Introduction
Slide 1 (title): I am excited about this new 12 part series of messages we begin today. The thoughts to develop it were sown when I received a message from a friend during the Lenten Season on the Liturgical calendar. He mentioned an important aspect from one of the 14 Stations of the Cross. I looked into it, intrigued, and then began to study them more closely. I have been to Israel several times and have seen hundreds of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians literally reenacting the Stations also called the “Way of the Cross”.
Each Sunday for the next 12 weeks we will tailor messages using the same format as we will today. The Title of my message this morning: The Last Supper – The centrality of Fellowship. (Sermon 1 of 12). The Key People: Jesus and his closest friends, the Disciples. The Key Teaching: FELLOWSHIP/FRIENDSHIP/MEALS. The Key Scriptures: Matthew 26:17-30. We will unpack the events leading to and surrounding the Last Supper. We will then extrapolate the teachings and principles and close with a practical application we can all take way as we strive to apply principles to make us more like Jesus and less like ourselves.
Let’s dive in to the passage as I read from the New Living Translation: Slide 2 (a): “17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ 18 He replied, ‘Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. 20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. … Slide 3 (b): 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
The centrality of fellowship and relationships Slide 4 (sub-title)
We refer to this meal as The Last Supper. Many people imagine a scene created by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, housed in a Convent in Milan, Italy. It is one of the world’s most recognizable paintings. He began painting the famous mural in the year 1495, commissioned by his patron, the Duke of Milan. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with his Apostles. However, it bears no resemblance to the facts. It is a westernized rendering of a scene from Europe in the Middle Ages and has little or nothing to do with what really took place in Jerusalem and a Middle Eastern culture.
More important than trying to recapture the correct and perfect setting, and no two Christian denominations will agree, is to confirm the fact that meals with friends are embedded in every culture, in every age and in every country of the world. We are relational beings, created for fellowship with one another, and nothing brings that out more than our love for food around a common table with our friends. Breaking bread with His beloved Disciples was the last thing Jesus did voluntarily. After that meal he was betrayed and everything else, until He was nailed to the cross, was imposed on Him by force.
Like each and every one of us Jesus loved to hang out, to eat and to share life with family and friends. Fellowship was central to His ministry. Much of His time revolved around food and fellowship. Covid-19, or the Coronavirus, has struck at one of the vital and indispensable aspects of our humanity: our interconnectedness, interdependence, our mutuality, our love for relaxation and refreshment, and our God-ordained relationships. Jesus the man was all about relationships. He created a family ambience among His disciples. He loved festivals, weddings and celebrations, of which Jewish culture, like Mediterranean cultures, are full of. Everything served as a pretext for eating and drinking, laughing and loving life. He not only celebrated the Last Supper with His Disciples, He left us the meal to be celebrated and enjoyed as a lasting ordinance for the Church for all time. The Last supper is more than a ceremony. The lessons and meanings it conceals are too many to unpack today and that is not my purpose. What I want to highlight is the fact that this meal is a reminder, to this day, that we are one, we need each other, we are connected, and we need to enjoy times of food and fellowship as friends and family around a common table. Jesus considered this time with His closest friends, before going to the cross, as vital.
God has a relational nature and He created us to be in relationships. It is unnatural and unhealthy to stay in isolation. A child’s growth is stunted, adults fall into depression, and old people can die from lack of human touch. Fellowship, connection, unity and love are central to all we are; most good things in life, most of our cherished memories, revolve around healthy relationships, around tables, and around food. Every pretext serves to bring us together around food: a baby is born, let’s eat; a couple is getting married, let’s eat; holy days to celebrate, such as Christmas, let’s eat; our team won the championship, let’s eat; our company broke sales records, let’s take the staff out and eat; someone died, let’s eat! I know that one was weird, but they do it in America and I love it! Funerals are celebrations of the person’s life. We in Europe still find that a little shocking. Americans are always eating. That can be a problem but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. There’s truth here.
