Text: Luke 22:1-2, 7-30
It’s become a running joke in my family that my mother always gets skipped at communion. In our church we stand up, pew by pew, and file to the front to kneel at the communion rail. I don’t know how or why it happens, but almost always, the bread and cup are distributed to the person on my mom’s left, then almost immediately, to the person on her right. She’s left with the choice to either leave empty-handed or disruptively wave her arms, demanding the bread and cup.
Most of the time, she sits quietly, questioning what she did wrong. Is it the way I held my hands? Was I supposed to say a certain prayer? Did I not make enough eye contact?
It’s just a fluke, of course, that the service plates somehow pass her by, but it makes for some pretty amazing lunch conversation.
Isn’t it interesting how Jesus chose our faulty human hands to distribute a reminder of the perfection found in Him? And yet, the coordination of the Last Supper was anything but flawed.
I love it when Jesus sends Peter and John to arrange the meal and they ask, “Where do you want us to prepare it?” I wonder if they expect to help Jesus brainstorm a place to hold the supper, or even anticipate offering to open their own homes. Little do they understand that this night has been set into motion from the beginning of time. The disciples think they’re the hosts, when they’re really the guests.
From the man carrying the pitcher of water, to the guest room already set aside for the event—every detail was perfectly planned. But my favorite phrase in the whole passage is, “and they left and found everything just as He had told them.” Just yesterday, I opened my pantry to an entire bag of rotten avocados, so the concept of finding everything just as I expected is rather foreign to me.
The flawless coming together of the Last Supper isn’t a coincidence or even just a final miracle on Jesus’ last day. Look closely and you’ll see Jesus building the framework for countless times in the days ahead when the disciples would find things just as He had told them. Like the disciples, we hold this track record of our Lord’s faithful fulfillment of His promises close to our hearts, so when the time comes, like the hymn writer says, we’ll remember — although “The Father turns His face away,” “The wounds which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory.”
Jesus knew we would struggle to grasp the weight of His sacrifice and the fullness of His forgiveness.
He knew we’d be tempted to load that weight on our backs in an effort to re-do the work He’s already completed.
He knew, even then, we’d forget the depth of our need for Him and trick ourselves into believing our faulty hands are clean.
So, He spent the final hours before His arrest reminding us to remember by instituting a meal of remembrance—by instructing us to use the simple elements of bread and wine to remind us of His body and blood.
Another name for communion is the Holy Eucharist, which I love, because it comes from a Greek word meaning “thanksgiving.”
And so, we remember His body broken. And we beg not to forget His blood spilled. And we give thanks, because “He who has promised us is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)
Friends, we’ve been through some tough passages during the Lenten season, and revisiting the Crucifixion will be no different. Let’s fix our eyes on the framework of faithfulness Christ has laid before us. Approach in your hearts the table of thanksgiving established by our Savior, and find everything just as He told us.
“Bread of the world, in mercy broken,
Wine of the soul, in mercy shed,
By whom the words of life were spoken,
And in whose death our sins are dead:
Look on the heart by sorrow broken,
Look on the tears by sinners shed;
And by Thy feast to us the token
That by Thy grace our souls are fed.”
—Reginald Heber
Kaitlin Wernet is a Carolina girl who now plants her feet in Tennessee as the Community Coordinator for She Reads Truth. Each day, she excitedly celebrates grace with her SRT sisters while attempting to tame her curly hair and avoid parallel parking.
Im so thankful for this reminder of the Lord’s faithfulness. That He is to be trusted and His promises will never leave us disappointed.
I LOVE this. A much-needed encouragement in this season that has been so difficult. It's as though the moment I decided to give up my "security blanket" for Lent, the whole world fell apart. I have been questioning if what I'm doing is really making a mite of difference—working full-time at a women's org in Los Angeles' Skid Row, when there's so much fear and pain and brokenness, so much more than I can possibly know what to do about. I know God called me there, but in the past few weeks, when there was a shooting across the street and protests flooded the downtown community, I felt/feel lost and under-qualified and just rattled to my core—the polar opposite of the peace I thought I would feel when I decided to say yes to participating in Lent for the first time. But… to know that Jesus has in mind something better, exactly as He told us. To know that He is here with me, with the women I am serving as I learn their names and hear their stories, I remember that He is speaking peace into my life moment by moment. Mostly in the moments I overlook, just like the one you pointed out—"Where do you want us to prepare it?" I am realizing that I'm so unprepared, compared to what Jesus has planned for me. He's letting my world be rocked, and I don't know why yet, but I will hang onto the promise that He who has promised us is faithful.
He is SO faithful, Samantha! Trusting with you and praying alongside you! Thanks for joining in today, friend!
xoxo-Kaitlin
Kaitlin, I love the part about the rotten avacados and expectations. It is so good to be reminded that the Holy Eucharist is tied in with the word thanksgiving. I'm reminded today that if I can set my attention on the enormity of Christ's forgiveness, my eyes and heart are open to a deeper level of thanksgiving. Whew!
I LOVE that, Sarah! May we set our attention on the enormity of His forgiveness. So grateful!
xoxo-Kaitlin
I PRAY JESUS KEEP ME NEARER TO THE CROSS
“Just as he told them”. This makes me think back about thirty some years ago. It was a few months after I got married,listening to Pastor Joe,,out of the blue and clear as bell I hear,”I’m going to take you through some things”, ,it was repeated one more time. It wasn’t my a Pastor who said it either,, it was a very strange but peaceful feeling. The Lord was telling me he was going to take my husband and I through some things,,,,not “Put” me through,but Take me through some things. He has,He is and He will. I truly believe “just as he told them” applies to me. He has taken us through many trials,and he is with both of us as I battle through stage 4 cancer too. “I’m going to “take” you through some things”,,,, I cling to this,and he knows it. Have a good day ladies. xo
Thanks Beth for sharing such a personal word.
Sending you a sister's hug, and thanking God for you…Beth..Love Tina..xx
I love that. Such a reminder "Take you through". So often we forget, we hear about what God puts us through, we forget to say or feel that He walks it with us. Prayerful over you Beth! ~ B
This reminds me to look around the table at each meal…it is possible that someone may not ever be joining us again…Jesus' followers did not know this to be the last meal but we have the opportunity to treat each encounter with others as the last encounter…will are we satisfied with our interaction? Have we shown a spirit of love, understanding and tenderness of the Last Supper?
“And so, we remember His body broken. And we beg not to forget His blood spilled. And we give thanks, because “He who has promised us is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)”
These words are brilliant.
Ka pow. Thank you, Lindsay, for bringing this scripture. It's my prayer today!! (I'm a day behind)
This passage just remind me of how I'm so gratefully thankful for communion and taking part in it at my church cause the bread and the wine symbolize the blood which was shed for me wiping away my sins and I thank him for that often times we don't take time out just to say thank you Lord for the Blood……