“YOU NEED TO REMEMBER.” LUKE 22: 14-20, 24-27, 31-34.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO LUKE 22.
During the month of April we will revisit some of the key events in the life of Christ: the institution of the Lord’s Supper, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension, and the giving of the Holy Spirit.
As we study these events, look at them through the eyes of opportunity. We have the opportunity to tell others about these important events and what these events can mean in their lives. We can grow in our effectiveness as witnesses for Christ by studying these events, understanding them, and sharing them with others.
Many people have called modern Western society “post-Christian.” That is, the influence of Christian faith has weakened and all but disappeared in many places. The great cathedrals of Western Europe are largely trophies of the past. This provides a great challenge for today’s Christians. We face a society that is unbelieving and living by non-Christian standards. Our challenge is to live for Christ and to bear witness to Him.
This five-lesson Study Theme in April focuses on this challenge. The Bible passages are from the final chapters of the Gospel of Luke and the early chapters of the Book of Acts.
The first lesson, “You Need to Remember,” is based on the institution of the Lord’s Supper by Jesus found in Luke 22.
This Study Theme is designed to help us grow in our effectiveness as witnesses for Christ by realizing the significance of the Lord’s Supper in our daily lives, and relationships and asking for Jesus help in serving Him humbly and remaining faithful to Him.
Throughout Scripture, God’s people were called to remember. The Israelites were to observe the Passover and remember God’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The stones placed in the Jordan River were to remind the people that it was God who had brought them to the Promised Land.
Jacob created memorials in Gen 18 and 35 to remember God’s work in his life. These calls to remember were not to look backward but to keep the people moving forward with God. If God did this in the past, He will continue to be faithful in the future. With a call to remember God’s faithfulness comes a call for us also to be faithful.
PLEASE READ LUKE 22: 14-20.
It was at the Passover time that Jesus came to Jerusalem to die. The Feast of Unleaven Bread is not, strictly speaking, the same thing as the Passover. The Feast of Unleaven Bread lasted for a week, from the 15 to 21st of Nisan (April) and the Passover itself was eaten on the 15th of Nisan.
The Passover commemorated the deliverance of the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. On that night the angel of death smote the firstborn son in every Egyptian family, but he passed over the homes of the Israelites because the lintel of their doors were smeared with the blood of the lamb to distinguish them.
On that night the Hebrews left Egypt so quickly that, at their last meal, there was no time to bake bread with leaven. It was unleaven cakes they ate. Every male Jew, who was of age, and who lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem, was bound by law to attend the Passover. But it was the ambition of every Jew in every part of the world, at least once in his lifetime to come to the Passover in Jerusalem. To this day, when Jews in every part of the world keep the Passover, they pray that they may keep it in Jerusalem next year.
The setting for the Lord’s Supper is found in Luke 22: 1-13. The enemies of Jesus had decided to kill Him, but feared trying to take Him in public. Judas offered to betray Jesus. In preparation for a Passover meal, Jesus sent Peter and John to make the arrangements. Thus Jesus prepared to eat what He knew would be His last supper with the twelve apostles before His crucifixion.
In the context of that meal Jesus planned to institute the Lord’s Supper, which He intended to be observed in the future by all believers.
Because Jesus knew Judas planned to betray Him, He kept the meeting place secret. Even Peter and John did not know where it would be until they got there. Jesus told them to follow a man carrying a water jar, which was unusual because this was considered women’s work. The text does not tell us whether Jesus had made these arrangements or whether He used His supernatural knowledge. Either way, Jesus was in control of the situation.
In less than two months American will take to the highways for long weekend trip. BBQ grills will be fired up, and people will flock to the parks for baseball and other recreation. And don’t forget the sales!
It’s Memorial Day! It seems that the one thing we fail to do on Memorial Day is to remember. Memorial Day started out as a solemn day, a time to decorate graves and reverently remember those who died in the service of our country. Now it’s just another Monday holiday.
It’s sad that in many places the church has done the same thing with its one act of
Remembering----the Lord’s Supper. We tend to treat the Lord’s Supper as just another activity in the church. Through this lesson we will remember again. We will reflect on just why Christ gave us this special meal, and we will consider on just why Christ gave us this special meal, and we will consider how our remembrance should carry forth into the rest of our lives.
The hour in vs. 14 probably has a double meaning. Obviously it meant the time to gather for the meal, but it also meant the time for the Lord to try again to help His disciples see the meaning of His coming death. John tells us that earlier Jesus had said In John 2: 4 that His hour had not yet come. On this night, however, He said in Luke 13: 1 that His hour had come. Sat down actually refers to “reclined.”
