The Last Hours
The Last Supper
March 25
How would you spend your last hours?
“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”
John 13:1
What would you do for your last meal? What are the last words you would say to your Father? What would you fight for in your last moments?
In the next three weeks we’re going to look deeply into the most powerful moments of Jesus last hours. We’re going to think about his last meal, his last opportunity to talk with his Father, and the final battle of his life – not only for his soul but for yours as well.
Jesus last hours are the most important moments in all of history. We begin with the last supper. It’s in an upper room and thirteen men are present. They are alone as the celebrate the Passover feast and Jesus know that this is last real opportunity to make a difference in their lives with his presence and teaching. Yet his disciples, his companions for three years, his closest friends think it’s just another meal.
This week we begin a deep look into the very soul of our Lord and what we see is an incredible, amazing love. This year remember the story of Jesus and tell it to your friends and family.
Jesus’ Last Meal
“The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus…”
John 13:2-5
We begin in the upper room where the Passover feast was prepared. The disciples and Jesus had gathered in this place which was by itself a miracle. Peter and John had found the location by the special direction of Jesus himself.
And now here they were doing what virtually every other family in the city was doing. The Passover was a celebration of the passing over of the death angel when the people of Israel were captive in Egypt. The last of the ten plagues that Moses brought on the Egyptian people was the death of every first-born in all the land. Only in the homes where the blood of a lamb was painted in the door posts and lintel with a branch of hyssop did the death angel pass over and the first born spared. In every other home there was the sound or wailing and weeping that night. Only Israel was spared.
Now centuries later the people gathered to eat the same meal and to pass on to their children the significance of their salvation.
This Easter we’re going to gather early in the morning for a breakfast and is much the same way we are going to recall the events of some 20 centuries ago when Jesus rose from his tomb. We’re going to remember the story and tell it to our children. If you haven’t signed up yet this is something you’ll want to do today. It is part of the passing on of our faith and heritage to our children, our families, our friends and neighbors.
On this Friday night we are remembering today it was just Jesus and his 12 closest friends. They were alone in this secluded room when Jesus washed their tired and dirty feet.
It was Jesus and Judas Iscariot who dipped their bread in the same bowl of gravy at the same moment and their eyes met. Jesus gaze was filled with pain and understanding. Judas looked quickly away – his eyes filled with reservation and guilt.
When the meal was completed Jesus took a cup of wine, held it up in both hands and with every eye on him in the room he spoke the words that are so familiar to us, “This is my blood, shed for you.” Then he passed the cup and each man drank from it. It was then that Jesus took a last loaf of bread and broke it with equally memorable words, “This is my body, broken for you. Take it and eat.”
Judas left suddenly and Jesus began to talk about a future place and a coming time. He shared some of the most powerful thoughts and moments in all the scriptures.
The disciples listened intently and freely acknowledged that they were absolutely certain of one fact. This man they had followed for three years was from God
They sang hymns and Jesus prayed for them. After a time, they crossed over the Kidron valley and went into the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed and they slept.
In all of this time, in spite of all of the emotion in Jesus voice and the electrifying power of Jesus words there is one overwhelming truth. Do not miss this truth. What is this truth?
They didn’t Get It
“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’
Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’”
John 13:6-7
The disciples of Jesus, these guys who had traveled everywhere with Him for three years and seen him change water into wine, walk on a stormy sea, make the lame able to walk, take on the religious hypocrites, teach the masses with simplicity and power didn’t get it. They just didn’t understand.
When Jesus wanted to wash their dirty feet, Peter wanted to prove how humble he was and so he asked him to wash his head and his hands as well.
They didn’t get it.
They didn’t Get It
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.
John 13:12
When Jesus was looking around the room and thinking about the next three days they were arguing between themselves about who was to be the greatest in the coming kingdom.
They didn’t get it.
They didn’t Get It
“After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.’
His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.”
John 13:21-22
When Jesus revealed that the one who had dipped his food with him in the bowl they looked at one another without any comprehension at all. And when Judas suddenly bolted from the room they thought he had been sent on an errand.
They didn’t get it.
They didn’t Get It
“Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
John 13:36-37
When Jesus spoke to them about who he was and what he was doing His teaching was lost on them.
They didn’t get it.
When Jesus took the cup and the bread they drank and ate without understanding.
They didn’t get it.
This is the truth that each of them was forced to face. Judas faced it when he ran out of the room and then took the soldiers to the garden for a small purse of silver. Peter faced it by the fire later that morning when he denied Jesus – three times. Most of the other faced this truth when they fled into the dark night as Jesus was dragged away.
They didn’t get it but here is the real truth that each of us must face. I have to face it. You have to face it.
Do You Get It?
Let’s look – oh so briefly – at the words that Jesus said to his disciples and friends that night in the upper room.