Lessons Jesus taught us around meals Slide 5 (sub-title)
If you have read the four Gospels you cannot avoid the fact Jesus spent a lot of His time on earth eating and drinking with friends. With our busy lives and our fast food joints we have lost the importance of family times around tables. For Jesus times around the table were meant for discipleship, fellowship, education and evangelism. We all recall a few examples: In Luke 5, Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners in their homes. In Luke 7, Jesus was anointed by a woman in the home of Simon the Pharisee during a meal. In Luke 9 Jesus fed the five thousand. At the close of the Gospel Jesus ate the Last supper. That supper has become the central act of Christian worship for 2,000 years. The meals Jesus shared with others were not only significant, they were life-changing. There are a few lessons we can all learn from the meals Jesus shared.
1. Jesus taught us not to forget to feed the poor and the hungry Slide 6 (sub-title)
Possibly the biggest lesson Jesus shared was the importance of feeding the hungry and the poor. The only miracle we see repeated in all four Gospels is the feeding of 5,000. Jesus Himself miraculously fed a hungry multitude. We cannot, as children of God, eat three square meals a day and forget the hurting, starving and dying around us. Food is to be shared. Those who have must take care of those who have not. Before we eat, besides thanking God for Providence, we must remember to Petition on behalf of all who lack sustenance. However, remember this: Jesus taught us that humanity’s greater need is not for physical food, which may help them temporarily, but rather for spiritual food which will nurture them for all eternity! Jesus said, (animation) “’Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27). And we all know the passage: “man shall not lie by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Jesus said, He is the Bread of Life. He pointed the crowd to Himself, saying that physical food will only satisfy temporarily but salvation through Him is forever. We see through the example of Jesus feeding others that it is more blessed to give than to receive. In light of that let us provide physical food and when we do let us not forget to provide the most important food of all, the Word of God!
2. Jesus taught us that all food is a gift from the Hand of God Slide 7 (sub-title)
Food is a basic human need. We need food and water to fuel our bodies. God gave us food and all we eat is a gift from heaven above. In fact, food was the first gift. (animation) Genesis 9:3, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I give you the green plants, I give you everything.” Like the Manna from heaven for the Israelites, may we all remember, every time we eat, that all food comes from God and should remind us of our dependence on Him and our dependence on each other. When we receive food, we bear witness to God’s incredible grace. We also bear witness that we need each other. The large retailers sell the seed, farmers plant the seed and laborers harvest the crop, companies pick up the produce, package and distribute it, truckers move the food across continents and countries, shopkeepers buy and sell, and we bring it home for moms and dads to cook and put on tables. There is a unity, cooperation, harmony and interdependence in the process. If one part of that chain breaks it all comes apart. We will have to go back to subsistence farming. The other day Marta and I were out walking and came across a community garden patch in an urban jungle. It was wonderful to see but not many people know how to plant their own crops and even fewer have space to do so. So let’s be grateful for the gift of food and remember to thank God remembering those who worked hard to help us get it … before we eat our meals. Saying grace or giving thanks should be instinctive for believers.
3. Jesus taught us that eating together connects us to each other Slide 8 (sub-title)
During Jesus’ ministry on earth He used the moment of meal times to connect with people at a deeper level. Study how He connected with the guests during the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee; examine the connection the reviled Zaccheus must have felt when Jesus chose to eat in his home; or take another look at the time he scolded Peter for refusing to let Him wash his feet. The meals were the perfect setting for Jesus to teach, to connect, to overcome any and all barriers which separate people. Whether we bring one person or many around our table, the occasion becomes the setting for connection, celebration and covenant. We normally choose to eat with people we love or at the very least that we like. Few of us invite our enemies or those we dislike to our table. And it doesn’t matter if the meals are fancy, home-cooked or take-out. What matters is, more than food, the meals involve other people, they involve family and friends, and they serve the purpose of connecting us. (animation) Ecclesiastes 9:7, “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.” Proverbs 15:17, “Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.”
