The Lord’s Supper
Gospel of John and selected scriptures
Most of you know that we are nearing the end of our study through the Gospel of John. We have seen that John’s Gospel is different from Matthew, Mark and Luke (the Synoptic Gospels) in many places. One of the unique features of John’s Gospel is his account of Jesus’ last supper or Passover with His disciples.
When Jesus celebrates the Passover with His disciples on the night He is betrayed, John does not record Jesus’ instructions related to Lord’s Supper like the others do. Instead, John records Jesus’ extended teaching of His disciples in John 13–17 at the same point in the narrative where the synoptic Gospels present the institution of the Lord’s Supper. There are even apparent differences as to the timing of John’s Passover in relation to Matthew, Mark and Luke, but we won’t take time to discuss those today.
Although John does not retell Jesus giving the bread and the cup and instituting the New Covenant, the symbols and words used in the Lord’s Supper are abundant in the Gospel of John.
John reminds us that Jesus’ hour for His death was at the Passover Feast (John 13:1), “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” It was during their Passover supper that Jesus humbled Himself to serve His disciples by washing their feet demonstrating His great love for them.
In the other Gospels Jesus speaks about the new covenant in His blood shed for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). Although Jesus does not mention the new covenant in John, He does give the new commandment of that covenant (John 13:34), “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” And although crucifixion is certainly a bloody execution, John is the only Gospel to mention the blood of Jesus at His death (John 19:34) when “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
Also, John does emphasize that Jesus came to die for sin. From the very moment Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized, John says (John 1:29), “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus responds to Pilate (John 19:11), “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” It was because of sin and to take away sin that Jesus died on the cross.
John does not tell us that Jesus took the bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples, but he does tell record that in John 6 Jesus said (John 6:48), “I am the Bread of Life.” In that chapter when Jesus fed the 5000, He had taken the loaves, given thanks (from εὐχαριστέω) and gave (from διαδίδωμι) to His disciples (John 6:11). These are the same words that Luke records of Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper in Luke 22:19, “And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”” Later in John 6 Jesus contrasted Himself with the manna that God gave through Moses saying (John 6:35), “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” Comparable to His saying, “This is My body which is given for you” (Luke 22:19), Jesus says (John 6:51), “the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
I want to be clear that in John 6 Jesus is not instituting the ordinance of Communion; but He is teaching that eating His flesh and drinking His blood are symbols of faith. Jesus says (John 6:54), “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” Parallel to that statement Jesus says (John 6:40), “everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” It is not the physical eating and drinking that ensures eternal life but what these represent: receiving and believing in Jesus.
In the same way, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, it is not the physical eating of bread or drinking the cup that gives eternal life, these are symbols of us receiving Jesus Christ and believing in Him and His death for our sins as the Lamb of God. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
We eat and drink in remembrance of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for our sins. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus institutes the ordinance of Communion. Because Jesus is leaving, He takes the Passover elements of bread and wine and uses them to remind us of His death and resurrection. In place of the Lord’s Supper in John 13-17 Jesus teaches about the Holy Spirit. Jesus explains that although He will be absent, the Holy Spirit would be present with the disciples, (John 14:16-18),
16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
How does Jesus come to us? Through “another Helper,” the Holy Spirit, who abides with us forever. Again, Jesus said to them that night (John 14:26), “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” As we partake of the Lord’s Supper to “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19), the Holy Spirit who lives in us brings to our remembrance what Jesus said and what He did for us.
When we participate in the Lord’s Supper, eating the bread and drinking the cup, we are not only believing in Jesus’ death for our sins, but also in His resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit to be His presence with us.
So the bread and the wine are symbols of Christ’s death and resurrection. They picture the Lord’s sacrifice as the Lamb of God for our sin. They are portrayals of His love. They are reminders of His presence with us through His Holy Spirit. We embrace and encounter the Lord Jesus Christ as we eat and drink by faith and by the Spirit.
That is why those who eat and drink this memorial meal must first have believed in Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper is not for unbelievers, but for true born-again children of God. If you have not yet trusted in Christ, you can do so now. Turn in repentance from your sin and believe in Christ’s all-sufficient death to save you. Believe Jesus is alive from the dead and that He will raise you to life with Him.
November 25, 2023 @ 10:24 am
Many good points here. Thank you for writing this out.
Life is to be much more symbolic than most Christians realize. The heavens declare HIS glory – the earth shows HIS handiwork. Even eating and drinking is to be in regard of his glory.
I wonder how many Israelites were aware that the water from the rock represented God’s redemption.
April 7, 2024 @ 5:24 pm
So glad that this teaching is helpful to you.