Historians, theologians, and cultural anthropologists have studied the Last Supper with expert eyes. But for just a moment, I want you to look at the Last Supper through the personal eyes of Jesus.
Imagine walking into the upper room and looking around at the disciples---- not just the 12, but all the friends and followers who could pack themselves in for the annual Passover meal. Your mother is there. (We know she was close enough to be at the cross the next morning.) So are James’s and John’s mother, Mary Magdalene, and the others who walked with you from Galilee down through Jericho.
Imagine seeing them there, happy, excited about what a great Passover it’s been so far. Hear them chattering away, so relieved that finally----- finally the crowds in Jerusalem are giving You the recognition You deserve. Hear their easy conversation, their jokes about the chief priests with their empty threats, but they won’t raise a finger against You because the city would riot.
Hear them speculating on what the Kingdom will be like because surely it’s near. It must almost be time. They’re so happy. They’re so, so happy.
You look around at them all, and you think, “This time tomorrow I’ll be dead.”
That’s what the Last Supper meant to Jesus.
Yes, it was the fulfillment of prophesy. Yes, it was the bridge between the Old Covenant and the New. Before the night is done, Jesus will teach the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, review the fundamentals of the New Testament Church, institute the practice of prayer in His name, and clarify the eschatology of the end times.
But on it’s deepest and most personal level, this seder meal that Jesus organized was His last chance to have all of His friends together before He died.
What would you say to your friends tonight, if you KNEW that you were going to die tomorrow?
What would you say to your friends tonight, if you KNEW that you were going to die tomorrow?
From the moment Judas left the room in John 13: 30 until Jesus and the 12 headed out for the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane in John 18: 1, Jesus talked. For 4 ½ chapters John records what Jesus said. Nearly a quarter of John’s gospel is occupied by this one conversation/ lesson/ sermon.
The Last Supper tells us what Jesus would say if He knew that He was going to die the next day.
Because He did.
This week, read John chapters 13-17 again. Hear the voice of Jesus speak to you. Hear His sorrow and His hope. Listen to the Word like your Best Friend was talking and this was the Last Supper you would have with Him.
Listen well, because that’s what it meant to Jesus.
I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. (John 14: 30)
I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15: 15)
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .
You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .
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