The Last Supper: a meal for Misfits [S3.E1]
Gather 'round, folks, because this episode is a wild ride through pain, healing, and the crazy grace of God! Our three misfit pastors, Jean, Byron, and Tullian, are back at it again, tackling the deep stuff with a side of laughter. We dive right into the heart of the matter: when life gets tough and messy, sometimes the best advice is to just sit with someone in their pain. No need for those ‘quick-fix’ solutions; we’re all about sharing the heavy load together. Picture this: you’re sitting with a friend who’s going through a rough patch, and instead of throwing out the usual “just cheer up” nonsense, you simply say, “I’m here for you.” That’s the kind of raw, real talk we’re serving up this week!
We also take a stroll down the memory lane of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the big Easter Sunday. Our gang reminds us that these aren’t just religious buzzwords or fancy rituals; they’re about understanding grace in its most tangible form. Jesus, in his last supper, showed us the ultimate act of love, breaking bread even knowing his buddies would betray him. Like, who does that? It’s like saying, “Hey, I know you’re going to mess up, but I’m still serving you dinner.” Man, that’s some next-level grace right there! So, let’s lean into the mess together, laugh a little, and learn a lot about how we can be there for each other in our times of need.
So strap in, grab your favorite snack, and join us as we explore how grace isn’t just a concept; it’s the messy, beautiful reality of our lives. Because let’s be real, we’re all a little bit of a hot mess, and that’s exactly where grace shines the brightest!
Takeaways:
- Sometimes, the best thing we can do for someone in pain is to just sit with them, no advice needed.
- Grace isn't just a concept; it's the lifeline for those who feel lost and broken.
- Communion is for everyone, especially those who feel unworthy and messy inside.
- Jesus showed his love by giving his body for those who betray and deny him, and that’s powerful!
- We all mess up, but that’s exactly why God’s grace is there to catch us when we fall.
- The beauty of the Last Supper lies in Jesus offering himself for all sinners, not just the 'good' ones.
Transcript
You're listening to the Misfit preachers, talian Chavigian, Jean LaRue and Byron Yan from ProdigalPodcast.com we're plagiarizing Jesus one podcast at a time.
Speaker A:Now here are the misfits.
Speaker B:Welcome to Misfit Preachers.
Speaker B:We're back.
Speaker B:On my right is telling.
Speaker B:On my Left is Jean LaRue III.
Speaker B:Welcome, gentlemen.
Speaker A:Good to be back.
Speaker A:I missed you guys.
Speaker B:It's been a minute.
Speaker A:It has been.
Speaker B:It's been a minute.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm thrilled to be here.
Speaker B:What we want to discuss today and kind of unpack it's.
Speaker B:It's Easter season, and we want to discuss some of the central tenets of that season, basically from our perspective, the perspective of grace, to give other people perspective on it as they walk into those spaces and hear sermons on it.
Speaker B:And Monday, Thursday, Good Friday, and then Resurrection Sunday.
Speaker B:What is all of that about?
Speaker B:So as we did with Christmas and kind of as we did with Thanksgiving, we're going to do that, but we're going to dig in a little more theologically.
Speaker B:We're not going to talk about Easter egg hunts and those sort of things.
Speaker B:We're going to deal with some specific things in that window.
Speaker B:So are you ready?
Speaker B:Ready to go get your theological hat on?
Speaker C:So we're basically like when somebody walks into Walmart this week and they see Easter baskets and candy and eggs and all that, we're saying there's.
Speaker C:There's something going on here.
Speaker C:Bigger than a bunny.
Speaker B:I would have chosen Target.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But your point is valid.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Bigger Than a Bunny.
Speaker A:That's a great title for this episode.
Speaker A:Bigger Than a Bunny.
Speaker B:That's probably a sermon out there somewhere.
Speaker A:Probably a sermon.
Speaker A:I'm not going to preach it, but I'm sure it's a sermon out there for somebody.
Speaker B:So let's start with something that a lot of people might not really understand and oftentimes doesn't really come up, but is a central feature in this season in the church, and that's the Last Supper.
Speaker B:Let's shed some light on that and ask why.
Speaker B:And what was that about?
Speaker B:And what relevance does it have to our life of faith in Christ and our walk in grace?
Speaker B:So, Jean, we'll start with you.
Speaker C:I think people are familiar with, with the concept.
