When we come to the Last Supper we usually only think of the Communion instructions but at the Last Supper there were tensions or undercurrents.

In Luke’s narrative a ruckus broke out between the disciples as to who was the greatest. It was customary at the time the guest of most importance sat at the centre of the table with the most important, the next closest with the least important at the end.

Who did Jesus say would betray Him? It was the one who dips his hand in the dish with Him, a person close to Him. But this ruckus should not have occurred for Jesus had already demonstrated the importance of being important. For He had washed their feed, He had humbled Himself.

John’s narrative includes much of the conversation around the table of Jesus’ teaching and encouragement. John’s account also includes Jesus prayer, which includes you and me, Jesus prayed for all believers.

John 17:20-26

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

GETHSEMANE

Jesus goes to pray. Note Jesus’ example during the hard times. Prayer is important and necessary at a time like this. It is important to pray!

Please make up a prayer list of those you know in the fellowship and for them.

It is recorded that Jesus was a man and that He felt as we feel. He was tempted in all the ways we are tempted but did not sin. Yes Jesus was tempted in the desert after His baptism with a direct confrontation with the evil one. Now most of us haven’t had that type of temptation confrontation. Most of us are tempted in our normal day to day living.

As you read the Gospel narrative there are times when you thought it would have been possible for Jesus to be tempted. In Gethsemane we Jesus’ humanity exposed. If we were confronted with the choice Jesus had to make, we would pray “Hey, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to go through this agony. Can’t it be done another way?”

By living a life of unbroken resistance to the temptation of satan and grateful perfect submission to God’s Laws, He became the perfect substitute for our faltering achievements. It was His life, given as a perfect and final thank offering on our behalf. We can only give thanks that His response was, ‘Not my will but yours be done.’

Join now in a time of Communion as we remember His sacrifice for us.

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We trust you are blessed by God’s Word during this difficult time.