The Holy Supper has been established by the Lord in order that the church may be joined by means of it to heaven and so to the Lord. This is why it is the holiest thing of the church. (Arcana Coelestia 10519)

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THE FIRST HOLY SUPPER

Lesson: Luke 22:7-20

Just before the Lord was captured and crucified, He invited His disciples to eat the Passover feast with Him. He did this so that He could begin a new feast in His name—the sacrament (or sacred feast) of the Holy Supper, and in this way prepare His disciples for Easter.

It was the time of the year for the Jewish people to celebrate the Passover. This feast was held every year in memory of the time when the angel of death passed over the homes of the Children of Israel, who were being held captive in Egypt, and slew the first-born of the Egyptians. This forced the Egyptians to let the Israelites go free, to begin their journey to the promised land. It was this freedom from slavery which was celebrated every year by a feast. This was the feast to which the Lord invited His disciples, and He sent Peter and John ahead of the rest to find a large upper room where they all would gather, when everything was ready.

When evening came, the disciples joined their Master to celebrate the Passover. During this feast, the Lord began a new supper, the Holy Supper, for Christians. The Passover feast was celebrated to remind the Jews of their freedom from slavery. The new Supper was to remind the Lord’s disciples, and all who would follow Him, of the new spiritual freedom and life that is Christianity. This Holy Supper was to become a time when all who loved the Lord would eat special bread and drink special wine in His name, so that He might be present with them. As He said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

The bread the Lord broke and served His disciples was special unleavened bread, that is, bread made with flour, olive oil and salt without any yeast or leaven to make it rise. The Lord took these flat cakes or wafers and gave thanks. Then He said, “This is My body which is given for you: do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19), and He broke the bread in pieces and passed it to His disciples. He then took a cup of wine (which was probably red) and passed this to His disciples saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20), and they all drank from the same cup.

You must remember that the disciples did not yet know about Easter. They did not yet know the Lord would very shortly allow Himself to be captured and killed. And they certainly never dreamed that He would rise from the tomb and be present with them in His glorified body, His Divine Human. It was only after these events, after the Lord rose from death, after the resurrection, after Easter, that the disciples—and all Christians—could come to see what the Lord really meant when He gave His first Holy Supper.

By giving bread and wine to be eaten and drunk in remembrance of Him, the Lord showed that He would lay down His life so that all His followers might live. By giving this supper He showed that He alone is the source of all spiritual food and nourishment, that He alone provides the bread of desire to do what is good and the wine of spiritual truth from His Word. It is clear that by the wine the Lord meant truth from His Word because He said, “This cup is the New Testament in My blood,” and New Testament is the name of the part of our Word which tells about the Lord’s life on earth. As blood carries life to all parts of the body and carries off impurities, so truth from the Word supplies life to our minds and spirits and enables us to get rid of false ideas and evil.

In that first Holy Supper, the disciples and all sincere Christians were taught that the Lord was specially present in His Holy Supper. But it was not until the Lord came again in the Heavenly Doctrine for the New Church that people could understand why the Holy Supper is the most holy act of worship. It is because the bread corresponds to Divine love—which inspires our minds with love to the Lord, love to the neighbor and the love of uses—and it is because the wine corresponds to Divine truth—which brings spiritual light into our minds. It is because of these internal things that are in this Supper that it is the most holy act of worship.

The Holy Supper in the New Church is given to adults, yet children can look forward to the day when they can take part in it. They can learn the stories of the Lord’s Word and then learn about correspondences and how to use them to understand the spiritual sense of the Word. In these ways, children can prepare themselves to hear the invitation of the Lord in His Word, so that when they grow up, they will be called to the “supper of the great God,” as were the disciples and as are all who love the Lord.

Amen.


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