THE LORD’S SUPPER IS HEAVEN ON EARTH
The Text, St. Luke 22:14-20. “When the hour had come, [Jesus] sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise, He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
Lord, this is Your Word, and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Lord God, in this wondrous sacrament You have left us a memorial of Your Passion: Grant that we may so receive the sacred mystery of Your body and blood that the fruits of Your redemption may continually be manifest in us; You, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for Maundy Thursday)
Dear people loved by Him who locates His love in His Supper:
Why did Jesus institute the Lord’s Supper? In Luke’s gospel, we hear why. The first thing we hear Jesus say in Luke’s account is this statement: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
Do you doubt that you’re loved? “With fervent desire,” is how Jesus invites you. That’s what the Lord’s Supper is: an invitation. These words that Luke records are like a gold-embossed invitation with your name on it.
This love of Jesus, His “fervent desire,” is His love for sinners. His Supper is something that He institutes for sinners. He instituted it for you. He loves you, despite your sins. He is your Savior. Just as He ate with sinners showing that He loved even them, and irritated the Pharisees in doing so, He wants to host this Supper for you of His body that was given into death for you, and His blood that He shed to cleanse you from all your sin, showing that He loves even you, and He irritates the devil in doing so; and you irritate the devil in joyfully coming to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper!
At the end of these verses, we hear: “This [bread] is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. … This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
These are the words of institution. There can be no more personal words than these. Jesus uses the personal pronoun “My” and the personal pronoun “you.” He is not delivering an impressive speech. The language of love is direct and simple. He says the bread is His body. The wine is His blood.
Despite how simple this is, some people try to rationalize and explain it.
They think, surely He doesn’t mean it is His body, but it symbolizes or represents it. But when Jesus says of the blood that is the “new covenant” or “new testament” in His blood, it’s a sign that He is speaking as you would in a last will and testament. So the words must be taken simply at face value. In a will, there can’t be a debate about what a word means. So “is” means is.
Or, they say, since He hadn’t actually been to the cross yet, surely He was saying that what was in the cup that had wine in it would be His blood. But this ignores the power of His Word, which Jesus demonstrated in countless miracles (starting with water-into-wine). If the Son of God, in the presence of His disciples, said of the cup, “This is the new covenant in My blood,” then that’s what it is. He didn’t say “it will be.” He said: “It is.”
That brings us back to His fervent love. The word “is” matters not only because Jesus is making an equal sign between the bread and His body, the wine and His blood; but also because the word “is” is present tense. It’s about now. It isn’t a remembering that looks back to the past, or imagining what it’s like to be face to face with Him in heaven. This is Jesus being with you now.
Luke doesn’t include the words “take, eat,” or “drink of it, all of you.” But Jesus distributed it to the disciples to eat and drink, and: “Do this” – “keep on doing this” – “in remembrance of Me.”This is what you’re invited to.
Do you treasure this invitation? It’s true we don’t always think much of it. Sometimes you’re waiting for a better offer. You get more excited about earthly things. You pay attention when you’re being shouted at, or if money is involved. Perhaps you don’t feel the urgency to heed this invitation, because you’ve heard it so often, or because there seem to be sinners who need it more urgently than you. This shows you don’t hear it as invitation.
When the pastor speaks Jesus’ words over the elements, the words are powerful to act upon the bread and wine so that the bread is now also His body, and the wine is now also His blood. But the words are also speaking to you, inviting you, and this invitation has power to give you faith to receive it.
Luke unwraps this for us to show us just what this invitation is. Back up from Jesus’ words of institution, and in v. 18 you hear Him say: “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Back up two more verses and you hear Jesus say: “I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” This is the gold lettering!
This says where Jesus is inviting you in the Lord’s Supper. He says: where His Supper is ‘fulfilled’ – completed, perfected. Where is that? In heaven.
He’s inviting you where your sins will be taken away. Where will you have no sins? In heaven.
He’s inviting you where He will be intimately united with you. Where will you be closer to Jesus than you can ever be? In heaven.
He’s inviting you where you “join with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven.”Where will you be as close as you can to all the departed Christians – your loved ones who died in faith – and the angels too? In heaven.
He’s inviting you where nobody has any sins. Where not only don’t you have any sins, but no one else does. Where everyone’s forgiven, and nobody is separated by anger, resentment, or any grudges. Where love is all there is, love grows and grows. Where is everyone so perfectly at peace with each other? In heaven!
He’s inviting you to be perfectly cleansed. He dresses you in a clean white robe of His perfect righteousness. Where is everyone is dressed in a “white robe?” (Rev 7:9) In heaven.
But, despite all this talk about heaven, which is in your future, this is not about the future. Jesus says “is.” This is about right now. He isn’t inviting you to heaven. He’s inviting you to heaven on earth.
That’s what the Lord’s Supper is: heaven on earth. You eat and drink here on earth for the forgiveness of your sins. But at the same time, you’re united with the company of heaven, who are with Jesus face to face. As you eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper with faith in His words, you are enjoying the benefits of being a citizen of heaven (Phi 3:17).
Isn’t that what it means for Jesus to be really present with you, for you to be in His presence and be unafraid, completely clean, living in perfect peace with the whole family of God? Oh, the kindness of our Savior! He doesn’t keep heaven up there somewhere. He brings it to us. Wherever you are, whatever it looks like, it’s a heaven on earth where – as His Supper reveals – you are fervently loved by the only One whose opinion matters – Jesus! Amen!