Lord’s Supper

May 6, 28 A.D.  – Raised from the dead.  Now, what do you do?— The Year of the Lord’s Favor #81

David Chupp The 70 Weeks with Jesus Blog , , , ,

Week 64 —The First Supper
Luke 24:13-35

Here we are at week 64/70 following the ministry of Jesus week by week. And last week we talked about his final week that ended in his crucifixion and resurrection.  In 28 AD, Resurrection Day would have been as late as it could be, May 1.  So, putting the four Gospels together, let’s look at the timeline for that day of resurrection.

The Jewish day begins at sundown, so the day of resurrection, our Sunday, starts at sundown on the sabbath (Saturday). When the Sabbath ends on Saturday, May 1, 28 AD, Jesus has been in the grave for three days and three nights. So, some time after sundown on Sunday, Jesus is resurrected from the tomb.  Just before dawn, Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome head toward the tomb to anoint the body.  Before they arrive, there is an earthquake as an angel rolls the stone away. The sun rises.

The angel tells the women that Jesus is risen, as he said. They depart to tell the disciples.  Peter and John run to the tomb and see it is empty, but do not see Jesus.  Mary remains outside the tomb, weeping, and sees Jesus, but does not recognize him at first.  She goes to tell the other disciples, but they do not believe her.  Jesus then goes to the throne of God and presents the firstfruits of the resurrection to the Father in Heaven.  Jesus appears to two disciples on the road to Emmaus; they head back to Jerusalem.  

Sundown on Sunday — a new day begins.  After sundown, the Emmaus disciples arrive and report their encounter with Jesus to the disciples.  Then Jesus appeared to ten disciples, and others gathered with them (Thomas was not there).  The next morning (Monday, May 3, 28 AD), the eleven went to Galilee as Jesus had instructed them.

So on the actual day of Resurrection, Jesus does three things:  

  1. He has a brief encounter with Mary.
  2. He appears in heaven for First Fruits (we discussed this about a year ago).
  3. He has a much longer encounter with two disciples headed to Emmaus.

And this encounter at Emmaus is our focus for today.

Luke 24:13-35   That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.  While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.  Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.  Moreover, some women of our company amazed us.  They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”   And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.   When he was at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.  They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”  And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”  Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

These two disciples hung around Jerusalem with the eleven disciples, waiting until Jesus had been dead for three days and nights. Why? Because you weren’t completely dead in their eyes until after that time passed (remember that is why Jesus waits to raise Lazarus, so everyone would know it was a true miracle). They were hoping he wasn’t really gone. So after the three days and nights had elapsed, they gave up and went home.  

Luke 24:21. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

“We had hoped…”, but now, after 3 days and nights, hope is gone.  And Luke tells us they just stood there “looking sad.”   They were defeated, grieving the lost hope of a Messiah.  It was a difficult 7-mile walk back home to Emmaus.1 

Who were these two disciples?  They are not part of the named 12 disciples, but were in the larger group (that we know at times was over 120).  Luke tells us one of their names, ‘Cleopas.’ The other is unnamed.  But we know they were family, living in the same house as they invited Jesus to “stay with us.”  Then we have this information from John:

John 19:25   But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 

The slight spelling difference in the Greek is not significant.  The two on the road were likely Cleopas and his wife.

So Jesus joins them on this road from Jerusalem.   But they, like Mary Magdalene at the tomb, do not recognize Jesus when they see him.

Luke 24:16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 

Why did God not want them to recognize Jesus immediately?  (There is a reason.)  God intervenes and hides Jesus’ identity from them on purpose.  (This is important.)

God wants Jesus to explain the scriptures to them.  If they recognized Jesus immediately, they would be so overwhelmed at his presence that they could not focus on the very important lesson he had to teach.  God performs a miracle, concealing Jesus’ identity, just so he can teach this lesson.  

So they think Jesus is just some other pilgrim leaving Jerusalem.  The conversation goes like this:

Jesus:       Hey, what are you talking about?
Disciples:  Have you been living under a rock?
                  You must be the only person who was in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what
                  happened.2
Jesus:      What happened?
Disciples:  Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.