Speaker C:I mean, people have seen the picture.
Speaker C:They've seen.
Speaker C:I mean, it was even lampooned at the Olympics.
Speaker C:You know, this picture of Jesus eating with his disciples.
Speaker C:What's going on there?
Speaker C:There was a betrayal, there was a denial.
Speaker C:There was all These things happening.
Speaker C:But I think it's very ethereal for people.
Speaker C:They don't really like.
Speaker C:There's no real relevance for me what was happening in that moment and what was Jesus trying to do necessarily?
Speaker C:I would say if somebody stopped me in a, you know, sitting next to somebody in a shared Uber ride or something, and they said, what's the deal with the Last Supper?
Speaker C:And I would say Jesus was tipping his hand.
Speaker C:You know, this is like somebody that has some cards, and he's like, hell, I'm going to show you.
Speaker C:Like, this is what's happening.
Speaker C:And so when he talks about the bread and the wine and the body and the blood being shed, he's tipping his hand, he's saying, this.
Speaker C:This is what's about to happen before it happens.
Speaker C:And the picture there of the broken body, which is portrayed in the bread and the shed blood, which is wine, grape juice, if you're Baptist.
Speaker C:Sorry, just kidding.
Speaker B:There are two, two, two lines at some Presbyterian church.
Speaker B:They never know.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker C:Not.
Speaker C:Not relevant.
Speaker C:And the whole reality of what was he talking about?
Speaker C:The broken body in the shed.
Speaker C:But why did it have to be that?
Speaker C:So I think I'd put that summary and then, you know, say, okay, let's continue the conversation.
Speaker C:Why did that have to happen?
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Why did the body have to be broken?
Speaker C:The blood have to be shed, which.
Speaker B:Is the foreshadowing in the next several days, correct?
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker A:When I was a kid and my parents would tell us that we were going to a Maundy Thursday service, which is always celebrated the Thursday before Easter, the Thursday before Good Friday, I didn't understand what that was.
Speaker A:And so I originally thought what they were saying was, we are going to go.
Speaker A:This is a big week.
Speaker A:It's Easter week.
Speaker A:We're gonna go to church Monday through Thursday.
Speaker A:I thought it was Monday Thursday.
Speaker A:I mean, it was the most dreaded week of my life.
Speaker A:Because I was like, there is no way in hell I'm gonna sit in church Monday through Thursday.
Speaker A:So I remember sharing that with my dad time.
Speaker A:And he just chuckled and said, it's not Monday.
Speaker A:It's Maunday Thursday.
Speaker A:And then he went on to explain what it meant.
Speaker A:But the thing I love most about that scene, and I share this every time I serve communion here at the sanctuary.
Speaker A:I flip to that passage in Corinthians where the Apostle Paul is describing the way this supper ought to be celebrated.
Speaker A:What it is, what it signifies, the power of it.
Speaker A:And he begins his whole instruction about the Lord's Supper, about Communion by saying, on the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and broke it and said, this is my body broken, given for you.
Speaker A:And I've said this many times.
Speaker A:But of all of the ways the apostle Paul could have described that night, that event, he could have said the night Jesus was arrested, he could have said the night before Jesus was crucified, he could have said the night that Jesus had his final meal with his disciples on earth, he could have said a thousand different things.
Speaker A:He could have described that night a thousand different ways.
Speaker A:And for him to begin his description by saying on the night he was betrayed is not coincidental.
Speaker A:He wanted the people in Corinth to know that God gives us his best when we are at our worst.
Speaker A:So beyond what it ultimately signifies and points to the very fact that Jesus would say the things he said to a room full of people that he knew just hours later were going to desert him in his most dire time of need.
Speaker A:People that were in Judas's case, betray him, in Peter's case, deny him, washes their feet, serves them their last supper, points to his body, points to the blood is the essence of the Gospel.
Speaker A:It is the essence of God's one way love.
Speaker A:So if, if, if it was nothing more than that, that alone that Jesus is announcing that I am giving my body and my blood for betrayers and deniers and liars and cheaters and fair weather friends.
Speaker A:So powerful.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The providence of the Father set the trap.
Speaker B:Son willingly stepped into it, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:His willing obedience in that moment based on what you're describing, is very powerful.
