The Last Supper

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TRIAL, CRUCIFIXION & RESURRECTION SERIES: THE LAST SUPPER

Pastor Mike here.

I want to talk to you about The Last Supper today.

This is the first in a series on the Trial, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

THE LAST SUPPER TEXT IN THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

The Last Supper is found in the Gospel of Luke chapter 22, verse 1 through 23, where it reads…

1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.

2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.

5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”

9 They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?”

10 He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters

11 and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’

12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.”

13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him.

15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.

18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.

22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.

And so we have The Last Supper in the Gospel of Luke.

THIS WAS ALL DONE FOR US

And before we dive in to the text, let me just remind you of the main point of the entirety of this series on the Trial, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This was all done FOR US.

Jesus was put on trial, sentenced for execution, nailed to a cross of wood, suffered, bled and died there, was buried and rose again from the dead on the third day so that we could be saved of our sins and have eternal life.

This was all done FOR US.

VERSE 19-20

Which brings us to the text.

Judas has conspired with the religious leaders to betray the Lord.

And now we find Christ and His disciples in a room prepared for the Passover with the betrayer among them.

And it’s important to note that this was all God’s plan from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)

Jesus is the Passover Lamb and the fulfillment of that Old Testament type.

Passover and communion point to Him.

And in the text now at v. 19 we find Jesus taking bread in the midst of the Passover meal and giving thanks.

He then breaks the bread and gives it to His disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Jesus then takes the cup “after they had eaten” in v. 20 and says, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

LUTHERAN STUDY BIBLE ON THE LAST SUPPER

Regarding the Last Supper (or as it has come to be known going forward: the Lord’s Supper), the Lutheran Study Bible puts it this way…

Jesus, departing from the regular ritual, identifies this broken bread with His body given on the cross as a vicarious sacrifice. Focus is on Jesus and His sacrificial death. The Lord’s Supper reminds one of Jesus’ death and bestows the benefits of His death.

It goes on…

To remember Christ is to remember His benefits. It means to realize that they are truly offered to us. It is not enough only to remember history.

DR. PAUL KRETZMANN ON THE LAST SUPPER

And lastly now, in his commentary on the the entire Bible including the Gospel of Luke, Dr. Paul Kretzmann adds this regarding The Last Supper…

The meal proper was drawing to a close. The Lord had fulfilled the obligations and responsibilities of the old law and its worship. He had observed the sacrament of the Old Testament for the last time. But now Jesus instituted a new and wonderful meal, in which the glorious fruit of His suffering was bequeathed to His disciples and all believers of the New Testament. While they were still at the table, the Lord took some of the bread which had remained, consecrated it with a prayer of thanksgiving, broke it, and gave it to them with the words: This is My body, which is given for you; this do for My remembrance. In going from one to the other, He varied the formula, but the content, the substance of His words, remained the same. Then He took the cup, very likely the third cup of the Passover meal, the cup of thanksgiving, saying: This cup is the new covenant, or testament, in My blood, which is shed for you. In and through the blood of the Savior the New Testament is established. He has removed the wall of separation between the holy, righteous God and the sinful world by the shedding of His blood, and wants to give the glorious benefits of His atonement to all that believe on Him, in the Sacrament. Through the eating and drinking of His body and blood the forgiveness of sins is assured, sealed to the believers.

Dr. Kretzmann concludes…

We Christians believe and confess that the Sacrament of the Altar is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself. Our reason indeed cannot understand how the miracle is possible; it is inclined to believe either in the transubstantiation of the Catholics, according to which the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ, or in the reasonable explanation of the Reformed churches, according to which the body and blood of Christ are not at all present, but are merely pictured symbolically. But the words of Christ are clear and true, and we know from [the] Scriptures that the body of Christ, the vessel of His deity, even in the days of His humiliation, in addition to the circumscribed existence, had a higher, super sensual being, Joh_3:13, and that the exalted Christ, who has ascended to the right hand of God, is not confined to one certain place in heaven, but as the God-man has the fullness that filleth all in all, Eph_1:23. Therefore we take our reason captive under the obedience of Christ and do not rack our brains over the difficulty, but rather thank the Lord for the blessing of this Sacrament, out of which we gain ever again the certainty of the forgiveness of sins.

THE BENEFITS OF CHRIST’S BODY AND BLOOD

And so we have The Last Supper in the Gospel of Luke.

The benefits of Christ’s body and blood given in our place are forgiveness of sins and eternal life both now and to be fully realized at the resurrection of the dead on the last day.