolate fountain and they said no. At the messianic banquet there will be a chocolate fountain. There is still a time for one on one time with Jesus and you can go to the kneelers and pray. This is going to be different; we are going to come here to pray. It will be the full deal. We will have music going on and sing together. This will remind us that it is an extravagant banquet for us.

Someone has gone to a lot of work for us. Jesus has done that for us. He has done far more than we can imagine and far more than we deserve. The invitation is for everyone. At some churches you go to, they have an extra theological reason why they do this, although it grates on me. The criteria.

Here we just say, Come.

If you want to draw closer to Jesus, Come.

Once I was at a funeral, for a high school student and the funeral was held in the Catholic Church and they have theological reasons that state you have to be in good standing in their church to take communion and I had good relations with the priest and Father Phil and I would tweek each other. I was there at that funeral and I knew they would have communion and he was going to be very careful in how he invited people up and I stated, "I am not going to put you on the spot by crashing the party. But I want you to know that while you are having communion I am going to be praying for that day to come when you realize it’s not your table." He stated “yes, but it isn’t yours either”. So I respected the family there. But here, this is for everybody.

I am glad to see the kids coming back (from Junior Worship) because this is for all of us. There will come a day when God calls us all to His table. Isaiah will be there. The disciples will be there. John Wesley will be there. My mom and my dad. Rich. People that you love. Everything is made right. The banquet of the Lord.

We are going to pray and I am going to invite you to look up and say this prayer with me.
God we thank you for loving us so much you bring us to this place and this time. Thank you for bringing us to this table. It is your table God. You have given us your church. With the people of heaven, the people of earth and the people of the past and even the people of the future. All the hosts of heaven, the mountains and the seas, we join together in this unending hymn:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

We thank you that Jesus went to the effort to prepare the table for his disciples and he broke bread and gave the cup. Over the remains of that Passover meal he gave them a covenant, we thank you that he said someday he would eat it with us in his Fathers Kingdom. We participate in this meal with all its richness and meaning we look forward to that day when all will be united at His throne and we gather at His table. With all of Gods people and the songs will go on, the worship and the feast will begin and all will be made right. Thank you for connecting us no matter where we are, no matter where our future path, we thank you for connecting us and keeping us at your table, your banquet.
Serve each other-enjoy.

Scripture and Prayer Guide

Scripture and Prayer Guide
March 5-9, 2007
"24 Hours That Changed the World: The Messianic Meal of Jesus"

Monday, 1 Corinthians 11:17-22
17 Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. 21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

The Corinthian Church was a Greek church, and a cantankerous church. They could take something good and twist into into something divisive. Paul tells them he has heard the reports that the rich bring lots of food and wine, eat it and get drunk, while the poor go hungry. Isn't it amazing that the Lord's Supper, something that is to unite us, so often gets twisted into something that divides us? Pray for us to focus on the real deal.

Tuesday, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.

V.26 "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." One thing we often miss in the Lord's Supper is contained in verse 26; the meal includes a not of proclaiming His death until He comes again. There are notes of a Messianic banquet at the Lord's Supper. Pray that you would be strengthened to be a proclaimer of Jesus' radical presence today.

Wednesday, 1 Corinthians 11:27-33
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

There has been so much misrepresentation of these verses. In context, to eat and drink in "an unworthy manner" means to make the Lord's Supper something it is not, especially, as in the Corinthian church, making it into a feast for the rich and a reminder of the poverty of the poor. It does not mean that you have to be in good standing, sinless, or be "good enough" to be included. Do you see how that violates Jesus' own standards and example? Pray for those who distance themselves from Jesus because they are "poor in spirit."

Thursday, John 6:32-34
32 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."

It is interesting that in the gospel of John Jesus never has a formal Lord's Supper, as He does in Matthew, Mark and Luke. But in John He identifies Himself as "the bread of God ...who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." It is Jesus alone, not rituals, not rules, not regulations that bring us life. The rituals, the rules, the regulations should only serve to point us toward Him. Is there religious junk that gets in the way of communing with Jesus?

Friday, John 6:35
35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

In case they missed it, Jesus tells His disciples that He is the bread of life. Here is a prayer for today: Jesus Christ, Bread of Life, make me hungry.