The Last Supper. – Luke 22:1-20

Well, the um Mission Impossible

franchise has been incredibly successful

for uh Tom Cruz. Um if you watch the

first film back in 19 um 96. Uh it

featured the fictional IMF agent Ethan

Hunt

as part of a team in Prague. They were

trying to safeguard a highly top secret

list of names. I think it was called the

knocklist or something. And they were a

team of experts, uh, expert operatives.

They had all the the gadgetry and kits,

the mics, the video glasses, the

surveillance, the, uh, computer hacking

skills and everything that you needed,

all the passports and everything

associated with some sort of um,

classified mission. But what they didn't

know, what that team on that mission

didn't know was there was another team

at work in the same place. They had been

betrayed by their leader, Jim Phelps. He

was running another team and he was

running a second mission at the same

time. And both had the same goal to get

that secret list of names.

And in our passage,

there are two teams as it were. Both

sides are running their own mission, but

they have the same goal. It is to see

Jesus die.

But the motivations are very different.

We only have two points this morning and

then each we'll look at those two

different missions. So firstly, there

was the mission destruction. mission

destruction. Let's read uh again from uh

chapter 22:es 1 and 2. Now the feast of

unleavened bread drew near which is

called the Passover. And the chief

priests and the scribes were seeking how

to put him to death for they feared the

people. And this has been building

throughout the gospel of Luke. A growing

tension between Jesus and the religious

elite. And now the gloves are off. There

is no pretense. Uh they are going for

him. They are actively seeking a way to

kill him. The NIV translates it as as

they are looking for a way to get rid of

him, which to me seems a bit tame. I'm

no Bible translator at all, but the

Greek word means to execute, to destroy.

Uh they have heard his teaching, they've

seen his signs, they have rejected him,

and they want to remove him from

existence.

And it's curious, isn't it? Worldwide

recent events show us actually killing

leaders and people that we don't like is

not gone away. That's what our world

still does. If we don't like a leader or

someone in power, there all sorts of

ways to deal with him. And as we've seen

this week, one is to blow them up.

Modern leaders use other things as well.

Poison, slander, discreet assassination,

all sorts of things. But nothing much

has changed. If you don't like someone,

then remove them. And that's what the

religious leaders were doing back then.

Uh but they were very concerned with how

that looked. They weren't quite so open

about it as others might be today. They

they feared the people. You see, the

person they wanted to destroy wasn't a

public menace, wasn't a despotic leader.

The person they wanted to get rid of was

a teacher,

a healer,

someone who was thought by many could

possibly be the Messiah.

And Jesus was very popular. Cast your

eyes back to verse 38. And early in the

morning, all the people came to him. All

the people, did you see that? They came

to him to hear him. Jesus was a threat

to their popularity. He was a threat to

their standing in the community. He was

showing them up. He was calling them

out. He was exposing their sin. And they

knew that many were taken with him. And

so they were waiting for the quiet

moment away from the crowds

to remove him.

Unbeknown to them,

they had an unlikely ally. an ally who

they wouldn't really have wanted to be

associated with but who wanted to see

Jesus dead too and that was Satan.

And it's at this point that Satan sees

his chance and enters Judas

and he emboldens

Judas to go and betray Jesus.

And I'm sure for many of us sitting here

that raises certain questions.

So firstly, can people be possessed by

the devil himself?

And the answer from this passage clearly

seems to be yes. That can happen.

Possession doesn't always look obvious

like foaming at the mouth and crazy

behavior, but it can happen.

Another question that might occur to us

is, well, can a true believer in whom

the Holy Spirit dwells

be possessed by demonic force?

And the teaching of scripture seems

clear that that can't happen. See, Jesus

is the strong man. If you go back to

Luke 11, he's the strong man who binds

Satan who then comes to live in us by

his spirit and he guards us. So first

1 John 4:4

John 4:4, little children, you are from

God and have overcome them. For he who

is in you is greater than he who is in

the world.

Now, that doesn't mean that we can't be

affected by demonic activity,

that we can't be oppressed in some way

or spiritually attacked. Now, as in

Ephesians chapter 6, which we looked at

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

recently, we need to put on the full

armor of God and watch out. Why? For the

devil's schemes. Our battle, our

struggle is not against man, flesh. It's

against spiritual uh beings.

