# The Lord's Supper | Sunday May 24th, 2026

#### **Matthew 26:26-30 ESV**

> (26) Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”  
> (27) And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,  
> (28) for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  
> (29) I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.”  
> (30) **And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.**

The cup and the bread were not foreign to the disciples. Every year at the Passover meal, these elements would be shared with each other. The Jews had developed many traditions and had a very regular order to the Passover meal. Eventually **the Passover meal became known as The Sedar, which means order**. Jesus took something that the disciples were familiar with and had practiced since childhood and showed them what it really was about. Jesus was the Passover lamb, and He was going to offer His body (the bread) and His blood (the cup) as the perfect offering for sins. **All the years of remembrance of the Passover were actually pointing forward to Jesus.** At the end of the meal, they sang a hymn before they went out. Mark 14:26 records the same detail. It is amazing to realize that Jesus was singing a Hymn before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane.

##### **Luke 22:41-44 ESV**

> (41) And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed,  
> (42) saying, “Father, if You are willing, **remove this cup from Me**. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”  
> (43) And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him.  
> (44) And **being in agony** He prayed more earnestly; and **His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.**

Jesus was under so much pressure and agony of what the cross entailed that His sweat became blood. It is a rare condition called hematidrosis and is caused by “extreme physical or emotional stress.” The physical pain and torture were not the primary focus. **Jesus knew that to pay for sin, He had to become sin**. **Yet, shortly before this agony, He was singing**. Part of the traditional order of the meal was to sing Psalms 113-118. These Psalms are called the **Hallel Psalms because they express praise to God**. Hallel means praise. These Psalms were also used at the other major feasts. Psalms **113-114** were sung during the Passover meal. Psalms **115-118** were sung at the Passover meal’s conclusion.

This means that Psalms **115-118** were the Hymn that Jesus sang just before His agony in the garden and His suffering on the cross. Just as the familiar Passover meal took on new meaning through Jesus, these Psalms gain incredible depth with this context in mind.

##### **Psalm 115:1-18 ESV**

> (1) Not to us, O LORD, not to us, **but to Your name give glory, for the sake of Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness!** (2) Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”  
> (3) Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.  
> (4) Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.  
> (5) They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.  
> (6) They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.  
> (7) They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.  
> (8) Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.  
> (9) **O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.** (10) O house of Aaron, **trust in the LORD!** He is their help and their shield.  
> (11) **You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.** (12) **The LORD has remembered us; He will bless us;** He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron;  
> (13) He will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great.  
> (14) May the LORD give you increase, you and your children!  
> (15) May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth!  
> (16) The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.  
> (17) **The dead do not praise the LORD,** nor do any who go down into silence.  
> (18) **But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!**

Jesus is singing praise to God the Father and giving His name glory for how loving and unwaveringly faithful He is. These words now meant more than ever. Jesus was going to entrust Himself fully to God the Father, and trust in His faithfulness. **As He sang to trust the Lord, He was about to tangibly trust the Lord with His own life.** He had to trust that God would remember him and accept the offering He was about to give for sin.

**The Psalmist reminds us that the dead do not praise the Lord; the time to rejoice and praise Him is when we are alive**. Yet, verse 18 points forward to the hope that those who fear God will be able to praise the Lord forever. It is a hint at the resurrection and the eternal life we can enjoy because of Jesus. As Jesus sang that the dead do not praise the Lord, He was preparing to go to the cross and give hope and life to that truth.

##### **Psalm 116:1-19 ESV**

> (1) **I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.** (2) Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.  
> (3) **The snares of death encompassed me**; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; **I suffered distress and anguish.** (4) Then I called on the name of the LORD: **“O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”** (5) **Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.** (6) The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, He saved me.  
> (7) Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.  
> **(8) For You have delivered my soul from death,** my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;  
> (9) **I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.** (10) I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”;  
> (11) I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”  
> (12) What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits to me?  
> (13) **I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,** (14) I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people.  
> (15) **Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.** (16) O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. (17) I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. (18) I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people,
> 
> (19) in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

The psalmist who wrote Psalm 116 was going through a time of great distress. He felt like death was surrounding him and that there would be no escape. In this dire situation, he cried out to God, and God delivered him. **God showed the psalmist grace and mercy by preserving his life.** The Psalmist could continue to walk with God in the land of the living. As Jesus sang this hymn, He was very aware that His outcome would be different**. God would still be gracious and merciful, and yet Jesus was going to die.**

All believers deaths are precious in God’s sight, and yet Jesus’ death was uniquely **valuable and weighty**. The Father knew how **costly** it was and all that it would accomplish. For Jesus to be the one who could truly lift up the cup of salvation, the cup of His blood, the cup that we celebrate today, He first had to drink the cup of God’s wrath.

##### **Psalm 75:8 ESV**

> (8) For in the hand of the LORD **there is a cup with foaming wine**, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all **the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs**.

**The cup of wrath is what Jesus prayed for the Father to remove from Him.** This is the cup that had to be fully drunk. Jesus had to fully pay for our sins and accept all the judgment and punishment that they deserve. He was willing to accept the cup of wrath, so now He can lift up the cup of salvation and offer it to us.

##### **Psalm 117:1-2 ESV**

> (1) Praise the LORD, **all nations! Extol Him**, all peoples!  
> (2) For **great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.** Praise the LORD!

God will never waver in showing steadfast love or being faithful. **His plans and promises are as fresh and secure today as they were on the day they were made.** Jesus sang of a time when all nations will praise the Lord. This will happen when Jesus reigns as King! For this future day to happen, He first must be willing to suffer on the cross and pay for sins. As He contemplated what was in front of Him, Jesus kept singing of God’s love and faithfulness. He surrounded Himself in this truth.

