The Easter Story – Part 2

The details of The Last Supper can be found in Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26 and Luke 22:7-30.

In The Last Supper Jesus took two symbols associated with Passover and issued them with fresh meaning as a way for us to remember his sacrifice. The bread and wine are the symbols which show we are saved from an eternity without God and delivered from spiritual bondage.

The Last Supper brought the Old Covenant observance of Passover to it’s fulfilment and now Jesus was explaining the New Covenant. The New Covenant is in the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20). It is different in that it applies to more than just Israel as was true of the Old Covenant. It applies to everyone who has faith in Jesus. The Old Covenant required the blood sacrifice of an animal to temporarily pay the price for sin. In the New Covenant the one time shedding of the blood of Jesus paid once and for all, for all of humanity’s sin, past, present and future.

Under the Old Covenant you approached God through a priest and animal sacrifice. In the New Covenant you can come directly to God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Our faith in Jesus and what he accomplished on the cross in his death and resurrection make us acceptable in God’s eyes. We will see later as we look at the Garden of Gethsemane how Jesus became the second Adam to restore what the first Adam lost. It could only ever be restored through a sinless sacrifice which is why Jesus had to do what he did. No-one else was able to accomplish this as only Jesus had known no sin. He took on the sins of the world and paid the price that no-one else could pay to set us free from an eternity without God and restore our relationship with God.

Christians all over the world, since Jesus instructed us to do so, take part in what is known as either The Lords Supper, Communion or Eucharist. When we celebrate Communion together we experience the presence of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 Paul gives instructions on how the Lord’s Supper should be observed. We should be thoughtful as we proclaim that Jesus died for our sins, with due reverence and respect. We should examine ourselves for any unconfessed sin or resentful attitude and be properly prepared. We should be considerate of others, waiting until everyone is there and then eating in an orderly and unified manner. We should be careful not to participate in communion without thinking of it’s meaning. We honour the sacrifice Jesus made by understanding it’s difference from a normal meal and being respectful.

Imagine the scene, all your closest friends are gathered with you for a meal, you knew it would be your last, and even though you have told your friends what will happen next, they’re confused, don’t quite grasp what the deal is. Then you call out that one of your closest friends will betray you. If you read the account in Matthew you will see how the disciples asked if they were the one who would betray Jesus. I feel like most of the disciples would ask this question whilst feeling confused, wondering in more of a pondering manner. When Judas asked this question, he already knew what he had arranged to do. He knew he had taken thirty pieces of silver and that he was just waiting for his moment. I wonder if Judas was shocked that Jesus was well aware of who would betray him.

After all of this Judas didn’t lose his relationship with Jesus, he never found Jesus in the first place. He is called, “the one headed for destruction.” In John 17:12 because he was never saved. He betrayed Jesus and never sought forgiveness. If anything, Judas makes us think about our commitment to Jesus. Are we true followers or uncommitted pretenders? We have a choice, despair and death or repentance, forgiveness, hope and eternal life. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss the same night of The Last Supper. Did he leave the meal and go straight to the officials who would arrest Jesus. Was he even listening to anything Jesus told the disciples that night or was he just waiting until the moment he could hand him over to the authorities. We can’t fool God. He knows the condition of our hearts, he knows if we really, truly are committed to Jesus.

There is nothing we have gone through or will go through that Jesus does not understand as having walked on the earth as fully human and fully God. Let our hearts not be hardened against the truth. May we always seek to repent and forgive. Forgiveness does not mean you have to be in relationship with someone, but it does keep your heart open to growth and allowing God to speak into your heart as you follow his desires for you. You will be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Here we are at The Last Supper, Jesus has instructed his disciples in how to remember him when he is no longer here and then called out the person who will betray him. From here we follow Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane. He took Peter, James and John along with him and asked them to keep watch with him. I can’t imagine for a moment what that moment must have felt like. Jesus knew what was coming and sacrificed his own desires to fulfil the will of God and the purpose for which he came. In life we will have situations and trials that we have to go through, maybe they will bring us close to a physical death. When you’re in that place and you’re crying out to God with pure heartbreak, where your soul is crushed and you see no way out. Know that God has been there, he will not leave you alone in your heartbreak. In will not leave you with a crushed soul. God will carry you through and deliver you. A hard season is that – a season.

There was a garden right at the beginning of Genesis, where the first man Adam was deceived by Satan and into the world entered sin and a whole host of things that we were not designed to carry. And so every man that came through Adam and afterwards was a copy of the first Adam and inherited the sin nature that was acquired after they ate fruit of the tree God had commanded them not to eat. The only way to fix this was by the second Adam – Jesus. We find him in another garden. The garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, by becoming a substitutionary sacrifice and shedding his blood to pay the price for the sin of humanity Jesus became the new master copy. So that now everyone who believes in him becomes one with him and shares the inheritance of being a child of God with him. Jesus is the only man to ever have lived a sinless life and was the only man who could have changed our lives so that we no longer lived with a sin nature but a righteous nature, because of what Jesus did in sacrificing his own desire to fulfil the will of God and the purpose of God, which was to restore his relationship with humanity, to bring us close to him again. We could never have paid that debt all by ourselves. Jesus signed the cheque with his blood. Amen.

We will finish off this Easter series next week by looking at Jesus Trial, Crucifixion and Resurrection. If you have a chance there is a film showing at the cinemas this next week called The King of Kings. I went to see it earlier today with a couple of friends from church. I loved it and would highly recommend it. If you haven’t seen the trailer or know what the film is about, it is telling the story of Jesus from birth to resurrection. Charles Dickens is telling his young son Walter who is currently crazy about all things King Arthur about the greatest King who ever lived, The King of Kings – Jesus. It stays true to the biblical narrative and I really enjoyed it. I encourage everyone to go and see it.

Have a blessed week.