Printer Friendly VersionThe following takes place between 4PM and 7PM: Then came the
day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus
sent Peter and John saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the
Passover.” (The preparations would have included finding a meeting place,
gathering all the traditional food together--things like a lamb, bitter herbs,
kind of a tradition salad, a few other things--and either preparing the food
or having it prepared. There would have been a lot of details to get ready
for the Passover meal for a bunch of hungry men: the twelve disciples and
Jesus.) So Jesus says: “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
"Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked.
He replied, (Are you wondering, about Jesus divinity--is he
the Son of God, listen to the details that He knows hours before they actually
happen?) "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet
you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house,
‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover
with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, all furnished.
Make preparations there."
They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they
prepared the Passover.
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 before I suffer” (Luke 22:9-15).
Jesus has less than 24 hours to live. As the conversation moves
throughout this meal it is evident Jesus is aware of the timing of these events,
the theological significance of the Passover as it relates to his own death
and suffering. Jesus knows this is it. The time has come. His mission is about
to be completed, and the one thing He wants to do is to share a meal with
those closest to Him.
There is something about sharing a meal together that brings people together.
Eating together, experiencing life together, and talking over the dinner table
with good friends is something Jesus has enjoyed for the last three years
with these men. And he very much wanted to experience it one more time in
His last 24 hours. He said it: "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer” (v. 15).
What’s happening here? Let me explain it this way: When
Karla and I were dating, I was in seminary, taking a lot of classes, learning
a lot of important theological and biblical truths. She worked as a travel
agent. Could you imagine if she said to me one day, “Rob, I really love
you. I am so glad we are getting married.” And I replied, “Oh
Karla I have studied the word Love in my theology class. I know exactly what
you mean. C.S. Lewis talks of four kinds of love. And Mildred Wynkoop wrote
an excellent book entitled, The Theology of Love. I surely hope your love
for me is not a phileo type of love, as you well know, that is where we get
the name “Philadelphia,” the city of brotherly love. Let’s
sit down and diagnosis exactly what type of love you have for me.
Your response probably would have been: “What? Are you
kidding me? Listen pal, get a life! Are you breathing? This girl loves you--she
really loves you! She doesn’t want a research paper, she doesn’t
want to know the differences between agape and phileo type of love. She doesn’t
care about Mildred’s book. She was just making a statement on her love
and probably (knowing Karla) she is wondering if you picked out a favorite
china design for the bridal gift registry at Macy’s.
Yet it seems that too often this is the way we approach our
supposed love affair with Christ. We talk about discipleship--wanting to be
a better disciple. That’s our mission, “to making more and better
disciples.” But too often we think of discipleship as solely an intellectual
pursuit. Know more. Reason more. Think more. Read another book. And we conclude:
because of all those academic endeavors now I must be a better disciple.
Please don’t misunderstand. Intellectual pursuits, knowing
more about Jesus is great. It’s needed. It’s important. But it’s
not all that’s involved in becoming a better disciple--there is more
to it than that. It’s not just about head knowledge.
Jesus didn’t simply set up a classroom and give lectures
to the twelve disciples. Never once in the gospels do I see Him giving out
an assignment: “Okay boys, I want on essay on compassion, no more that
1,000 words, doubled spaced, make sure you use the spell check because I sure
hate reading misspelled words.”
No! Jesus didn’t do that. There were no essays, no class
syllabuses. Jesus understood discipleship was more than head knowledge--it
was life knowledge. And maybe it’s seen in no better place than in the
last 24 hours of Jesus’ life.
Jesus wanted to share this meal with His disciples. Now granted
at that meal he gave instructions and certainly taught the disciples. It was
during this meal Jesus gave the awesome word picture of Him being the vine,
and we are the branches. That’s a great teaching point: we need to be
grafted into Jesus.
It was during this meal, Jesus talks a lot about the Holy Spirit.
“The Comforter is going to come” is what He told the men. Much
of our theology of the Holy Spirit comes from Jesus’ words during the
Last Supper. So there were more great and awesome teaching points.
Jesus was certainly teaching. He was teaching important stuff
but you get the sense there was more going on here than just head knowledge.
Jesus was eager to meet with the disciples not simply to give them another
lesson. This wasn’t necessarily about one last pointer, but rather He
was eager to be with them because of the relationship that had developed,
and because of His impending sorrow. He knew everything was about to change.
It was because of the relationships He had with these fellas that made Him
eager to share this meal.
As we saw last week, it was during this last supper that Jesus
took off His robe and wrapped a towel around His waist--and washed the disciples’
feet. Yes it was a lesson on servanthood--and it was also a very personal,
a very intimate time with the Lord. Some of them, Peter in particular, was
very uncomfortable with this. “Jesus what are you doing? You shouldn’t
be doing this. A foot washing is reserved for the lowest of the servants.
Not you!”
