“The Last Supper”
[Read John 13:1-5]
So then.
A meal with God.
John sets the scene in very dramatic and ordinary ways.
In very divine and human ways.
Just before the Passover meal (v 1).
Jesus knew the time had come (v 1).
He now showed the full extent of His love (v 1).
The evening meal was being served (v 2).
The devil had prompted Judas to betray (v 2).
Jesus knew the Father had put all things under His power (v 3).
Jesus knew He had come from God and was returning to God (v 3).
Got up and wrapped a towel around Himself (v 4).
Washed and dried His disciples’ feet (v 5).
Pardon the pun but given the scene is a meal – but it is quite the smorgasbord!
Such dramatic moments of the Biblical story are present.
The great Exodus from Egypt aka Passover.
There is the moment for which Jesus came - approaching. The “time had come.”
There is satanic presence. Prompting betrayal.
There is certainty of relationship with God and certainty of knowledge about what He is requiring of Jesus.
There is great love.
There is a household task – “The evening meal was being served” (v 2).
There is the washing and drying of feet. A menial task.
I suppose in one sense – by the time you take all these different things and dynamics into account – you could be forgiven for thinking it is quite a confused scene.
Quite busy in a sense. Messy even.
It is all of that.
Yet – it is possible that in our reading of this moment in all of the Gospels (i.e. the Last Supper) and our enactment of it as we partake of Communion today – we miss the busyness and messiness of it.
Come the moment when we share the Lord’s Supper together, we read a Scriptural account, maybe play a piece of music and sing, say meaningful and solemn words – and then quietly take the bread and the wine.
Nothing wrong with that at all.
But in the light of that experience – deep down – maybe it affects the way in which we now read and see the event as recorded here in John 13 and the other three Gospels.
But John is trying to tell us something.
He is trying to show us that here – at this supper – there was so much going on.
And as the story continues to be told in the following chapters of John, there are all manner of conversations, declarations and actions taking place.
Peter puffing out his chest.
Jesus being troubled in spirit (13:21).
John leaning against Jesus for the “inside” word on who will betray Him.
Judas slipping out in the night.
There is something else going on here too.
When we read this account – especially with the foot washing – all kinds of challenges emerge.
Jesus says in doing that He has set an example and that we should do what He has done.
So.
Is this for leadership?
Is it for us all?
Is it about how far we need to go in serving each other?
It is probably a bit of all of that.
But what it all really stems from is the fact that this is sitting down to a meal with God.
And with God at the table, eating and drinking with us, all manner of things happen.
All manner of conversations happen.
All manner of things happen.
And what John 13 shows – is that all manner of things are literally brought to the table.
Rivalry.
Personal agendas.
Jealousy.
Love.
Hope.
Pride.
The lot.
It is messy.
There is blindness; denial of that blindness; ignorance; fear.
It is all there.
Is it a table you even want to be at?
At that table there is Peter.
Passionate and intense. “Somewhat of a show-off”. Loud. Sure.
There is John. The Beloved. A man of influence.
There is Judas. Dark. Menacing. Concealed.
There is Thomas and Philip – enquiring. Searching for understanding. Confused and then clear about things (John 14).
I wonder if you see yourself in any of those personalities?
I wonder if you see any of your issues present at that table?
Oh – isn’t it just so complicated!!
Aren’t we just so complicated!!
In the 5th Book of the Chronicles of Narnia (Voyage of the Dawntreader) the travellers arrive at an island.
On this island they discover a table lavishly laden with the best food and drink imaginable.
The food is on a crimson cloth (symbolically so) and they discover the table is called Aslan’s Table (Aslan being the Christ-figure in the Narnia tales).
Everyday the food and drink is replenished.
But at the table three men sit. Actually – they sleep.
And their hair and beards are very very long because they have been asleep there for seven years.
They never eat or drink the food before them – they sleep through it.
The reason they are asleep is because when they first came across the banquet – they quarrelled. They quarrelled about whether they ought to continue on their journey or stay.
And during the argument, one of them reached for the Knife of Stone.
This was the Knife that the White Witch had used to kill Aslan in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The moment he grasped the knife – they all fell into the deep sleep.
There at Aslan’s banquet.
Interpretation? There are many.
But maybe it is a picture of something of what we see in John 13.
Much is brought to the table; to the meal of God.
And in the messiness and busyness of it all – we effectively are asleep in the presence of the lavish meal of God.
Asleep because of all the issues we bring which blind us to the presence, example and love of Christ.
At its simplest then – what can we take from this account?
Maybe this is it.
Unlike the three other Gospels – John does not actually focus on the moment of the breaking of bread and sharing of the cup.
Maybe it is assumed we know about that.
Maybe John wants us to notice something else.
The focus is the humility of Jesus. At this moment. At this table.
Not a cringing, hand-wringing kind of false humility.
But a humility which is honest and genuine.
One that emerges out of an awareness of the fact that He had so much power.
And out of a motivation to show the full extent of His love.
There He is. Literally at the feet of His disciples washing their feet.
John the Baptist had described Jesus as the one Who he would not be worthy to untie His sandals (Jn 1).
A task that no disciple was ever expected to perform for their master. Yet John the Baptist said that such a prohibited and menial task would be too great an honour.
But there is that very One, Jesus – washing feet.
The importance of this example – especially when you take in the birds-eye view that John 13 provides of all the dynamics at play – is that the spirit of humility is the difference in this smorgasbord of forces that night.
At this table of God.
Is there any difference when we approach this meal with God today?
Insofar as the presence of good and evil; of great intentions; high hopes; genuine commitment; appalling failure; betrayal; satanic opposition; “showing-off”; making grandiose promises – probably not.
Is the picture that C.S. Lewis paints of the sleeping men at the table a possible picture applicable for us?
Maybe.
Is there any hope?
Yes. Much.
Regardless of what you bring to this table; regardless of whoever you are most like – just come to this meal with God but in doing so – realise that you will be in the presence of great love and humility.
And such a force – even in the presence of great evil or indifference – can have great effect.
As you dine with God and as He loves you, and shows you are a way to live…
…the things which drive you and which you are obsessed with – might seem quite trivial by comparison.
As you eat and drink and take in the knowledge that He has served You – and calls you to live the same way – you will be humbled.
Which is – actually – an important step in growing in humility.
Maybe the absence of the breaking of bread and the offer of the cup in John’s Gospel is symbolically and dramatically retold in the challenge for us to be broken and for us to be offered.
Jn 13:15 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Presented By: Rev G New