The Lord Institutes His Supper

THE LORD INSTITUTES HIS SUPPER

Matthew 26:17-30

Just a little bit ago we participated in the taking of what we call the “Lord’s Supper.”

Here in this passage Jesus institutes that supper.
And by studying this passage we will be reminded of some things…and perhaps taught some things about the Lord’s Supper…and how significant it is.
- So let’s cover this material and let’s learn some things concerning the Lord’s Supper.

Notice in verse 17 that it is the time of the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.

And it is not a matter of whether Jesus will observe these memorial feasts.
The question is “where.”

And so in verse 18 He tells His disciples to go into the city and He tells them that they would meet “a certain man” there and they were to say to him, “the Teacher says, My time is at hand; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”

So, in vs. 19 the disciples do…they go into the city and they “prepare the Passover.”

Now look at verse 20-21.

Jesus is gathered with the 12 and as they are “reclining at the table and eating” He tells them that “one of them will betray Him.”
And the disciples are “deeply grieved” in vs. 22 and they began to say, “Surely not I, Lord?”
And Jesus says in vs. 23 that it will be “He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl.”

Now these disciples have walked with him for 3 years now and not one single time has Jesus said something, and no matter how absurd it seemed, did it not come true.

So when Jesus says this, they are somewhat surprised and grieved.
And notice it says that “each one began to say to Him, “Surely not I?”
What is happening here is one is saying, “Is it me…and then another says…is it me…and then another and another.”

And I think their response is interesting in that it seems to show that they are not confident in their own moral strength.

As much as they would like to believe that they wouldn’t do something like this…
As much as they would like to each believe that their loyalty to Christ is strong…they aren’t sure.
And so they each ask, “It’s not me is it?”

And now look again at what He says in verse 23 and 24. He says, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me. 24 “The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

The first thing that Jesus does here is He narrows it down.

He says, “It is one one who dips with me in the bowl.”
Why does Jesus say this?
Why does Jesus warn the one who is going to do this?

I think He is giving Judas a chance to repent.

You see, if you go back to verse 14-16, Judas has already started looking for a way to betray Christ.
So when Jesus says this here He is making it known to Judas that He already knows what Judas is going to do and that He could expose him to the others when He wanted too.
And He is giving Judas an opportunity to repent.

But the reality is some people do not want to repent…and I hope you are not one of them because each one of us knows what happened to Judas.

Judas is an example of what happens to those who refuse to repent.
And, our Lord always gives people ample opportunity to repent.

And here is another thing.

Most of us, if our plan was exposed before we did it, we would back off.
But not Judas.
Judas had already set his heart on doing this thing.
And that is the point: Once again, “Jesus knows our hearts and our intentions and we only fool ourselves if we think we are fooling Him.”

And here is something else: When Jesus proclaims this betrayal “by one who has dipped his hand in the bowl with Him”, He implements within each of them a self-examination.

He doesn’t identify the betrayer…and by not doing so He causes each one of them to examine their own heart and motive.

Self examination is something that we all should do regularly.

In fact, according to 1 Cor. 11: 28 examining ourselves is something each one of us is to do each time we take the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is a time for each of us to ask ourselves, “Surely it is not I who will betray you.”

Now in the next few verses Jesus is going to share His supper with the other disciples, but I want you to see something that I think is significant in understanding His supper. Turn to John 13: 21.

Here in verse 21 Jesus tells His disciples that one of them would betray Him.
And in verse 22 they are stunned…and surprised and in verse 24 they ask, “Who it is that He is talking about?”

Now verse 26, read with me: Jesus therefore answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, {the son} of Simon Iscariot. And after the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Jesus therefore said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” Now no one of those reclining {at the table} knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor. 30 And so after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.

Jesus knew what Judas had in mind.

And before He institutes His supper…before He breaks the bread and shares the cup…He sends Judas out.
Why does He do that?

Well, I will tell you why He does that.

His supper…His blood and His body is not for people whose hearts are not given to Christ.
It is not intended for those who want to drink of the cup of the Lord as well as the cup of the demons.
The supper of the Lord is for those who belong to the Lord.

I believe the apostle Paul says this same thing in 1 Cor. 10: 15: I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. 16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

1 Cor 10:21-22 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

The reason Jesus sent Judas out is because His supper is not for people whose hearts are not given to Christ…the supper of the Lord is intended for those who belong to the Lord.

