WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:07.759 Thank you for listening to an audio resource from Stanwich Church, located in Greenwich in Stanford, Connecticut. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:12.960 The vision of Stanwich Church is to know Christ and make him known. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:37.920 This can be found on page 1048 of your Pew Bible. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:53.759 The Lord's preparation and celebration of the Passover meal with his disciples is a picture of the spiritual significance of breaking bread in Christian community to that day. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:01.920 A reading from Luke chapter 22, beginning with the 14th verse. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:10.400 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:20.079 And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:28.400 For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:38.159 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:48.640 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.200 And he took bread. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:02:02.159 And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.439 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:16.479 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup is poured out for you. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:23.280 This cup is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.879 May God add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:40.960 I understand why people line up for Black Friday at Best Buy, and why some of them cry when they get inside and discover the door busters are gone. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:51.520 I understand why millions line up for Taylor Swift concerts, and why they scream and sometimes cry when the lights go down and the show begins. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:06.319 What I'm less sure I understand is why many millions more line up again and again for a small piece of bread and a sip of juice. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.680 And why sometimes they cry. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:15.680 It's a bit bizarre if you think about it, isn't it? 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:19.840 Why do they do that? 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:22.960 Why do you do that? 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:26.719 Why do you sometimes cry? 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:33.840 I know because I've served you the elements and have seen you do it through my tear-stained eyes. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:38.400 We're in a series called Welcome to the Table. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:49.120 And this morning we're looking at the Lord's Supper, as told to us in the Gospel of Luke, to see if we can maybe understand this puzzling phenomenon a little more. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:57.520 And to add to the puzzlement, when I listened to the reading of the passage, I thought I heard two cups mentioned. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:02.879 Could it be that we have been doing communion wrong all this time? 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:08.080 It's right there in verses 17 and 20. 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:13.840 Luke mentions two cups, while Matthew and Mark each mention one, and John? 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:15.919 Not at all. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:22.399 Things like this sometimes make people question the reliability of the scriptures. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:25.600 But Houston, we don't actually have a problem. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.319 And a story might help. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:33.600 This summer our family had the privilege of spending a week in the Mediterranean. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:38.399 And at the end of the trip, we ask everyone what their favorite part of had been. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:43.680 For my father-in-law, it was the gelato, which he managed to have five times. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:49.600 And for one of the kids, it was the hike up a dolomite mountain that required ropes. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.480 For my nephew, it was the water sports. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:56.319 And for me, it was definitely not the water sports. 00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:05.680 You see, we went tubing, and when the boat pulled our inflatable over the first wave, the two of us flew up into the air and bashed heads against each other. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:10.160 Except he's a 19-year-old rugby player. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.560 No, we were all describing the same trip. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:27.519 Was one of us wrong? 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:29.040 Also, no. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:39.600 What we have is a group of different people who experienced the same trip, but who were struck by different things, and so we emphasize different moments. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:49.439 And the child who reports liking one hike in particular is trying to say something slightly different than the one who says they liked all the hikes. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:54.240 And so it is with the Gospels and their accounts of the Lord's Supper. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:59.920 They report different things, but none of them are wrong or unreliable. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:17.279 The Gospel writers arrange, emphasize, and tell their stories differently in order to provide their own particular perspective on what happened that night, giving us a richer and more complete understanding of its meaning. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:25.759 The desire to harmonize the accounts is very understandable, but it can ultimately be unhelpful. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:31.279 It takes something that's four-dimensional and flattens it into 2D. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:38.319 A better strategy then in reading the gospel is to ask, well, what is unique here? 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:40.720 What is different? 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:46.240 Why does this story tell, why does this writer tell the story this way? 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:52.240 And those differences actually give us clues about what the author wants us to see. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:59.439 And with that in mind, let's get into our passage, Luke chapter 22, starting from verse 14. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:07.439 And when the hour came, he reclined at the table and the apostles with him. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:14.800 Right from the opening of the scene, Luke does something different from Matthew and Mark. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:19.360 You have to listen carefully to it in order to catch it. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:24.399 Matthew says, Jesus was reclining at the table with a 12. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.079 Mark says, Jesus arrived with a twelve. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:34.639 Luke says, Jesus reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:37.680 Did you catch that? 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:46.319 Jesus with a twelve, Jesus with the twelve, Jesus and the apostles with him. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:53.360 Matthew and Mark were just trying to push all the people on stage so that they could get on with a play. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:57.199 Luke, however, subtly changes the syntax. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:11.680 He slows things down, separating the main character and hosts of the evening from the guests that he has invited, and emphasizes the fact that they are with him. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:20.720 If you don't know anything about the apostles, it's an odd bunch of people that Jesus had gathered around him. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:25.759 There's one who's working for Rome and one who's working for the overthrow of Rome. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:31.199 There's one who's still under his mother's care and one who's caring for his mother-in-law. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:34.799 There's white collar and blue collar. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:40.399 And yes, even though they don't know it yet, a betrayer and a denier. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.720 No wonder they're always bashing heads against each other. