The Last Supper Impact After Hours

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast.

On Finishing Well, we help you make godly choices about Medicare, long-term care, and your money. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. From an entrenched barricade deep in the heart of central North Carolina, Masculine Journey After Hours, a time to go deeper and be more transparent on the topic covered on this week's broadcast. So sit back and join us on this adventure. The Masculine Journey After Hours starts here, now. Get to share here in a couple weeks when we finally get him back.

We miss him tremendously. But, you know, deep in the art of North Carolina, we are the only masculine journey shore I'm aware of that has an art. And so... And a science. Yeah, we have. And we also have shore to miss.

But... Now that's a combo. Yeah, but anyway, Art has decided to take on the clip where no man has gone before. So, you know, the subject, I'll let Rodney explain it and then we'll go to Art's clip. So we're talking tonight about the Last Supper. What it means to you as a disciple of Jesus, a man and a believer, and what does that mean for your walk in your life? Because that night of the Last Supper, there's so much going on there. We've got betrayal, which he predicts, you know, that Judas actually, you know, carries out. You've got the denial of all that, you know, surely it's not I. And then you've got the beautiful, wonderful, my body given for you in remembrance of me and also the cup, which is poured out, which is the new covenant in my blood.

You've got that beautiful picture of the forgiveness going to come in his body that's about to happen within the next 24 hours. And then, which the part that really baffled me was all this confrontation of the disciples arguing with each other, like who's the greatest. I'm like, that just baffled me completely as to how they would be thinking about that at that time. But then I realized, yeah, I'm a pretty much an idiot too. I do that all the time. So if you think that baffled you, wait till you hear Art's clip.

So I'm not going to let Art set it up. You just listen to this clip and think, now what does this have to do with the Last Supper, especially if you're a kosher Jew? So just saying. I want a hamburger. No, a cheeseburger. I want a hot dog. I want a milkshake. I want potato chips.

You'll get nothing and like it. There you go. That's from the movie Caddyshack. And so Art, take it from here. Yeah, so I think what Sam was getting at here is the idea that you don't always get what you want, but you get what you need. And the Lord gave us what we need with the Last Supper, with his bread, his body and the drinking of his blood and other things. You know, we may want them.

And we talked about getting older here over the last couple of shows. And some of us talked about trying to eat better. Those things, you know, cheeseburgers and hot dogs and milkshakes. A lot of us are cutting cutting back on that kind of thing. But it's really but and we don't need them. We don't need them, really.

You know, we may want them, but it's not the healthiest of food in any of those things mentioned. But we do have Jesus and his word and the Last Supper. And that's what's important. And with that, we have eternal life. And that's what we need. And he said, Jesus says the Bible says that we will have all things given to us if we believe.

It's fascinating to me when you think about this clip that, you know, you know, with everything with Thanksgiving, right? And so don't lose the mic, Art, because I'm coming back. You see, last week, your topic was right that, you know, what do we tell someone that's going through this big struggle?

Like, you're going to get cancer and you're going to like it. OK. Yes, it's really I mean, to some extent, it's kind of what we face. But at the same point in time, apparently.

Robby needed to get off his high horse at some point in time, and so he gave me some opportunities to fall off that horse because it was what I really needed. Right. And in your case, I'm sure it's exactly the same. Is that right?

Can you relate? And off the boat and off the tree. Right. Yeah.

Falling is something I've become very artful at. Well, I don't I don't know. I would say he gave me the opportunity to come be on this show and it has been it was something that came. It was truly given to me. I didn't seek it.

I didn't I didn't even know about the show, actually. But sorry, Robby. But it's understandable.

Yeah. But I had a chance to come and it has helped me a lot. It's something I need. I need to be here.

I need to hear the guys talk and be a part of this program. Whereas, you know, it wasn't even something I knew I needed, but I received it. And we didn't know we needed you. So we do. I mean, it's an amazing thing. Really is. I mean, yeah, it's it's it's very true that he's become a big part of who we are.

And I can't imagine the group without him at this point in time. Right, Shortimus? We've been talking about Maximus Gladiator. And so guess what they tagged me with Shortimus Minimus.

Kickboxer us. The reason that I asked for the mic is because I wanted to give credit to my sweetheart. But she's the one really responsible for it. She had gotten leery of me driving at night before I got my cataract surgery.

It was even worse. So she recruited Art to come with me. And so it was a blessing not only to Art, but to me as well, because it allows me to come without her being upset, wondering, you know, am I going to make it back home or am I going to end up in the ditch somewhere? So I want to give credit to my sweetheart because, as we've often said, God works in strange ways to bring about good things. And this was one of them. That really, really, really is.

She's a good recruiter. Yeah, absolutely. So, Andy, there comes a point where, you know, it's your turn. And that is now? Yeah.