(Notice that they call him a prophet, but not “the Messiah”. )

Disciples:  But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.  (We thought he might be the Messiah, but he is dead.)
Disciples:  Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.3
Jesus:      O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 

“Foolish ones” — This is a poor word choice by our translators, because if you know your Bible, you might think Jesus is calling them that word he told us in the Sermon on the Mount never to call anyone.  But this is not the same Greek word; instead, it is a completely unrelated word that means someone who just doesn’t understand, lacking in wisdom.  Jesus is saying, “You just don’t get it, do you?”

“Slow of heart”  — The Greek is ‘Bradus Kardia.’  Now that is a very familiar term to me as a doctor.  Bradycardia is a heart rate of less than 60 beats a minute (or less than 100 for a newborn).  Sometimes when you’re asleep, your heart rate might fall that slow.  Your slow heart would be normal when asleep.3  But if it goes too slow while you aren’t sleeping, you may feel lethargic and tired.  Your slow heart would make you feel and act sleepy.

So what does Jesus mean by ‘slow of heart’?  They had been disciples of Jesus for some time and had just witnessed the events of Jesus’ last week, the most important week in the Bible.  25% of the material in our Gospels is about this one week. They were there. They saw it all, but here is the problem: They could not see how these current life experiences, how the events they witnessed this past week, fit into the story of the Bible.  They were confused.

What Jesus says is:  “Come on! It’s like you’re sleeping through this!  Wake up and see what God is doing!”

Then he says, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”  In other words:  “You should have seen this coming.  The Scriptures said it would be this way.  Didn’t you read Isaiah?  Did you read it to understand it?   Did you just read the words, or did you spend time thinking about them?  Did you carefully consider, reflect on, and meditate on the scriptures?   The Bible is not just words on a page; it is the very wisdom of God.  We are not to read it like a first-grade reader or like the newspaper.”

The Bible is ‘Meditation Literature.’    How did the psalmists say they read the scriptures?

Psalms 119:15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
Psalms 77:12  I will ponder all your work,and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Psalms 119:23  Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.

Even though my enemy is getting ready to attack me, I will take the time to sit and not just read the words, but think about them, meditate on your word.

This is why I like to study the Bible in the morning.  I read and ponder. I wrestle with the text.   I consider how people heard it on the day it was written.  What was going on in the world then?  What is the historical and cultural context?  What words did they hear differently than I do?  How does this part fit into the whole story of the Bible? And then, how does this fit into my life, what I am going through now, and God’s plan for my life?  And throughout the day, God gives me insight. Those scriptures keep churning around in my head all day, and then it is like a light bulb coming on as God’s Holy Spirit reveals truth.  

Then in our story, the narrator interrupts the dialogue and says,

Luke 24:27. And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

They had the Scriptures, and they had studied them, but they didn’t see the big picture of where God was headed in them. They had no idea how the events they had just witnessed this past week fit into the story in the Scriptures. Jesus is about to connect all the Old Testament dots for these disciples. 

Who remembers doing dot-to-dot pictures? You follow the numbers and connect the dots; the lines you draw help form an image.   Jesus is going to connect the dots of the Old Testament for them.  He will show them the prophecies he fulfilled and how all of the Scriptures, the whole Old Testament, points to him.  They knew what happened, they saw it happen, but they were unable to make the connection between what they had read in scripture and what was happening right before their eyes.  So Jesus takes them on a tour of the Bible and points out how all this time the whole story of the Bible was pointing to what they saw this past week.

Does God care that we understand the Old Testament?   You bet he does.  We live in a day when some preachers shy away from the Old Testament. They say it only confuses people.  They say we don’t need the Old Testament now that we have Jesus.  But look at this story where God purposely keeps people from recognizing Jesus so he can walk them through the Old Testament Scriptures.  Because God doesn’t want people to just see Jesus, He wants people to understand Jesus.  And we can’t understand what Jesus is saying if we don’t know the context.  And the context for what Jesus says and what he does is the Scripture of the Old Testament.

But they could not see how the events they had just witnessed over the past week fit into the story of the Bible. The story of the Bible is not a complicated story.   It can be broken down into just three parts.  And here is how the Bible is divided:

  1. Genesis 1 & 2:  God created the world, made man, and placed man in a garden.
  2. Genesis 3. Humans rebelled, broke the relationship, left God’s presence, and sin and death entered the world.  There is a separation between man and God. 
  3. The rest of the Bible, from page 4 to the end, is about God’s plan to redeem mankind and restore the relationship with his creation.  God is reconciling the world to himself.    And that plan is all about Jesus.  He comes to restore a proper understanding of God’s word.  He dies and is resurrected to defeat sin and death.  He is returning to gather his people who want to be with Him and restore creation.