But as James 4:7 and 8 says, "Submit

James 4:7

yourselves therefore to God. Resist the

devil and he will flee from you. Draw

near to God and he will draw near to

you." So when in reliance upon God, we

resist the devil. He flees from us.

So what we're dealing with here with

Judas is not a possession of a true

believer but a possession of someone who

is close to Jesus

but not actually with Jesus. And that is

a real danger.

Not so much possession.

It seems to me that in our modern world

that is extremely rare. I'm not not

going to say ne never would happen, but

it seems to me it's extremely rare,

actual demon possession, certainly in

this this culture that we're in. But

what is much more common is those who

are close to Jesus,

but who are not actually with Jesus.

They're not actually for Jesus.

In my previous church um at Christmas

time uh for our carol service we used to

hire a big auditorium

and uh we put on a good show for the

community and and many many um people

used to come and enjoy it and they they

used to hear the gospel preached sing

carols and eat mince pies and uh on one

event uh one year I remember I was

sitting in these these chairs and I was

uh in in the congregation behind two

older ladies and I distinctly remember

overhearing one turn to the other and

say that was good. I love the singing

but I don't like all that Jesus stuff.

Why do they have to keep going on about

Jesus all the time? I was surprised all

the times, you know, Christmas seemed to

be the time you might expect people to

mention Jesus. But sadly that can be the

way. People come to church and they like

the community, they like the singing,

they like the friendship, they like a

lot of what the church has to offer, but

they just don't want to get too close

to Jesus,

to get personal with him and and let him

in.

And perhaps that's like some here this

morning.

You if that is you, it's great that

you're here and you're very welcome. But

it's not enough to just come and do

churchy things. Jesus calls us all to

come to him, to submit to him, to put

our own personal faith in him, to make

him our Lord and Savior.

And that seems to be a step that Judas

hadn't taken.

What's even harder to understand and

more confusing is that actually he was

so involved with Jesus that he's been

serving Jesus in a manner of speaking.

He's been sent out on mission with the

other disciples.

And again, there can be those who do

things in Jesus's name. They serve. They

play their part. They may be even on

church rotors. They can be involved in

the work of the church and and yet still

not be saved.

Their heart is not really for Jesus.

If you think

that could be you,

then don't waste time.

Draw near to him now.

Even in the quietness as I speak, why

don't you just come to Jesus yourself

right now and ask him to be your Lord

and Savior to lead you for the rest of

your days. Why not? It's the most

important thing you can ever do.

Judas looks like he belongs to Jesus,

but Jesus wasn't in his heart. But what

is in his heart makes him an ideal

candidate for Satan's purposes. You see,

Satan has always hated God. He wants to

take take God's place. And he's been

working against God in his plans ever

since the beginning. He began with Adam

and Eve sewing the seeds of doubt and

tempting them to doubt God and almost

saying, "Look, you can become like God

if you just ignore him."

And we know how that story went. And as

God pronounced the punishment and the

curse, God promised that one day the

women woman's offspring would bruise

Satan's head and that Satan would um no,

he would crush Satan's head and and that

Satan would bruise the uh woman's off of

off offspring.

And that is what Satan has been working

to derail ever since, trying to stop

this promised savior, this promised

offspring. So, Satan has been working

throughout history trying to derail

God's uh purposes and plans often one

step behind

behind the scenes at work. So, uh he he

he tried to destroy God's people in

Egypt by having the sons of Israel

thrown into the Nile. He constantly was

at work trying to lead the nation of

Israel away from God to get them to

worship other idols. He tempted Herod to

slaughter all the baby boys in Bethlehem

who were two years and under to try and

get this promised Messiah killed. He

tempted Jesus to bypass obedience to God

and submission to God and take the

shortcut to glory. Because if he could

get Jesus to repeat Adam's mistake, then

God's rescue plan would fail and all

humanity would be lost.

And then we read in Luke chapter 4 verse

Luke 4:13

13 at that that time of um temptation we

read and when the devil had ended every

temptation he departed from him until an

opportune time and here is the opportune

time to destroy the promised savior and

that was the objective of the religious

leaders too and because Judas doesn't

have in his heart a love for Jesus but

other things that makes him susceptible

to the devil and makes him useful to

him. So, Satan takes advantage of

Judas's sinful desires and amplifies

them and so influences him against

Jesus.

