Several years ago, in a small-town church in upstate New York, a well-loved pastor who had been there for 35 years retired. He was replaced by a young pastor just starting out in ministry. The young man had a great desire to do well, but after just a few weeks he began to perceive that the people were upset at him.
It troubled him, so he called aside one of the lay leaders of the church and said, “I don't know what's wrong, but I have a feeling that there's something wrong.”
The man said, “Well, Pastor, that's true. I hate to say it, but it's the way you do the Communion service.”
“The way I do the Communion service? What do you mean?”
“Well, it's not so much what you do as what you leave out.”
“I don't think I leave out anything from the Communion service.”
“Oh yes, you do. Just before our previous pastor administered the chalice and wine to the people, he'd always go over and touch the radiator. And, then, he would…”
“Touch the radiator?” the young pastor interrupted. I never heard of that being done before.”
So the younger man called the former pastor. He said, “I haven't even been here a month, and I'm in trouble.”
“In trouble? Why?”
“Well, it has something to do with touching the radiator. Could that be possible? Did you do that?”
“Oh yes, I did. Always before I administered the chalice to the people, I touched the radiator to discharge the static electricity so I wouldn't shock them.”
He had done it for so long; the people began to think that it was an important part of the communion service. Today, that church is called by some, “The Church of the Holy Radiator.” (Terry Fullam, “Worship: What We're Doing, and Why,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 102; www.Preaching Today.com)
This morning, we are celebrating communion together; but before we do, I want us to put it in its historical, biblical perspective, so we’re not in any danger of confusing our traditions with the truth.
The truth is: that first communion meal was not celebrated in the comfort of a beautiful sanctuary with banners and flowers such as we have here. Not that there is anything wrong with a beautiful sanctuary. It’s just that when someone is going through hard times, banners and flowers can sometimes seem a little artificial.
On the other hand, a lot of hurting people can relate to the original setting of the communion meal. It was actually a part of the annual Jewish Passover Feast where the Jews remember their bondage in Egypt. And it was a time of real stress for Jesus’ disciples, because some very powerful people in Jerusalem had threatened to kill Him. You see their stress especially in the way the disciples prepared for the meal.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Mark 14, Mark 14, where the disciples get ready to eat their last Passover meal with Jesus.
Mark 14:12-15 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” (ESV)
Now, preparations for the Passover involved sweeping the house clean of all leaven, roasting the lamb, setting out the unleavened bread and wine, preparing bitter herbs, and making a sauce out of dried fruit, vinegar and spices.
These were the usual preparations, but the unusual part was HOW the disciples were to find the right place. First, only two of them could go, and they were to meet a MAN carrying a jar of water just inside the city gates of Jerusalem. He would be easy to spot, because in that culture only women carried the water jars. Men carried the wineskins. Then when they met this MAN, they were to follow him to a particular house. They were not supposed to say anything until they got into the house. Then they were to speak only to the owner of the house, identifying Jesus simply as “The Teacher” should somebody else overhear their conversation. These were all pre-arranged, secret signals so the disciples could prepare and eat the meal, without being discovered, lest they be captured and killed.
Mark 14:16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. (ESV)
It was not an easy time for the disciples, but they prepared the Passover exactly as Jesus told them to, and that’s what we need to do. As we get ready for the Lord’s Table, we too need to…
PREPARE OURSELVES, especially those of us who are under stress.
We need to prepare for fellowship and communion with our Lord. We need to get our own hearts ready. We need to put our own thoughts in order so we can truly enjoy the meal with him. Set aside the cares of this world. Sweep out the bitterness and sin, and get the tables of our hearts ready for Jesus to come. As we get ready to partake of the Lord’s Table, we need to prepare ourselves, because Jesus warned us that…
HARD TIMES ARE AHEAD.
Difficult days will come, and life will be bitter at times.
Mark 14:17-18 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” (ESV)
It’s after sundown on a Thursday evening when the Passover meal typically began. It started with the host (in this case Jesus) pronouncing a blessing and all the guests drinking the first cup of wine. After this, a special Passover plate was set on the table with unleavened matzo bread, bitter herbs (usually horseradish), some greens, a fruit sauce, and a roasted lamb shank. The youngest (in this case John) then asked why this night was different from all other nights. The host responded by recalling the biblical account of their redemption from Egypt, after which they all drank a second cup of wine. Then the host took a square of matzo, pronounced another blessing, broke the matzo in pieces and handed it to those who were at the table. They all ate it with the horseradish and the fruit sauce.
