The Connection Between The Lord’s Supper And The Upper Room

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.