Now, go back to Matthew 26 and verse 26.

Judas has left and gone out into the night…and Matthew says: “And while they were eating…”
While they were eating the Passover meal…
While they were eating a meal to commemorate God’s passing over the houses of the Israelites…
A meal to commemorate their deliverance from bondage.
While they are eating the lamb’s body that reminded them that it died so they could be saved, Jesus takes some bread…and after a blessing He broke it…and gave it to them…and said, “Take, eat, this is My body.”

What Jesus does here when He does this is He equates Himself and His impending death to that of the Passover Lamb.

He too will die so they can be delivered.
He too will die so they can escape the coming judgment.
He too will die so they can be set free from bondage.

When He takes that bread and breaks it and gives it to each one and says, “This is My body” He is in a sense equating Himself to that Passover Lamb that they were eating of…and all that Lamb stood for.

And when they ate of that bread they were accepting Him and acknowledging all of that to be true.

But there is more.

Any time in the old sacrificial system when the blood was sprinkled on the horns of the altar it indicated that sin was atoned for.
And then, when sin was atoned for, a festive banquet was prepared by the priest and the one who had offered the sacrifice was invited to eat at that banquet…
And the fact that the priest prepared the banquet and invited the worshipper was symbolic of God hosting the banquet.
And the fact that the worshipper was invited to a banquet hosted by God indicated that there was fellowship between God and the worshipper.

Well, when it came to the Passover the door posts and the lintels served as the altar where the blood was sprinkled…and that signified atonement.

And then the Passover meal indicated fellowship between the people and God.

And when Jesus hosted this Passover meal…and then took the bread and presented it to these disciples…He was symbolically saying, “We are in fellowship with one another.”

So you see, when we take of the bread…we are recognizing Christ as a sacrifice superior to the Passover lamb.

We are recognizing Him as the One who can and will deliver us from our sins.
And we are declaring that “we are in fellowship with God.”

Notice something else.

Jesus takes the bread and He says, “This is my body.”

He doesn’t say, “This is my broken body.”
We often pray that.
But one of the things that God told the people concerning the Passover lamb was that its bones were not to be broken; Ex. 12: 46.
And if you will study the crucifixion of Christ…one of the things you will find is that when they came to break His legs…which is what they did to hasten the death of one crucified…
Jesus was already dead…and therefore…the bones of our Passover lamb were not broken either.
The fact that His bones were not broken signified that He is God’s Passover Lamb for us.

But now look at verse 27.

Jesus takes a cup….and He gives thanks…and He gives it to His disciples…and they all take a drink.
And He says, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many for forgiveness of sins.”

Back in chapter 20 and verse 28 Jesus said that “the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

What is the ransom for many going to be?
It is going to be His blood.
His blood is going to be the price that is going to purchase or redeem many.
And when He dies on the cross, He fulfills His part of the covenant.
His part of the covenant says, “I will die to atone for your sins and to save you.”
And our part of the covenant is to “believe in Him…and obey Him.”
We enter into covenant relationship with Him when we are baptized.
And when we drink of the cup…that cup is a reminder of the covenant relationship that we have with Christ.

That is what the Lord’s Supper is.

It is a reminder of the fellowship we have with Him.
It is a reminder of the covenant that we have with Him.
It is a reminder of His atoning sacrifice made on our behalf so that we can be delivered from the bondage and condemnation of sin.

Observing the Lord’s Supper does not take away sin.

Your sins are washed away by the blood of Christ (Rev. 1:5) at baptism (Acts 22:16).
You take the Lord’s Supper as a reminder of the fact that your sin has been taken away…and as a reminder of the One who died to take them away.

Now, look at verse 29. Jesus says: “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

When Jesus institutes this memorial supper He knows that by the next evening He will be dead.

And yet, He says here that He will share this meal with them again.

That makes this memorial feast unique above all other memorials.

You see, most memorials are erected to remember the dead.
But His memorial feast…is to remember Him who is still alive.

He is still alive…and He is coming back…and the Lord’s Supper reminds us of that.

Are you ready?

Judas wouldn’t repent and be saved. Surely you aren’t that way?