My Thoughts. . .

Tuesday, 12-28-2021

Matthew, Mark, and Luke discuss the Passover table.  First of all, they asked Jesus where they were going to meet (Matthew 26:17).  Jesus gave them instruction as to the “where.”  They went to a large upper room supplied by the individual Jesus told Peter and John about.  Matthew states, “they made ready the Passover” (v. 19, also Mark 14:17; Luke 22:13).  Apparently, Peter and John were responsible for either making arrangements for the meal to be prepared, or they prepared it themselves.  Matthew and Mark mention a singular cup which Jesus used to introduce his memorial.  Luke goes into more detail and begins with the third of the four cups consumed during that meal.  (1) Jesus begins introducing what inspiration refers to as communion or the Lord’s supper (Luke 22:17-18).  (2) He then takes the bread, gives thanks and breaks it (Luke 22:19).  (3) Then he offers the cup (Luke 22:20).  

In the course of eating the bread and drinking the cup that was available, there is Jesus’ announcement about him being betrayed.  There is a natural response to that topic.  There is also Peter’s future concerning his denials.  Perhaps some today believe the silence expected during the Lord’s supper as we practice it, was also how the apostles engaged in it.  Actually, there was a specific dialogue connected with the Passover feast.  Only John mentions it, but there is the surprise of Jesus becoming the servant and washing the feet of the apostles.  Peter objects but submits.  Although John does not mention communion, he gives us a lot more of the dialogue during that meal than found in Matthew through Luke’s description.

Today’s church usually follows some of the traditions made popular by the Catholic and Protestant churches.  The table where the apostles and Jesus sat has been discarded and replaced with pews.  Men gather around what is identified as “the Lord’s table,” but the pew is where the church actually partakes.  The “table” is symbolic!  The recent pandemic has forced most congregations to change how the “supper” is passed and partaken.  The “supper” has been greatly reduced as well as changed.  During the pandemic, men passed the bread or wine to those who were sitting in the pews.  Also, the Lord’s supper which we participate in today does not remove “hunger” (1 Corinthians 12:20-21).  Cracker Barrel is now the champion filling that need.  Are these changes and adaptions wrong?  They would be IF our substitutions have been accepted as doctrine and bound as the only scriptural way to do communion.  Sadly, some teach as doctrine the commandments of men, binding things which God has not (Matthew 15:9).  Tradition is a terrible animal to kill.