Betrayal and Communion: The Last Supper's Significance
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“Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him. Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?’” [00:00:19]
“Now we could read over this very quickly and miss some of the significance of that directive that Jesus gave to His disciples because in the first instance, the carrying of water jugs was considered women’s work by the biblical Israelites, not a bad insight. And the only time you would see anybody but a woman carrying a jar of water, it would be if that male was a slave, except for one exception.” [00:09:51]
“Here we see the intersection between the secret counsel of God and the machinations of the human will. And many read this text and leap to the conclusion, ‘Wow, if God predestined the betrayal of Judas, how could He possibly justly hold Judas responsible for this evil deed. You can hear Judas on the day of judgment saying, ‘Lord, I was just carrying out Your will.’” [00:17:07]
“Jesus was aware of the Messianic prophecies regarding the Servant of Yahweh. He knew that He was destined to be betrayed, that the betrayal was not a sudden invention of Judas at this last minute in Jesus’ ministry, but the betrayal of the Son of Man had been ordained by God from the foundation of the world. And Jesus said, ‘It’s working out. It’s going exactly as the Father ordained it from the beginning of the world.’” [00:16:16]
“Judas did according to Judas’ own intentions. That’s the wonder of how God even brings good out of evil, brings redemption out of treachery, as He did in the case of Judas. And Jesus remarks at the moment, ‘The Son of Man goes according to what is written of Him, but woe to him, to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.’” [00:19:34]
“And Jesus interrupts this mood of worship, this mood of celebration, and He says, ‘I want to tell you something, beyond a doubt that one of you who is eating with me right here is going to betray Me.’ And you can imagine the pall of horror that descended over the disciples. They were terrified. And they looked at Jesus, and one after another they asked about their involvement in this, and they looked at Jesus and said, ‘Is it I?’” [00:13:30]
“Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ If He spoke these words in Aramaic, which He probably did, basically what He would have been saying is, ‘Eat this My body.’ And so we can’t imagine the number of theological disputes that have gone on in church history on how to interpret this one single line of the New Testament.” [00:20:56]
“Calvin insisted that the human nature is confined by space and time and cannot be in Orlando, Chicago, Saint Louis and Beirut all at the same time. The divine nature, yes, but the human nature, no. The human nature always is limited by the attributes of humanity, whereas Luther insisted that the divine attributes of ubiquity or omnipresence are communicated to the human nature making it possible for Jesus in His humanity to be all of these places at the same time.” [00:22:01]
“And I think the truth is somewhere in between. If you make an identification, an equation between the bread and the wine and the physical body of Jesus, you’ve got Christological problems that just won’t quit. And yet at the same time, Calvin understood that in the mystery of the Lord’s Supper, there was something going on there, and what Jesus was saying is not just this is just my physical person. This is My person.” [00:23:55]
“Yes, Jesus touching His humanity is in heaven, but touching His deity, He is not restricted by time and space, so that we can have full assurance when we come to that table this morning, dear friends, that we come to be in His real presence. He’s here. You say, but He’s always here. Every time we worship, every time we gather together, He’s with us. Yes, that’s true. So what’s the difference? The difference is what He’s doing.” [00:24:38]
“He’s inviting us to a situation of intimacy at His table. He invites us to feed on Him, to be nurtured by Him, to be strengthened by Him. And He said to His disciples, ‘I won’t have this with you again until I drink of the vine in My Father’s kingdom.’ But He’s here with us, today.” [00:25:07]
“Judas was prepared to betray Jesus for half the amount of money that the devoted woman had spent in her effort to honor Him and to give Him glory. In this sense, Jesus’ life is being sold at a cheap rate relatively speaking. And Mark goes on to tell us that Judas, ‘sought how he might….’ Now notice this. It doesn’t simply say, ‘Judas sought how he might betray Him,’ but rather he, ‘sought how he might conveniently betray Him.’” [00:06:03]
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“Now we could read over this very quickly and miss some of the significance of that directive that Jesus gave to His disciples because in the first instance, the carrying of water jugs was considered women’s work by the biblical Israelites, not a bad insight. And the only time you would see anybody but a woman carrying a jar of water, it would be if that male was a slave, except for one exception.” [00:09:51]
“Here we see the intersection between the secret counsel of God and the machinations of the human will. And many read this text and leap to the conclusion, ‘Wow, if God predestined the betrayal of Judas, how could He possibly justly hold Judas responsible for this evil deed. You can hear Judas on the day of judgment saying, ‘Lord, I was just carrying out Your will.’” [00:17:07]
“Jesus was aware of the Messianic prophecies regarding the Servant of Yahweh. He knew that He was destined to be betrayed, that the betrayal was not a sudden invention of Judas at this last minute in Jesus’ ministry, but the betrayal of the Son of Man had been ordained by God from the foundation of the world. And Jesus said, ‘It’s working out. It’s going exactly as the Father ordained it from the beginning of the world.’” [00:16:16]
“Judas did according to Judas’ own intentions. That’s the wonder of how God even brings good out of evil, brings redemption out of treachery, as He did in the case of Judas. And Jesus remarks at the moment, ‘The Son of Man goes according to what is written of Him, but woe to him, to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.’” [00:19:34]
“And Jesus interrupts this mood of worship, this mood of celebration, and He says, ‘I want to tell you something, beyond a doubt that one of you who is eating with me right here is going to betray Me.’ And you can imagine the pall of horror that descended over the disciples. They were terrified. And they looked at Jesus, and one after another they asked about their involvement in this, and they looked at Jesus and said, ‘Is it I?’” [00:13:30]
“Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ If He spoke these words in Aramaic, which He probably did, basically what He would have been saying is, ‘Eat this My body.’ And so we can’t imagine the number of theological disputes that have gone on in church history on how to interpret this one single line of the New Testament.” [00:20:56]
“Calvin insisted that the human nature is confined by space and time and cannot be in Orlando, Chicago, Saint Louis and Beirut all at the same time. The divine nature, yes, but the human nature, no. The human nature always is limited by the attributes of humanity, whereas Luther insisted that the divine attributes of ubiquity or omnipresence are communicated to the human nature making it possible for Jesus in His humanity to be all of these places at the same time.” [00:22:01]
“And I think the truth is somewhere in between. If you make an identification, an equation between the bread and the wine and the physical body of Jesus, you’ve got Christological problems that just won’t quit. And yet at the same time, Calvin understood that in the mystery of the Lord’s Supper, there was something going on there, and what Jesus was saying is not just this is just my physical person. This is My person.” [00:23:55]
“Yes, Jesus touching His humanity is in heaven, but touching His deity, He is not restricted by time and space, so that we can have full assurance when we come to that table this morning, dear friends, that we come to be in His real presence. He’s here. You say, but He’s always here. Every time we worship, every time we gather together, He’s with us. Yes, that’s true. So what’s the difference? The difference is what He’s doing.” [00:24:38]
“He’s inviting us to a situation of intimacy at His table. He invites us to feed on Him, to be nurtured by Him, to be strengthened by Him. And He said to His disciples, ‘I won’t have this with you again until I drink of the vine in My Father’s kingdom.’ But He’s here with us, today.” [00:25:07]
“Judas was prepared to betray Jesus for half the amount of money that the devoted woman had spent in her effort to honor Him and to give Him glory. In this sense, Jesus’ life is being sold at a cheap rate relatively speaking. And Mark goes on to tell us that Judas, ‘sought how he might….’ Now notice this. It doesn’t simply say, ‘Judas sought how he might betray Him,’ but rather he, ‘sought how he might conveniently betray Him.’” [00:06:03]
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