This Is My Body | Matthew 26:17-29
Sermon Transcript
Good morning. Good to see you today, finishing up our words of Jesus sermon series with the phrase, this is my body, and so it's going into it's going to lead us into the Lord's Supper today. So you'll get little less preaching than we normally would, because the certain the Lord's Supper acts as a great sermon illustration. To tie this passage together, since that's what we're looking at today. So Matthew 26 is where we are. This is my body starting in verse 17. Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover. He said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples, and the disciples did as Jesus had directed, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the 12, and as they were eating, he said, Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me. And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him, one after another, is it i Lord? And He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born Judas, who would betray him, answered, is it i rabbi? He said to him, you've said so. Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take eat. This is my body. And he took a cup, and when He had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins, I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom, Heavenly Father, we thank you for Being able to be gathered here today to hear about this time where you met with your disciples. You took the Passover meal and father, you gave it a new meeting, a restored meeting, really a redeemed meeting, in some way, even you could say a double meaning, a meaning for all of your people to really understand what we're doing when we take the Lord's Supper. Lord today help us get a better idea behind the theological implications, but also the practical implications of what it means to follow Jesus today, as we look at this passage of Scripture, Lord, I pray that Your Word would speak through me today, that your Holy Spirit would would fill this room as we hear Your word and receive it. We ask these things in Jesus name amen, let me give you several truths we see today in this passage concerning the Lord's Supper, several truths we see concerning the Lord's Supper. Number one, the Lord's Supper is enveloped in history. The Lord's Supper is enveloped, not enveloped, but enveloped, enveloped. In history, verse 17 says it was the first day of and live unleavened bread, and the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where are we going to have this Passover meal? Now the Passover feast. It lasted an entire week. What was it? It was the most important festival of all Judaism. It commemorated God rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt. So it was an important meal where they would eat unleavened bread. Now, why would you eat unleavened bread? Because it wouldn't taste nearly as good as leavened bread. The eating of the Unleavened Bread symbolized the haste by which the Jewish people had to leave Egypt as they fled Pharaoh. So they left so fast they couldn't wait. Wait for the bread to rise in their houses. They had to get out of there quickly. So it's no coincidence that Jesus's last meal would be this Passover celebration. So the disciples are merely asking, Where are we going to celebrate the Passover meal together? Verse 18 he gives some details. He says, go into this city and say to a certain man, the teacher says, my time is at hand. In other words, I need a place to stay. Verse 19. And they did as he directed them, and they prepared the Passover this man's house. Now the feast would last between seven or eight days, and this supper, then Jesus's arrest and his trial and his crucifixion and His death and His resurrection all happened during this one week, This Holy Week, and the theological implications that occurred during Passover were significant. These events, they highlight the connection between the Old Testament, Passover story and then the events of the New Testament, Jesus's crucifixion and his resurrection. See Jesus is seen by putting these two stories together as the ultimate Passover sacrifice. The ultimate Passover lamb, his sacrifice brings complete freedom from sin and death. He is the Final Sacrifice. It mirrors the Israelites liberation from slavery in Egypt during this time where Passover was first instituted. And the timing of this event underscores the idea that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. He's the ultimate manifestation of God's plan for salvation for mankind, and this Passover symbolism of liberation and redemption and deliverance from sin is reflected in our Christian belief that through Christ's death, through His Resurrection, believers are redeemed from sin, given new life in Christ, and then the alignment of these events with the Passover emphasizes that continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament, showing that Jesus's ministry, his his Message, are rooted in the Old Testament scriptures, it fulfills God's covenant with His people, and then the timing of his death and his resurrection during the Passover, the holiest week, the most important week to the Jewish people, just deepens our understanding of the significance of Jesus's sacrifice and how