4. Jesus taught that the act of eating is also an act of stewardship Slide 9 (sub-title)
The word stewardship is the modern word management. The secular world no longer uses it. And when we hear the term in church we immediately think of tithes, offerings, church budgets or building programs. In Bible School I was taught Biblical Stewardship and it goes way beyond money and the wise management of material assets. Biblical stewardship is one of the primary ways God calls us to live our life. When you are a good and wise steward you recognize that nothing in this life belongs to you, not even the bread you eat. Everything comes from God. We are alive because life comes from God. Our health comes from God. The air we take into our lungs comes from God. The strength we need to work is from God. Every time we fuel the cells in our body with food we must understand that it is not our wisdom, our might, our intelligence, or our own doing which allows us to be here today. We are not the Lords of the earth. We are not the authors or sustainers of our lives. Countless thousands are dying of the tiny, invisible Coronavirus. As of Thursday this week, the global pandemic had infected 3,836,177 people worldwide. A total of 265,356 people had died of the disease. Old and young died. Literate and illiterate died. Powerful and weak people died. Rich and poor people died. Not one who died avoided their own death by exchanging their money, their status, their power or all of their assets, for another year of life. David taught in (animation) Psalm 103:15, “Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.” After we die Jesus taught in Matthew 12:36, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment…” Paul taught us the very same in Romans 14:12, “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” The Book of Revelation describes the day of Judgement. Many live their lives as demi-gods, as self-sustained and self-sufficient individuals, not caring about God and not giving any thought to others. Like all those who died of the Coronavirus, they too will die and have to give an account to God of their stewardship. Those who were wealthy on earth and did not store up treasures in heaven will hear Slide 10 (a) “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ Slide 11 (b) They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matthew 25:41-46). I know many rich and powerful people who are bad stewards of God’s gifts and these words should strike fear into their hearts.
Return to the title of the message
With that let’s return to the title of my message this morning which is: The Last Supper – The centrality of Fellowship. I hope you are beginning to see that meals are more than times to fuel our bodies. Meal times are central to human life. Before I close may I remind you that it is inhumane, insensitive and inexcusable for us to sit down to eat at tables loaded with food, with our pantries full, and money in the bank, when we know that in our own family, in our own church, or in our own city there are people who are hungry, there are people starving. Slide 12 Galatians 6:10 says, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Sharing is not only our priority, but also our ministry. Please help us as a church fill our Food Bank so that we can bless the poor and the hungry all around us. May we not eat comfortably knowing that we could be a blessing to the world even as we are blessed by the Hand of God ourselves. This week as a church we blessed our partner churches over and above the normal because three of Riverside’s pastors had to find other jobs to support their families. We also blessed and helped over a dozen families. With your ongoing love and generosity we can do more!
Conclusion: Slide 13
Within an hour or two the vast majority of you will be sitting down to Sunday meals at home. Coronavirus has slowed life down and many are eating meals together for the first time in years. As the Quarantine is lifted and life slowly makes its way back to semi-normal times mas I challenge you to never go back to what we once were doing. Find ways of staying connected. Keep on eating together with your children and family around a common table. Use the times to build each other up. If you are often lonely at meals don’t wait for the other to come to you. You go, you create, and you promote times of fun, food and fellowship. The way to enjoy friendship is to become a friend.
I love having my family gathered around my table. We are often 15-20 people. Its complete chaos but oh so precious and important. I love weddings and banquets. I love getting our staff, elders, deacons and leaders together for braais. I love picnics be they at the beach or in the parks. I love going out to restaurants with friends. It’s a highlight for me as we share great food and even greater conversation. I love it even more when I don’t have to pay the meal! Just kidding. I actually love to pay and bless as most of you will testify. Food and Fellowship go together hand-in-hand. When this is all over why not invite people from the church over for a time of fellowship in your homes? Remember Coronavirus, masks, social distancing is unnatural. It is a symptom of sickness. Something is wrong. We are not designed to live that way.
As you eat your meal today please remember what Jesus taught: Don’t forget to feed the poor and the hungry. Send us your food items or your offering and we will take care of those in need as a church. Don’t forget food is a gift from the Hand of God. Eating together connects us to each other and the act of eating is also an act of stewardship. God bless you.