Do Not Let Your Hearts be Troubled
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
John 14:1-2
Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
They didn’t get it. Do you?
Do you worry about your life, your retirement, your job, your family, your bills, your education, your future?
If your heart is troubled about such things then – let’s be honest here – can you handle the truth? – You don’t get it!
I have a great heritage to live up to in my earthly family and I count myself to be very fortunate.
My Grandpa Grubbs was a preacher for all of his adult life and when he was 75 years old he started a new church.
My Grandma Stacy was married to a preacher who suffered a stroke while preaching. She lived with us for many of my childhood years. When she was 75 years old she went to Puerto Rico as a missionary teacher.
My Dad and Mom have served in the ministry for all of their lives. Now well over 75 years old dad serves as a chaplain at Great Lakes Christian Home, visits folks in the hospital almost everyday, they both serve meals in the “big house”, work a day a week as hosts at Great Lakes Christian Church, and my mom started a ministry doing monologues as several great Biblical women.
I’m 55 – I figure I’ve got 20 years before I have to really get started! Somewhere along the line they got it! I hope to get it too! How about you?
Maybe you don’t have a family filled with preachers – so what – you have a family called the church and you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before you.
Men and women of faith who got it and want you to get it too.
Listen, It’s not about you it’s about God. Trust him not the stuff in your life.
I Am the Way, the truth, and the Life
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
John 14:6-7
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
They didn’t get it! He just told them that if they had seen him they had seen the father!
Do you get it? Are you searching for God?
Don’t know where to go or what you are supposed to be doing with your life?
Are you constantly seeking and searching after something that will be satisfying to your soul. Are you looking for something that gives you an emotional thrill that resonates to your deepest core and then when the emotion fades you look for something new and different.
You’re hooked, addicted, dependent, and lost – however you want to say it – you are never going to find it this way.
One of the most haunting songs in my youth is called “Is that all there is?” It was sung by Peggy Lee.
Not just secular world – the same lie exists in the religious world. If I can do something great for God, If I can just pray harder, work harder, study more, seek the spirit of God more strongly then I’ll find this peace and fulfillment in life I am so desperately looking for.
If this is you – then you don’t get it!
Listen, it is not about something great you can do for God. It’s about something great God can do in you when you follow Jesus.
If you love me, you will obey…
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
John 14:21
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
They didn’t get it. Do you get it?
Jesus said that love is clearly connected to action. Love me – do what I say. Love is action not emotion.
There are lot of people that want Jesus to be their savior but they balk when it comes to him being their lord. They love the idea of heaven and being with Jesus but they forget about the burden he is carrying for a lost world.
Let me tell you a little about what I’ve been working on this spring. While very capable people have been working on the building program and on various ministries to teach our children and to develop our youth I have been working on the launching of three new ministries.
On Wednesday I met with several people about a new Outreach Ministry to introduce people in our community to Jesus.
This coming Wednesday I’m meeting with a group of people who are going to lead our Rapid Response Ministry which will be a part of our effort to help people in Meridian Township who are in crisis.
In the next month I’ll be meeting with a number of people to begin work on our cross-cultural ministry of evangelism. Currently we are supporting TCMI and Paul Kissling who is training pastors in Eastern Europe. It’s time for us to launch an initiative to help others in the world know who Jesus is and what he has done.
God has not called us to build a holy huddle. He has called us to his work. If you fail to do that work – then – quite frankly – are you ready for this? Say it with me! – you just don’t get it.
But there is a kicker and here it is. Are you ready? This is the really exciting piece. This is the good news in bold print and 132 points high!
Jesus loved his friends enough to go to the cross
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
John 17:24
He loved them and he loves us. This is why he went to the cross. This is why he died.
It is when you look at Jesus in the shadow of the cross that you can begin to get it. This is the power of the cross. This is the expression of unconditional love.
When we accept this unconditional, undeserved, desperately need love this is when you get it.
This is when the disciples and friends got it.
Peter got in the courtyard when the rooster crowed. Judas got it but failed to repent when he hung himself on a tree. John got it when he stood at the foot of the cross and watched his savior die.
Thomas Got it in the same upper room a few weeks later when a risen Jesus offered his hand for him to put his fingers in the nail prints.
When did they get it? They got it only after they came to the cross. They got it only when the saw their own selves – stained with self-righteousness and sin – in the shadow of Jesus on the cross.
That’s why we are here today. To celebrate at the cross and to stand in it’s shadow.
Invitation to come to the Lord’s supper. If you get it this morning would you come to where I will be waiting for you.
I’ll pray with you and we will speak of the things of God. Today is the day of salvation. Just come up to me and say I get it. I’ve never gotten it before and today I want to follow Jesus.
