WHEN JESUS STOOD ALONE
Text: Luke 22:14-23, 33-34
In his book, You Are Never Alone, Charles Allen makes the point that the pain of rejection is the greatest pain to bear. He said that people can handle the pain of sorrow, frustration and even failure. But, to be left alone is hard to bear. Loneliness is not partial to anyone. (Carmel: Guideposts, 1978, p. 45).
All in the same night, Jesus ate with His disciples and was betrayed by one of that number---Judas. All in the same night, Jesus was revered and abandoned by His own disciples, until at last, He stood alone.
As Olive Wyon observed "Supper was ready; but the friends of Jesus were not". (The Altar Fire. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1954, p. 9). The Lord's Supper was and is more than a meal, it was and is a celebration; it was and is a legacy; "it begins with God and ends with God" (Wyon p. 19).
The Lord's Supper was ...
IT WAS AND IS A CELEBRATION.
Traditionally, Passover or Pesah (as it is sometimes called) was a celebration. It was a reminder of how God delivered the Jews from Egyptian captivity. It commemorated (Exodus 12:14) the Exodus.
The death angel passed over the houses of those who had the blood of goats or sheep over the top and on the sides of the door frames (Exodus 12:7). Those who did not follow that rule suffered the consequences of losing the first born of both animals and men. That meant that the Egyptians were going to suffer great losses that night.
Those who are not covered by the blood of Jesus will suffer the pain that comes from sin. Sin isolates and alienates. Christ unites and reconciles.
Jesus said that He desired to celebrate the "Passover" with them. According to I Corinthians 5:7, Christ was the Passover lamb that had been sacrificed. This passage of scripture is of course speaking in the past tense, meaning post-resurrection. Jesus was called by John the Baptist, "the lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world" (John 1:29 NIV). Jesus was their sacrificial lamb and He is ours also.
"In the annals of Switzerland, Arnold van Winkelreid is honored in a song and story as Switzerland's most famous hero. At the battle of Sempach the Swiss army faced the Austrian knights. The Austrians stood as a solid wall of flesh against the Swiss. Again and again the Swiss attempted to break through the Austrian ranks but to no avail. Finally, Winkelried cried out to his companions, "Follow me. I'll make a bridge for you to victory." He threw himself upon the spears of the enemy, gathered as many of them as he could into his arms, buried their points in his own body, and, pulling the knights forward and downward, fell himself, pierced through and through. But his massive body formed a human bridge through the Austrian ranks and the Swiss army literally marched across the body of their fallen hero to certain victory.
So the law stood before us a barrier -- an impossible barrier that we could not get over, around, or under. Then Christ came and placed his body on a cross, took the guilt of our sins into his own body, and thus formed a bridge through the law that we might enter into the Kingdom as clean and renewed children of God". (R. C. Hoefler. There Are Demons In The Sea. Lima: The C. S. S. Publishing Co.,1978, p. 64).
IT WAS AND IS A LEGACY.
A legacy is something that is handed down. It was at the Lord's Supper that Jesus was handing down to His disciples and to us the significance of this event. They were to remember it with all of the passion of the first "Passover." We must also remember that Jesus was giving new meaning to this celebration. The new meaning comes forth in the reality of how He yielded Himself up as a sacrifice---once and for all. What Winkelreid did is honorable. What Jesus did is by far greater.
This legacy cannot be just mere formalism, it must be sincere and heartfelt. Jesus told them that the one who was to betray Him had his hand on the table with Him. Wallace Viets notes that "Presumably all of them had their hands on the table". (Seven Days That Changed The World. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962, pp. 62-63). Then, His disciples began to argue about who was the greatest (Luke 22:24-30). They had missed the point.
IT BEGINS AND ENDS WITH GOD.
The Lord's Supper began and ended with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. On the night in which He commemorated that first Supper, He found Himself alone not long after it was over. Although His disciples were with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, following that Supper, they were not with Him in His agony. Although they could not feel as Jesus must have been feeling, He asked them to pray with Him. Yet, they went to sleep.
This was but a hint of the loneliness and disappointment that was to follow. First, Judas betrayed Him with a kiss (Luke 22:48). Secondly, His disciples who seemed that they would boldly follow Him no matter what now seemed to abandon Him. Yes, of the remaining eleven, Peter followed Him, but only from a distance (Luke 22:54). Later, after He had been crucified, even God turned His away from Him (Matthew 27:46) because of our sins that He took to the cross as He exchanged with us His righteousness for our sinfulness (II Corinthians 5:21).
Someone (Viets) points out three different periods of temptation for Jesus. The first followed His baptism as the Devil tempted Him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Secondly, there was the "Mount of Transfiguration" (Matthew 17:1-12). The final temptation was in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus wanted the cup of suffering to pass Him by (Matthew 26:42), (p. 66). Alone, there in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was faced with a great decision that He was to make alone. We would be wrong to think that these were the only three times that Jesus was tempted. Satan was always looking for opportunities to tempt Jesus as he strives to do the same to you and me.
"Harry Truman testified that the biggest single burden of the presidency---as it is for all person of great authority---is that after all opinions are in, all data gathered, and all the discussion completed, the decision must be made---alone" (Viets p. 67). Consider Gethsemane---"... the place of the olive press. Here the fruit was taken and subjected to tremendous pressure in order that the essence might be drawn forth---the olive oil. Here, too, was Jesus subjected to tremendous pressure that the essence might be and was drawn forth. We, too have our Gethsemanes" (Viets pp. 65-66).
Our spirits come from God unto whom our spirits must also return. Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 8:1). Jesus who is, who was and is to come (Revelation 8:1) is whose table we must sit at on earth until He is ready for us to come to His table in heaven. In the meantime, let us take our place at the Lord's table on earth.
Though there may be times when we are faced with our Gethsemane moments, Jesus gave us His promise that He would not leave us alone (John 14:18).
