The Most Expensive Meal

In October of 1971 the Shah of Iran hosted a banquet for sixty kings, queens, and heads of state. The purpose of the event was to celebrate the 2,500^thyear of the Persian Empire, and the price tag for the celebration was an estimated $100 million. It has been suggested that this was perhaps the costliest table ever spread.

I would disagree with that assessment, however. I believe the Lord’s Supper is the costliest table ever spread. No, the ingredients do not surpass the $100 million that the Iranian shah spent; we only spend a few bucks on grape juice and crackers. The Lord’s Supper is the costliest table ever spread because the meal cost Jesus His life. The greatest Man who ever lived had to lay down His life. The only perfect Person in history would have to pour out His life’s blood so that we may have a seat at the table. 

When we gather together to take communion we share in one of the richest rites in history. Our Lord took the bread and cup from the Passover Seder and greatly changed the meaning that had stood for centuries. The bread was called the Affikomen,which means “The Coming One.” It was eaten each year at Passover in anticipation of the coming Messiah, and all who ate it did so in hopes that soon God would send the Rescuer. Jesus told them the bread represented His body. The Coming One had arrived. In other words Jesus was saying, “The Messiah you have been looking for is now before your very eyes. I am He.”

The cup He took was the third cup of the Passover, called the Cup of Redemption, and it followed the Affikomen.This cup was about looking back to the Exodus, when God redeemed Israel out of Egyptian slavery. In Exodus 6:6 God said to Moses, “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.’”

Jesus changed the meaning of this cup to the redemption that would be made available through the new covenant cut in His blood. Peter, who was in the Upper Room that night, would later write, “You were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, …but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish or without spot (I Peter 1:18-19).” 

In other words Jesus was saying, “No longer drink this third cup simply looking back to redemption from Egypt. From now on drink this cup thinking about the redemption of your souls made possible by my shed blood.” 

When we sit down to the Lord’s table we partake of simple ingredients available at any grocery store, but it is a costly meal in that it required the body of Jesus to be broken, and the blood of Jesus to be shed. As often as we eat it, we pause and give thanks to Jesus for the redemption that only He could make possible.