It is not a complicated story.

So Jesus goes through the Scriptures and helps them see how they had been predicting what they witnessed this past week all along.  We are now picking up the story in verse 28. They have arrived at their house in Emmaus. They stop, and Jesus “acted as if he were going farther.” But they encourage him to stay as it is ‘towards evening.’  “Stay” means abide. They thought he would stay the night. They prepare a meal, then a very odd thing happens. 

Luke 24:30   When he was at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 

Now, if you don’t know the culture, you pass right by this as you are reading.  But this is totally unexpected.  This is odd because this is what the host in the home always does. Jesus is not the host here; he is the guest.  It would be like someone coming to your house for dinner, and you greet them at the door. Then they walk into the kitchen and start stirring pots, putting the rolls in the oven, setting the dishes on the table, and telling you, “OK, let’s say a prayer and eat.” That would be weird.  A guest would never assume these duties.

Now, don’t miss what is going on here. This is classic Jesus. He has just spent a while teaching them how the Old Testament predicted and explained the events of this past week. Now, he is going to demonstrate a lesson from the Old Testament. So he takes the bread, blesses God for the bread, breaks it, and gives it to them. And then, the climax of this story: their eyes were opened.

Picture what is going on here.  There is a man and his wife, and there is food, and their eyes are opened.  Can you think of any other time in the Bible when a man and his wife ate something and their eyes were opened?

Genesis 3:6-7   So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened,

Luke wants to make sure you don’t miss this connection.  This was the lie of the Satan, the adversary. He loves to tell partial truths.

Genesis 3:4-5   But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” is not about understanding good and evil; it is all about who decides what is good and evil and who makes the rules. Before this incident, God lived in harmony with humans.  They walked together in the Garden.  God made the rules, and man followed the rules.  God is the king, he is the ruler, and he makes the rules.  This disobedience breaks all of that.  By choosing to eat the fruit, they have decided they want to make their own rules. They want to decide for themselves what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong. They reject God as their king.  And because they rejected the king, they no longer live in the kingdom of God.

Oh, the serpent was sort of right.  Their eyes were opened all right. Their eyes were opened to the ways of the world.  Open to the possibility of sin, but closed to the way of the Lord.  And this is the way we have all lived since Adam, blinded to the ways of God, unable to understand the things of God.  But when we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin, when we recognize him as the King who gets to make the rules, then his Holy Spirit opens our eyes again to God’s truth.

So, before the apple (pomegranate), Adam and Eve were in the garden with God, and everything was good.  God said it: “He saw that it was good.”  They were in communion with God; they walked in the garden with him.  They knew God, they heard and understood his voice. Then the Satan serves up some fruit.  Their eyes were opened (to the ways of the world), and now Adam and Eve are filled with sadness and shame.  They hide from God.  Then we see them leaving the garden.  

This opening of their eyes was actually a spiritual closing that rendered them unable to see God for who he is. They could no longer recognize their Father, who loves them. Slowness of heart, confusion, inability to see, and inability to recognize God and his designs—this is the state of Adam and Eve leaving the Garden, and this is the state of the woman and her husband, Cleopas, walking away from Jerusalem. 

They are sad and hopeless; everything is wrong.  They don’t see God, though he is standing right before their eyes.  They don’t understand the teachings of God; they don’t recognize his voice. Then Jesus serves food. Their eyes are opened to God and the things of God- they understand the scripture and how the events they just lived through fit into the story, and they see Jesus. They leave to head back to Jerusalem with joy!

Do you see why Luke wants us to recall the Genesis 3 story here?  Jesus is undoing what went wrong in Genesis 3.  Jesus is restoring what went wrong in the fall.  He told them with words, then gave them a picture by action.  All the harm done in the fall in Genesis 3 — Jesus is redeeming all of it.

But we are not done.  There is something else going on here.

Luke 24:30   When he was at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 

Jesus at the table in Emmaus—this has to remind you of something that just happened in Jerusalem in an upper room at the Last Supper.

