| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 25 |
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The time of the institution of the Lord’s Supper ought to be noted. It was not on a pleasant day on the seashore, when the sun was shining brightly and the birds were singing sweetly and the heart of the Master was made glad by the kindness of the people. The words, “the night in which he was betrayed,” tell the whole story of the time. It was just before He went out to the Garden. He knew all that lay before Him — that the traitor had now gone out, during the passion supper, to arrange to betray Him; that before the morning He would be dragged as a criminal before the Sanhedrin, and that to-morrow before the nine o’clock He would be hanging on a cross in shame. Yet, knowing all the terrible events that were to be crowded into that night and the next day, He took all the first part of the night for sweet and loving intercourse with His friends. He sat down with them at the Passover meal. Then, at the close of this, He instituted the memorial supper, after which He sat and talked with them in tender, loving way, and then prayed with them and for them. All this shows the utter self-forgetfulness of our Lord. He did not let His own approaching sorrow and death cast any shadow upon the hearts of His disciple. Instead, His love made those last hours the most sacred they had every enjoyed with Him. There is a lesson here for us. We ought to do as Jesus did, and should never permit our grief to make us selfish. In all our own sufferings we should hide away our pain and pour only the chastened love of our hearts upon others. It comes to us from the very night of Christ’s anguish. It is a memorial of His bitter sorrows.
In the midst of His sorrow, Jesus gave thanks. Then He brake the bread and said, “This is my; body, which is for you.” The thanksgiving that night, amid all the gathering woe, is very remarkable. Surely we should always give thanks for our mercies, even in the darkest hours of our life. No gift should be taken from the hand of God at any time without gratitude. Suppose there is a great grief in your home, or the shadow of an overwhelming sorrow is hanging over your home; when you gather at the table for the family meal, lift up your hearts and thank God for what he has given you. The Lord’s Supper should be eaten always with thanksgiving, even in the darkest hour. The breaking of the bread was also suggestive. Thus, too, was His body about to be broken. We feed on broken bread. Many of our sweetest blessings come to us from or in broken things. “Bread corn is bruised.” We do not eat the wheat whole, but crushed. The alabaster box was broken that the ointment in it might flow out to anoint Christ and to fill the house and the world with the odor. We get the blessings for forgiveness and the divine grace only when our hearts are broken. “My body, which is for you.” This tells us all. It lays bare the very heart of the Saviour.
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