It’s at this point in the meal where Jesus drops His bombshell: “One of you will betray me,” he says in verse 17. That is, “One of you will hand me over to the authorities with treachery of heart.” It’s bad enough that their enemies want Jesus dead, but now the disciples find out that one of them will actually turn Him over to their enemies.
Mark 14:19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” (ESV)
Not too long before this they were arguing over who was the greatest. Now, they’re wondering who the worst among them is.
Mark 14:20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. (ESV)
At this point in the meal, they are dipping their piece of matzo in the horseradish, recalling their bitter days of slavery in Egypt. Then they dip it into the fruit sauce, which represents the bricks and mortar they made as slaves.
Now Jesus tells them another bitter truth: one of their own will betray Him. On top of that, it would be one who had a seat of honor at the table, the one who was sitting next to Jesus dipping his matzo in the bowl they shared. This was the height of treachery, because in that culture eating with someone was actually a pledge of loyalty and protection. This was very bitter news, to be sure, and quite a shock to Jesus’ disciples, but it was not a surprise to God.
Mark 14:21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (ESV)
“The prophets wrote about this a long time ago,” Jesus assures them. In other words, this is what God had planned all along, but that doesn’t leave the betrayer off the hook. He is still responsible for his own actions.
You see, God’s sovereignty never negates human responsibility. None of us can ever blame God for our wrong choices, but God includes even those as part of His bigger plan. God is not surprised by the evil choices people make. He just uses them to accomplish His good and perfect will. In other words, all seems dark, but God has a plan.
Life had taken a bitter turn for Jesus’ disciples, and life does that to us, as well. Things don’t always go as WE planned, but they are never outside of GOD’s plan.
Author Henri Nouwen tells the story of a family he knew in Paraguay. The father, a doctor, spoke out against the military regime there and its human rights abuses. Local police took their revenge on him by arresting his teenage son and torturing him to death.
Enraged townsfolk wanted to turn the boy's funeral into a huge protest march, but the doctor chose another means of protest. At the funeral, the father displayed his son's body as he had found it in the jail – naked, scarred from electric shocks and cigarette burns, and beatings. All the villagers filed past the corpse, which lay not in a coffin but on the blood-soaked mattress from the prison. It was the strongest protest imaginable, for it put injustice on grotesque display.
Philip Yancey, in his book, Disappointment with God, tells the story and then he comments, “Isn't that what God did at Calvary? The cross that held Jesus' body, naked and marked with scars, exposed all the violence and injustice of this world. At once, the cross revealed what kind of world we have and what kind of God we have: a world of gross unfairness, a God of sacrificial love.” (Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God, Zondervan, 1997, pp. 185-186; www.PreachingToday.com)
You see, God’s plan was to put His Son on display, and by that display to gain the victory over all evil and treachery in this world. Colossians 2:15 says, “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” That’s what the Lord’s Supper is all about. It’s the victory of the cross set against the backdrop of bitter betrayal and treachery.
When a jeweler displays a fine diamond, he often puts it on black velvet. There, it catches fire from the lights of the room. Its beauty is multiplied, and its value becomes more apparent.
Well, the Lord's Supper is like that diamond. Sometimes it needs to be pried from traditional settings and thrown against the black velvet of the blackest night in history: the night Jesus was betrayed. (Jeanne Doering, “The Passover Potluck,” Leadership, Vol. 2, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com)
Life is bitter sometimes, but despite that bitterness…
WE CAN BE GRATEFUL.
We can give thanks. We can praise the lord, because Christ died for us, making a way for God to keep all His promises to us.
You see, instead of complaining about His bitter betrayal, Jesus gave thanks. He praised God!
At this point in the Passover meal, after the ceremony of dipping the matzo in the horseradish and the fruit sauce, the feasting itself began. Lots of food was brought to the table, and the host lifted the platter of unleavened bread reciting yet another blessing: “Praised be Thou, O Lord, Sovereign of the world, who caused bread to come forth from the earth.” Then he broke off a piece for each person, which was passed from hand to hand until it reached everyone at the table. The distribution normally took place in silence, but Jesus broke the silence, giving the broken bread new meaning for His followers. Look at it in vs.22.
