On Palm Sunday, Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem as the Messianic King, and on the following day He drove merchants out of the temple. Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week were probably the busiest days of His entire teaching ministry.
Now we come to the day that in many churches is known as “Maundy Thursday.” The word “maundy” is from a Latin word, mandatum, which means “washing,” and it is used because on this day Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. The story of that event appears only in the fourth Gospel (John 13:1ff). The other Gospels tell another story — the story of Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper.
Thursday
Luke identifies Thursday as “the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed” (Luke 22:7). Jesus “eagerly desired to eat this Passover” with His disciples (Luke 22:15).
Just as He had exercised a king’s prerogative and requisitioned a donkey for His ride into Jerusalem, so now He requisitioned an upstairs room in which He could eat the Passover meal. He sent Peter and John ahead to prepare the meal, which would include roasting the Passover lamb.
During the meal Jesus told His disciples (Luke calls them apostles, 22:14) that this would be His last meal until the Messianic banquet of the kingdom of God (22:16).
He then instituted the meal that Paul called “the Lord’s Supper” (see 1 Cor. 11:20). Luke wrote that following Pentecost the church was “devoted … to the breaking of bread” (Acts 2:42), which probably is a reference to the Lord’s Supper, and Christians have been sharing this meal ever since. Some years ago, New Testament scholar C. H. Dodd wrote that “for nineteen centuries there has not been one single week in which this act of remembrance was not made.” Almost all churches — the Quakers and the Salvation Army are exceptions — celebrate the Lord’s Supper. They also agree that the Lord’s Supper is a matter of obedience, remembrance, thanksgiving and communion.
Most of Jesus’ commands were about moral rather than ritual matters, but He did command that this meal be observed. Therefore observing it is an act of obedience to Jesus.
The churches also agree that the Lord’s Supper is, like the Passover meal, a memorial meal. Jesus said it was to be eaten “in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19; see also 1 Cor. 11:24). Just as the Passover lamb reminds Jews of their deliverance from captivity in Egypt, so unleavened bread and wine remind Christians of their Passover lamb (see 1 Cor. 5:7) and His role in their deliverance from captivity in sin.
The churches also agree that the meal is a meal of thanksgiving. As the Jews were thankful for their deliverance at the Passover, and as Jesus was thankful for the bread and wine at His Last Supper (see Luke 22:17, 19), so Christians are thankful for Jesus and His self-sacrifice. Some churches call this meal the Eucharist because the Greek word for “thanksgiving” is eucharistia, and in 1 Corinthians 10:16 Paul may have used the word eucharistia for the Lord’s Supper.
The churches also agree that the Lord’s Supper is a koinonia (1 Cor. 10:16), that is, a communion, sharing or shared life. In addition to sharing the meal with His disciples, Jesus provided a dramatic symbol of their sharing. It was customary at Passover for each participant to have an individual cup, but Jesus told His disciples to drink from a single cup (see Luke 22:17).
Most Christians probably have felt an awareness of their communion with one another while observing the Lord’s Supper. Just as our biological life is sustained by the food we eat, so our common life in Christ is sustained by the Supper we eat together.
In the Lord’s Supper we are sharing not only with each other but also with the Lord. This is His meal, and He is always present for it. Of course, Jesus is always with Christians, but He is with them in a special way when they gather in His name. Likewise He is with Christians in all their meals, but He is with them in a special way when they gather to observe His meal.
Here a fateful disagreement exists among the churches. We all agree that the Lord is present, but we disagree about how to express His presence.
Jesus’ own way of expressing His presence was to speak of the bread and wine as His body and blood (see 1 Cor. 11:24–25). Whatever else that meant, it must have meant He would be present when the Lord’s Supper is observed.
Many Baptist churches express Jesus’ presence in a charming way. As a rule Baptist churches do not have an altar in their buildings; Baptists do not think of the Lord’s Supper as offering a sacrifice to God. Instead each Baptist church has a “table of the Lord” (the phrase is Paul’s; see 1 Cor. 10:21) and invites Christians to come to the table of the Lord to share the Supper of the Lord. This is a lovely way of saying that our communion is with the Lord as well as with each other.
However we may express the manner of Jesus’ presence at the Lord’s Supper, it is real, it is spiritual and it is a mystery.
The Lord’s Supper is important to the life of the church and should be observed in a worthy manner (1 Cor. 11:27). The Swiss theologian Emil Brunner said he thought Jesus had given the ordinances to the church (he called them “sacraments”) so that, even when preachers fail to preach the gospel, the church would have reminders of the gospel events of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He wrote: “The Lord surely knew what He was doing when, on that last night, He said to His Disciples, ‘This do in remembrance of Me.’ Without the Sacraments the Church would long ago have disappeared. … The Sacraments are the divinely given flying buttresses which save the Church from collapse.”
Before the Passover meal ended, Jesus pronounced a woe on Judas. Even though Jesus’ approaching death was part of God’s plan and foreknowledge (see Luke 22:22 and also Acts 2:23), Judas was still responsible for his betrayal of Jesus.
After the Passover meal ended, Jesus went across the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives a short distance east of Jerusalem. He remained in a garden there (see John 18:1) until He was arrested. He prayed about what was going to happen to Him, and His prayer was intense. Naturally He did not want to experience the torture and crucifixion that He saw coming, so He understandably prayed, “Remove this cup from me” (Luke 22:42; see also Heb. 5:7–10). Nevertheless He was perfectly willing to drink the cup if that was the Father’s will. It was, and He did.
It is important for us to believe as Jesus did that what He was doing was God’s will and that He was dying for the sins of the world. But believing is not enough. We who believe must also deny ourselves and take up the cross daily and follow Jesus (see Luke 9:23).
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