Matthew 26:26   Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

Took, blessed, broke, gave…..Same verbs, same order. Jesus takes over the hosting duties in Emmaus, which is unusual because he wants to reenact the Last Supper for them.  Luke’s Gospel emphasizes gathering around the table for a meal.  The ‘Last Supper’ is the seventh table meal in Luke.  Seven is the number of completion in Jewish thought, so the Last Supper is the completion of that group.  So you could call this meal Jesus serves in Emmaus the “First Supper,” beginning a new era of sharing grace around the table.

We discussed hospitality back in September (#49) and how hospitality is a demonstration of the gospel. Remember that 1 Peter 4 tells us (my paraphrase), “Hey, the world is coming to an end, so most importantly, keep loving each other and show hospitality without grumbling.”  Don’t overlook the importance of sharing meals in your home as a way to show God’s love to your community. 

It was in the breaking of bread that their eyes were opened and the resurrected Jesus was made known to them.   Even though it is getting dark, they head back the 7 miles to Jerusalem because some news is so good it can’t wait.  And they find the disciples:

Luke 24:35   Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The breaking of bread.    And remember what their problem was:  Their eyes were closed.  They couldn’t recognize Jesus or see how the events in their lives fit into the story God was telling.  I am becoming convinced that a lot of the depression and anxiety of this world stems from our eyes being closed to these things.  

If we could truly see Jesus for who He is and how the things currently going on in our lives fit into the story of our lives that God is weaving, we would see how things that appear to be disasters can be opportunities for God to show his power. The Israelites are trapped between the armies of Egypt and the Red Sea. This is not a tragedy but an occasion for God to show He is God.  The Israelites see a huge giant, Goliath, coming to fight them.  That is not a disaster but a chance for God to show his power.  Hey, disciples in Emmaus, Jesus’s death on the cross is not the end of the world; it is God’s plan for deliverance. It is the beginning of a better world.

But this blindness to the way God is working in our lives affects us all. My wife and I, like many couples, went through a time when we desperately wanted to have another child, and we chased that dream with everything in us.  We tried almost every avenue, but every surgery and procedure that promised help failed.  Several times, we were set to adopt a baby, but they all fell through at he last minute. There were many tears shed in those days.  These were some very difficult, frustrating, and depressing times.  

Why were they so hard?   Because our eyes were closed.   We couldn’t see how what was going on in our lives fit into the story that God was weaving.   Like the two disciples in Emmaus, who could not see how Jesus’ death fit into God’s plan.  We couldn’t see the big picture of God’s plan.  He had a baby for us, a specific baby picked out for us.  But it was his doing, not ours – his timing, not ours.  Our anxiety, depression, frustration, and grieving over a child we could not have could have been relieved if we had only been able to understand how this circumstance in our life fit into God’s big picture for us.

The Bible makes it clear that God loves us as his children and works everything for our good.  Trials, hardships, unfulfilled expectations, and persecution are all viewed as good because God uses them all to refine our hearts and make us more of the people we were created to be.   

The disciples in Emmaus could not see how the horrible events of their past week fit into God’s plan.  So Jesus opened the scriptures to them and then opened their eyes in the breaking of bread.

The next time you participate in The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, remember these two from Emmaus.  Remember Jesus, whose death was not the end but the beginning.  And bring to that communion table or altar your anxieties, frustrations, and sadness.  

Is there something going on in your life that doesn’t make sense?  Do you find yourself wondering: Why did this happen, Jesus?  Why is this person suffering from this illness?  Why can’t I have healing?  Why are people so mean and insensitive?  Why are so many things going wrong?  Why can’t this friend or family member do the right thing?  Why can’t I do the right thing?  Why is life so hard? 

Every remembrance, every encounter with Jesus, is an opportunity to bring those concerns to the altar, and we leave them there, knowing that Jesus, who loves us, will take whatever the situation is and turn it to our good. Our eyes need to be opened, and often, that happens in the breaking of bread.

  1. Note that they are leaving Jerusalem before the end of the weeklong feast of Unleavened Bread. Only the first day was required. Deut. 16:7 notes that it is permissible to leave after that. Jesus’ disciples may be scattering due to disappointment in the outcome and fear of being charged next.
  2. This is good biblical irony. Jesus is, indeed, the only one who really knows what happened over the past week.
  3. Luke reports, “but him they did not see.” This is more irony, as these two telling the story can not “see” Jesus, even though he is right before their eyes.
  4. Athletic people can also have a slower-than-normal resting heart rate.

