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Luke 22:14-23 English Standard Version Institution of the Lord's Supper 14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” 23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. Notice that Luke starts this passage by now telling us that they hour had come. So far we have been told that no one could lay a hand on Jesus because "His hour had not yet come." Now it is upon us. The table has been set in the Upper Room by the disciples that prepared the meal and everything necessary to celebrate the Passover meal is set before them. While Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the Passover feast, He is going to draw their attention to two elements of the meal in particular and give them new meaning under a New Covenant, for the elements of the Passover meal had their original meaning as part of the Old Covenant. Jesus tells the disciples that He earnestly desired to eat the Passover meal with His disciples before He suffered, and then Jesus speaks prophetically that He will not eat this particular meal again until it (the meal) is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. So, when is Jesus planning to eat this meal again? It seems from other gospel accounts that this this will be when He comes into His kingdom at the end of the age and that this is perhaps even the meal that we will eat together called The Marriage Supper of the Lamb (sorry to all of you that imagine that meal being full of pork barbeque and other unclean foods, but it's most likely a Passover Seder meal full of symbolism of God's work of salvation for His people). Now at several points during the meal, there were times they would drink from a common cup (pass it around and each person would take a sip). There were different cups that represented different parts of the story. I'll send you a link to a website that explains each cup and why most people agree this cup that Jesus is taking with His disciples is the Cup of Redemption (the third cup of the meal) and that Jesus does not drink the fourth cup with them because this is the cup that He will drink anew with us when He enters into His kingdom: http://www.jewishawareness.org/passover-and-the-four-cups/. Jesus gives thanks for the meal with the common cup that would represent the blood of the New Covenant in His hands (we'll get to that in a minute) and after giving thanks told the disciples to divide everything among themselves so that here would be nothing leftover, for there were no leftovers with this meal. After the meal was divided, he took the unleavened bread, and said, "This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me." The bread pointed us forward to the sinlessness of Christ, for yeast in the Old Testament represented sin. Jesus' perfectly sinless body was going to be torn apart for us as He would be scourged and beaten beyond recognition, and unleavened bread does not tear apart, but it cracks and breaks for it is more like a cracker than a loaf of bread. While Jesus's bones would not be broken, we are told in the Psalms that all of His joints would be out of place. They would hear the cracks of the whips that probably would sound much like the breaking of this bread. The cup was likewise taken after the meal and they were told, "“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” We don't usually talk about the fact that Judas is there during this part of the Last Supper, but Jesus is talking about His blood being shed for those who belong to Him and one of those at the table not only doesn't belong to Him, but is a traitor who would betray Jesus to the chief priests in just a short while. It is probably at this point that Judas slips out unnoticed because we know he was there when they ate the bread since Jesus handed Judas the sop and told him, "What you must do, do quickly." It does not appear that Judas partook in the drinking of the cup of Redemption here and that probably has some significance that Judas was not going to believe in the death of Jesus as the New Covenant that God was making with man for our redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Enough about Judas though as we'll get back to him shortly. He's a minor character at the Last Supper. Jesus tells them to drink the cup of the new covenant of His blood and that as often as they eat this bread and drink this cup, they are to do so in remembrance of Him and His new covenant He is making with them. This was not something for the whole world, but only for those who belonged to Him--those we call the Church, and that is why the Church guards the way to the Lord's Table because it is one of two ordinances meant for believers--the first is Believer's Baptism, and the second is The Lord's Supper. Other congregations call these sacraments and I don't mind either of those words being used when talking about The Lord's Supper (there are other things called sacraments that I would not refer to that way though). I'll give the dictionary definition here (which does a surprising good job at picking out baptism and the Lord's Supper as their examples of sacraments/ordinances and why these two are so special): "A Christian rite (such as baptism or the Eucharist) that is believed to have been ordained by Christ and that is held to be a means of divine grace or to be a sign or symbol of a spiritual reality." (“Sacrament.