Speaker B:When I think about that scene from kind of the historic perspective, it is the reality stepping out of the shadows into the space with the disciples.
Speaker B:That of course, is the Passover meal on repeat in the history of the Israelites and Jesus and the disciples in that moment.
Speaker B:And there's this shadow cast all throughout history of this one that is coming, that's going to fulfill all of these things.
Speaker B:And in that moment, based in contrast to a lot of the rest of Jesus ministry, is when Jesus says this is, is here.
Speaker B:And a lot of us would say that what Jesus did in adjusting that meal was to distinguish it from the old covenant meal, the Passover meal, which is true in one respect, but in another respect, what he did was make it what it's supposed to be.
Speaker B:He refined it on this side in the new covenant, that it is all by grace, it is all by faith, through faith in what God is doing through His Son in that moment.
Speaker B:That's why he says this Is my body broken for you?
Speaker B:He supplanted all of that Old Testament shadow with himself, which was the point all along.
Speaker B:And if you read the Gospels, John the Baptist sees him, and the first words out of his mouth are, behold the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.
Speaker B:And if you read the story forward, it happens in that moment.
Speaker B:Jesus says, I am the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world.
Speaker B:And all of that shadow is, you know, evacuated by the light of who he is in that moment.
Speaker B:It's him taking on the mantle of our redemption and giving believers an opportunity throughout the history of the church to experience that grace and relive that grace.
Speaker B:And you say this every time you offer communion to the body here at the sanctuary, that this isn't an opportunity for us to double down on our commitment to God.
Speaker B:This is an opportunity for us to double down on our belief in God's commitment.
Speaker B:And if you read the story and the Last Supper episode, it can't be interpreted as anything but that.
Speaker B:This is for you, by me.
Speaker B:So in that respect, it is full of the Gospel, full of grace.
Speaker B:It's saturated with it from front to back.
Speaker C:Well, and I think for a lot of people who may be somewhat familiar, they may have gone to a place of worship or something like that.
Speaker C:There's this intense moment where everybody is encouraged to think, am I good enough to come?
Speaker C:Am I good enough to take the supper?
Speaker C:Am I good enough to have the Lord supper to share in this meal?
Speaker C:And I love the preposition at.
Speaker C:At the end of that, especially where St.
Speaker C:Paul said, you know, this is the whole idea on the night he was betrayed, this is my body.
Speaker C:And the preposition at the end, broken.
Speaker C:For you.
Speaker A:That's the best for you.
Speaker C:Like those two words, that's the best.
Speaker A:Best.
Speaker C:The modifier there to be able for Jesus to sit there in that setting and to look the people in his eyes that will not stay awake, that will deny him, that will run, that will hide, that will not even believe once he raises from the dead and he goes, this is for you.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love.
Speaker A:Totally agree.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:That is.
Speaker A:Those words for you are such an apt description of the Gospel.
Speaker A:For you.
Speaker A:For you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it's not a good example story.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker C:Because I've heard it spun that way.
Speaker C:Like, okay, notice Jesus was such a servant.
Speaker C:You know, go be a servant, wash the feet of others.
Speaker C:And we.
Speaker C:We moralize the story right into this place.
Speaker C:Instead of seeing that this is God in Flesh, who serves, who humbles himself.
Speaker C:The posture that's there, this.
Speaker C:This is a God who is accessible, who's come close.
Speaker C:And I would say, if you're listening and saying, you just have no idea.
Speaker C:You don't know what I'm like, what I've done.
Speaker C:I say, have you.
Speaker C:Have you kissed the face of Jesus only to betray him?
Speaker C:You know, have you denied him public.
Speaker C:These are the people he set the table.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:That's the level of betrayal that took place in that event.
Speaker B:Really, it escapes our awareness because we're not there.
Speaker B:But what you're saying is exactly true.
Speaker B:It is for you, his work for us.
Speaker B:I mean, the entire scene is replete with the message that we're plagiarizing in Jesus.
Speaker B:This is my necessary work on your behalf.
Speaker B:Now, if somebody comes and says to ask me the question, am I good enough to participate in this meal?
Speaker B:The answer is no.
Speaker B:No, you're not.
Speaker B:Which is the point of the meal in and of itself.
Speaker B:Jesus is the good here and the righteous here.
Speaker B:This is on your behalf.
Speaker B:And I mean, if you go back in church history, there was a time that people didn't have Bibles.