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:59.039 Now you're all dressed up nice and clean, so I don't know what's odd or off about you, or who or what it is that brings out the things in you that are ugly. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:05.919 All I know is that if we are honest with ourselves, we all are in some way. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:15.360 And what Luke wants us to know is that everyone, even you and even me, is invited. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:19.679 Everyone has a place at Jesus' table. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:26.240 And it's not just that Jesus allows them to be there. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:32.639 In Matthew and Mark, the first scene has a sorrowful Jesus intimating that one of them will betray him. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:35.039 But Luke does something different. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:36.559 Verse 15. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:45.200 And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:50.639 Or literally, with desire, I have desired. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:58.559 In Semitic language and Semitic languages, when you want to emphasize something, you repeated the same word twice in succession. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:00.879 And that is what Jesus does here. 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:04.080 He isn't here feeling sad for himself. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:07.679 He is here because he wants to be here. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:14.639 And he doesn't make a place at the table for you because he had no choice, you know, your crazy old Uncle Frank. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:24.480 He's making a place for you because he really, really, really wants to be with you. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:31.120 May I ask what it is that you desire with desiring? 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.200 I know what it was for my seven-year-old self. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:40.879 In my grandmother's house, I watched my brother open the birthday present that she had given him. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:46.559 They were matchbox cars, and there was nothing in the world I wanted more. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:54.399 And so I let it be known to her that I wanted my birthday present now, even though my birthday was still six months away. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:00.320 And there didn't seem to be recognition in you about matchbox cars. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:29.679 So if it doesn't resonate with you because you're a different age group, the equivalent for you might be the cabbage patch doll or tickle me elmo or a video game console, or that club membership, or that promotion at work, or a restored relationship, or the health of a loved one who is sick, or the presence of one who's passed away. 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:44.960 That deep desire you feel, know this that with an even greater desire, Jesus wants to be present with you to do something for you. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:59.679 The verse tells us that the meal they're having is a Passover meal, which is very helpful because we have a pretty good sense of what Passover meals were like in the time of Jesus. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:07.600 The original Passover was eaten standing up because the Israelites were slaves who were leaving Egypt in haste. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:14.960 But by the time of Jesus they ate it reclining, because that's what Greco-Roman people did when they were partying. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:27.519 We also know, and if you've already turned off your hearing aid, now is the time to turn it back on, that the Passover meals of that time involved four cups. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:41.120 Or more accurately, that wine was poured into your cup four times at the beginning of the meal, during the meal, after the meal, and at the conclusion of the evening. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:54.240 At the beginning of the evening, before you drank the first pour, the host would pronounce a blessing, which goes, Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:59.519 Do you see what might have led Jesus to say later that evening that I am the vine? 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:02.639 Yeah, it's not all, it's not made up. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:07.120 This first cup and blessing is what you have in verse 17. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:15.919 And the second cup that Luke mentions in verse 20, he describes in that verse as the cup after they had eaten. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:21.440 So it's actually the third cup of the Passover meal. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.039 Well, here's something else that's good to know. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:37.279 The reason the Jewish people had four cups is that for them it represented the four ways that God had promised to save them as recorded in Exodus chapter six. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:14:01.440 In Exodus chapter six, it says, I am the Lord your God, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will deliver you from slavery to them, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, I will take you to be my people. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:07.360 I want to focus on the third cup, the third promise. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.879 I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:21.039 If you go to Egypt and visit the museums and the archaeological sites, you'll find many depictions of Pharaoh in what's known as the mace pose. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:30.960 In one hand, Pharaoh holds a mace, a club-like weapon, and with the other hand he grabs his defeated enemy by the hair. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:42.159 Chase actually volunteered for a demo of this picture, which I'm very grateful for because Chuck and Jelani are no help at all. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.399 I think he ran away already. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.480 It is a picture of Pharaoh's power. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:02.720 And the Israelites living under Egyptian oppression would have been very familiar with that image. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:10.720 And so later on, after they left Egypt, God would remind them over and over again, using the same words. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:13.919 You will see it littered all over Deuteronomy. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:27.279 He says, You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:30.240 See what he was doing there? 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:31.919 Yeah. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:39.279 This is a picture that would have been on the disciples' minds as they came to the third Passover cup. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:46.159 And then Jesus says, This is my body which is given for you. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:52.240 This cup that is poured out for you is a new covenant in my blood. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:59.679 The Passover meal is highly scripted, and we know that these words are not part of the script. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:03.279 They would have been startling to the disciples. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:14.720 And with rebellions against Rome happening all the time, and with the image of Pharaoh in their minds, perhaps they thought, is Jesus saying that he's ready to fight? 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.759 Is he saying he's ready to shed blood with us? 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:23.919 Are we making a blood covenant, a little band of brothers prepared to die together if necessary? 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:26.879 Well, okay, let's go get our swords. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:29.519 They don't know it yet. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:32.960 But God is doing something completely different. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:42.960 Because very, very soon, Jesus will transform what it means for God to save with outstretched arms. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.519 My grandmother was very kind. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:53.759 The next time we visited her house, she had a present ready for me, even though my birthday was still months away. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:59.440 And I was very excited because the box was bigger than the one my brother had gotten. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:03.519 I opened it and inside there were two dozen. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:06.240 Two dozen pairs of underwear. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:22.400 I know there are bigger disappointments in life. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:25.519 I've known some myself. 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.039 Maybe life hasn't turned out the way you imagined. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:38.720 Maybe you've made a mess of things with family, with friends, with God. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:45.519 Maybe you work hard for something and it still hasn't come to pass. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:52.160 Maybe you're so deep in disappointment you don't know how to come up for air. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:59.599 Friend, take all your disappointed desires to the cross and to his presence. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.880 Put your broken pieces next to his broken body. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:09.759 Pour out your complaints next to his poured out blood. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:14.240 Stay there and see what he does. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:17.440 The disciples didn't know it yet. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:20.480 But God was transforming everything. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:22.400 You don't know it yet. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:24.559 And I don't know it yet. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:26.720 We don't know it yet. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:35.440 How God will transform everything as you come into his welcoming, outstretched arms. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:41.839 And maybe that is in part why millions line up and come week after week. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:44.720 Maybe that is why sometimes we cry. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:47.119 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.480 That's what Jesus says in verse 19. 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:54.319 And as I read that verse, I'm struck by another difference. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:04.480 Jesus said, Do this, and it appears by this, we understand a ritual involving said small piece of bread and sip of juice. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:10.160 But the first Christ followers interpreted it to mean the entire meal. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:14.000 And so they had regular gatherings called love feasts. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:21.599 Which to me raises the question: could it be that we have gotten it wrong? 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:28.079 Could it be that by reducing communion to symbolic elements, we're missing something? 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:34.799 And what if the truer communion isn't what we do here, but what we do in Emmaus Hall? 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:37.920 And you know, you have no excuse not to go. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.759 I'm an introvert as Chuckis, and my wife used to have to drag me in there. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:47.759 Now she has to drag me out. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:57.039 And what if the truer communion is not the coffee date standing up in Emmaus Hall, but in sitting down around a table with a life group? 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:02.160 You know, when we went through our pastoral transition, we conducted a survey. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:12.240 And what it showed is that those of us who attend only on Sunday mornings, uh, we were reasonably satisfied with Stanwich, about 65-70% satisfied. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:24.400 But for those who attended Sunday mornings and one other thing during the week, and basically the one other thing you can attend is a life group, the satisfaction rate jumped to 95%. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:29.519 Why not go and make your life better? 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.240 And what if it's an eating together? 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:39.279 A farmer, a banker, a nurse, and a singer walk into a diner. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:45.119 That sounds like the beginning of a joke. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:49.359 But that's actually a description of some of the people in my life group. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:52.799 What do they have in common? 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:58.880 I mean, even the farmers in our group, one is a vegetable farmer and the other is a horse farmer. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:07.680 And what is it that makes us wake up earlier than we want to every Thursday morning? 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:09.920 It's the presence of Jesus. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:12.640 And what if? 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:24.400 What if when Jesus said to do this, he meant not only participate in this meal, but also become the hosts of these gatherings as Jesus was the host of that gathering? 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:36.319 What if it's in hosting people who might be ungrateful or don't like the food that that's the means that God has given us by which we learn how to love our neighbors? 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:43.200 Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should not do what we're about to do in the next part of our service. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:51.039 There are actually accounts going back as far as the second century of the church practicing communion in this way. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:53.839 But they did not stop there. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:59.599 And don't get me wrong, eating together in and of itself is not. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.119 Magic. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:14.640 The Bible tells us that the church in Corinth they gathered together around a meal, but the banker ate with a banker at the banker's table, and they were hammered by the time the hungry farmer walked in. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:24.880 The Apostle Paul warned them and warns us not to eat and drink without discerning the body. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:28.640 And what is the body? 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:33.440 Or rather, who is the body of Christ? 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.880 It's people sitting around you. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:50.480 If we have judged someone here, which is to say, have thought of them in any way less than what God thinks of them, we have not discerned the body. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:23:04.799 It's not primarily about our individual lists of sins that we are to discern, but more how we as a body haven't been united as the body of Christ. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:17.359 You know, Jesus' last prayer to the Father before that dinner ended, that they may be one, even as we are one. 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:23.279 He actually praised that twice in that same chapter. 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:28.960 But in other places, they did remember Jesus. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:43.359 Their table was not one that divided, but a table that was united, and because they were united, they became a table that multiplied, influencing and changing the world. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:51.279 Let me read for you Acts chapter two and try to listen what happens. 00:23:54.559 --> 00:24:02.559 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:13.039 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:26.559 And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:45.359 And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:54.799 And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:10.960 Maybe it isn't really so bizarre to come again and again, week after week, to the welcoming, outstretched arms of Jesus. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:18.720 We don't know yet what he will do with our disappointments and our brokenness. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:24.000 We don't know yet how he will make us whole. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:30.559 And we don't know yet how he will make the world new. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.599 But we can have his transforming presence. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:39.200 And that is enough. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:42.640 That is enough. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:26:05.039 To learn more about the mission and vision of Stanwich Church and how you can get involved, please visit Stanwichchurch.org.