It’s the Last Supper or the Lord’s Supper. It has a precious meaning, and as often as we do it we are called upon to remember it is HIS supper. Let it speak to you afresh. Me for you. That’s the message of the supper and the washing of feet. What is mine for what is yours. Those were the thoughts of Jesus. What a love that caused Jesus to do this for us!
I Corinthians 11: 23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. 27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
When Paul wrote this around AD 53-55, it was 20+ years after the original Last Supper. The city of Corinth was an impossible place, but the grace of the gospel made it possible. No life is so bad that Jesus can’t change it. Hearts were changed. Lifestyles were completely turned around. This is the same thing that happened to us. In an instant, we were changed, almost as if a losing of something and a gaining of something else took place. Really, that is what happened.
Paul was not in the Upper Room that night. Later on he said he received instruction of the Lord in the privacy of the desert and when he was caught up into the third heaven. Paul is quoting Jesus. He reminded the people in Corinth that it’s not a ceremony but a time of remembrance of Jesus and what he’s all about. Jesus broke the bread and said “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.” About the cup he said “this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” This is salvation. The trade was spoken about. His body was broken for us. He gave what he had so that he could take away our sin. Broken pieces of bread were his body given for us. He was the Son of God fully divine yet the Son of Man fully human. He offered his body so we could be saved. It’s all about Jesus for you, Jesus for me. I don’t have a thing to give that isn’t corrupt and defiled. I was hell deserving. Jesus was sinless, spotless, and guiltless. I was guilty. He took my guilt so I could have his innocence. He took my curse so I could have his blessing. Mine for yours.
This is why we remember and celebrate. We’re saved by the giving of ourselves to him. When I received Jesus I got the deal. He didn’t get much. Knowing Jesus as Savior makes rough days bearable. He made us alive inside. At our last breath we’ll live on. The devil cannot stop the eternal life Jesus gives. That came about because he traded his life for my death. He who is life eternal gave his life so we could be alive with him. That’s why we eat the bread and drink the cup. We’re not worthy to do it, and we must be careful not to do so with hypocrisy or with sin in our life.
In order for salvation to come Jesus had to give his all. We need to remember what Jesus did for us. I have been died for. I don’t have to die in my sins. I can go to heaven. Jesus took my eternal death. He takes sins away and makes us as if we’ve never sinned.
When we wash one another’s feet, we see Jesus doing the same to his disciples. He bowed down to wash the lowest part. The least we can do is serve him, from our lowest part upward.
Me for you. Mine for yours. Through observance of the Last Supper we have the opportunity to return the same and give ourselves afresh, to give our all.
That is precisely what he did.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 