Preached at Burnham, Morning of the 11th Sunday after Trinity, August 12, 1866.
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it: for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”— St. Matthew xxvi, 26-28.
You know why I have chosen these words to-day. They speak of the Lord’s Supper. They tell us when that feast was first kept, and who first kept it; what it meant to them, what it means to us when we keep it now. I shall speak to you on each of these points. May God enable us to think of them.
I. When it was first kept and who kept it. As He was eating, Jesus took bread. He was eating unleavened bread and drinking wine at the Feast of the Passover in the city of Jerusalem. The Jews held that feast once every year. It reminded them that their fathers had been slaves to the King of Egypt. It reminded them that the Lord God of their fathers had brought them out of their slavery. It reminded them that He was King over them as He had been over their fathers.
Each family slew a lamb and ate it with bitter herbs. For each family was to recollect what the misery was of being under a Tyrant, and what the blessing was of having the gracious God for their King.
The Lord Jesus Christ had gone forth among the Jews and preached the Kingdom of Heaven. He said that in this Kingdom the greatest of all was the servant of all. He made these words good by His acts. His whole life was a service, a service to the poorest people. He healed the sick among them. He delivered them from evil spirits. He said that they, as much as the rich, were citizens of His Kingdom. He called out His twelve Apostles to tell men of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to give the same proofs as He had given that it was a Kingdom of blessing and deliverance to the sons of men.
He had come into Jerusalem just before the great Feast. The people had cried, ‘This is the Son of David. This is the King who is come in the name of the Lord.’ The rulers of the Jews heard these words. They thought He was going to set Himself up as King during the Passover. Numbers were gathered together there; they fancied it was just the time He would choose for such a purpose. They determined that it should not be. They must, if possible, seize Him and give Him up to their masters the Romans. They were afraid to do it, for they thought the people were on His side. Just then one of His own Apostles came to them, and said, ‘Give me money and I will betray Him to you.’ No one else knew that he had done it. But our Lord Jesus knew it. He knew that Judas would sell Him, that the priests would have their way, that He should be delivered to the Romans, that He should be condemned, that He should bear the punishment of a slave.
This was on His mind on that night when He and His Apostles were sitting at the Passover Supper. He said He had greatly desired to eat it with them before He suffered. As soon as they were seated, He said, “Verily I say unto you one of you shall betray me.” His words went home to each of them. Not one said, ‘Is it you who will do it?’ but each asked, “Is it I?” None could tell that the wicked thought might not come to him; that he might not do the deed. At last Judas said, “Master, is it I?” And the answer came straight to his ear and his heart, “Thou hast said.”
And, while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” And He took the cup, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” That was the Lord’s Supper. It was first eaten at the Passover Supper of the Jews. It was first eaten by Jesus and his twelve Apostles the night that He was betrayed.
II. But now, secondly, what did these words mean to those who first heard them? The Apostles did not know what they meant. Jesus was with them at the feast. They could see His body, touch it. His blood was not poured out. But they knew that He spoke no words in vain. The bread was a token from Him. They could but eat it as He bade them. The wine was a token from Him. They could but drink it as He bade them.
But He went forth from that feast. The officers of the chief priests seized Him. The High Priest condemned Him as worthy of death because He said He was the Son of God. He was delivered to wear the purple robe and the crown of thorns, and then to be crucified for speaking of His Kingdom. All had turned out as He said it would. He was actually buried. The women anointed Him and wept over Him. It seemed as if He had been proved to be no prince or Saviour, as if death had swallowed up all their hopes. Then, on the third day, One stood among the Apostles, and said, “Peace be unto you.” He showed them His Hands and His Side. They believed that death had not conquered Him, that He had conquered death. He said that He was going to His Father and their Father, but that He would send His Spirit that they might be able to tell Jews and Gentiles of this Lord who had risen and ascended, and that in His Name they might preach remission of sins to all, beginning at Jerusalem.
Then the Apostles began to know a little what was meant by the words which were spoken at the feast. Then they understood that in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ God was united to men and men to God. Then they understood that His blood was poured out, not for a few disciples, but for all men in all lands. That blood was the seal of a new covenant between God and men that He would blot out their sins and give them a new Life, the Life of Him who died unto sin once, over whom death has no dominion.
The Apostles were to carry this good news of God’s Redemption and Reconciliation of the world everywhere. They were to say to men in all lands, ‘Christ, and not death, is your Lord. His Father has taken you to be His children, and has given you His Spirit.’ But how were they to make people know that they were not merely talking about a Redemption and Reconciliation, that it was an actual real Reconciliation and Redemption for men who could not understand hard words, for men of all tongues and kindreds who used different words? They took the bread and the wine. They said, ‘These our Lord gave to us at the Passover on the night on which He was betrayed. He said to us then, “This is my body which is given for you. This is the New Testament in my blood which is given for many for the remission of sins.” Now that He has given up His body on the Cross; now that He has poured out His blood, now that He has risen from the dead and ascended to His Father’s right hand, now that we are permitted to claim you all as the children of His Kingdom, now we know how mighty these words are, now we can bid you one and all receive these simple pledges and witnesses of what He is, and of what He has done for you all, and now He is the elder brother and Head of the whole family in Heaven and earth, now He delivers you from all your Tyrants; now He gives you His Spirit that you may be His free servants.’
III. You see, then, that the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper meant very little to the Apostles when they were sitting alone with our Lord at the feast, and His body was visibly with them; and that it meant everything to them when He was gone to His Father, and they could treat all men everywhere as His brethren and their brethren. And this is what it means to us who are invited to partake of it to-day. It is the assurance of the Redemption and Reconciliation which God has made for us and all mankind in the body and blood of His Son; it is the assurance that we are very members incorporate in the body of His Son; it is the assurance that He will give us His Spirit to enable us to do the good works which He has prepared for us to walk in. All this you are told in the Communion Service. I can only repeat its words and say, ‘Verily they are true words;’ we may all believe them and act upon them, we may in the strength of God’s Sacrament defy the enemies that try to divide us from Him, our own lusts, all mortal tempers, all evil spirits. We may claim our place as the servants and children of His Kingdom, we may ask Him to give us power each day to do His will. And then it will be indeed a higher and better feast to us than the Passover was to the Jews; a feast like that which tells us of a God who has broken our bonds asunder; a feast like that which tells us that He is the King over us; but a feast which is not limited to one people but which is intended for all, because our Lord Jesus Christ is, as St. Paul said, the Head of every man, the Author and giver of Salvation and Life to those who have been most tied and bound by the chains of sin and death. I am not afraid to bid you one and all to it. I know, indeed—the Gospel tells us so—that there was at the first of these Lord’s Suppers a Traitor, one whose soul was full of darkness, and who went forth when he had received the sop to do the darkest deed ever done. But that sop was itself a token of Christ’s love to him; because he would not receive it as such a token, because he would not trust that love, he first sold his Master and then hanged himself. That is, indeed, a lesson to us all. Every one may say, should say, “Lord, is it I?” But every one who does say so should say also, ‘Lord, if it is I, by Thy Cross and Thy precious blood, by Thy own infinite Love, raise me out of my selfishness and despair. I will not distrust Thee because I distrust myself. I am one of that family for which Thou didst offer Thyself. I claim no higher honour. I covet no separate place. Thou didst give Thy body and blood for the life of the world, let me partake of them as one of that world. Let me be united to Thee now that I may have Thee as my portion for ever.’