Jesus’ closest followers are usually called the twelve disciples, but here they are called apostles, the word that emphasizes their mission after He was no longer with them in the flesh and when they had a commission to fulfill. He told them that He had “fervently desired” to eat this Passover with them.
The urgency of the meal was that He knew it needed to happen before He suffered----something that He knew they had not understood or accepted. He tried to help them realize this was indeed the last supper He would eat with them until the coming of the kingdom.
Jesus reclined at the table. This was the required position for eating the Passover meal. The Passover was expected to be eaten within the walls of Jerusalem. Even though Jesus apparently had been leaving Jerusalem each night, on this last evening He stayed in the city. Also, most meals were eaten in the late afternoon, this last supper was eaten in the evening, just as the Passover was done.
Finally, the Passover typically ended with Psalms 111-117, commonly referred to as the Hallel psalms. Mark 14: 26 tells us that this supper also ended with Psalms.
Surely over the three years of Jesus’ ministry He had shared the Passover meal with His disciples. This occasion, though, was different for He fervently desired to eat it with them. This is an expression of intense desire, for Jesus was about to instill this meal with new meaning. The Passover Feast having come to a conclusion, Judas was expelled and the new Passover Feast, the Lord’s Supper was instituted.
Jesus reminded His disciples that He was about to suffer, and He connected His suffering with this meal. As we will see, Jesus gave new significance to the wine and the bread served at the meal.
Paul certainly understood this significance, because he wrote in 1 Cor. 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” With this cup, Jesus stated again the finality of this moment for Himself: He would share this moment again with them when the kingdom of God comes.
Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper within the context of an actual meal. For a while early churches combined a meal with the Lord’s Supper. In later times the Lord’s Supper was observed separately.
The urgency of the meal was that He knew it needed to happen before He suffered----something that He knew they had not understood or accepted. He tried to help them realize this was indeed the last supper He would eat with them until the coming of the kingdom.
Jesus reclined at the table. This was the required position for eating the Passover meal. The Passover was expected to be eaten within the walls of Jerusalem. Even though Jesus apparently had been leaving Jerusalem each night, on this last evening He stayed in the city. Also, most meals were eaten in the late afternoon; this last supper was eaten in the evening, just as the Passover was done.
Finally, the Passover typically ended with Psalms 111-117, commonly referred to as the Hallel psalms. Mark 14: 26 tells us that this supper also ended with Psalms.
Surely over the three years of Jesus’ ministry He had shared the Passover meal with His disciples. This occasion, though, was different for He fervently desired to eat it with them. This is an expression of intense desire, for Jesus was about to instill this meal with new meaning. The Passover Feast having come to a conclusion, Judas was expelled and the new Passover Feast, the Lord’s Supper was instituted.
Jesus reminded His disciples that He was about to suffer, and He connected His suffering with this meal. As we will see, Jesus gave new significance to the wine and the bread served at the meal.
Paul certainly understood this significance, because he wrote in 1 Cor. 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” With this cup, Jesus stated again the finality of this moment for Himself: He would share this moment again with them when the kingdom of God comes.
Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper within the context of an actual meal. For a while early churches combined a meal with the Lord’s Supper. In later times the Lord’s Supper was observed separately.
Jesus was the host of this supper, and therefore He began by giving thanks in connection with the first cup. In a normal Passover meal, each person had a cup; but Jesus passed around one cup from which each drank, saying, “Take this and share it among yourselves.”
Likely the group had a regular Passover meal before Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. Vs. 20 says that Jesus used another cup after supper. Although Jesus led them in eating a Passover meal, He built on it and reinterpreted it in light of His death and resurrection. The Jews took the Passover meal to commemorate the deliverance from Egypt: Christians take the Lord’s Supper to remember the death of Jesus for human sins.
In some basic ways, however, Passover and the Lord’s Supper have much in common. For example, just as time was spent interpreting the deliverance from Egypt, so Jesus spent time explaining the significance of the bread and the cup. Also, both have past, present, and future aspects.
The Passover was “a present act of remembrance of and thanksgiving for God’s past liberation of an oppressed people, a celebration of God’s faithfulness leading to hope in the future deliverance of God’s people.
The Lord’s Supper also has past, present and future aspects. Its past meaning is to remember what Jesus did to save sinners. This point was made in several ways. The word suffer is pascho, from which we get our word passion. In common usage, the English word passion indicates an obsessive desire, but in religion life “the passion” refers to the suffering of Jesus.
