We are looking at the major events of Jesus ministry between the time of his final entry to Jerusalem and his resurrection. Previously, we spoke of the day of palms as Jesus entered the city. Last week we talked about Jesus’ use of a basin and towel to wash the disciples’ feet as a means of sharing the good news of God’s love that cleanses of sin and grants us salvation through redeeming grace.
This week I want us to look at Jesus’ words and deeds in sharing the bread and the cup at the meal with his disciples. This moment with Jesus and his disciples would be later called the Last Supper. The Eastern Orthodox Churches refer to this meal as the “Mystical Supper,” owing to the believed transformation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. The Russian Orthodox Church call this meal the “Secret Supper,” believing the word “secret” more accurately reflected the way the bread and wine were transformed. We Baptists, of course, and some other Protestant denominations do not refer to this moment as the Last Supper and do not believe Jesus changed the bread and wine at all. We Baptist, call this meal the Lord’s Supper and believe the bread and wine remain bread and wine were used symbolically by Jesus to represent his body and blood.
The earliest reference in Bible to this meal appears in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church. Paul wrote, “23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
I cannot help but imagine that when Jesus spoke the words about giving his body and blood at that meal, the disciples must have thought, “What on earth is Jesus talking about?” I must admit that after years of participating in the Lord’s Supper, I find myself at times participating in the Lord’s Supper in an unthinking manner. I find myself not asking the question, “What was Jesus’ thinking?” I find myself not contemplating the importance and radical nature of Jesus’ words and actions. I think we could benefit today by asking ourselves, “What on earth was Jesus talking about?”
The Gospel writer Luke began to set the scene for this meal in the upper room. Luke wrote, “31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again. 34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.’”
Jesus was talking about his own death. Death for the Jews, as we discovered in our recent Bible studies, was something of dread and fear. For in death, many Jews believed, and some still do believe, that everyone, the righteous and unrighteous, went to Sheol or Hades. Sheol was a place of nothingness. The psalmist wrote, “5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave [Sheol]?” (Psalm 6:5). Isaiah wrote, “18 For the grave cannot praise you, death [Sheol] cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness” (Isaiah 38:18). For many Jews in Jesus’ time, death meant separation from God and an eternal state of nothingness. For Jesus to speak of his own death meant to the disciples had to contemplate that Jesus would be separated from God. With Jesus separated from God and Jesus separated from them, the greatest thing that had happened in their life, the greatest person who had ever been in the life and in the life of Israel would be over.
We see this sense of despair expressed by two of Jesus’ followers after Jesus was crucified. They were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. As they walked their faces were downcast. In their conversation with someone who appeared as a stranger to them, these followers of Jesus said, “19b He [Jesus] was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him [Jesus] over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he [Jesus] was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:19b-21). For these followers of Jesus, death was all consuming. Jesus’ death ended all hope. Death meant eternal separation from God for Jesus and the end of the dreams for Israel. These followers were downcast and defeated.
And so, we can see that coming into this meal, the disciples were anxious and upset about Jesus’ prediction of his death and separation from God. After Jesus death, the disciples’ anxiousness had become a sense of utter defeat. We see two bookends encapsulating much of that last week of Jesus life. One bookend we could label “Doom” and the other “Gloom.”
We know in life that bookends are used to help hold together a group of books between them. As such, the bookends are not nearly as important as the stories within the books that rests between the bookends. In the case of Jesus’ disciples, one of the important things that stories resting between the bookends of doom and gloom concerned the evening meal, the meal we call the Lord’s Supper.
Each Gospel contains an account of the time spent during that meal. The Gospel of Mark is likely the earliest of the Gospel accounts. Mark wrote, “22 While they [Jesus and his disciples] were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he [Jesus] had given thanks, he [Jesus] broke it [the bread] and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body’” (Mark 14:22). It is very easy to imagine the disciples saying to themselves, “What on earth is Jesus talking about when he said, ‘This is my body.’”
What on earth was Jesus’ thinking when he said, “This is my body.” Was Jesus saying this bread was now literally his flesh as though torn from his side? We Baptists do not think so. We believe the bread was still bread. So, if the bread remained bread, what was Jesus thinking when he said, “This is my body”? Let’s consider three things Jesus might have been thinking by using one thing, bread, to represent another thing, his body.