So, Judas may have helped uh may have

been helped along the way by Satan, but

actually in Judas's own heart, there was

an emnity to Jesus.

And we see that Jesus holds him

accountable uh for his own actions. It's

not the Satan made me do it. He is

accountable for his own actions.

What was in Judas's heart?

Maybe there was a love of money. We see

he sells Jesus out for money.

Maybe Jesus wasn't the Messiah Judas

wanted and signed up for. Maybe there

was a mix of motives.

Whatever it was, he betrays Jesus.

That's what Satan always is aiming for.

That's what people who hold who go up

against Jesus always end up doing

turning against him. Of course, verse

six, the conspirators are delighted at

what happens. The Greek word cairo means

to rejoice, to be glad, to be in a state

of happiness. The apostle Paul always

uses this word to speak about rejoicing.

Rejoice in the Lord always. It's the

same word. It's that state of elation

and happiness. Rejoice, rejoice, be

glad. That's how these religious leaders

felt about this betrayal. They are

rejoicing.

Perhaps if they'd seen who was behind

the scenes, who they were getting into

bed with, they would have been alarmed

and not rejoicing. But they don't. You

see, their hatred of Jesus has blinded

them to the truth.

And rejecting Jesus always leads to

spiritual blindness

and doing things which actually once we

never would have dreamt we would have

done. So the mission to destroy Jesus

brings together man's sinful rejection

of God and Satan's hatred of God. And

because Jesus is God in the flesh, he's

the son of God. He's the promised one,

the rightful king, the savior, the one

who has and will defeat Satan.

They hated him.

And it's because Jesus is who he is that

that often people gun for Jesus. We can

kind of cope with God up there, but when

we see God made flesh, we see what God

is really like. And so we go for Jesus.

If you are not for Jesus, then be aware

of who you are aligning yourself with.

If he's not your savior,

then what is Jesus to you?

If he's not your savior, what is he to

you?

Rejecting Jesus blinds you to the truth.

It pits you against God and against the

savior. There's no middle ground.

There's no sitting on the fence.

Well, that was the mission destruction

that wanted to see Jesus dead. But there

was another mission being carried out at

the same time. a mission that had the

same goal for Jesus to die. But that

wasn't a mission of destruction. It was

a mission of mercy. It's a mission of

sacrifice. And that's our final point

this morning. Verse one.

Now, the feast of unleavened bread drew

near, which is called the Passover. I'm

told strictly speaking, the feast of the

unleavened bread and the Passover were

distinct. You can see that in Numbers

Numbers 28:16

28:16, if you really want to. Um the

Passover proper was followed by the

7-day feast of the unleavened bread. And

so they were effectively regarded as the

same festival even though they were

technically distinct things. They

happened at the same time. The term

Passover can cover the whole period. I

guess a bit like our Christmas time

covers more than just the one day. It's

like the whole uh week or whatever

around around that day. The Passover was

the biggest feast of the year. for the

Jews. It looked back to the time of

Israel's slavery in Egypt to when the

angel of death passed over their houses.

Now, in reality, they had sinned just as

much as Egypt. And yet, their sin had

been covered by the blood of the lamb

that had been dorbed on the doorposts.

And that's why judgment passed over

them, not because they were better, but

because they had been covered by that

sacrificial lamb. So they were passed

over. Judgment passed over them.

