“ When
the time came for Jesus and the apostles to eat, he said to them, "I
have very
much wanted to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer. I tell you that I will not
eat another Passover meal until it is finally eaten in God's kingdom."
Jesus took a cup of wine in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he told the
apostles, "Take this wine and share it with each other. I tell you that I will not drink any
more wine until God's kingdom comes."
Jesus took some bread in his hands and gave thanks for it. He broke the bread and
handed it to his apostles. Then he said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this
as a way of remembering me!"
After the meal he took another cup of wine in his hands. Then he said, "This is my
blood. It is poured out for you, and with it God makes his new agreement. The one
who will betray me is here at the table with me! The Son of Man will die in the way
that has been decided for him, but it will be terrible for the one who betrays him!"
Then the apostles started arguing about who would ever do such a thing.
The apostles got into an argument about which one of them was the greatest."
Luke 22:14-25 (CEV)
much wanted to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer. I tell you that I will not
eat another Passover meal until it is finally eaten in God's kingdom."
Jesus took a cup of wine in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he told the
apostles, "Take this wine and share it with each other. I tell you that I will not drink any
more wine until God's kingdom comes."
Jesus took some bread in his hands and gave thanks for it. He broke the bread and
handed it to his apostles. Then he said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this
as a way of remembering me!"
After the meal he took another cup of wine in his hands. Then he said, "This is my
blood. It is poured out for you, and with it God makes his new agreement. The one
who will betray me is here at the table with me! The Son of Man will die in the way
that has been decided for him, but it will be terrible for the one who betrays him!"
Then the apostles started arguing about who would ever do such a thing.
The apostles got into an argument about which one of them was the greatest."
Luke 22:14-25 (CEV)
It’s
all here isn’t it? The, Holy,
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnicompetent, Creator God, having reduced
himself not only to being a creature,
but to one who dies an horrific death at the hands of other creatures
. . . . . this God now suffers the indignity
at his last supper, at his telling
them he’s going to die for them, of hearing them go off to argue about who
will be the greatest.
Tonight
we will have dinner together, worship and remember this event by reenacting this
Last Supper together, fellowship afterward, and then go home.
Will that be it? At
least I won’t go home trying to figure out how I can be greatest in His
Kingdom, right? Maybe it’s
worse than that, maybe I just go back to my same old, same old, being the same
old person I was before I took communion, the same person who still falls into
the trap of looking out for myself first.
But
perhaps that’s part of the point. Jesus’
death and resurrection are not things that I can do something with. They
are all God. All God. . . . the God
who knows that hopeless self-centeredness can never save itself, it must be rescued
from without, redeemed from without, and recreated into something new from
without.
Undeterred
by callous, self-serving disciples like me (and maybe you, too) Jesus headed
straight for Gethsemane and then the cross.
“Lord, the horror and beauty of this
night are overwhelming. Can it actually be that You, God, would die for ME?
This, Lord, is incomprehensible.
Yet, by faith, by against-all-odds, against-anything-I-could-ever-deserve
belief, I trust it to be true. Thank
you, Father. Amen”
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