14 When the hour had come, Jesus reclined at the table with His apostles. 15 And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering. 16 For I tell you that I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

17 After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”

REFLECTIONS

Written by Stephen Shead

This month we’re returning to the final section of Luke’s Gospel. To get us up to speed on where we’re up to: Jesus has travelled to Jerusalem, knowing that the time has come for him to be handed over to his enemies, suffer, die, and then rise again. As we saw in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus had warned his disciples about this, but they didn’t understand or believe him. They were convinced Jesus would establish the kingdom of God through military strength. But when they got to Jerusalem, all he did was stir up trouble with the powerful religious leaders (chapters 19-20).

By chapter 22, at least one of Jesus’ disciples has worked out that Jesus is headed for a violent death: Judas has already taken a bribe to betray Jesus when the chance arrives.

That brings us to the Passover supper in today’s reading, which we now know of as “the Last Supper.” Jesus tells them this will be his last supper “until the kingdom of God comes” (v 18), which must have got their hopes up again (though tomorrow he will dampen their hopes again).

But the thing that struck me as I read these verses again today was the first thing Jesus says: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before My suffering” (v 15). I don’t think I’d feel like eating if I knew I was about to die a horrible death! So why was Jesus looking forward with so eagerly to this meal? It might be because he knew that the Passover was about to be “fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (v 16) – that is, his death would both fulfil the Passover ceremony and establish the true, everlasting kingdom of God.

But I wonder if Jesus was also eagerly looking forward to this meal because it was the teaching moment he was longing to give them. He didn’t just want them to know that he was going to die. He wanted them – and us – to understand what his death was about, and to take hold of his gift of forgiveness and salvation by trusting in him.

I can only imagine that every time we share the Lord’s Supper remembering why Jesus died and receiving Him by faith, he is filled with delight all over again.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen is our Senior Minister.