The word for Passover is pascha. The first readers of the Greek text would have noticed the play on words between pascha (Passover) and pascho (suffer). Jesus also spoke of my body, which is given for you. He was referring to His death. The words blood, which is shed refer to a violent death. In the Jewish religion, blood was also related to forgiveness of sins. Jesus referred to the cup as “the new covenant established by My blood.”
Centuries before, Jeremiah predicted in 31:31-34 of his book that a new covenant that would magnify forgiveness of sins would be given. Now with Jesus blood a new covenant was established. Blood was often shed and poured out to establish a new covenant. Anything written in blood was considered indelible. A covenant established a relationship between two parties, and throughout the O.T. we see covenants established between God and people. God was always the initiator of the covenants. God had not need to enter a relationship with us, but He livingly and graciously sought to enter into covenants with individuals and groups.
For example, the mosaic covenant placed the children of Israel into a special relationship with God. Man’s part in this covenant was to obey God and keep the law. Our sin nature keeps all of us from being able to live up to that covenant. With the new covenant, though, Jesus kept the law for us. He alone was perfectly obedient, and He gave Himself on our behalf to pay the debt incurred by our own disobedience. His blood sealed this new covenant and made it possible for us to enter into a new relationship with God.
The future aspect of the Lord’s Supper is based on Jesus’ words about eating with them in the coming Kingdom. Jesus mentioned this twice in Luke 22: 16, 18. A feast in the coming kingdom is mentioned more than once in the Bible. Paul indicated a different side of the future aspect of the Lord’s Supper when he wrote in 1 Cor. 11: 26 that by observing it Christians “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
The present aspect of the Lord’s Supper is that it is an act of worship and gratitude for Jesus: His death for us, and His coming kingdom. This remembrance includes gratitude for the forgiveness made possible for us by His death.
Bread could refer to any type of loaf, but since this is in the context of a Passover meal, it was unleavened bread. With this action, Jesus began to give new meaning to the meal. The bread now represented His body.
Jesus used the bread to refer to what He was about to do---give His life on the cross. Jesus told them He gave His body for you. Jesus’ love for them was evident for His sacrifice was done for them.
The Passover was a meal of remembrance, and Jesus wanted us to use this supper as a remembrance also. More than physical deliverance like the Israelites experienced, we remember what Jesus did---dying and sacrificing His body for our spiritual and eternal deliverance.
For Baptists, the Lord’s Supper is one ordinance of the church. Baptism is done only once, but the Supper is taken many times. Neither has saving power, but both have significance for Christians.
We
do not believe that Jesus is literally present in the cup and the
bread. We believe He is present within us and among us. According to
Gal. 2: 20 Jesus is within each believer and Matt. 18: 20 says He is
among us as even two or three gather in His name.
Jesus said,
“This do in remembrance of me.”
Many people ask friends and love ones to remember them after their
death. But we remember Jesus because He conquered sin and death and
is our living Lord. Therefore when we take the Lord’s Supper, we
remember His death for our sins: we acknowledge His presence with us:
and we proclaim His future coming.
Baptists observe two ordinances. The Lords’ Supper focuses primarily on Jesus’ death: Baptism primarily pictures His resurrection. Taken together, these ordinances present the good news of the cross and the resurrection.
PLEASE READ LUKE 22: 24-27.
Jesus had been trying to teach His disciples that He would suffer and die before being raised from the dead, but they failed to understand. One strong sign of their lack of understanding was their persistent argument about which of them would be greatest.
Amazingly, soon after Jesus’ establishment of a new covenant relationship with the disciples, the talk of sacrificing Himself for them, and the whole solemnity of the occasion, the disciples began to argue among themselves about greatness.
It is one of the most tragic things in the gospel story that the disciples could quarrel about precedence in the very shadow of the cross. It is a law of life that service leads to greatness; and the higher a person rises the greater servant he must be.
We can found our life on getting or giving; but the plain fact is that if we found it on getting we shall miss both the friendship of man and the reward of God, for no one ever loved a person who was always out for himself.
What prompted the argument about greatness? Perhaps the context of the meal itself triggered the discussion. It is possible that some of the disciples didn’t like where they ended up sitting at the table. You get the impression that all during the meal and even while Jesus gave new meaning to the meal, these disciples were stewing over their seating locations.
Into this mix, Jesus announced that one of them would betray Him. This could quite naturally lead to a discussion about who was greater.
Perhaps the process of considering who among them was capable of betraying Jesus led to a comparison of who was most likely not to betray Jesus.
Hadn’t the disciples been through this before? Shortly after Jesus began to tell His disciples of His coming death and resurrection, they got into basically the same argument. At that time, Jesus told them in Luke 9: 48 “And whoever welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. For whoever is least among you, this one is great.”
