The meal of the Messiah

Matthew 26:26-29 / Mark 14:22-25 / Luke 22:15-20…        

This was the Passover, the night on which for over fourteen hundred years, the children of Israel celebrated God’s deliverance through blood and out of Egypt. In the shadow of where Solomon’s Temple had been built, where David had appointed the altar of thanksgiving to God (2 Chronicles 3:1), where Abraham had given up Isaac and the substitute had been found (Genesis 22:2), Jesus is instituting the Lord’s Supper. Here we see that Christ is the true Passover Lamb whose blood sacrifice establishes the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15-17).

The Last Supper is the precedent for the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). His body, represented by the bread, is symbolic of His sinless life. His blood, represented by the cup, is symbolic of His atoning death. We don’t need His physical body and blood to come to us today, we need what His physical life and death brought to us for eternity. Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we justly deserved. But on the cross, God treated Jesus as if He lived your life so He could treat you as if you lived His life (2 Corinthians 5:21). That’s the Gospel. Faith is spiritual eating.

I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Not only does the Lord’s Supper help us to remember the past, it also is a reason to look forward to the future (1 Corinthians 11:26). Just as the Passover was a symbol of the Lamb of God, so the Lord’s Supper is a symbol of an even greater feast: the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9). How glorious will that day be when we, in our glorified bodies, sit down with Jesus as His bride, and feast at the banquet table of heaven!   

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The point of no return

Matthew 26:21-25 / Mark 14:18-21 / Luke 22:21-23 / John 13:21-30…      

But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. Now this got the disciples’ attention. They might not as yet understood all the significance of the foot washing, or how it reflected so badly on them, but this they can understand right away and right well. Jesus was not only saying that one of them would betray Him, but that the man was doing it as Jesus spoke.  

We think that because we have not as yet committed the treacherous act, that somehow we have not as yet betrayed our Lord. Yet Jesus knows, and you should know, that the deeds of the damned start long before they come to full fruition (John 13:2). The trail of a traitor starts in the mind (James 1:14-15).  The world feeds it, the devil enflames it, the flesh indulges it.

Thankfully, we can turn around and start going the other way (1 John 1:9). Yet there does come a point when we have so yielded ourselves to the destiny of the devil, that there is no turning back. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."

Jesus’ statement called for self-examination. We see that while the rest of the disciples asked his Lord if it is him; Judas asks the Rabbi. After all Judas has seen and heard, Jesus is still only a teacher to him. Many are the same, seeing Jesus as only a way to something else.

You have to get past the point of no return or you will one day turn back from following Jesus. If to you, He is truly God, then you’re good. If not, then eventually, you’ll turn and be gone.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Bathed in service

John 13:12-20…

When Christ told us to wash one another’s feet, He was not simply talking about the physical act, but about humility and service to one another. However, it goes further than that. This is Jesus telling us that we are to give ourselves to a specific set of individuals. You give yourself to all of Christ’s body, but you wash the feet of those whom you are in intimate fellowship with. This is most often with those whom you get muddy with on a regular basis, like Jesus with His disciples.

A proof of this is found in 1 Timothy 5:9-10. The true widow who had humbled herself and served others personally shows us that this is about a local fellowship, not just a general principle only. You give yourself to a group of people and those people are whose feet you wash.

Even then, there will be people who will do you wrong. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. Jesus knew what Judas was going to do, and what would be done to the disciples. He knows that we will face false accusation and suffer persecution. Remember, if we are washing someone’s feet, we are made vulnerable; they can kick us in the face. Still, like Him, and like them, we are to be closely serving others.

Christians can get really defeated in their spiritual lives. Persecution, trials, and the sufferings of this life can weigh so heavy. We sin, backslide, and our spiritual feet get muddy and filthy. Our fellowship with God is hindered, we lose our peace and joy, we get spiritually sick inside. We get spiritually depressed, and we don’t feel like praying, reading our Bible, or going to church. We must be humble enough to allow others to wash our feet, and humble enough to wash other’s feet. This means we confess to one another and pray for one another (James 5:16).

If you think that you don’t have to be a vital, vulnerable part of a local church, if you simply want to serve from a distance, from a position of strength, your discipleship is all dried up. You’ve thrown in the towel against the church instead of girding yourself with it.  

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©