Okay. So my clip is from the shack. And if you know the shack, the picture of God, there's pictures in the Bible of God being a father, but there's also a picture of him being mother. And they kind of play, the character takes on that personification of a mother God. Please don't get lost in that because it really tells a good story and really how God can relate to us. But you have Mac, who his daughter has been murdered, and he didn't really feel like it was fair, and he really harbored a lot of stuff against God.

And it's kind of interesting. I was trying to find this clip where they sit down and have a supper. But in doing so, I found actually where they're preparing for supper, and Mac is making bread with the father or mother God. And in doing so, they have a dialogue about what he's been through with his daughter passing away and how it relates to how God actually had sacrificed his son. And this whole dialogue is great, and I'll talk a little bit about it after we come back.

Press out, fold back, rotate. All there is to it. I know the great gulf there is between us, Mac. You may not believe it, but I am especially fond of you. I want to heal that wound that's grown inside you and between us. There's no easy answer that'll take your pain away, no instant fix that's enduring. Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship. Relationship? You're the almighty God, right?

You know everything, and you're everywhere all at once, and you have limitless power. And somehow you let my little girl die when she needed you most. You abandoned her.

I never left her. If you are who you say you are, where were you when I needed you? Son, when all you see is your pain, you lose sight of me.

Stop talking in riddles. How can you say that you helped me when you couldn't help her? Because of you, she's gone, and she can change that. I will never be free. The truth sets everyone free, MacKenzie, and the truth has a name. He's over in his woodshed right now covered in sawdust. Truth?

I know that story. You left him, too. Seems like you have a bad habit of turning your back on those you supposedly love. I'm not who you think I am. He said it himself. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

You misunderstand the mystery. You'll never think that what my son chose to do didn't cost us both dearly. Love always leaves a mark. We were there together. I never left, and I never left you.

I never left him. So you just hear the pain in his voice, but you think about, you know, the pain that these disciples, I mean, Jesus has come along, and he's become their hero, and he just is ripping the rug right out from under him when he's telling him what's about to happen. And it's got to be, it gets into God's plan. Obviously, we all love God's plan in retrospect, but they didn't fully understand it at that point in time. Mac didn't really understand it in the scenario, you know, no, God didn't cause his daughter to be killed, but, you know, God gave man free will, but God was working on that and working to reconcile him.

If you see the movie, it's a beautiful process of how the Trinity walks Mac through that healing. And it just, the whole thing about the Last Supper is it had to be a crazy time because, again, these guys thought Jesus was going to, you know, take over Rome or, you know, fight back. They thought he was bringing a military-based kingdom, and he had been saying all along that it was not.

His kingdom wasn't of this world. But it's just a good picture. And then I think about what that whole thing of the Last Supper really gives you. I think about Revelation 3, 20, where it talks about, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If you open the door, I'll come into it and have dinner with you, essentially. And just the beauty of that, that's what it was all about. That Last Supper was about the first supper of many suppers that we should have with him. It opened up the ability to have this communion with him that really wasn't possible before then. For eternity. For eternity.

Right, right. And, you know, for those of us who, you know, truly love the Word, and I can't help but think about it, you know, clearly that, you know, his body is the Word. It clearly is, and as you partake of it, right, but, you know, I think about it actually every time I take communion, which is quite often, and as I'm crunching it, I think you're chewing on these words of God, and they're becoming part of you. And there's promises in those words, like there's promises in that blood that you're going to drink, and it builds comfort.

It's like comfort, the ultimate comfort food. That's right. Right, right, right.

Jesus was a Southerner, right? Yeah. Well, in pain, we ate supper. That's what Danny told me. That's right.

I knew we'd make it back to supper eventually. So, Jim, you've been holding your tongue over there, so let it low. Yeah, and it's bleeding from biting it.

Not really. Oh, no. Yeah, I did something wrong again. I'll spit. No, no, no, no. Actually, that was a wonderful clip.

Ptolemus. I actually heard in that for maybe the first time the pain God was suffering. Yeah, true. As Jesus was. And the Holy Spirit had to be part of that, too. My clip starts with one small voice, although it's bold, but this comes on the tail end of what was turning into a brawl among many powerful people that had to undertake what was considered by some an impossible task. And this is from the Lord of the Rings, and this is when they are determining who will be part of the Fellowship of the Rings. Crank it up. I will take the ring to Mordor, though.

I do not know the way. I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear. By my life or death, I can protect you.

I will. You have my sword. And you have my bow. And my axe.

You carry the face of us all, little one. If this is indeed the will of the council, then gondor will see it done. Yes! Mr. Frodo's not going anywhere without me.

No, indeed, it is hardly possible to separate you, even when he is summoned to a secret council, and you are not. Wait! We're coming, too!

Have to send its own tide up in a sack to stop it. Anyway, you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission, quest, thing. Well, I lose you out of it. I am companions. So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring. Right. Where are we going?

Twice you get, I don't know the way. Where are we going? And that's part of the adventure.