Mark 14:22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” (ESV)
That broken bread represents Christ’s broken body for us on the cross. He was broken in our place, taking the punishment for our sins, so God could bless us instead of condemning us. This was all a part of God’s plan to bring eternal life to anyone who trusts His Son. That’s why Jesus can give thanks for His broken body and for His shed blood as well.
Mark 14:23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. (ESV)
This was actually the third cup they drank during the Passover feast, which concluded the main part of the meal. In all, they drank four cups of wine that evening, recalling the 4-part promise God gave them in Exodus 6:6-7 while they were still in Egypt: “I will bring you out… I will rid you of their bondage… I will redeem you… I will take you for my people and I will be your God.” It’s this third cup, the cup of redemption, to which Jesus gives new meaning.
Mark 14:24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. (ESV)
Jesus’ shed blood on the cross bought our redemption. It was the price paid to free us from our sins and to establish a new covenant between God and us.
The Old Covenant said, “Obey and you will be blessed.” The only problem is we couldn’t obey, so we couldn’t be blessed. So God established a New Covenant, which promised unconditional blessings. He promised to forgive us our sins, to bring us into fellowship with Himself, and to write His law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
These were not empty promises without any substance. NO! God guaranteed these promises through the shedding of blood, not the blood of bulls and goats, but the shedding of His own Son’s blood on the cross.
Even though life had taken a bitter turn for Jesus and His disciples, God had a plan. God had a plan to bring about our redemption, and to bring about the consummation of it all in His Kingdom! Look at what Jesus tells His disciples next.
Mark 14:25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (ESV)
In other words, Jesus is NOT going to drink the fourth and final cup of the Passover meal until the Kingdom of God is fully realized. That fourth cup was “the cup of consummation,” associated with the 4th promise in Exodus 6 that God would take his people to be with him. Jesus is looking forward to the consummation of all history when He comes again to set up His Kingdom on this earth and we will be with Him forever!
That’s why He can give thanks even in the context of a bitter betrayal by one of his closest friends. He knows it is all a part of God’ plan to bring about our redemption and a glorious future for all who trust His Son.
Mark 14:26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (ESV)
Imagine our Lord singing when the cross was only a few hours away! Jesus gave thanks in bitter times, and so can we. We can be grateful, no matter what happens, because God is still working His plan!
Jesus’ death gave us life, and nothing can stop what God is doing to bring us fully and completely to Him. So rejoice! Give thanks even when life is bitter, because Jesus died for you!
Isak Dinesen wrote a wonderful story, called Babette's Feast, about a strict, stern, legalistic community in Denmark. Babette works as a cook for two elderly sisters who have no idea that she once was a chef to nobility back in her native France. Babette's dream is to return to her beloved home city of Paris, so every year she buys a lottery ticket in hopes of winning enough money to return. And every night her dour employers demand that she cook the same dreary meal: boiled fish and potatoes, because, they say, Jesus commanded, “Take no thought of food and drink.”
Then one day Babette actually wins the lottery! The anniversary of their little community is approaching, so Babette asks if she might prepare a gourmet French dinner with all the trimmings for the entire village.
At first the townspeople refuse: “No, it would be sin to indulge in such rich food.” Babette begs them, and they finally relent, but the people secretly vow not to enjoy the feast, thinking that God would not blame them for eating this sinful meal as long as they do not enjoy it.
Babette begins her preparations. Caravans of exotic food arrive in the village, along with cages of quail and barrels of fine French wine.
Finally the big day comes, and the villagers gather. The first course is an exquisite turtle soup. The diners eat it, trying not to enjoy it, but although they usually eat in silence, conversation begins to take off. Then comes the next course, and the atmosphere changes. Someone smiles. Someone else giggles. An arm comes up and drapes over a shoulder. Someone is heard to say, “After all, did not the Lord Jesus say, love one another.” By the time the main entrée of quail arrives, those austere, pleasure-fearing people are giggling and laughing and slurping and praising God for their many years together.
One of the two sisters goes into the kitchen to thank Babette, saying, “Oh, how we will miss you when you return to Paris!” And Babette replies, “I will not be returning to Paris, because I have no money. I spent it all on the feast.” (Victor Pentz, from the sermon, The Gourmet God, delivered at Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia, 11-23-03; www.Preaching Today.com)
Isn’t that what Jesus did for us. He gave His all to make a loving community through the gift of a meal. So let’s enjoy it as we come to the Lord’s Table together. And above all, let’s remember to give thanks even as Jesus did when He first gave us this wonderful meal.