Now on another occasion where He talked to them of His death, He again had to stress the connection between greatness and servant-hood. Now shortly after the last supper and the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the old argument was rekindled. Jesus had told the apostles that one of them would betray Him. According to Matt. 26: 22 and Mark 14: 19, the disciples’ first response to this announcement was to ask, “Is it I?” Then they began to argue among themselves which of them it could be who was going to do this thing. The discussion about a betrayer among them soon led them into a heated debate about which of them should be accounted the greatest. This shows how little they understood the Lord’s Supper and the way of the cross.
Christians arguing among themselves are not living by the way of the cross: therefore, taking the Lords’ Supper in such condition is to take it in an unworthy way. This was Paul’s point in 1 Cor. 11: 17-34. The Corinthians were constantly arguing with one another about many things. One of these areas of dissension was the Lord’s Supper. They took it after a meal, misnamed in their case a “love feast.” The wealthier members were arriving earlier than the poorer ones. They ate the choicest food and the leftovers went to the poorer ones or to the latecomers. This created dissension. According to Paul they were taking the Supper “unworthily.” This does not refer to unworthy people but to how they took the Lord’s Supper---in a church filled with dissension and strife. In one sense the Supper is a personal act of worship, yet Paul saw it as not a private affair gut as a church ordinance to be taken with brothers and sisters in the Lord. For the Supper to be one in which the Lord is truly remembered, it must be taken in a spirit of love for Him and for one another.
Jesus patiently tried again to explain to the disciples the meaning of true greatness. Jesus reminded them how the kings of the Gentiles defined greatness. They measured it by earthly authority and power. The people with the greatest authority over the most people were considered the greatest. Although many of them were tyrants, they were called benefactors.
Has the world’s definition of greatness and success changed much in 20 centuries? Power, wealth, and prestige still are how the world measures greatness. This includes not only political and business power but also the most popular entertainers and athletes.
You cannot read far into the N.T. and not pick up that the call to be a follower of Jesus Christ is a call to service! It doesn’t matter what a person’s station in life is. Even if a person is recognized as a prominent leader because of family, profession or social status, he is to become like the one serving.
The younger person was lowest on the earthly scale of greatness. The greatest in God’s kingdom are those who serve. Jesus asked “Who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Nearly anyone would say that the one being served is greater than the one serving the food. But Jesus turned this worldly assumption upside down. He reminded them that He was among them “as the One who serves.”
On that same night Jesus gave these disciples a memorable example of what He meant. He did this by washing their feet. In that time and place people wore sandals. As a result, travelers had dusty feet. A normal act of hospitality was for a host to see hat someone washed the guest’s feet.
This task was assigned to the servant of lowest rank: and if there were no servants, the youngest child usually performed this task. When Jesus and His disciples met for the last supper, none of the disciples offered to wash the feet of those in the room. None of them wanted to appear less important than the others. Then Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. He said that He did this to teach them that humble service was His and it should become theirs also. In John 13: 14 Jesus said, “If I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”
PLEASE READ LUKE 22: 31-34.
In vs. 29-30 even as Jesus called His disciples to servant-hood, He bestowed on them a kingdom and foretold they would “sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
Look at this for a moment from Peter’s perspective. Sure, Jesus talked of serving, but He also just said Peter would play a key role in the kingdom of God. Wasn’t he already a part of the inner circle with James and John, the three who spent time with Jesus in ways that the others hadn’t? No one can doubt Peter’s loyalty to Jesus. He was passionately devoted to Him. The problem was that Peter was self-confident.
So, in spite of Peter’s future position in the kingdom of God, Jesus had to remind Peter of his frailty. Jesus used Peter’s former name Simon, showing that Peter would soon revert back to his former behavior. Peter may mean rock, but at this point, Peter was far from living up to the name Jesus had given him. He was still a weak creature with no stability, and he was about to prove it through his actions. To make plain His point, Jesus used Simon’s name twice, giving his words a strong emphasis and a sense of deep concern.
Satan had been unsuccessful in his attempts to lure Jesus away from His mission. He had been able to tempt Judas into betraying Jesus. Now he turned his attention to the other disciples, especially Simon.
The evil one wanted to thwart God’s purpose of redemption through Jesus Christ. He wanted to sift Simon as wheat. In those days wheat was separated from chaff by vigorously shaking it and throwing the mixture into the air. The chaff was blown away by the wind, and the wheat remained. This described a vigorous shaking. Satan had asked to be allowed to put the big fisherman to the test.
This passage reminds us of Job 1-2, where Satan asked for permission to tempt Job. Satan tempts in order to destroy people and to thwart God’s purposes. God allows tests to strengthen our faith.