it fits into the broader narrative of salvation. So the institution of the Lord's Supper is enveloped. It's wrapped up in history and theological history. Secondly, the Lord's Supper is also enveloped in betrayal. Betrayal. Verse 20 says, When it was evening, he reclined at table with the 12. Now, when I was growing up, laying around on the couch eating dinner was not appropriate. It was seen as a no no. When you ate family dinner, I was expected to keep my elbows off the table, keep my left hand on my lap, and use my manners with my fork and all that kind of thing. This was not the case in Greco Roman culture at the time, reclining at meals, laying around on the couches, eating together was not a sign of laziness. It was a sign of relaxation. It was a sign of freedom. It was a sign of leisure and intimacy. You know, if you sit on the couch next to someone, you're close to them, right? I like the three extra inches on each side, right? Your family, you don't really get a lot of space, especially with all my children, they fight to see who can get closest, right? It's an intimate situation. Now, if you're eating on a couch together with a table, it's even more intimate. And this is how they did things, and this was contrasted to when they would sit upright, because sitting upright was typically associated with doing work, doing some type of trade or labor, and so this act of reclining, it. Emphasize this idea of a close fellowship of people and intimacy a community community. It symbolized the close bond that those who shared the meal together had. You know you when you eat with people, it's an intimate thing. If you're too close to them, and if they don't close their mouth and eat. You see all sorts of things happening. You know, I get food all my beard, right? You can see people chewing. It's kind of strange things. When you go to lunch today, you might be noticing this with people, right? But it's an intimate type of situation to eat with people. And so that's how it was. They they enjoy the food with people you know. Have you ever had dinner with someone that made you feel uncomfortable? You can't even enjoy the food. It's an intimate thing. I remember I had a date with a girl back in high school. We only went on one or two of these, and she ordered ribs, and she had it all over her face. And I just thought thing, and she thought it was funny, but I was like, I don't know if I have a second date. And so it's an intimate kind of thing, right? And so the way we eat our meals in a formal setting, really, on a lot of ways, is you could even say it's not biblical. See, mealtimes in the Bible were times where close friends and families could relax. You would only eat with your very close friends, and this is what makes the portrayal of Judas so painful. Here's a man that they ate together, probably many times, traveled together, had a close bond. They trust each other with their lives, and Judas betrays them. Look at verse 21 as they were eating Jesus, as we would say, drops this bomb on them. Says, I say to you, one of you will betray me. And I bet they were thinking what they were sorrowful. And I began to say to him, one after another, is it me? Is it me? I can see, I can see Peter and James and John, all the me. Is it me? Is it is it me? And finally, Jesus says verse 23 He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written him, the woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born and Judas who would betray him? Actually, he'd already betrayed him at this point. Says, is it i rabbi? He said, you've said so. I want to give you a timeline of sorts of betrayal, because right before this passage, we see in Matthew 26 verse 14, this one of the 12, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you? See, Jesus was dividing people. He had followers, and he had people who didn't like him, especially the religious establishment says, What will you give me if I, if I, if I give him to you? They had a hard time arresting him during the day, because he would have created an uproar. Says, I can tell you he is I can lead you to him, which he did at night, and they paid him 30 pieces of silver. From that moment, he sought an opportunity to betray him. How much is 30 pieces of silver? Well, economists today said it's about $12,000 $12,000 Think about if I just gave you $12,000 you'd be like, Well, that's nice. That really helped pay some bills, or that kind of thing. But you know, fairly quickly you would run through that money, especially if you have four children, you'd run through it. So it's a lot of money, but it's not really a lot of money to betray your rabbi, your Savior, your Lord. $12,000 that was it. When the Lord's Supper started, Jesus had already been sold out. And after Jesus identifies Judah, he identifies Judas. And after the supper, the supper, the falling happens. Look at Matthew 2647 while he was still speaking, Judas came one of the 12, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs and the chief priests and elders of the people. Now, the betrayer had given them a sign saying, the one I will kiss is the man. In other words, I'm going to shake a guy's hand. That's how we would do it, and that's the one that makes it even worse. When you shake someone's hand, you expect a level of trust. That's how they did it in the biblical times. And they kissed my own cheek. It was a level of trust. And you're going to shake me in the hand and you're going to look me in the eye and you're going to lie to me. Yes, that's what he did. Rabbi. It, and when he did it, as he was looking him in the eye, kissed him on the cheek. Jesus says, do what you came to do. And Jesus didn't really avoid confrontation. He said what needed to be said in the moment. Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. He's interested in taking the high priest Look at Matthew 27 then when Jesus, Judas, is betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind, and he brought back 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and elder, saying, I've sinned by betraying in his sin, blood. And they said, We don't care. What is that to us? See to it yourself. They already had what they wanted. And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and he hanged himself. Jesus regrets his actions, returns the money and hangs himself. This is why Jesus says it would have been better if he had not been born without making a big theological statement on his manner of death. To what Jesus is saying was he was not a believer. Never was, even though he had some guilt. There's no repentance there. Jesus says there's better. They have never been born. He is the son of perdition. Bible says the Lord's Supper is enveloped in betrayal. And finally, number three, the Lord's Supper is enveloped in forgiveness. It's about forgiveness. Look at verse 26 now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take eat. This is my body. And he took a cup, and when He had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it. All of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. He uses this metaphorical language describes the literal breaking of bread as what will happen to his body at the time of his crucifixion. His body will be broken and he will die, and just as He poured out the red wine into cups, into the cup, so his blood will be poured out of his body as he is crucified, yet as His blood is poured out into the ground, through His death, forgiveness of sins is achieved for those who would believe in Him. And then he says, in verse 29 I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom, Jesus makes his promise. This will be his last meal. It's his last meal. This will be his last sip of wine that the next time he takes a drink, in celebratory fashion, will be with all the redeemed in heaven. We're going to see that first sip of what I'm sure will be Welch's grape juice in the Southern Baptist area of heaven, but we'll witness it. He's going to drink his first sip. Will be among the redeemed after he returns. We're an amazing knowing that'll be we'll all be there together. I won't taste this again until I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom, the intimacy of the 12 becomes intimacy of all the redeemed of mankind of all time. Jesus instructs us to eat, tells us to drink, and in so doing and so taking this Lord's Supper, we have a chance to remember and proclaim Jesus's sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Now we do it differently. We didn't roll couches in here and all lay on top of each other and spread out and and eat together. We do it formal, but the meaning is the same, and we do it, and we meditate on the grace and mercy given to us through his work on the cross. Be prepared to take the supper we're going to give you three quick things I want you to think about as we do this. Number one, meditate on the body of Jesus being broken and spilled for us, meditate on that. What does it mean that he says his body's broken spilled for us? Secondly, reflect on your life. Reflect on how you've been following Christ. Repent of the sins, repent of those sins that keep you from following Jesus the way he wants you to and renew, renew your commitment. See baptism. When we're baptized is when we say we're falling. We're followers of Christ. We've been redeemed. It's the front door the church, so to speak, and the Lord's Supper keeps the back doors closed. It gives us a. Chance to renew our faith. Gives us a chance to renew our commitment. As we think about what Christ has done for us and we meditate and we turn from sin, it gives us a chance to say, no, yes, I am a believer, and thank you for this grace you give me today, Jesus, renew your commitment. And number three, we get to experience the unity of the Body of Christ. If you are a baptized believer, you're able to take this supper. We're able to experience it together. We're able to renew our commitment all at once. So we take the juice and we take the bread experience the body of Christ, the Lord's Supper is enveloped in forgiveness, Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for what you've given us in Christ, Jesus, and as we approach your table today, Lord, It's my prayer that We we take it in a way that's worthy, worthy of what you've done for us, that we reflect on our lives, and Lord that we we reflect and we repent and we renew. Father that you lead us into your grace. That way we ask these things in Jesus name Amen. Amen.
