Wednesday, January 23, 2013

"The Elements" Sermon: Luke 22:14-23


“The Elements”

[Luke 22:14-23]

January 20, 2013 Second Reformed Church

            Lord willing, for the next three weeks, we will be looking at different aspects of the elements of the Lord’s Supper.  That is, we will be looking at the bread and the cup in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  Today, we are considering what the elements are and what they are not.

            The night that Jesus was betrayed, He instituted the Lord’s Supper, and we read:

            “And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’”

            The first thing we ought to notice in our text is that Jesus and the apostles were celebrating the Feast of the Passover – the Lord’s Supper is derived – or is a recasting – of the Feast of Passover.  To make sure we remember what the Passover was, we ought to hear the account of the institution of the Passover – we will better understand what the Lord’s Supper is by doing so:

            “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

            “’Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

            “’This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread’”            

(Exodus 12:1-20, ESV).

            The Passover Feast was instituted the night that God delivered the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt – and God instructed them to keep the Feast every year so they would not forget how God saved them.

            We notice four food elements in the Feast of the Passover:  first, a lamb, which was killed and its blood spread over the doorposts of the homes of the believers in Egypt.  This was to be a sign that the angel of death should not kill the first born in that house because God had provided those who believe with a blood sacrifice.  The author of Hebrews reminds us:  “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22, ESV).  Those believers in Egypt who spread the blood of the lamb God provided them on their doorposts were saved through that blood.  The unbelievers, who did not receive the lamb and its shed blood, suffered the loss of their own firstborn – the shedding of his blood, which did not forgive their sins.

            The second element of the Passover was unleavened bread.  God called for them to eat unleavened bread because there was not time to make leavened bread.  It was a sign that God’s salvation was coming to them quickly and that they would have to be on the run at a moment’s notice.

            The third element of the Passover was the bitter herbs, which was to remind them of the suffering and the slavery which God delivered them from.

            The fourth element, which is not mentioned in this text, was the glass of wine, which symbolized God’s Favor and Faithfulness to the Covenant that He made with Abraham.

            And we notice that God tells Israel that the elements of the Passover were to be for them an eternal memorial for what God did for them.  There is nothing in the text to suggest that the lamb, the unleavened bread, the herbs, and the wine, though symbolic, were anything more than actual lamb, unleavened bread, herbs, and wine.  They did not turn into anything, but symbolized something that God did for them.

            The traditional Passover meal begins with a prayer of thanksgiving to God and the drinking of the first cup of wine (Hendrikson, Luke, 959-960); and so we read:

“And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, ‘Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’

They shared the first cup of wine as Jesus told them, yet again, that this was the last Passover He would eat with them – that He would not join them in drinking the wine of God’s favor until His Work was completed, and, ultimately, until the Kingdom came in all its fullness on earth.  As John foresaw:              Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;” (Revelation 19:7, ESV).  In the Kingdom, the Lord’s Supper will become the Marriage Feast of the Lamb – the celebration of the full unity and salvation of the Church – given to her Husband, Jesus.

Next, they would eat the bitter herbs and remember that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a, ESV).  They would remember that they were enemies of God and had suffered for their sin until God stepped in to save them.  Jesus surely ate the herbs thinking of the suffering that He would shortly endure.  And the apostles likely thought back to this after the Resurrection when they themselves were suffering at the hands of unbelievers.  Yet – then – they would have had a new hope to look forward to, knowing that just as they had been delivered from Egypt, the Savior had and was delivering them unto His Kingdom.

The third part of the meal would be a recitation of the first Passover – as we read – and a discussion would have ensued about what it told them about the relationship between humans and God – and that salvation is by God Alone, and not by anything they did or could have done.

Fourth, they would have sang Psalm 113 and 114 – psalms of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance and a call to humble obedience to God in thanksgiving for His Salvation – and then they would have drunk the second glass of wine – affirming again the favor of God on His people – on all those who believe in Him and the salvation that comes from Him Alone.

Fifth, they would have eaten the lamb – and the lamb would have been eaten throughout the rest of the meal.  As the slaughtered lamb was brought to them on this somber night when Jesus told them that He was leaving to be put to death by sinners, what we they thinking?  What was Jesus thinking?  Was He remembering the day on the mountain when Abraham followed God’s instruction to sacrifice his son – his only son – his beloved son – only to be stopped as God answered Abraham’s faith-filled words to Isaac, “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’ So they went both of them together”?  (Genesis 22:8, ESV).  Was He remembering the introduction of John the Baptist:  “The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”? (John 1:29, ESV).  Was He thinking of His Triumph when all the voices of heaven and earth will break forth:  “saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’”? (Revelation 5:12, ESV).

It was at this point that Jesus changed the Passover meal and instituted the Lord’s Supper – at the point when they would eat the unleavened bread and drink the second glass of wine:

 “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.’”

Jesus instructed them that in eating the unleavened bread – which He broke – they were no longer to merely remember the haste with which Israel left Egypt, but the power and swiftness of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection – that His Body – like the lamb – like the piece of bread would be broken – savaged tortured on their behalf and on the behalf of all those who would ever believe in Him – for the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness to them – that they would once again be delivered from bondage – not merely from the Egyptians, but from sin itself.  He told them – whenever they observed the Sacrament – to remember what He had done on their behalf.

