Matthew 26:17-35; John 20:19-31
F. W. Boreham has a very interesting essay on the subject, “Seek and ye shall Find.” He takes a different twist on the Scripture and I was fascinated by it.
He tells the story of when he was young and lost a little toy. He acquired this toy by exchanging it for some things that were rather worthless and he enjoyed playing with it thinking about how he got a great bargain.
Then he lost it.
He spent time seeking for this lost toy.
Then he looked up in the kitchen cabinet and in the back found a cricket ball he had lost a year ago. This cricket ball was very valuable, much more valuable than the little toy.
What Boreham was trying to get across is simply this, sometimes when we seek for something we find something else and many times, it’s more valuable. The great heartbeat of humanity is this compulsion to seek for things.
What we find may not be what we were seeking but it may be of more value than what we were seeking.
When we come to Christianity and all of the aspects that are associated with it, we need to come to certain levels of appreciating it for what it really is. A progressive appreciation.
As we seek the Lord, we find in him that which we never knew existed before. That is the great aspect of seeking.
No matter how long you have been a Christian there are still more wondrous things to be discovered about the Christian life. And it is the challenge of my life each day to seek more and more of what it means to be a Christian.
The last several weeks I have seen something I have never really seen before. It was right there before me. I just never saw it in the light I have seen it recently.
What I saw was a vital connection between “The Lord’s Supper” and “The Upper Room.”
What I see here is a marvelous transition from religion to spiritual reality.
The disciples were quite challenged to make the transition. Many Christians today are equally challenged.
Are they really Christians? Yes, I don’t think we can question that.
Have they made that wonderful transition to spiritual reality?
The answer is quite obvious. Not many Christians have come to this wonderful place spiritual reality.
Let’s look how the Scripture pulls these two incidences together.
I. The Lord’s Supper – Expectation
(Matthew 26:17-35).
The foundation of the Lord’s Supper has to do with the Jewish celebration of the Passover.
The Lord’s Supper here created expectation from the disciples. They assumed they had arrived, that Jesus would take charge, and everything would be okay.
As Jesus was teaching them all this time, they were thinking of something else. He was talking about a spiritual kingdom, a heavenly kingdom; they were looking at an earthly kingdom.
They were not prepared for this introduction of the Lord’s Supper. They did not quite get the significance of it until they got to the Upper Room experience.
This should have been a joyful time, but as you see in verse 21 Jesus presents something rather disheartening.
“Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.”
What a terrible thing to say at this point.
All of the disciples said, “Lord, is it I?”
Not one of them could even imagine that any of them would do anything so terrible.
The key phrase there is, “and began every one of them to say unto him.”
Sitting in that group was Judas Iscariot, who had already planned to betray Jesus.
When Judas said, “Master, is it I?”
Notice he says “Master” and not “Lord.”
I am quite sure none of the other disciples had any idea of what was happening behind the scenes. None of them could believe for a moment that any of them would betray the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ only response to Judas was, “Thou hast said.”
John records something interesting in his gospel.
“And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, What thou doest, do quickly” (John 13:27).
He didn’t try to stop him or talk them out of it.
Then Jesus lays out for them the cross upon which he will time and then he emphasizes his resurrection.
“But after I’m risen again, I will go before you into Galilee” (32). It fell on deaf ears.
Then Peter dramatically states his expectation.
“Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended” (33).
Jesus tells Peter that he will deny him that very night.
Peter once again dramatically states his expectation.
“Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee” (35).
We don’t know our own vulnerability.
The presentation of the Lord’s Supper here was to connect the disciples with the Old Testament teaching of who Jesus Christ really was. They didn’t get it, because it was not something they were seeking.
Their expectation was far from what Jesus was telling them. They didn’t understand the full impact of the Lord’s Supper until the encounter with Jesus in the Upper Room.
II. The Upper Room – Exhilaration
(John 20:19-31).
It is my contention, and I’m not going to be dogmatic here, but the upper room where Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper is the same upper room that we have here in John 20.
I could be wrong, but I think there is such a connection here that it could very well be the same room.
At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus was laying down the tracks of expectation. The disciples expected they would be loyal followers of Jesus Christ.
When they came to this Upper Room, they realized that their expectations had failed. They all had denied the Lord Jesus Christ of which they said vehemently that they never would.
As they were gathered together in this Upper Room, they were hiding behind locked doors in fear of the Jews. They believed what the Jews did to Jesus, they would also do to them who were the followers of Jesus.
In that Upper Room, they did not have a plan. They had no idea what they were going to do.
I am sure this was probably the lowest point in their entire life. All of them felt the guilt of turning their back on Jesus.
What they thought about Judas Iscariot is hard to really imagine at this point. But each one of them blamed themselves for what happened to Jesus.
Everything Jesus taught seemed to fall apart.
The whole life and ministry of Jesus had completely fallen apart, as far as they were concerned.
And then, Jesus appears.
It is interesting to have Jesus address them as he came into their presence.
“Peace be unto you.”
I would have loved to have been there when they recognized this was Jesus risen from the dead. What did they feel? What went through their minds?
It was the resurrected Christ that brought together The Lord’s Supper with The Upper Room Experience.
To emphasize his message he said again,
“Peace be unto you: as my Father has sent me, even so send I you” (21).
Verses 22 and 23 are key verses.
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.”
Then, of course, at the next meeting, Thomas was present and Jesus said something rather significant to Thomas.
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
This is the foundation of what we call the Great Commission. The whole purpose of all of this was to send the disciples into all the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we have truly embraced this then our passion will be to reach people for Christ.
This upper room experience created in all of the disciples’ hearts an exhilaration to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“He is not dead, he is risen.”
Some try to figure out scientifically or even theologically the truth about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The real proof of his resurrection is in the heart that has an awesome exhilaration to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
III. The Resurrection – Experience.
What brings the Lord’s Supper together with the Upper Room is none other than the resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If we are going to transition from just religion to spiritual reality, it is going to be because of the resurrected Christ coming into our life and transforming us into his likeness.
It is impossible to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and not experience the exuberance of sharing this gospel with other people.
There are too many religious people in this world and not enough who have experienced the spiritual reality of a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Conclusion…
We sometimes might be seeking one thing, as the disciples did at the Lord’s Supper, and then in our seeking find what the disciples found in the Upper Room, the reality of the Christ life in my life.
There wa overture s only one thing wrong at the Lord’s Supper. The disciple’s expectation was not in line with Jesus.
They were seeking acknowledgment and a takeover of the government, the re-installment of Israel.
What they found was a kingdom that far exceeds this world where Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Let us take to heart what Jesus said to Thomas.
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