September 18, 27 A.D.  Jesus feeds the Multitude #50

David Chupp The 70 Weeks with Jesus Blog , , , , ,

Week 31 ———  Jesus feeds the Multitude
Matthew 14:1-21 — Mark 6:14–44 — Luke 9:7-17 — John 6:1-15

We will talk about the only miracle Jesus did that is found in all four Gospels, one of the most familiar miracles, the feeding of the 5000.  But the context is important.  Matthew goes to a lot of trouble to ensure you know what happened before.  Jesus had sent the 12 out on their 3-week mission.  They have returned, but then Jesus gets some bad news.  John the Baptist’s disciples came and found Jesus to let him know John was dead.  And you know the story.  John was not guilty of any crime but preaching the truth.  Herod’s family conspired to have him beheaded at the king’s drunken birthday party.  

Matt. 14:1-12   At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”  For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.   But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod,  so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.   Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”   And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he commanded it to be given.   He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

A corrupt government kills an innocent man.  We shouldn’t be surprised.  The kingdoms of this world will do what the kingdoms of this world do—lust, greed, power, revenge…..some things never change.

How does Jesus react?  His close cousin has died. He just lost a family member, and not only a family member but also the one who baptized him as his ministry began, the one who was preaching the same sermon he was preaching.  Not only has he just found out about this death, but it was a senseless, horrible murder by an evil king.  And not only was it murder, but this same evil king may now have his sights set on Jesus.   This is a lot.  What would you do?  Jesus needs some time apart from the crowds.  

Matthew 14:13   Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.  But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

You know that the Sea of Galilee is just a big lake.  You can see the boats from the land, and the people see where Jesus is headed and follow him along the shore.

Matthew 14:14  When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd…

I can see it now. They get out of the boat. And, of course, it is Simon Peter who jumps out and tells the crowd to disperse because Jesus needs some time alone to mourn.  But Jesus does what Jesus always does, “and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”  He pushes aside his grief, has compassion on the crowd, and spends the whole day healing them.  

Matthew 14:15-21  Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”   But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”   They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”   And he said, “Bring them here to me.”   Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, who gave them to the crowds.   And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.   And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

As I’ve said before, when you are studying a familiar story, list all the characters in the story and read it slowly from each of their perspectives.  So let’s imagine you are one of the disciples; say you are Bob the disciple.  Jesus ends up healing all day, and you realize the crowd will get hungry (and Jesus really needs some time off).  So you go and tell Jesus — “It’s getting late, we are out in the middle of nowhere, and we have no food. We need to send them home. And Jesus smiles because he is glad you recognized their need (good job, Bob, you were thinking about someone else for a change. Maybe Jesus’ compassion is rubbing off.)   And then Jesus says,  “They don’t need to leave, Bob. You give them something to eat.”  And you are thinking, uh… no, they do need to go because the only food we can find is one boy’s lunch.  So you try to talk some sense into Jesus because you don’t even have near enough money to feed half of these people, even if there was a place to buy food.   So you bring the five loaves and two fish to Jesus, expecting him to say. “Oh, that is all you have. You are right, Bob; we do need to send them away.“  Except that is not how it goes.  Instead, Jesus says, “Great! that little bit is just what we need!”  So Jesus told the crowd to sit down, and he took the tiny bit of food, looked up to heaven, said a blessing, broke the bread, and started handing it out to you to go and feed everyone.  (And you are thinking Jesus has lost it.)  But you start passing out the food to, say, the first dozen people, and you go back, and Jesus somehow has even more, so you take more and keep on giving it away, and every time you give it all away, you go back to Jesus, and there is still more.  Jesus has more than enough to take care of everyone.  Just imagine this experience!

But I don’t have to use too much imagination here because I have seen Jesus do something similar.  Jesus is still doing this.

