Holy Week Day by Day – Thursday–The Lord’s Supper and Agony in the Garden

“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 the 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.” –Matthew 26:26-29 (ESV). “And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done.’ And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him.” -Luke 22:41-43 (ESV).

We call the Thursday before Easter Sunday “Maundy Thursday.” The term actually derives from the Latin, “mndatum novum do vobis,” “ A new (mandate) commandment I give to you,” In Luke’s account of the Lord’s Supper (that of the bread and wine following the Passover Meal), Jesus said: “This do in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19b, ESV). Paul, in instructing about the observance of the Lord’s Supper, wrote: “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, sayingk, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.” (I Corinthians 11:24b-25, ESV). The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper is a very solemn and serious time of self-examination and deep reflection to see if the believer understands the atoning sacrifice of Jesus’ death for others. “This do in remembrance of me” takes into account the sacrificial death of Jesus, the breaking of His body and the shedding of His blood for the remission of my sins. In remembrance of Him I think of His incarnation, His life, the new covenant He established, and a means of koinonia—fellowship—sharing in the hope, through faith, that we have in the new covenant and new way Jesus established. I also remember His teachings and how He showed me a new and better Way. I remember that He said, “”If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23, ESV). In that Upper Room, they sang a hymn (probably a selection from the “Hallel’ hymns contained in Psalm 113-118 and 136). Then they went out, walked across the Kidron valley and went to the Garden of Gethsemane.

In the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, Jesus went apart to pray, leaving the disciples at a distance from him to watch. But each time He returned from prayer he found them sleeping. A reprimand was in order: “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Luke 22:46, ESV). This is not to excuse the disciples, but it had been a long day, and they were physically and emotionally exhausted. Their inability to be alert at a very crucial time to Jesus and to themselves is a lesson to us. His warning to His disciples applies to all of us: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41, ESV). When he returned to His disciples the third time, Jesus had won the victory through prayer. It was not that He had not known His mission all along. He had already told His disciples that he would die and rise again the third day. He knew why He had come to earth. Jesus is facing the most severe trial of His life. “This cup” signifies that He is to accomplish His mission—to bear the sins of the world. In Luke’s account, His agony was accompanied with drops of sweat like blood that fell down upon the ground (Luke 22:44). Luke’s account also has an angel coming to minister to Jesus in His agony. Jesus rises from his knees, returns to His disciples, and straightaway, Judas comes to betray Jesus with a kiss and He is arrested and taken away to Annas first for a series of trials.

As we read and study the events of Thursday—Maundy Thursday—may we spend time praying and considering the ordinance Jesus instituted as a remembrance. May we take courage at His example of prayer under great duress. The humanity of Jesus and the immediacy of His mission and suffering were very real, cogent and near at hand in the Garden of Gethsemane. James Montgomery’s hymn well expresses Jesus’ condition as described in the scripture: My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 16:38, NIV): “Go to dark Gethsemane, You who feel the tempter’s power; Your Redeemer’s conflict see; Watch with Him one bitter hour; Turn not from His griefs away; Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.”

The Rock upon Which the Church Is Built

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’”-Matthew 16:15-18 (ESV).

As I select this scripture for our study and meditation today, I realize that it is a controversial passage. Is the rock upon which Christ promised to build His church Peter himself, the outspoken, impetuous disciple who became a leader in the early church, persecuted and martyred for the faith? Or is the church Christ promised to build—and, indeed, did establish and build—based upon all the faithful disciples/apostles who shouldered their share of the task of telling abroad the new faith that Jesus Christ instituted with His coming to earth, with His sacrificial death for mankind’s sin, in His resurrection from the dead, for His ascension back to the Father, and for His eventual Second Coming to receive the church unto Himself?

Or when Jesus responded to Peter’s confession was He referring to what Peter said, his confession of faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Was this the petra, the Rock, upon which Christ would build His church—not on Peter the apostle, whose Greek name likewise means rock?

I remember a Greek class at Mercer University in 1951 with Dr. Johnston as our beloved professor. We had advanced enough in the class after several quarters of study to be able to read (although haltingly) from the Greek New Testament. We were in this very passage I’ve cited for today’s devotional. There followed discussion from students in the class of whether “rock” on which Christ would build His church was Peter or Peter’s confession. With his expertise in the language and with the firmness of his orthodox beliefs, Dr. Johnston led us to see that “this rock” referred back not to Peter himself but to what Peter had said so firmly and unequivocally: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That confession was then the cornerstone of belief upon which the church of the Lord Jesus Christ would be built. Peter and the other disciples were necessary in preaching and teaching the Word of the new faith that would grow and spread throughout the world. But the church was Christ’s own institution, and the cornerstone was in the confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Have you ever experienced an epiphany—a sudden manifestation of insight? That day in that Greek class, this passage of Scripture took on a new and glorious meaning. I understood much more deeply what was the Lord Christ’s church, built up of those, who like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Many years later, Dr. Chris Church states and confirms in his commentary: “Peter’s God-revealed confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the foundation of the church which lays siege to the gates of Hades” (Holman Bible Dictionary, 1991, p. 1200).

Take time now to repeat reverently this foundation stone of our faith (and maybe you will like to use the familiar King James Version): “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Samuel J. Stone (1839-1900) captured the essence of the confession in the beloved hymn: “The church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord; She is His new creation, By Spirit and the Word; From heav’n He came and sought her To be His holy bride, With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died.”