##### **Psalm 118:1-8 ESV**

> (1) Oh give thanks to the LORD, **for He is good**; **for His steadfast love endures forever!** (2) Let Israel say, “**His steadfast love endures forever.”** (3) Let the house of Aaron say, **“His steadfast love endures forever.”** (4) Let those who fear the LORD say, “**His steadfast love endures forever.”** (5) Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free.  
> (6) **The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?** (7) The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.  
> (8) **It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.**

Jesus used the truth of the Word to anchor Himself. He was about to experience the worst humiliation, pain, mockery, and sin that man could do. **He drew back to the promise that God was with Him. We are to have this same confidence.**

##### **Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV**

> (5) Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, **for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”** (6) **So we can confidently say**, “The Lord is **my** helper; I will not fear; **what can man do to me?”**

He has promised never to leave or forsake us. He will be our helper! This is not a cliché platitude. It is a promise that Jesus had to fully rely on, and we can as well.

##### **Psalm 118:9-22 ESV**

> (9) It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.  
> (10) All nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!  
> (11) They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the LORD I cut them off! (12) They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!  
> (13) I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.  
> (14) The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.  
> (15) Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,  
> (16) the right hand of the LORD exalts, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”  
> (17) **I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD**.  
> (18) The LORD has disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.  
> (19) Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.  
> (20) This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.  
> (21) I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.  
> (22) **The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.**

Jesus was not going to remain dead. He defeated death by paying for sin and resurrecting from the grave. He has become salvation for us. He is the stone that the builders rejected. **His own people, Israel, rejected Him and yet He is the cornerstone. Salvation is built on Him.** Jesus was singing the truth about His rejection as it was happening. He saw the eternal and was willing to be rejected to become the cornerstone.

##### **Psalm 118:23-29 ESV**

> (23) This is the LORD's doing; **it is marvelous in our eyes**.  
> (24) This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  
> (25) Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!  
> (26) Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.  
> (27) The LORD is God, and **He has made his light to shine upon us**. **Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!** (28) You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.  
> (29) Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!

In the midst of all the darkness and sin during the arrest and crucifixion, Jesus was the light shining. In His joy about God’s light, the psalmist declares to bind up the sacrifice to the horns of the altar.

This verse is so amazing because it does not fit what we know about the sacrificial system. **Throughout the law, the animal sacrifice was never bound to the horns of the altar**. The animal would be killed, and its blood would be splashed on the horns of the altar, and the animal would be cut up and arranged on the altar. Never bound to it (Lev 4:4-10). Yet, there was one sacrifice that was bound on the altar in the Old Testament.

##### **Genesis 22:7-9 ESV**

> (7) And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”  
> (8) Abraham said, “**God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”** So they went both of them together.  
> (9) When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order **and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar**, on top of the wood.

**Isaac was alive and was bound on the altar as the sacrificial offering.** Abraham trusted that God would provide for Himself a lamb. No human could ever be the one to provide that offering for sin. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. **Jesus is the sacrifice that was bound to the cross.** It is truly amazing to realize that **Jesus was singing, “Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!”** as He prepared to be bound to the cross. He willingly laid down His life out of a love for the Father (John 14:31), out of a love for the church (Ephesians 5:25), and out of God’s love for the entire world (John 3:16). As we gather to remember this amazing sacrifice, let us praise God with the psalmist: “This is the LORD's doing; **it is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:23**

**We believe in Open communion-** If you are a believer here today, you are welcome to take communion with us. All believers are a part of the body of Christ. We should not limit the fellowship that He secured.

**If you are not a believer**, meaning you have never trusted in Jesus for your salvation, this is not for you. You need His sacrifice. Please believe in Him.

You can do that right where you are by trusting who He is and what He has done for you on the cross. We are going to have a time of reflection

Take this time to confess any sins God convicts you of. We have been given Jesus’ perfect sacrifice. He is the offering. As we sin, we are not undoing what He accomplished through His offering. Yet we are breaking our fellowship with Him. **This is why we need to confess our sins and walk fresh with Him.** We also need to be careful **to not let Godly conviction lead to self-condemnation**.

**No one is worthy of Him we are accepted because of the body and the blood of Jesus.** Take time to meditate on the truths that Jesus sang shortly before the cross. He was willing to trust God, the faithful Father. He was willing to drink the cup of wrath so that it could become the cup of salvation. He was willing to be rejected to be the cornerstone. He was willing to be the perfect offering and be bound to the cross. What a wonderful savior we have! After the time of reflection, I will lead us as we all partake of the elements together. (The crackers are gluten-free.)

##### **1 Corinthians 11:23-24 ESV**

> (23) For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread,  
> (24) and **when He had given thanks, He broke it,** and said, “**This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”**

**The Bread Represents the Body:** it speaks of who Jesus Is- Fully God, fully man, perfectly obedient to the Father, and broken for us

##### **1 Corinthians 11:25 ESV**

> (25) In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “**This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me**.”

**The Cup represents the Blood:** the cup of wrath that has become the cup of salvation because of the blood.

##### **1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV**

> (26) For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, **you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.**

##### **Mark 14:26 ESV**

> (26) **And when they had sung a hymn**, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

##### **Psalm 118:26; 29 ESV**

> (26) **Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!** We bless you from the house of the LORD.
> 
> (29) Oh give thanks to the LORD, **for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!**