For several years, I went with a mission group to Guatemala over Thanksgiving.  We spent a week doing medical missions in an underserved area of the country.  Many we saw had no access to medical care, and we were able to help a lot of people.  One difficulty of medical missions in foreign countries is getting permission to bring medications into the country.   We would typically need 30-40 large bins of medicine each trip to treat 300-400 patients daily.  That had never been a problem because, on one of their first trips, the team had treated a child they later discovered was a relative of the Minister of Health for the country.  This official had written a letter that we showed to customs at the airport on each trip, and they gave us a quick look and let us all through.  But this year, we showed them the letter, and they tore it up.

We did not know that the Minister of Health had been replaced in a government shake-up before our trip.  They confiscated all of our medicine.  We felt defeated.  We went to the missionary’s home to decide what to do.  We prayed.  God had brought us there, and people were counting on us.  The missionary told us there were four to five bins of medicine in his basement left over from the last trip there six months ago.  We went down to see what was there, but we weren’t optimistic because the previous trip’s leftovers were not likely to be what we would need, and it had been six months.  There wasn’t much there.  Some of the medicine was still in date.  There were some chewable vitamins, but they looked off.  Mike, our pharmacist, tasted one.  That is when we found out multivitamins with iron can rust.  We couldn’t use those.  I looked to see what medications we had for children.  There were four 10-day courses of antibiotics in powder form that were still usable and that we could mix and treat four children.  I knew I would see hundreds of children in a day and usually use 20-30 courses of antibiotics for children who have skin infections, pneumonia, or chronic ear infections.  We decided to proceed with the clinic as scheduled the following day and treat as many as possible.  

So, starting clinic the following day, I knew I had to be very careful only to give antibiotics when it was absolutely necessary.   There was only enough for four patients.  We arrived to see the usual long line of people already waiting for the doctors.  The second and third patients I saw were brothers who both had a chronic draining skin infection for weeks.  There was no way to avoid using antibiotics on them.  Then, a few patients later, a 6-year-old boy came in, and his mother said he hadn’t been able to hear for a month.  Both ears were filled with a raging infection.  If we didn’t treat him, he would probably permanently lose his hearing.  Now, one antibiotic left.  Several patients later, an infant with a severe cough is brought in.  Right lower lobe pneumonia.  Now, we are just 45 minutes into what is typically a 10-hour clinic with no antibiotics left.    Ten minutes later, there is another small child with pneumonia.  I write a prescription for them to carry over to the pharmacy tent.  It said, “Mike, I think we are out, but this kid really needs an antibiotic.  Maybe there is one I missed.  If you don’t have anything, let me know, and we will find some way to treat him.”  I keep seeing patients expecting Mike to come any minute to tell me what I already knew, that we had nothing.  Then I see a child with an infected bite and give him a prescription with the same instructions: “If you don’t have something, come let me know.”   That happened several more times, and I wonder if the government released our medicine to us.  So, I take a break and walk over to the pharmacy tent.  There is Mike and the five medicine bins, and they are still almost full.  “What are you giving the kids for an antibiotic?” I asked him.   Mike says, “Just write for whatever medicine they need.  I keep digging in the bin, and what I need is always there.  God was supplying their needs.  By the end of the day, I had seen over 150 children and given out 40 courses of antibiotics.  We started the day with four, and by the end of the day, there were still four antibiotics.  God is good.  We saw patients for two more days and never ran out of medication to treat anyone.

There is no problem in this world too big for God to solve.  If we seek him, he will give us the resources and tell us to handle it.  I say that not because I read it somewhere, not because I want it to be true; it is not just a theological concept to me.  I say it because I have seen him do it.   I have seen God respond, not just with the medicine in Guatemala, not just with the medical equipment in Ghana1, but over and over in our homeless ministry, supplying needs when we thought there was no way.

But when we tell of these miracles, one person in the room usually asks a question like this:  “If God can miraculously make food appear, then why is there hunger in the world?  Where is God when people are starving?  Why didn’t God stop 9/11?  Where was God when 6 million Jews were killed in Nazi Germany?”  You need to be able to answer these questions.  People who don’t know God will ask you these questions.  Are you ready to answer them?

If we ask God a question like, “Why didn’t you stop the holocaust?”  If you asked God that question, I believe he would answer your question with a question  (Didn’t Jesus frequently do that?)  God’s question:  Why didn’t you stop it?  You had the chance.   I can hear the echo of the disciples and Jesus.  “These people are hungry.  Don’t send them away; you feed them.”

