This Is The Moment

This Is The Moment

(Luke 22:14-18)

I. Christ’s Eagerness to Celebrate This Passover with His Disciples

II. It Is Tied to Jesus’ Death and Passover

A. “Before I suffer” (v. 15)

B. “I will not eat it again until…” (v. 16)

C. “I will not drink again until…” (v. 18)

III. It Is the Promise of a Greater Supper and a Glorious Future

A. The nature of promises

1. Character of the promise maker

2. Ability of the promise maker

B. The promise to celebrate supper with His disciples in the future—Marriage Feast of the Lamb

C. The promise of participating with Christ in His eternal kingdom

1. Being part of the new heavens and earth

2. Being perfected and living forever

Introduction

Throughout our lives we encounter a number of significant incidents. In fact, I would imagine that one could argue that life is best understood as a series of important events, stages, and/or experiences. In some cultures, these are highly regarded and often elaborately celebrated occasions referred to as rites of passage—marking the movement from one position or level of influence in life to the next.

If I were to open up the floor this morning to solicit your opinions as to what are the key events that make up life, I am certain that there would be a large degree of consensus as well as a wide variety of divergence. Since I don’t want to take up all of our time this morning running a “Gallop poll,” I will simply run through number of noteworthy experiences that came to my mind as I was preparing for this message.

Some of life’s highlights (in a loose-knit chronology) would include: entering school and the later transitions of moving into middle school and then into high school; getting your driver’s license; going on your first date; getting your first job; playing on sports teams; going to the prom; graduating from high school; going to college; moving away from home; starting a career; buying your first car; getting married; having children; sending your child to his/her first day of school; buying a home; sending your child to college; saying goodbye to your recently married child; and finally, retirement. Somewhere in the midst of all this, it is hoped that one will also come to receive God’s gift of eternal life.

For me, today is one of those big events in life that I have been eagerly anticipating for quite some time—celebrating communion at Port Crane for the first time. I think that this feeling hit a crescendo while I was at C&MA General Council last month. It was after listening to Ravi Zacharias in the morning session. During his message he expressed his thoughts on how precious the celebrating of the Lord’s Supper was to him. As I left the auditorium that morning I began to rehearse in my heart and mind this occasion when we would gather together as a family and participate in the life of our Savior through communion.

(I have to make a confession this morning. I have been so excited about this moment for so long that I actually thought last week was our usual Sunday for celebrating the Lord’s Supper and I had been working on this message for last Sunday. So I had to scurry last week to get a message ready for then. Oh well!)

This morning we are going to look at a moment in the life of Jesus that stood out as an exceptionally significant time for Him. It was a moment that he looked forward to with great anticipation because of the significance that was about to be unveiled on that occasion. His desire for that evening was that His disciples grasp and embrace the enormity of the evening. His desire for us this morning is that we grasp and embrace the enormity of this moment. The Lord is saying to us today, “This is the moment.”

Please join me in reading Luke 22:14-18. If you are using one of the Bibles in the pew rack, our scripture is found on p. 785.

Christ’s Eagerness to Celebrate This Passover with His Disciples

Christ had an exceptional interest and eagerness in celebrating this particular Passover feast with His disciples. Look once again at the words Luke records in vv. 14-15: When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you….” The time had finally arrived when Jesus would recline with His disciples around the table to celebrate the Passover meal. It was a time that He eagerly anticipated. We may naturally wonder, what made this Passover feast different from any other? We read in the various gospel accounts that Jesus had celebrated this event annually with disciples. So what was so special this time? Why the eagerness to eat with them on this specific occasion?