So that's what they remembered at the

Passover. At the Passover, they also ate

the bitter herbs to remind them of the

bitter years of slavery to Pharaoh. And

they ate reclining at the table as a

sign of their freedom. They were no

longer slaves. The unleavened bread

symbolized their hasty departure from

the land of Egypt and Passover for the

Jewish people. It was a very social

people all gathering in groups to

celebrate this together. And if you've

ever hosted a kind of big gathering at

Christmas, you know, that takes a lot of

work. You know, there's lots of

vegetables and all sorts to prepare,

lots and lots of preparations. And so it

was with the Passover. There were all

kinds of preparations to be made. So

Jesus sends Peter and John off to make

preparations. so that they can celebrate

the Passover together. Now, what seems

unclear in in what follows is is Jesus

demonstrating supernatural insight or is

it just a case of good planning on his

part? We won't spend too much time on

this because it's not really the main

point of the passage, but um verse 13

could indicate that this little episode

of the man with the water jug, there is

some divine

um knowledge going on. There's insight

going on here that is beyond normal

human activity. So verse 13 says, "And

they went and found it just as he had

told them." That little detail seems

superfluous if there is nothing

remarkable going on. You know, he

planned it and it happened like well

yeah of course but he's sort of saying

just as he told him it's a little I

think it's a little indication this was

a little bit out of the ordinary. So

Peter and John are sent off on a mission

to prepare the Passover. It seems

feasible that Jesus had already had

dealings with the the homeowner. Um

perhaps this house owner had heard Jesus

speak on another occasion. Perhaps he

had been saved and he said to Jesus,

"Yeah, I've got this big house, big up a

room. If you want to use it, you know,

you have have some chill time with your

disciples, then come around. You'll be

very welcome." And Jesus thinks, "Great.

Okay." And so, so that's all very

plausible and possible, isn't it? But

then that time comes and Jesus wants to

take up this uh kind offer. How are the

disciples to know where to go?

Well, there's a sign. There's a man

carrying the water jug. How How is that

a sign? Well, we're told that it that

would have been distinctive because

women carried water jugs and men carried

water skins. Seems odd, doesn't it? That

the women get I'm imagining a big water

jug and the men carry a little skin.

That seems a bit unfair. Maybe I don't

understand the historical stuff of it

all, but there we go. That was the

tradition. uh men would uh carry skins

and women would carry big water jugs. Um

but even so with that sort of like okay

the man's carrying the water jug. If

that was me sent on this mission to meet

this guy, I'd want to know a bit more

like um where are we going to meet? If

someone said to you right, you got to

meet this guy in Trobridge. He's wearing

I don't know a yellow scarf or

something. You go, well that's great,

but where whereabouts in Trobridge is

quite a big place. We made that even big

and said you're going to London and meet

this one particular guy. is going to be

carrying a I don't know say a water jug.

Why not? You know, you say, "Well,

that's great, but where where is

London's huge? I mean, how are you ever

going to find this one guy at the right

time? Where am I going to meet him?" And

I think this is where the divine insight

part goes. Jesus doesn't give them a

what, three words or a postcode or meet

him by the tower with the graffiti on.

Jesus knows they will meet him at just

the right place, at just the right time.

And it all happened just as Jesus said.

So there seems to be clearly some sort

of divine insight plan going on uh

around this.

But let's leave those ponderings and

move on because Jesus was very much

looking forward to celebrating the

Passover

and it will all come together just as he

said. He's not leaving it to chance.

They're not going to miss him. This is

the divine plan. And so it happens. They

meet the water guy carrying uh water jug

carrying guy and they follow him and

find the house and the owner and he's

happy for them to use it as as said.

And what a what a willingness what a

nice thing it is for people to be

willing to use the houses for the Lord,

isn't it? That was obviously the the

homeowner's intention is is happy for

the Lord to use it. And I hope we we we

sort of do that as well. We're

hospitable. We invite people into our

homes and say, you know, let's let's

spend time together. Let's use what

we've got. I mean, that's a really good

thing. This is what this this guy does.

Well, the time comes, the preparations

have been made, and Jesus and the rest

of the disciples, they arrive. They make

their way up to the upper room. And it's

as Jesus reclines at the table that he

shares how much he's been looking

forward to eating the Passover with

them.

It's interesting concept to imagine

Jesus looking forward to something,

isn't it? Sometimes we might feel guilty

about looking forward to something or

did Jesus look forward to something?

He's been eagerly anticipating this

Passover.

Looking forward to it. Why was Jesus

looking forward to it? Did he just fancy

some lamb?

And maybe it was the food. It's not

wrong to look forward to to food, is it?

Uh, was it that that time with his his

close friends? Was it the peace before

the storm?

How it was all going to picture God's

salvation? Perhaps it's a mixture of of

all of those. I mean, he says he desired

to eat. So, he's not just going there

and he's just going to not participate.

He desires to eat. He desires to eat

specifically with them. So, we we're

building that picture up there. these

men who have been his closest friends.

There's something about eating with

people that signifies friendship and

helps with ties of fellowship. That's

why I think it's really important as a

church that we eat together. So, I'm I'm

really happy that we're still doing our

fellowship lunches. I know it's a lot of

work and it's it's a lot of effort. By

the way, I meant to say there's a signup

sheet at the back uh two weeks time. Um

so but it is important because

this is it forms bonds of friendship.