First, Jesus blessed the entirety of the bread, then he broke the bread. I believe this was Jesus’ way of showing that He had come to be a blessing to anyone who would freely receive him. Jesus had previously said, “’33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world…’ 35 Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life’” (John 6:33, 35). Jesus words at this find supper affirmed He came from God to be the blessing of life to all who receive him.
Second, the blessing of Jesus, this life-giving bread, was from Jesus to his believers, directly. Jesus did not give the bread to anyone else to distribute. Jesus broke the bread and gave it to anyone who would receive. The blessing of Jesus is not a commodity to be stingily shared by religious leaders. Jesus actions and words convey his thinking that no one may stand between him and the believer.
Finally, Jesus gave the bread to his disciples, calling it his body, to show his mind, his will, that he was about to give his physical body over to his tormentor of his own will. Despite what may happen to him in the hours to come with his arrest, trial, flogging, and crucifixion, it was important for his disciples to know that no one was taking Jesus’ against his will. Jesus gave himself in the bread and would give his body over to death because doing so was the will of God who sent him.
We understand the convention of one thing representing another. When two people marry, typically they give each other a wedding ring saying, “I give this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity.” We see in the ring that the two have become one. The bread used by Jesus was symbol, a reminder, of Jesus love, his fidelity, and his capacity to sustain his followers through all the joys and hardships of life without him present.
What on earth was Jesus thinking when he said, “This is my body”? Jesus was thinking, “I need to show you that I love each of you, personally, and that I came to give you life now and forever if you will just receive me. Please see my commitment of love through the bread.”
And so, the disciples ate the bread.
After eating the bread, Mark said, “23 Then he [Jesus] took a cup, and when he [Jesus] had given thanks, he [Jesus] gave it [the cup] to them [his disciples], and they all drank from it [the cup]. 24 ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he [Jesus] said to them [his disciples] (Mark 14:23-24).
What on earth was Jesus thinking when he said, “This is my blood.” Was the wine now blood? We Baptists do not think so. We believe the wine was still wine. So what was Jesus thinking when he said, “This is my blood?”
When we think of blood, we think of it as the red fluid circulating throughout our body that supplies oxygen and nourishment to every cell. We see blood in context to life. But in Biblical concepts, particularly from the Hebrew Scriptures, the overarching meaning of blood is that it refers to death.
Cain killed Abel. “The Lord said [to Cain], ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground’” (Genesis 4:10). Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. To cover up their crime, the brothers slaughtered a goat and dipped Joseph’s coat into the blood to prove to Joseph’s his death. The Hebrews sacrificed animals saying the blood, the death of the animal, made atonement for sin. Finally, Moses sacrificed an animal and sprinkled the blood upon the Hebrew people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:8).
So when Jesus said, “This is my blood,” the Hebrew mind was predisposed to see the blood as a sign of death. Jesus was expressing in words and actions what he was thinking, namely, that he was about to die and that his blood would be the seal of a covenant between him and God.
What was a covenant? In this context, a covenant was an unbreakable agreement between the believer and God. Jesus, by giving his blood, by dying, the believer in Jesus’ as savior and Lord had entered an unbreakable relationship giving the believer peace and eternal life with God. Jesus established this relationship not because of our good works but did so for the goodness of God who sought doing good for us. This is what the cup should mean to us. It is a sign of peace and unity.
What on earth was Jesus thinking when he said, “This is my body,” and “This is my blood.” Jesus was thinking about you and me. Jesus was thinking that between the bookends of doom and gloom there is an incredible love story that gives life. Jesus wrote that story that we could be lifted up and given peace. The downcast disciples experienced the love story at the table. Luke wrote, “30 When he [Jesus] was at the table with them, he {Jesus] took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Luke 24:30-31a). Those downcast disciples were transformed in recognizing Jesus at the table and immediately shared the news of great joy “35b How Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread” (Luke 24:35b). Let us come now and recognize Jesus in the bread and know that Jesus was thinking of you and me when he offered his body and blood. Amen and Amen.