Speaker B:They weren't having Bible studies at their home.
Speaker B:They weren't interpreting these texts for themselves.
Speaker B:The church had that information.
Speaker B:And they went to church for one reason and one reason only, to know and to understand that they were right with God kind of at the beginning of the week, again after their struggles.
Speaker B:And that's the message on replay in the meal when we take it beginning here as well.
Speaker B:It's the New Covenant in his blood.
Speaker B:New Covenant means unilateral act by God done on our behalf, received by us through faith.
Speaker B:The Old Covenant has passed away.
Speaker B:It would not work.
Speaker B:It did not work.
Speaker B:And that is the inauguration of it.
Speaker B:And it set into motion everything that was to come.
Speaker A:It is a meal for misfits.
Speaker A:That is the truth.
Speaker B:You are the.
Speaker B:You are God's gift to slogans like that.
Speaker A:It is a meal for misfits.
Speaker A:I heard a story.
Speaker A:One of my professors in seminary told this story in the old Scottish tradition.
Speaker A:They would come up during a communion service and they would sit around a table and they would pass the bread in groups.
Speaker A:They would pass the bread, pass the cup, take it, go back to their seats.
Speaker A:The next group would come up.
Speaker A:And my professor told this story about a time a woman was making her way to the table, head hung low, weeping, clearly, obviously full of some sort of shame.
Speaker A:And she sits at the table.
Speaker A:And when the cup was passed, to her.
Speaker A:She held it for a second handshaking, didn't drink it, passed it along.
Speaker A:And the minister saw this, and he grabbed it out of the next guy's hands and he gave it back to the woman.
Speaker A:And he said, woman, drink.
Speaker A:It's for sinners.
Speaker A:As simple and as beautiful as that sounds, that is the essence of what communion is and who communion is for.
Speaker A:I come from a tradition, I know you do, too, where there is a heavy emphasis on fencing the table, which is just a fancy way of saying the preacher, before serving communion, stands up and admonishes the people to ensure sure that they are right with God.
Speaker A:Because if they're not, and they come anyway, they are drinking and eating judgment on their own heads.
Speaker A:And so there's a particular interpretation of those passages.
Speaker A:And the takeaway is, this is a meal for Christians only.
Speaker A:Now, ironically, the same professor in seminary that told me that story also said that what we're doing when we take communion together is receiving the gospel in a different form.
Speaker A:So when somebody's preaching, they're delivering the gospel verbally.
Speaker A:And when a minister is serving communion, they're serving communion, or they're essentially preaching the gospel in a physical way.
Speaker A:And so the logic of fencing the table has never made sense to me because I've thought to myself, we would never bar anybody from hearing the gospel.
Speaker A:Why in the world would we ever bar anybody from tasting the gospel?
Speaker A:And who's to say that someone, a non believer, who doesn't really know what they're doing, who's to say that that means of grace, that bread, that wine, that means of grace, will not be the converting agent?
Speaker A:The means of grace that God promised it was.
Speaker A:So some people go back and look at the passage of examining yourself.
Speaker A:And, you know, and I always say this when we take communion here, which.
Speaker C:And we're.
Speaker A:We're talking about communion in context of our conversation about Maundy Thursday?
Speaker A:Because that's what they were doing.
Speaker A:And every time we take communion, that's what we are talking about.
Speaker A:We're celebrating, we're remembering, we're receiving.
Speaker A:But there are some that say, you know, examine yourself.
Speaker A:And the point of Paul telling us to examine ourselves before we come to the supper is so that we can in some way shape or form, rid ourselves of whatever known sin there is so that we can come clean to the table.
Speaker A:And that never made sense to me either.
Speaker A:We are all unclean.
Speaker A:There is no one righteous.
Speaker A:No, not one.
Speaker A:The heart is deceitful, above all things, desperately wicked.
Speaker A:I mean, we could Go on and on and on.
Speaker A:So this idea of getting clean before you come to God, first of all, the implications of that are, are torturous for people because just by doing that, what you're saying to these people, what you're suggesting is that in order to come to God, you have to come clean, you have to come spotless.
Speaker A:And I've always gone back and said, Paul's not saying examine yourself so that you can rid yourself of all known sin and come clean to the table.
Speaker A:He's saying, examine yourself, take a deep dive into your own heart.
