MATTHEW 26:17-30 and LUKE 22:7-23 Combined
On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, The Teacher says My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples."
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go into the city and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it. Listen," he said to them, "when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, “The teacher asks you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there."
So they went and found everything as Jesus had told them; the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. When the hour came, he took his place with the twelve at the table, the apostles with him.
He said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is my body. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." While they were eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me."
Then he did the same with the cup after supper, and after giving thanks he said, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!"
Then they began to ask one another, which one of them it could be who would do this. And they became greatly distressed and began to say to Jesus one after another, "Surely not I, Lord?" He answered, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born." Judas, who betrayed him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" Jesus replied, "You have said so." When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Jesus was living and dying according to his Father’s plan and timetable.
He had personally made arrangements that made things ready for this time.
Jesus was in full control of himself, he knew exactly what he was doing.
He was also in full control of the circumstances around him.
While the other eleven disciples called Jesus ‘Lord’, Judas only called him ‘Rabbi’.
Throughout the gospels, the disciples often called Jesus ‘Lord’, but there is no record of Judas ever calling Jesus ‘Lord’.
THE NEW PASSOVER
We come to what is commonly called “The Lord’s Supper”.
Jesus never said that this was the Last Supper.
It is the New Passover.
He will partake again in his Father’s kingdom.
Then the Passover will have been totally completed both in act, and in effect.
The Lord’s Supper was never intended to be a special event tagged onto the end of a church service.
Neither was the Lord’s Supper only to be celebrated by special people.
The Lord’s Supper actually is the new covenant in Christ’s blood.
So it has had a deep and profound effect on his disciples throughout time and history.
THE NEW COVENANT
This new covenant affects us deeply inside as we examine ourselves before approaching the table.
We approach the table looking back to what Jesus has done.
We approach the table careful to make sure that we have no broken relationships that need us to put them right before we partake.
We must discern the body of Christ.
We approach the table thankful for the foundation that he has fully set in place for us.
In the moment that we partake the Lord’s Supper, while Jesus does not himself partake as we celebrate together, he is most certainly with us in our midst.
The Lord’s Supper looks forward to the coming kingdom when Jesus will again partake himself after returning to earth to wrap history up.
ONE TOGETHER
John’s account of this New Passover included the washing of the disciples’ hot and dusty feet.
- Jesus did what only the lowest slave would ever have done.
- In accepting our part in the new covenant in Jesus’ blood, we each become as the lowest slave and we serve God in one another as God calls us to do so.
The Lord’s Supper is a powerful proclamation of our union in Christ.
The apostle Paul is bold when he writes to Gentiles like us and he warns those who approach the table carelessly that they must discern the body of Christ.
We are the body of Christ and we are each members of it.
We must all be very careful never to speak or act against our brothers and sisters who are around us in his body.
Jesus is preparing this body for the marriage supper of the lamb, and Jesus will build his church and make it ready for that day.
In a very real sense, because the Lord’s Supper is itself the new covenant in Jesus’ blood, it is actually the most important part of any church service.
REALISATION
Through the Lord’s Supper, we experience the reality of:
- The presence of the living Lord with us.
- Our oneness in him.
- Our submission to the Lord.
- God’s grace that he lavished upon us.
- Our very life and sustenance comes from and through Jesus.
- Our own personal sacrifice to the one who gave his all for us.
It is our own personal sacrifice that many Christians often discover to be the hardest part of the new covenant.
CONTRACTS
In the West, our lives tend to be dominated by contracts.
- We have contracts of employment that lay out the terms and conditions with which a job is offered to a prospective employee.
- We have contracts that determine the terms and conditions by which goods are bought and sold.
- We have contracts for our bank accounts, credit cards and mortgages.
- We have contracts when we buy a car or other goods on credit agreements.
- And so on.
We have so many contracts that determine so many factors in our lives that we tend not to think about it when we sign yet another contract.
- We accept contracts as a normal part of our lives.
- Indeed, contracts actually are a regular part of our lives and we tend not to think too much about them.
There is, however, a great danger for us in all of this.
The danger is that we think that we are in a contract relationship with God.
We sign the contract by accepting Jesus as Saviour, we receive the salvation package from God, then God signs the contract in Jesus’ blood, and then we follow the rules and regulations that enable us to please God and hopefully earn his favour.
Not so!
God does not lay out the conditions on which he operates and invite us to sign a contract that binds him to do his things our way.
By no means!
COVENANT
We are in a covenant relationship with God.
As Gentiles, we do not have a mindset that sees covenants as an everyday part of our lives.
Nevertheless, if we are to grasp the significance of our relationship with God, we must realize that we are in a covenant relationship with him and that God has no such thing as a contract of any description.
THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE
There is, then, one critical difference between a contract and a covenant.
It is this difference that we must now explore if we are to understand the true significance of a covenant.
The difference is that a covenant has no escape clause.
Let me explain.
A contract of employment has escape clauses.
- One clause in the contract of employment determines how much notice each party must give in order to end the contract.
- Another clause in the contract of employment states what behavior on the part of the employee will cause the contract to be cancelled and the employee dismissed.
- And so on.
Contracts in relation to buying and selling of goods have escape clauses that deal with things like non-payment of bills, late or non-delivery of goods or services, and suchlike circumstances that would cause the contract to be null and void.
Your bank has clauses in its contract with you that lay out the conditions under which they can cancel their contract(s) with you and you can cancel your contract with them.
And so on.
UNBREAKABLE COVENANT
But a covenant has no escape clause(s).
It contains no ‘get out’.
A covenant is unbreakable and is for life.
Such is the new covenant that we enter into with God through Christ, and yet it is also different, even from the marriage covenant that we are familiar with.
The marriage covenant is a covenant of equals, but the new covenant in Christ is most certainly not a covenant of equals.
The new covenant in Christ is a unique covenant that is far higher and greater than either the old covenant with God, or any other covenant.
The new covenant in Christ has aspects that are unique to it and they need our careful attention if we are to grasp the significance of the new covenant.
We must now consider some aspects of the covenant in Christ that will lead us to a greater understanding of that new covenant and that will bring us to the place of receiving and receiving covenant grace.
A covenant is binding for the lifetime of the one(s) who establishes the covenant.
In the marriage covenant, both people establish the covenant together.
The marriage covenant is cancelled upon the death of one person and upon that death, the covenant ends.
But nothing can end the covenant that God made with me in Christ.
In the covenant relationship that God has with me through Christ, only one of us is going to die.
Christ has already died and he will never do so again.
The Christ who established his covenant with me and you is never going to die again.
He is alive forevermore, that is why his covenant is forevermore.
This is the amazing truth of my covenant relationship with God through Christ.
When I die, as I must do one day, Christ’s covenant with me is neither cancelled nor ended, but it is actually fulfilled.
My death does not end the covenant, it completes it for me.
What began many years ago for me in my relationship with God will one day be completed in the Day of Christ.
Nothing can break, weaken or reduce the covenant that Christ has established with me.
The new covenant in Christ that he invited me into will never die, because Christ will never die.
One day that new covenant will be fulfilled for me personally, as it will be one day be fulfilled for all who are in Christ as they become fully one with Christ forever.
We live in a world that is far from permanent.
But the new covenant in Christ is forever permanent and nothing can change that.
The constant that we have is the unchanging Christ who is yesterday, today and forever the same.
In entering the new covenant with Christ, we offer to God:
- Our self-sacrifice.
- Our submission.
- Our very selves.
That is what we are offering to God every time we partake of the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is the new covenant in Christ’s blood.
Let us enter into that covenant wisely, carefully, and with true understanding of the self-sacrifice that this covenant calls us to make.
1