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When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 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. But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!" Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.
- Luke 22:14-23
Yesterday we read that while Jesus was in Jerusalem, in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet. Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude. Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?" And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"' Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready." So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.
When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." My study bible tells us that Christ has a fervent desire for this Passover because this meal will give the mysteries of the new covenant to His followers -- and this event will inaugurate the great deliverance of humanity from sin through the power of the Cross.
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." My study bible says that this first cup concludes the Old Testament Passover meal that Christ eats with His disciples in fulfillment of the Law. Until the kingdom of God comes means until His Resurrection -- at that time He will again eat and drink with His disciples (Luke 24:43; Acts 10:41).
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." Jesus "gave thanks" as He instituted this first Eucharist. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word for "giving thanks" (euxaristo means "thank you" in modern Greek). So this word immediately came to mean both the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion. My study bible refers to the Didache, which is a collection of the earliest teachings of the apostles, in which the celebration of the Liturgy is called "the Eucharist." St. Justin writes of Holy Communion in the year AD 150, "This food we call 'Eucharist,' of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing [holy baptism] for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ commanded us." In the Orthodox Churches, it has always been accepted that Christ's words - "This is My body" - are true, "that the food consecrated by word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus" (St. Justin). For the Eastern Church, this is understood simply as a mystical reality, a mystery of God, not humanly explainable. This was the view of the universal Church for the first 1,000 years of Christianity.
"But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!" Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. My study bible points out to us that Judas too is invited to the table for the mystical supper: Jesus is seeking by all means to save him! We are invited here to consider what "unworthy participation" means in terms (see 1 Corinthians 11:27-30).
Jesus' sacrifice is laid out plainly for us. He is the sacrificial paschal lamb. In the words of churches all over the world (taken from 1 Corinthians 5:7-8), "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast." We have to understand just how His sacrifice works, but maybe most importantly, why this is such a turning point in spiritual history -- how His sacrifice changes the ways in which we see ourselves and relate to God and one another. The paschal lamb was a sacrifice of a "perfect" animal, unblemished. It was a commemoration in accordance with the commands of the Law of the first Passover, when the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on doorposts so that the angel would "pass over" those homes on the first night of the Exodus. Many see Jesus as a "continuation" of this, once and for all: His sacrifice liberates all of us, and so we partake of that sacrifice. But we also have to see what it is for Him to sacrifice Himself as the ultimate offering for the rest of us: in effect, He consecrates His entire life and mission in this world to the will of God -- He dies as an act of love. Our commemoration is in bread and wine, and the mystical reality of the presence of the Spirit. The sacrifices He asks of us are a "broken and contrite heart," echoing the words of the Psalmist in the Psalm so often used for repentance in the Church. Our participation in His sacrifice therefore becomes something that is a part of ourselves, something we're willing to give up to God. Thereby we have community (in Communion) and also forgiveness: forgiveness -- in addition to being something we seek to be restored to community in Christ -- is also our own act of giving up something to God. We come before the altar of His great sacrifice to take our Communion or Eucharist, and we "give up" (the real meaning of the Greek word in the Gospels translated as "forgive") whatever it is that holds us back from full restoration and relatedness to Him, and through God, to community. Were we abused? Have we been wronged? Bring it to the altar, asked to be made free, and find God's guidance for right relatedness. Once again, as we've written in our commentary before, forgiveness doesn't right a wrong or change what has happened. Repentance on the part of the one giving the hurt remains a responsibility to God and community. But our own relationship to community is restored as we are willing to come before God and find God's way. A famous preacher sometimes teaches that we might not be able to trust that person again, but we can still forgive. Do we have something for which we need to be forgiven? The words to God are simple when they really come from the heart: "Please forgive me." Right relatedness depends on our willingness to come to Him, and to be made free so that we may move on His way and still practice love, still be the full human being He can make us and calls us to be. That is sacrifice His way, inviting us in to be with Him in the deepest sense possible, and giving us the greatest fullness we can have in return. How do you meet Him and find your true way to community?