Jesus said in so many words, “Peter, my kingdom is all
about servanthood. That’s the whole deal. My kingdom is about humbling
yourself. If you want to get ahead in my Kingdom then you better learn how
to be a servant. Peter, I love you. I care for you. I have been very eager
to spend this time with you. I wanted to wash your feet so you might know
the depths of this relationship. I want you to know the depth of the relationships
that I am calling you to have with each other.”
Part of what took place in that upper room as you know, was
Jesus instituting what we call communion--the Lord’s supper. This is
how Luke tells it: And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it
to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance
of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This
cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you (vv. 19-20).
Jesus was recognizing that this time, this meal, this gathering
with those closest to Him had real significance. By instituting this “Lord’s
supper” He was saying: Keep on doing this until we eat together again.
What’s taking place here--around this table is important. It’s
significant. It’s lasting. It’s real. It’s authentic. It’s
about a relationship we share together--as such, we are brothers, gathering
at the supper table.
Christians have been doing the same thing for nearly 2,000 years.
In a few moments we will be eating the bread and drinking the juice. And the
point of the meal, is not to get filled up. It’s really not about physical
nourishment. When we are done no one will say, “Oh, boy I’m stuffed
I just had communion. I’m not going to need to beat the Baptists down
to the buffet at KFC today. I am full.” It’s not about that. It’s
about an intimacy with Christ. It’s a family gathering at the supper
table. It points to the day when we will celebrate the banquet feast in heaven
together with Jesus Christ our Lord, Savior, Redeemer, and friend.
It’s about intimacy with Christ. That’s what the
gathering in the upper room was all about. That’s why Jesus was so eager
to share the time together with the disciples. Jesus is modeling for us, with
those twelve disciples, what’s involved in discipleship. Oh sure there
is head knowledge, but more than that there is life knowledge. There is an
intimacy with Christ. A love affair with Him that is so close, so real, and
so authentic. It’s not about reading another book or writing out a term
paper or preaching another sermon. It’s about being close to Jesus.
I wish we were not in this sanctuary this morning. Instead I
wish we were sitting in a Starbucks or maybe in your living room. And I wish
we were being really, really honest with each other. And I wish I could look
across the coffee table and say: “How is your love relationship with
Jesus doing these days? Do you love Him? Is He your first love? Do you look
forward to being with Him, meeting with Him, spending time with Him?”
Or has that relationship with Jesus grown stale, predictable,
(oh should I say it?) boring? Has it become: “Yea, I’m a Christian.
Yea, I love Him.” Yawn, yawn, yawn.
Where’s the thrill? Where’s the adventure? Where’s
the excitement? Do you experience His love “new every morning, new every
morning great is thy faithfulness”? Or is your relationship with Jesus
routine, habit, monotonous?
I remember when a friend of mine fell in love. He came to me
and he said he found the girl of his dreams. I said, “Really? Tell me
about her.” And he said some thing like this: “Oh, wow . . . .
she’s great . . . no she’s better than great . . . Oh, wow . .
. I really think . . . Oh, wow!” Other than a few “Wows”
and a couple of “greats,” I really didn’t get a whole lot
of information. He was so excited and so head over heels in love he couldn’t
articulate what was going on in his heart. There weren’t any words to
describe what was happening in his heart of hearts.
How long has it been since you could say that about your relationship
with Christ? How long has it been since you would describe your relationship
with Jesus as so fresh, so up to date, so overwhelming, so new every morning
that you can’t really adequately express it in words? How long has it
been since that would describe your relationship with Christ? How long has
it been since you’ve experienced what I call, “the Wow-factor.”
How long has it been since you could only describe your relationship with
Jesus as “Oh, wow He’s my Lord!” How long has it been that
you were so close to Jesus, so intimate, that it could be described as akin
to the closeness that exists between God the Father and Jesus, the Son?
Wait a minute pastor. Wait one minute. Are you saying I could
have a relationship with Jesus as close as the one He experienced with God
the Father? That’s close. That’s really close. Are you kidding
me?
Did you know that is Jesus’ desire for us? Do you know
what one of the last things Jesus did before heading out the door to go the
Garden of Gethsemane? (His next step is to head out to pray and cry out to
God. We’ll look at that next week. By the way you’ll want to be
here as we examine that passage.) But before He does that, before He walked
down the stairs and out to the garden--do you know what Jesus did? This is
going to blow you away. He prayed for you! That’s right, He prayed for
you and me. It’s recorded in John 17, this is what He prayed up in the
upper room. And more awesome than the fact that He prayed for you and me,
is what He prayed would happen in you and me. Listen to this:
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe
in me through their message, (There it is. That’s you and me He’s
talking about. We believe in Jesus because of the disciples’ message
taught to us through scripture and the continued tradition down through the
years. Jesus is praying for us! So we could read this passage: "I am
praying not only for these disciples but also for Rob, Kevin, the believers
at the Church of the Nazarene in 2008.) that all of them may be one, Father,
just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the
world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that
you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent
me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those
you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory
you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous
Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that
you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make
you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I
myself may be in them" (John 17:20-26).