Jesus was looking forward to eating this

meal with his disciples.

But it wasn't just any kind of meal. It

was a particular meal. It was this

Passover.

And we can't overlook the timing of

this. This was Thursday night, the last

night of Jesus's earthly life. He is on

the eve of fulfilling his great mission

of salvation. It's it's at this Passover

meal that has been celebrated for

centuries

that Jesus is not only going to enjoy

good food and good friendship

and and and and give thanks for the past

salvation. But it's at this Passover

he gets to reveal to them that this

ancient meal has been pointing to and

will be fulfilled

in him.

This is it.

This will be the last Passover he'll eat

until it's been fulfilled. In other

words, until it's been fulfilled in him.

And as the purpose of Passover is

fulfilled in Jesus, he celebrates it,

but then he institutes something new,

something that supersedes it. And I

guess that's why as Christians, we don't

need to celebrate the Passover. I mean,

I guess if we wanted to, we could.

Probably nothing wrong in that, I don't

think. Um, but actually, we've got

something superior.

We've got the Lord's supper

which kind of supersedes that Passover.

Verse uh 17. So Jesus takes the cup and

he gives thanks. Now there were four

cups in the celebration of the Passover

and they were drunk at various stages

throughout the meal. We can um assume

that everything played out as normal. Uh

they're eating, they're going through

the normal Passover pattern. But then at

some point perhaps near the end Jesus

takes the bread. He gives thanks. He

gives it to gives the bread to them.

That's all pretty normal, pretty

standard stuff. And then he breaks with

tradition and says verse 19, "This is my

body which is given for you. Do this in

remembrance of me." And let's just spend

a little bit of time thinking about

that. This is my body.

Jesus isn't literally meaning this piece

of bread I'm giving to you is part of my

body. I mean we don't need to be

grotesque about it. But he wasn't

cutting bits off him. That it's just not

the point. We're missing the whole point

if we imagine that's what he's saying.

This this bread doesn't change into a

piece of meat. It's a symbol. It's a

metaphor. He's he's done this many times

in his ministry. He says, "I am the

gate." No one was standing there going,

"Oh, right. Okay, where's the handle?"

It just it's you're missing the point. I

am the gate. I am the true vine. I am

the bread of life. And since he's

physically standing in front of them,

they wouldn't have thought at any point,

oh, this is actually a piece of flesh.

Clearly, it's a symbol for his body. And

notice he says,

"Given for you."

Given

for you.

This isn't something that had been

forced on Jesus.

This isn't something that was being

taken from Jesus. Where a sinful man and

Satan was seeking to take his life,

Jesus came to give his life.

If we were here celebrating the Lord's

supper and we were celebrating how Jesus

was forced against his will to be

murdered. That would be abhorrent,

wouldn't it? That would be awful. That's

not how it happened. Jesus says in John

John 10:18

10:18 about his life, he says, "No one

takes it from me, but I lay it down of

my own accord. I have authority to lay

it down, and I have authority to take it

up again."

But this is our savior. He is willing to

lay down his life for us. He gives

himself for you.

Isn't that a precious thought? He gives

himself

for you.

And note that the bread is to be taken

with thanksgiving. That's why some

Christians call the Lord's supper the

Eucharist. Uh comes from the Greek word

that means to give thanks. And of course

the Lord's supper should be a time that

is solemn and and serious in many

aspects. Uh we remember the greatest act

of love ever, the greatest act of

sacrifice ever. So with that there

should be a sense of joyful

thankfulness, a thread running through

the Lord's supper that says we we we

thank you. We don't just remember in a

cool, cold, calculated kind of way.

We we look at Jesus. We recognize what

he's done and we say, "Thank you. Thank

you for saving me. Thank you for giving

yourself for me." We should be thankful.

There should be an element of joy in

this supper.

Then he tells them, "Do this in

remembrance of me.

Do this. Do what?

Take the bread and wine and eat it in

remembrance of me.

How well Jesus knows us, doesn't he?