Jesus then said reassuring words to Simon: “But I have prayed for thee.” What could be more assuring than to be sure that Jesus was praying for you? In a real sense, the Lord Jesus still prays for each of His followers. The writer of Hebrews told us in Heb. 7: 25, “He ever liveth to make intercesson for them.” When someone tells me, “I am praying for you,” I am encouraged. But the most encouraging words come from the Lord Jesus who prays for me. Prayer is a great mystery, and all the persons in the Trinity are involved. We pray to the Father. The Spirit helps us when we pray. And the Son Himself prays for us. Jesus prayed for Simon “that his faith fail not.”
Satan may have been successful in what he asked, but he would not be successful in achieving his goal---the ruin of the disciples. Why? Jesus prayed for them that their faith would not fail.
Satan was striving against Peter, but Jesus was working for him, even as He continues to do for us. Jesus knew that Simon would deny Him, but He prayed for his restoration and future service. The Lord had work for him to do: “When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Simon strongly protested Jesus’ words about forsaking Him and needing to turn back: “Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.”
As later events showed, Peter was sincere; bgut he was overconfident in his own strength. Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 10: 12, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
Believers are never more vulnerable to Satan’s temptations than when they are confident of their own strength to overcome. Peter was willing to defend Jesus. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and came out swinging. But Jesus told His disciples to put away their swords, and Peter was confused. He and the others had never accepted Jesus’ words about voluntarily suffering and death. Peter was willing to die with a sword in his hand, but he was not willing to die in the way Jesus spoke about.
The focus of Jesus’ intercession was not that Peter would fail to deny Him. If that were the case, then Jesus’ prayer was not answered. Jesus’ prayer was that Peter would not lose faith in Jesus Himself, letting go of his allegiance and loyalty to Jesus.
Peter never stopped loving Jesus, but he did let his fear override his trust at the time of his denial of Jesus. When we see the strong faith of Peter in the Book of Acts, we see that Jesus’ prayer was answered.
Peter’s weakness at that moment was not the end of the road, so to speak, for him. Jesus knew Peter’s love and affirmed that he would still be loved in return. Jesus did not say, “If you turn back” but “when you have turned back.” The preposition when assumes that Peter would fall, but Jesus was also predicting that Peter would turn back. Peter’s repentance (his turning back), much more than his denial, showed his true heart and faith.
It was not an issue if Peter would turn back but what he would do when he turned back. Jesus’ command for Peter was to strengthen your brothers. Strengthen carries the concept of establishing. This is an act that goes beyond something temporary or for the moment. There is an element of permanence in it.
This could include the process of helping them be established and grow in the Christian faith. Peter was to do this for his brothers, those who were also followers of Christ. Implicit in Jesus’ words is the fact that Peter would be restored and strengthened, so Peter could, in turn, strengthen the others.
Peter’s denial of Christ was public, but let’s no forget that all the disciples fled and in that sense abandoned Jesus. Surely they too felt remorse over their actions. As Peter repented and was restored, he could be a strong encouragement to others who had weak moments or struggled in showing their faith.
As tragic as Peter’s denial was, God was able to use it in Peter’s life, giving him sympathy, understanding, and encouragement for others. Our failures become points where God can use us. This strengthening/discipling role is similar to what Paul said in 2 Cor. 1: 4: “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” Failures or afflictions, God still uses those to work through us.
Those words seemed unnecessary to Peter. Others may deny Jesus but not Peter---“I’m ready to go with You both to prison and death!” He may have sensed that things were about to change, and Peter was ready to take it on as some great adventure. Reality proved different however. Peter obviously did not know himself.
Peter was over-confident. It is an odd and a warning thing to remember that if a person says, “That is one thing I will never do,” that is the very thing that he must carefully guard against.
Jesus began this topic with Peter with an exclamation, Look out! Peter could not say he wasn’t warned. These words would come back sooner than Peter realized. The crowing rooster in the very near future---even----today----would show how superficial Peter’s boast was.
The crowing of the rooster was more than just a signal of Peter’s failure. When Peter heard the rooster crow, he would not only remember Jesus’ words that this would happen, but he would also remember Jesus’ words that he would turn back. Failure was imminent, but so was restoration. The penalty of sin is to face, not the anger of Jesus, but the heartbreak in His eyes.
Thank God for what the Lord’s Supper means to you. As the Supper represents your relationship with Jesus, remember that you are also brought into a relationship with other believers.
N EXT SUNDAY “YOU HAVE A MOTIVE FOR TELLING OTHERS ABOUT JESUS DEATH.” A.V. DAUGHERTY <altav@swbell.net>