CHRIST’S FINAL WEEK: COMMUNION
LUKE 22:1-23
Introduction: In the final hours of Christ’s earthly ministry, Christ sent his disciples to set up a place where He might be able to observe the Seder or Passover Supper with them. He expressed this desire in the strongest terms. “With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you.” – That is, I have earnestly desired it. Why did Christ lay such emphasis on this Passover? Why would this Passover be different than any other Passover? I believe that Christ desired it, both for the sake of his disciples, with whom he had spent the last three and a half years from whom He would soon part: and for the sake of his whole Church, that he might institute a lasting memorial of his work which He was about to complete. He desired to eat this Passover with His disciples because;
I. This would be His last fellowship of this kind with the disciples until His Millennial Reign.
A. With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
B. Jesus had spent three and a half years with the twelve. They had been almost inseparable throughout His earthly ministry. The Word of God says that "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."
C. John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
D. In one sense of the word, it is like Christ saying that He wanted to savor every moment of these last hours with His disciples; to prepare them for what lay ahead and to assure them that everything was going to be alright and that victory was at hand.
E. How often do we look at the final moments of one’s life and allow grief and sorrow to permeate every fiber of our being, when we should seek to redeem what time is left to leave a legacy of love.
F. Christ was going to leave them. There would be the sadness of the separation; but there would also be the joyous hope of a grand reunion that will occur when He returns.
G. During the evening of the Passover Supper, Christ told His disciples as recorded in John 14:1 – 3, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
H. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 17 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
I. A few days before his death, Dr. F. B. Meyer wrote a very dear friend these words: "I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live. It may be that before this reaches you, I shall have entered the palace. Don’t trouble to write. We shall meet in the morning."
J. Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end.
Yet days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it a year is gone,
And I never see my old friend’s face;
For life is a swift and terrible race.
He knows I like him just as well
As in the days when I rang his bell
And he rang mine. We were younger then--
And now we are busy, tired men--
Tired with playing a foolish game;
Tired with trying to make a name.
"Tomorrow," I say, "I will call on Jim,
Just to show that I’m thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes--and tomorrow goes;
And the distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner!--yet miles away...
"Here’s a telegram, sir."
"Jim died today."
And that’s what we get--and deserve in the end--
Around the corner, a vanished friend. – Around The Corner, by Henson Towne.
II. This would begin the final ordained events leading to the ultimate work for which He came.
A. With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
B. Christ was fully aware of the suffering which was in store for Him.
C. Luke 22:41 – 42 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
D. All the events that would take place were ordained by God. It is interesting to see how the gospel’s point out that even the upper room was divinely prepared.
E. Mark 14:13 - 16 And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.” So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.
F. Everything from the betrayal plot by Judas to the tomb wherein Christ was laid had been carefully laid out by the Divine Council of the Godhead.
G. John 12:27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
H. Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
I. Revelation 13:8 says that Christ was “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
J. Isaac asked in Genesis 22:1-7 “Father, where is the lamb ?” Abraham answered in Gen. 22:8 "The Lord will provide "Himself" a lamb for a burnt offering." – Yes this is the proper Hebrew translation, Himself being, not just for ‘Himself’ but "Himself" –Jesus!
III. This would be the pivotal Passover which would change forever and redefine the focus of Passover.
A. With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
B. This Passover would be unlike any other Passover.
C. The Children of Israel observing the Passover saw the feast as a commemoration of their deliverance from the bondage and tyranny of Egypt.
D. Exodus 12:23 – 24 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. .
E. The children of Israel had looked back to the slaying of the Passover lamb, but on this Passover the true Passover lamb would be slain. (1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. ).
F. From this point on the focus would no longer be looking back to Moses and his leading the people out of Egypt; but the focus is the Lamb of God and His life-giving work on the cross Who would lead His followers out of the bondage of sin into the glorious freedom of grace.
G. John 8:36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
H. Luke 22:19 – 20 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
I. 1 Peter 1:18 – 19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