Because we need this. We need this

constant reminder, don't we? How quickly

Jesus gets crowded out of our busy

lives, out of our affections, out of our

minds. And so, we need this. This is one

of God's gifts of grace to us. A time

given to us to remember Jesus, to come

back to the the place of the cross, to

remember our savior, to remember what he

did, how he loved, how he died for us. A

time to draw close. A time to come

especially with the Lord's people into

his presence and to savor

the Savior. It's a time to savor

the Savior.

And after they had eaten, Jesus said,

"This cup that is poured out for you is

the new covenant in my blood." That's

what been promised in Jeremiah 31:31. It

Jeremiah 31:31

speaks of the new covenant, not like the

one that God made with his people back

then which they broke. No, this was

something new.

What was new was instead of it being

established by the blood of animals, it

was established with the blood of the

son of God.

All the Old Testament sacrifices, they

couldn't actually deal with sin. They

were signs showing that sin could be

dealt with.

They showed how severe sin was. It

required death.

They showed that God will deal with this

in the full and proper way one day. They

showed the manner of how it would

happen. All these Old Testament

sacrifices, they point to this moment

in Jesus.

Because in Jesus, he was the sacrifice.

he would make on the cross. He was the

lamb of God to which all the others

pointed to. For it's on the cross that

Jesus took our sin and paid with his

flesh and the blood uh he paid with his

blood

the price and the animals that people

can't pay.

This new covenant meant that the law

ceased to be written on those external

stones, but God's law was now

internalized into our hearts. So in

other words, we become or he becomes

part of who we are.

It's his spirit who lives in us.

So we we don't go to a temple to

worship. We come to God through his son

by his spirit. We're not a people far

off, cut off from God, but he has come

close to us. He lives in us by his

spirit.

The old covenant made with Israel

was for Israel. People could join that.

They could convert. But the new covenant

is for all people with all people. All

who come to God trusting in the in the

name of the Lord Jesus Christ can be

included in this new covenant.

This new covenant does not depend on

human righteousness or ethnicity.

It depends on the sunship of Jesus and

his perfect righteousness and his

perfect obedience. obedience even to

death on a cross.

Under the new covenant, our salvation

isn't based on our works,

but on the allsufficient

once for all work of Jesus on the cross.

He has done it. He fulfilled the terms

of the covenant. He's done it for us on

our behalf.

Ephesians chapter 1:7, "In him we have

redemption through his blood, the

forgiveness of our trespasses according

to the riches of his grace which he

lavished on us." It's not in him we have

the forgiveness. It's not in in animals

we have the forgiveness of sins. It's

not based on our lawkeeping and how good

we've been. It's based on Jesus and what

he did.

His grace and lavished upon us. The

death Jesus died was Jesus establishing

a new covenant for us as he said in

verse 20. This cup that is poured out

for you is the new covenant in my blood.

I think this is why Jesus was so keen to

eat the Passover with his disciples that

night because he wants to show them how

deep his love is for them. He wants to

show them how it all comes together.

Centuries of promise and prophecy and

plans, they all come to this point. The

Passover looks forward to Jesus. And the

Lord's supper looks back to Jesus. And

there at the apex of it all is the Lord

Jesus who loved us and gave himself up

for us as a fragrant offering and

sacrifice to God. There he is central to

everything.

Everything's pointing to him. Do you

see?

When we meet around the Lord's table, we

don't celebrate the Passover. We

celebrate who the Passover pointed to,

Jesus. When we take the bread and the

wine, we are partaking in a time of

remembrance.

But not only that, we join in a special

spiritual time of fellowship, fellowship

with the Lord, fellowship with each

other. It is a means of grace to us, a

time of drawing near to remember and to

savor our savior. It's a time of

thanksgiving, a time of blessing that

helps spiritually nourish us and keep us

close to the Lord.

We started off thinking about mission

impossible. And the real mission

impossible

was how can sinful man and a holy God be

reconciled. That is the mission

impossible. But that is the mission that

Jesus came to undertake to restore peace

and friendship between God and man. And

while sinful man and Satan are trying to

take Jesus's life, Jesus came to give

his life as a ransom for many. And that

includes for you and for me.

So, have you personally taken of the

Lord?

We'll pick up the story where we left

off next week. But for now, the most

appropriate thing to do in response is

what Jesus instructed us to do, to

gather around the Lord's table and to

enter into that special time of

communion with the Lord and with each

other. And we will do that after our

next song.