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sacrament. Accessed 13 Apr. 2022.) If your local congregation is anything like mine, you definitely heard these words of the proclamation of the New Covenant at some point during this Holy Week between Palm Sunday and Easter and probably at several other points throughout the year. However, if you're part of a congregation that has never celebrated The Lord's Supper together, then you may want to ask some questions of your pastors and elders as to why you do not, because there is an assumption here in the text (and in other similar texts) that those who are believers will regularly participate in this sacrament/ordinance and the only biblical reason we are told to not partake in the Lord's Supper is if we know we are living in sin and would eat of the Lord's Table in an unworthy manner. We should not stay in that state of unconfessed, unrepentant sin, but the celebration of the Lord's Supper should be something we desire so much that we want to come back into right standing with God. This is typically what it means to be excommunicated from a congregation as those who are excommunicated are not in good standing because they are living in sin (usually open sin) and in rebellion against God in a way where it would do damage to the gospel for them to partake in the Lord's Supper and proclaim this is what had been done to them and for them, but yet they somehow walked away unchanged and were still controlled by sin and the flesh. We are warned by Paul in 1 Corinthians that such a person should be kept from the Lord's Table and anyone who eats from the Lord's Table in an unworthy manner may get sick or even die, and this meal is definitely not meant to be shared with those who do not belong to the Lord. We should be careful who we distribute the elements to as a congregation and most churches do this through the process of church membership and by having members share their testimony at the time of their baptism (though often those who have followed Jesus in believer's baptism and are are members in good standing elsewhere are welcomed to eat from the Lord's Table if they are visiting a church that is celebrating Holy Communion/The Lord's Supper/The Eucharist. Other passages that you may want to consider while studying this topic, especially if you are examining how your church celebrates this particular ordinance would be 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. It is clear from that passage that this is a meal that is to be celebrated together as a congregation, and that it is a time for us to be charitable too as we make sure that we feed our brothers and sisters among us who are poor and have nothing else to eat. It is not a time for us who have plenty to gorge ourselves and be gluttonous or drunkards, and we do not approach the Lord's Table lightly as we've already talked about. There is nothing in Luke (or the other gospels) or 1 Corinthians telling us how often we are to eat the bread and drink the cup, but just that as often as we do, it is supposed to be a time to look back at what Jesus did for us, and it is also a time for us to look forward to the time when He will eat of this meal again with all those who belong to Him and He once again will drink of the fruit of the vine with us in the kingdom of God. For now though, this a way for us to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ until He comes (which is also part of the gospel when we gather together around the Lord's Table as we look back and look forward). We need to put the gospel before ourselves on a regular basis, even we as Christians, so that we are constantly reminded of what Jesus has done for us and what He can do for others. But how will they also be invited to participate in this meal if we do not go and share the gospel with them? Have you ever looked around at The Lord's Supper and thought of the people that weren't there that you'd love to be in communion with and sharing that meal with? There have been times that I have. While it's not a choice that I can make for any of them, it is something that drives me to want to share the gospel with them all the more. This is no ordinary family dinner as we may often share our tables with family members who are not united with us in Christ, but there should be no one sharing this Table with us who doesn't belong to Christ because there will be no one sharing the Marriage Supper of the Lamb with us that doesn't belong to Jesus and as much as this meal looks back to Passover and to the crucifixion of Jesus, it also looks forward to that day when we will all share in perfect communion with not just each other, but with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as we will be one with Jesus as He is one with the Father and we will be in Him and He will be in the Father so we too will be in the Father. How we treat the Lord's Table says much about what we believe about the exclusivity of the gospel and how we believe people are saved. I don't usually post documents along with my journal articles, but since this is such an essential part of what we believe, I believe that the document that the Elders of Harvest Christian Fellowship prepared for its members that we distribute every time we celebrate The Lord's Supper might be helpful here. I'd also refer you to the What I Believe section of the website where you can read more in the Church Covenant, the Statement of Faith, and The Baptist Faith and Message. For now though, here's what we are encouraged to remember as members of our local congregation each time we come to the Lord's Table. I hope this is helpful to you, and would encourage you to use the links provided on this website to contact me or any of the Elders of Harvest Christian Fellowship if you have questions about this document, how you can by a Christian who is welcomed to participate in The Lord's Supper, and how you can be a Christian in right standing if you believe that you are currently living in sin and need to repent to be able to partake in Holy Communion once agian. 
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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