The chance to administer the Lord’s Supper as an elder is a tremendous blessing. I would like to share a series of some of the short messages I’ve given administering the Lord’s Supper at our church, calling the series “Suppertime”. Below is one of a series of 7 where I pulled from the last sayings of Christ on the cross.
When you lose someone you dearly love, you find yourself spending a lot of time thinking through that person’s life and the wonderful memories you shared with them. Memories flood through your mind, things about who they were and what you did; memories such as:
How much you miss his counsel and what a wonderful friend he was, or maybe…
What a great father you had and how you miss his ability to make the holidays so special, or…
The special trips you took together and how you dearly miss that closeness and love you once shared.
Also, we typically think of those last moments with our loved one or the things we talked about before they died, like:
How great that last hug was, or…
The last “I love y’all”.
Now, of course, Paul was not there with Christ before His death and resurrection, but Paul speaks of some of Christ’s last moments. Paul tells the Corinthian church in 1 Cor 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” Paul, here, speaks of the Last Supper that Jesus ate with His disciples the night He was betrayed and led, eventually, to the cross. Paul looks to that last supper, focusing on the bread and the cup – the bread symbolizing the broken body of Christ and the cup His spilt blood on the cross. And, amazingly, Paul says this simple act that we are about to embark upon tells a grand story.
Like we do for those we love who have passed on to the loving arms of Christ by telling their story, today we will be telling the story of Christ’s death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. And, as we remember the last words we had with our loved ones, today I want to remind us all of some of the last words of Christ upon that cross.
There are 7 final sayings that the Bible records as the last words of Jesus before He died. Today, we’ll focus on 1 of those 7 passages:
- Mt 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””
When Jesus cries out asking why God forsook Him, most scholars believe that this was the point when God the Father turned from Jesus for the 1st time ever as Jesus became sin. God the Father removed His presence from God the Son, and Jesus lamented this moment by quoting from Psalm 22. That intimate fellowship Jesus enjoyed with the Father who said of Him, “this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased…” was for the 1st time ever severed.
Why? Why did God the Father turn and forsake the Son?
Because on that cross, taking the sin of those who believe in Him, Jesus became repugnant and ugly; stained by our sin, our shame and scorn was His; our punishment and pain, He took on our behalf! And, God the Father, who is holy and perfect and far from sin turned away from His Son because of our sin. Because of what you and I have done, because you and I are a sinner…Jesus who never did anything wrong, who was not born into sin, became sin on our behalf.
This cry of desolation revealed the atrocity of our sin and the great cost of our salvation. You and I do not deserve such a salvation!! We do not deserve for the King of kings to have taken our place among the despised and deplorable.
Yet, that is exactly what you and I receive…by grace we have been saved. The grace of God to gift us faith to trust and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, escaping God’s wrath and punishment for our sin.
Jesus faced the loneliness without His Father’s presence for our sake. Though Jesus was left alone and forsaken, we who are in Christ are promised that God will never leave or forsake us.
Though Jesus was not relieved of His torment in His day of trouble even though He cried out to the Father, we who are in Christ are heard by the Lord in our cries and delivered from the punishment of our sin.
Though Jesus’ body was broken, and His blood spilt; your body will not be broken, and your blood will not be spilt.
When you love someone, you recount your memories together and the things they said and did when they are gone. So, today, do you love Jesus? Then, remember these precious last words of Christ and what He has done for you.
For those in Christ today, as you hold the bread and the cup, partake in the story it tells of how instead of being forsaken, instead of God not relieving you when you cry, instead of facing His wrath and indignation and turning away from you, revel in the glory that because of the cross…because of the cross, you stand righteous, and all God’s promises are yours. Proclaim Christ’s death that ransomed you from the just punishment your sins deserve and rejoice in Him and Him alone.
But, for those who are not in Christ, like the precious last words of a loved one, think on the sacred last words of Christ and why it was that He died. If you are to die in this moment or even later without repenting and believing on Christ, you will no longer experience the common grace of the Lord as you do today but will instead face His eternal wrath. Your body will be broken, and your blood spilt forever. I plead with you today, to heed this warning and respond in repentance and faith. Think on these things, plead with the Lord, but do not take the Lord’s Supper with us at this time.
May we all remember Jesus’ last words and what He did on the cross…
Till we are home…
Till We Are Home 
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