Let’s talk about the history.  Are you aware of the Evian Conference of 1938?  The League of Nations (the precursor to the United Nations) called a meeting of 32 countries and 24 organizations to solve the problem of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees in Germany.  Germany had already stripped them of their citizenship and ability to live there (they could no longer own land or have a job.)  The persecution was ramping up, but Hitler wasn’t murdering them (yet).   So they met at this beautiful spa in France and discussed the problem for nine days.

Just before the conference, Hitler had sent word that he was all for the idea of all the Jews leaving Germany.  He even volunteered to pay to transport all of the Jews out of Europe, even using cruise ships.   Here is a translation of what he said:

“I can only hope and expect that the other world, which has such deep sympathy for these criminals [Jews], will at least be generous enough to convert this sympathy into practical aid. We, on our part, are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries, for all I care, even on luxury ships.”

Unfortunately, before the conference, The United States and Great Britain had made a pact not to discuss the fact that the US would only take a paltry 30,000 Jewish refugees a year if the US didn’t bring up the fact that Great Britain was not going to consider letting any of the Jews go back to Israel (then under British governance.)  Anti-semitism ruled the conference just like it was ruling Germany.  The Australian delegate said, “As we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one.”  So 32 countries and 24 organizations sat around and talked for nine days and, ultimately, decided to ……. do nothing.  Only one of the 32 countries agreed to take more refugees, the tiny Dominican Republic, which agreed to take 100,000. The US refused to increase its 30,000 amount.

Chaim Weizmann (who later became the first president of Israel) said at the time, “The world seemed to be divided into two parts – those places where the Jews could not live and those where they could not go.”   Four months later (November 1938), the persecution of the Jews got much worse.  Kristallnacht (German for ‘the night of broken glass’), when hundreds of synagogues and over 7000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken to concentration camps.  When word got back to the US that children were being orphaned and imprisoned, and under threat of death, two Senators introduced a bill to the US Senate (the Wagner-Rogers bill) to allow 20,000 more endangered children to enter the US above the current visa restrictions.  However, the bill was defeated in committee because people feared the refugee children would deprive American children of aid.  Most of those children would instead be murdered.

Since the Jews could not leave Germany (or the surrounding countries Germany was beginning to occupy), Hitler decided to implement his “Final Solution,” which started with death squads and then mass killings in concentration camps. The plan was for the slaughter of 11 million Jews across all of Europe.  The war stopped Hitler, but only after he had successfully murdered over 6 million men, women, and children.

All of those deaths were needless.  If the League of Nations would have acted, they could all have been saved.  All died because the countries of the world decided to do nothing.  I hear echoes of the disciples again:  “Jesus, these people are going to die.”  Jesus replies: “Don’t send them away. You help them.”   How dare we ask God where he was?  He gave us the chance to stop this.  We chose to do nothing and let 6 million innocent people die a violent death.  The kingdoms of this world are going to do what they do.  

So this feeding of the 5000 teaches us how God works.  From Jesus, we learn compassion.  We see someone hurting, in danger, or hungry, and we have compassion for them.  We bring the matter to Jesus.  He says great! You take care of that.  Bring me whatever you have.  But it’s not enough!  Just bring me what you have.  I will provide the resources for you to join me in taking care of it in ways you can’t even imagine.  I can even get the most wicked man on earth to pay for it, to put them on luxury ships.   

So let’s review— I want to connect some dots to another story you know:  A righteous man, John the Baptist, dies a violent death at the hands of an evil King.  Jesus grieves over his friend, his cousin, and co-worker.  He really needs some time away from the crowds.  Instead, he ignores his needs and has compassion for the people who need healing and are hungry.  So he takes the bread, blesses it, and gives it to his disciples.  

Fast forward seven months to the end of April, the day before Jesus, the righteous man, suffers a violent death.  This is the day he will grieve over disciples who will betray him and grieve his suffering to the point of sweating drops of blood.  The day Jesus ignores his own needs and gives his life on the cross to show compassion to the people who need salvation and freedom from the curse of death.  On that day, in the upper room, he again takes the bread, blesses it, and gives it to his disciples.