While they ate, they would have drunk a third glass of wine as part of the Passover meal and continued to eat the bread and the lamb.

Then, they would have sung Psalms 115-118 – Psalms of deliverance by the Hand of God.  Psalms uplifting the Power and Love of God for His people.  Psalms calling – not only Israel – but the whole world to give thanks to the Lord for what He had done.

The conclusion of the Passover meal is a fourth glass of wine:

“And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’”

Remembering that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, Jesus told the apostles that He would not merely be savagely tortured, but His Blood would be poured out – He had to shed His Blood and die – just as the lamb they had eaten shed his blood and died – but now, as a Man for His people – as a Holy and Perfect Substitute – He was going to die in our place that we might live with Him eternally – forgiven of our sins and made righteous through His Work.

Quickly, then, we might still wonder, “Why is this a new covenant?”  It is a “new covenant” in two senses:  first, rather than having that Law written on stone; it is written on our hearts and enacted upon by the Holy Spirit, and, second, rather than the covenant being explicitly with the nation of Israel, it is now between all believers of every nation, tribe, and tongue.

Luke concludes this section with Jesus reflecting on Judas:  “’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!’ And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.”

And so, now that we have looked at the transformation from the Passover meal to the Lord’s Supper, we address this morning’s question:  what are the elements?  Specifically, what are the bread and the cup – the wine?

As we looked at the Passover meal, we saw that the unleavened bread was symbolic of the need for Israel to be ready to quickly leave Egypt and the wine was symbolic of God’s Favor and Faithfulness to the Covenant that God made with Abraham.  Was the bread itself the ability to leave Egypt quickly?  No.  Was the wine itself God’s Favor and Faithfulness?  No.  They were symbols by which the people remembered what God had done for them in saving them from bondage in Egypt.

As we look at the Lord’s Supper, there are four major interpretations of what the bread and the wine are – or become, but they can be stated even more generally for our purposes this morning as two interpretations:  first, there are those who believe the bread and the wine – in some way – are transformed into the real flesh and the real blood of Jesus of Nazareth, Who died on the cross two thousand years ago.  Second, there are those that believe that the bread and the wine remain bread and wine and are symbolic of what Jesus did in saving His people.

The Reformed view – in which tradition this church is – holds to the second understanding – the bread and the cup – the wine – remain bread and wine and are symbolic of the Work that Jesus did in saving His people.  Why do we say that?  It largely hinges on the discussion of what the meaning of “is” is in the text.

First, as we look at the Passover meal that Jesus shared with His apostles, with Jesus there, in His real human body, prior to the crucifixion, He said that the bread “is” His body and the cup “is” the new covenant in His blood.  Is there any reason for us to believe that Jesus cut off pieces of flesh or bled into the cup at the Last Supper?  And if He did, what would it mean, since He had not yet died and risen?  No, at the Last Supper, Jesus was telling the apostles that when then celebrated the Sacrament in the future and broke the bread, they should understand it symbolically and remember that His body was broken for the sake of our sins, and, as they drank the cup, they ought to remember that His blood was shed for the sake of our sins, and, because He suffered and died in the flesh and under the Wrath of God and rose from the dead, we are forgiven and credited with His Righteousness – we are saved.

Secondly, we note that it was not unusual for Jesus to use symbolic language:  He called Himself “the door” (John 10:7), yet we do not believe that Jesus was made of wood and had hinges.  He called Himself “the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11), but we know Jesus was a carpenter and then a rabbi, not a shepherd.  He called Himself “the vine” (John 15:1), yet we do not believe that He was a plant or had leaves.  And so forth.  So, it was not be out of character for Jesus to use symbols to refer to Himself and His Work.

Third, if, after the Ascension, Jesus body became divine, so He could be everywhere, and the bread and the cup could literally become His real human flesh and blood, then we would no longer have a human to intercede on our behalf before the Father (John 17:24).

Also, fourth, if Jesus body became divine, then we would also have to become gods in the Kingdom.  As Paul writes, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5, ESV).

Finally, there is a linguistic problem, Jesus does say that the bread is His body, but He says the cup is the new covenant in His blood – not His blood itself.

So, what shall we understand?

First, the bread does not in any way become the real body of Jesus.  And the wine in no way becomes the real blood of Jesus.

Second, the bread and the cup are given to us in the Sacrament – not that we would eat real human flesh and drink real human blood, but that we would remember that Jesus died for the sins of everyone who would ever believe, that He is here with us now – in the reading and preaching of the Word and as we receive the elements of the Sacrament – through which He gives us His Grace (which we will talk more about next week, Lord willing), and that we remember and hold fast with great hope in the Promise that He made that He is returning to restore the Creation and banish sin and death and evil and raise everyone who believes in Him Alone for salvation in their real, physical, human, perfect, glorified bodies – just like His is now, seated at the Right Hand of the Father in Glory.

So, let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for these symbols that You have given us in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper – that as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we remember what Jesus did for us on earth that we might be saved from Your Wrath and welcomed as Your sons and daughters, that we would spiritually commune with Jesus right now and be made able to do all that You have set before us, and that we would be stirred up with great confidence and hope in Your soon coming again to bring us into the fullness of the Kingdom.  Come, Lord Jesus!  For it is in His Name we pray, Amen.

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