Speaker A:See all the gunk there, all the rebellion there, all the failure there, all the disobedience there, just all the selfishness and vanity there.
Speaker A:And then emerge from that examination looking to the Supper as your only hope.
Speaker A:Not the Supper itself, but the Jesus behind the Supper as your only hope.
Speaker A:In other words, it's Paul's way of saying, if you think you have any righteousness at all that can make you right with God, a deep dive, honest examination of your own heart will cure you of that.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker A:And you will then be able to come to the table with needy, messy, dirty hands and receive God's one way love given to you in Jesus.
Speaker B:Spot on.
Speaker C:I love it.
Speaker C:I think the last thing I would add to that would simply be this.
Speaker C:I love when, when there's this beautiful story where Jesus is, is giving this foreshadowing of what the, the Supper is, not just the Maundy Thursday supper, but the feast in heaven, right?
Speaker C:And he's telling the story to all these religious people who believe they've got the golden ticket.
Speaker C:Like they're going to be there.
Speaker C:We're at the head table.
Speaker C:You know, we're sitting there next to the.
Speaker C:And Jesus says, hey, listen, all these people were invited, but they, they didn't examine.
Speaker C:They didn't know that they were needy and broken and, and, and hungry and thirsty.
Speaker C:So what we're going to do is we're going to tear up your invitation.
Speaker C:We're going to go out into the byway, highways and byways.
Speaker C:We're going to pull in the cripples, the, the blind, the lame, the Samaritans.
Speaker C:We're going to pull in the LaRues, the divisions, the yawns.
Speaker C:We're going to seat all these roughnecks at the table and Jesus goes, and we're going to fill the banquet hall full of these people.
Speaker C:And that's what my father is like.
Speaker A:And how offensive is that to the religious invitees?
Speaker A:I mean, love it.
Speaker B:Yeah, the Irony is the way that it is typically portrayed is the exact opposite of actually what it means.
Speaker B:So if there's a person who is sitting in a pew in a church somewhere that says I'm unworthy to go and participate in these elements, these elements exist in this exercise, exists exactly for you because you have to be told consistently, constantly, on repeat, like a scratched record that it had nothing to do with what you've done or haven't done.
Speaker B:It is completely dependent on what someone else did.
Speaker B:It is a free gift.
Speaker B:Come participate.
Speaker B:And that is that ego crushing reality that transforms us.
Speaker B:And that's the way we delivered it at community.
Speaker B:And what we would say to them is every Sunday you're going to exit through the gift shop of grace and everything is free.
Speaker B:Take everything that you want.
Speaker B:And we specifically pointed to it with that emphasis in mind.
Speaker B:If, if you think you're unworthy to come participate in it, you're the perfect candidate to participate in it.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Period.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you think you're disqualified, you are qualified.
Speaker B:100.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Your qualification is your self awareness that you're not qualified.
Speaker B:Awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah guys, that's.
Speaker B:It's such an encouraging conversation and I think, you know, medicine for ailing ills ears out there that are kind of thinking those things that a certain privileged people get to do this particular way, I think it'll be so relieving to them and it will reframe their experience of it in a way that they've never experienced before.
Speaker A:And what a beautiful.
Speaker A:I mean the way like you just said, the way that it is typically presented, we're presenting the gospel in these elements and we're presenting it in a way that is so anti gospel.
Speaker A:I mean it's unbelievable.
Speaker A:Like I've always had a problem with the whole fencing of the table.
Speaker A:I'm like if what Sinclair Ferguson told us in seminary in our church and sacraments class that the, that the Lord's supper is the gospel tasted and the preaching and preaching is the gospel heard.
Speaker A:I'm like, where is the consistency in saying you can't be, you have to be a Christian to hear the gospel?
Speaker A:We don't say that.
Speaker B:Guys, thank you for your observations on this.
Speaker B:I know the impact on this particular conversation because it, it, some people don't really understand it and have heard the wrong things is that it's going to reframe their experience of it.
Speaker B:And what I'm excited about thinking about is them going into church the next time communion is served and approaching it in a completely different way.
Speaker B:So thank you on behalf of those people and me.
Speaker A:You've been listening to the misfit preachers like subscribe and share more grace centered resources@prodigalpodcasts.com that's prodigal P R O D I G A L podcasts with an s dot com.
