Pastor Terry Reilly
Creekside Open Bible Church

Luke 22:44-45 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. 45 At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief.

The job is a hassle.  The kids aren’t “kidding right.”  Marriage is on a downward trajectory.  And financially, there is economic stress all around.  Life can be exhausting…no wonder that for so many, sleep is such a wonderful escape hatch. Exit stage right to a nice “garden spot” and find a Posturepedic mattress and pillow.  We even have a Bible verse for it right here!  Oh, I guess that isn’t the encouragement.  Jesus’ A-team experienced some emotional and physical times that taxed them to the max.  The disciples, while not insensitive to their Savior’s suffering, didn’t sense the seriousness of the mission so they slumbered. Funny thing, gracious and gentle Jesus asks them why they were sleeping and then challenges them again to pray.

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Pastor Jeff Reed
Hillside Covenant Church

Luke 22:19-20 Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you–an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.

Jesus had broken bread in miraculous fashion before.  Once He broke five loaves and fed five thousand men (Mark 6:38-44).  Later He broke seven loaves into food for four thousand people (Mark 8:5-9). Jesus had also ‘poured’ wine in miraculous fashion before.  At a wedding in Cana He turned six 30-gallon purification jars filled with water into the best wine the maitre’ d had ever tasted.

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Pastor Bill Francis
Morello Hills Christian Church

Luke 22:17-18 Then he took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks for it, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

It is common to call the Lord’s Supper – Communion.  In fact I’ve never heard it called, “By Myself” or “Alone”.  The word “communion” technically says nothing about the meaning of the elements, and it says everything about how the elements are taken … together – shared.  The word communion is all about the “more than one” nature of the sacrament.  I’ve grown up with “communes” and “communism” being bad words.  They became synonymous with free-love and nuclear war!  But even with its cousins taking on bad images, “communion” has held its own.

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