 Now stay with me because I think we have missed something here.  Then Jesus says:  “This is my body, which is broken for you.”  Despite my grief and the pain and agony I will suffer tomorrow, I choose to act in compassion towards you.  Then he says, “Do this in remembrance of me.”   And I have always heard this interpreted as ‘do the bread and the cup, the Lord’s Supper, as a way of remembering what Jesus did for us.’   And that is all well and good.  But for Jesus, a Jewish teacher, ‘remembering’ is not simply a mental process.  Hebrew doesn’t have thinking verbs.  Remembering implies doing something. When the Bible says, “And God remembered Noah” (Gen 8:1), the Bible does not say God had forgotten about Noah and the animals who had been in the ark on the flooded earth for 150 days.  It means God is  going to act.  And he does.  “God sent a wind, and the waters receded.”  In the Bible, remembering is not just thinking about something but doing something about it.

Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”  Do what, Jesus?  What is the action we should do?

If we want to honor the memory of Jesus, reenacting the bread and the cup is good.  But that is not the climax of Jesus’ story.  I believe Jesus had much more in mind for us to do than just reenact the bread and the cup.   He said, “This is my body which is broken for you.  Do This…”

In the feeding of the 5000, Jesus ignores his own needs to show compassion to the people who need healing and then are hungry. Despite what is going on with you personally, no matter what pain, grief, or suffering you endure, act out of compassion for the crowds who need healing, deliverance from evil, and salvation. 

Matthew 16:24   “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 

“My body is going to be broken for you.  Do This.”

Paul said it this way:  

1 Corinthians 10:16  The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 

We are not students in a classroom; we are not just observers. We must join with Jesus, partner with him, and participate in his sufferings—that is the cup and the bread.

If you read the Gospel of John, you will see Jesus’ last teaching before his crucifixion.  John 13-17  are four chapters of teaching Jesus does in the Upper Room at the Last Supper.  Jesus makes it very clear to the disciples that they will suffer.

John 15:20   If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. 
John 16:2  They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

And all the disciples (but Judas) are persecuted, and all but one die a horrible martyr’s death.

Paul, sitting in prison, says in Philippians, “I have lost everything, but I count everything I used to value as rubbish….. that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share (partner) his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

My body is going to be broken for you.  Do This.

What did Matthew list as Jesus’ final teaching before the Last Supper?  

Matthew 25:34-36   Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  

My body is going to be broken for you.  Do This.

Paul warns us to take the Lord’s Supper seriously.

1 Corinthians 11:27   Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

For years, we read that in the King James Version, which says, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.”  So, people got the idea you had to be worthy.  You had to ensure you didn’t have any unconfessed sin.  So, examine yourself to see if you are worthy.   Let me make that easy for you.  No, you are not worthy…on your own.  You are only worthy if Jesus makes you worthy by giving you his righteousness.  So the Lord’s table is for those who have been made worthy by Jesus, those who know him as savior and lord.  Don’t get me wrong; any time is an excellent time to search your heart and see if there is an unconfessed sin in your life.  Do that every day, not just before communion.    So what is the “unworthy manner”?

In Paul’s time, they were doing the Lord’s Supper as a complete meal, called a “Love Feast.”  Paul said (1 Corinthians 11:19, 21), “I hear that there are divisions among you…For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry; another gets drunk.”  For in Paul’s day, the wealthiest members of the church in Corinth provided most of the food, which could have been a wonderful expression of Christian love and unity towards the poor of the congregation.  But the poor had to finish their work before they could come to the meeting, and the slaves would find it very hard to arrive on time.   But the rich did not wait.  They ate and drank in their little groups, eating their own dinner, and by the time the poor arrived, there was little to nothing left.  “One goes hungry, another gets drunk.”  They were not eating in a worthy manner.  Instead of following Jesus’ example of putting others’ needs first, they are doing the opposite. 

To eat in a worthy manner is to examine yourself and see if you are following Jesus’ example of putting others first.  Are you denying yourself?  Are you taking up your cross?  If you want to do something to honor the memory of what Jesus did for us, he told us how in the Upper Room, right after he washed their feet:  “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you”  (John 13:15).   

The next time you partake of the bread and the cup, remember.  And the action of your remembrance is taking the bread of life to those in the world who are hungry, sick, or hurting – to those who need Jesus.  Do these things in remembrance of him.

1.  See https://swallownocamels.com/2024/07/10/july-9-27-a-d-a-miraculous-catch-of-fish-39/