Jesus’ prayer is that we are so madly in love with Him,
so head over heels in love with Him, so unified with Him and each other, so
“Oh, wow!” that the world, the rest of the world, will absolutely
see it. It would be such a compelling, real, up-to-date, authentic love relationship
that there would be no mistaking who has you. Who really has gotcha?
Is that you? Does that describe your relationship with Him?
I don’t know about you . . . but I am sick of going through the motions.
I am sick of being satisfied with where I am at with Him. I want to renew
my first love. I long for Him to restore the joy of my salvation. I want to
be able to sing. I mean really sing that great old hymn: “It is new
every morning, great is thy faithfulness.”
How long has been since it’s been new every morning? I am tired of settling
for the stale, old religion when Jesus wants longs for something more.
That’s what was going on in the upper room? Don’t
you see it? That’s why Jesus was so eager to eat with His disciples,
and what He wants with you and with me. Intimacy. Closeness. A relationship.
It’s not about some stale, old, tired religion. He wants to bring you
back to that “Oh, wow!” factor.
You know in our church circles we like to quote Revelation 3:20
when we are talking to non-believers. The verse says “Behold I stand
at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will
come in and eat with him.” You remember that verse, right? Again the
word picture is one of an intimate time with the Savior. He’s coming
into your heart. He’s eating with you. It’s mealtime. There is
closeness. It’s a relationship He’s after. And I suppose it’s
okay to present that picture to non-believers because Jesus certainly wants
that relationship with everyone, to be sure. But do you know the context of
Revelation 3:20? Do you know where that verse is located in the big picture
of the Bible?
It’s a part of Jesus’ conversation to the church at Laodicea.
Remember in the book of Revelation, Jesus talks to seven churches. And in
Revelations 3:20--the “behold I stand at the door and knock” passage--is
part of Jesus’ words to the church at Laodicea. Big deal you say? Do
you remember who the good folks at the First Church of Laodicea were? Again,
this “Behold I stand at the door and knock” wasn’t spoken
to a group of non-believers. Jesus isn’t giving this word picture of
“I am standing at the door, let me into our life” type of language
to non-believers. He’s not talking to the people in a crack house. He’s
talking to the church.
Moreover, this isn’t just any church. Laodicea is the
lukewarm church. This is who Jesus is talking to here. It’s the church
that He says “You’re lukewarm. I wish you were hot or cold. You’re
lukewarm. I’m going to spit you out of my mouth because you are so gross.”
It’s the stale church. It’s the church that is fat, happy, satisfied,
and doing nothing. It’s the church that is not up-to-date. It’s
the church that’s going through the motions. It’s the church that
doesn’t get it. It’s the church that has shut Jesus out. It’s
the church that we never want to be.
Jesus is saying, “Let me back in. Let’s start again.
Let’s get you back to that first love, that ‘Oh, wow!’ factor.
Where our relationship is an “I’m His, He’s mine, we are
together” type of relationship.
That’s what Jesus was after in the upper room in his last
24 hours with His disciples--but not just with them. My goodness, He prayed
for you and me. And He’s telling it to the lukewarm believers in Laodicea.
So can I ask you? Are you up-to-date? Are you current? Is your
relationship fresh? Or has your relationship with Christ gotten a little stale?
Run-of-the-mill? Has it become “Laodicean lukewarm?”
Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door. I’ll come
in. We can eat.” Oh, wow!
We are going to participate in communion together. And we are
going to do it the way we usually do it. Folks will come down, pass the elements
out while you are in the pews, and then we will all participate in communion
together--with one little exception. For those of you who know you are a Christian,
but you sense some coldness creeping into your soul, things have gotten just
a little stale, a little ho-hum, you’ve lost the “wow,”
can I offer to you Lord’s supper a little different?
Maybe you should step out, and come to the altar, and kneel
before the Lord, turn this piece of furniture, this thing we call an altar
into a supper table. As we eat together and share in this holy meal you could
say: “Lord, renew me. Restore me. Revitalize me. Bring back the “wow!”
in our relationship.”
Is there anybody like that here? If so, as those people come
forward who are going to help serve communion– would you come too? Just
come and kneel right here. It’s supper time.
When I was a boy I’d be playing outside. When it was suppertime (that’s
what we called it then) my mom didn’t have a bell she’d ring to
let us know it was supper time. She’d simply holler out for the whole
neighborhood to hear. “Robby, it’s supper time!” I’d
come a running. I didn’t want to be late. It was time eat. It was time
to gather. It was suppertime.
If your walk with the Lord has grown a little stale, can I be like my mom and call out: “It’s suppertime?” Come and receive the soul-satisfying nourishment from our Lord.