But you've got everything here. You've got a dwarf and an elf, that they hate each other racially, and you've got noblemen, and you've got silly hobbits, all banding together for one purpose, and it's to tackle the impossible task. This came out of my realization recently that Jesus' prayer that we find, and it really should be the Lord's prayer, as opposed to the disciples' prayer we're all familiar with, but John 17 is Jesus praying for us. He prayed for the disciples, but he also prayed for all that would follow and be part of his kingdom, and he prayed almost entirely for unity. And in several of the clips we've seen how well things go when you have very diverse people united in doing one thing for the kingdom. Kind of like the disciples.

Yep, and they were great. I'm sure they had their practical jokers. But, I mean, they basically... Some elves and some dwarfs.

And maybe even a minimus or maximus or two. But it is God who can bring together people of such bizarre... like us. I mean, we're a very different bunch, even though most of us are pretty silly most of the time, except for our wise elder who is about to speak. Well, just imagine that you're fixing to hear my clip, the clip I should have picked but didn't, and it's from Shrek, where Shrek talks about ogres are like onions. They have layers. Well, to me, this Last Supper is like an onion or an ogre.

It has lots of layers. The one that I wanted to focus on is a little bit different tack. And it doesn't come from what Jesus said at the Last Supper, but it comes from what Paul had to say about it. And we are to examine ourselves when we're partaking of a communion.

And I think that's a very crucial part of it and one of the things that is designed to help us try to stay on track, because if we never really consider where we are, then we're going to be lost without knowing it. So is there a particular story that jumps out in your mind of a time when you went, oh, like... Well, there's been a lot of them over the years. Well, let's go with one. That's fine. I can't remember a specific one. But, yeah, there were times back years ago that I would not partake of communion because I would realize that I had screamed some profanities the day before or whatever. And I felt like that... And you kick boxed? Yeah, that back when my temper used to be out of control. But I didn't feel like that I was in a position to be able to take communion. And then I came to realize that's when I needed the most.

And no one is. I mean, we all fall short of being worthy of receiving. Right. And so it then became that even if I've messed up bad, I still want to partake of the communion because that's what will draw me back to Christ. Yeah, because you've got to go down the path of, didn't he pay enough?

Right. He paid it all to him, all I owe. And the stakes are that high.

It was life and death, and it's a gigantic thing and very serious. So I always loved that examining part myself, too, Harold. Like, you know, here we are, God.

What do we need to look at? Yep. And, again, knowing Harold as I know him, one of my favorite things, because we pray around the table every Thursday, is you can just count on the fact that Harold is always going to be saying, Lord, and forgive us where we come up short. And some shorter than others. I know. Enough short jokes. You know, that just rolled out of there. I didn't anticipate saying it until I was. The real beauty of it is that I'm laughing just like you are.

It is. But he really does. He often helps me because I'm like, oh, yeah, oh, man, oh, yeah.

I do come up much shorter, regardless of stature. One of the things that's been a real disappointment in my life is that when I was a young guy and using profanity and pornography and all the other things that were wrong, and I was thinking, boy, I can't wait till I get old so I don't have to do this anymore. Guess what?

82 ain't old enough. It is easier, though, as we get there. And I think I said it before the show, but what this has reminded me of and what the Lord's Supper tells me is our very greatest accomplishment in righteousness is built the rags before God. But the one that owes us absolutely nothing, God gave everything so that we could be with him. And so, really, what righteousness we do have is a loving response to the one that's given us everything. Yeah, I was thinking that same thing as, you know, this ministry is about, a big part of it is about breakthrough. And we can all sit here and tell where God has brought us from. Yet, we are supposed to examine ourselves. And in that thing, communion to me is partly in that celebration. God, I thank you for where you brought me from that I don't do those things anymore. That doesn't mean that I've arrived or I've got it down.

There's also, I think you're able to see more. The more you have breakthrough in, the more you're able to see the other deficiencies and the things that need to be worked on, the examining of yourself. But it can be, God, I thank you that I'm not where I used to be. I still am not where I want to go. I'm on this journey, but it's a good place. And I don't take any credit for any of it. I thank you for bringing me along this journey.

But I sure do thank you that I'm not where I was. I think the crux of what we're talking about, the sacrifice of Christ, is that the table that is before us, you bring absolutely nothing to the table. You can't leave a tip. You don't bring the drinks.

None of that stuff. Jesus, when he says he paid it all, he paid it all. And I know men are challenged, this man is challenged with that because I want to bring something to the table. Well, you know, I bring my faith. Well, he gave that to me, too.

Yeah, so you go down this path. I was really camping out with the same place as Harold, and I love that you brought up that pact of examining yourself because I hadn't thought of that. But it was along the lines of I can easily look around the room. I can look around wherever I'm at and go, look at what everybody else is doing. Do I examine myself and say, well, what are you doing yourself? You know, that is so hard. I'm just, that pride just jumps out, and it's so hard to humble yourself to say, but for God, there go I, and I do it all the time, and just in any type of small discussions. You know, we'll have discussions all the time.

It'll just jump up in there. And that was a trap of the disciples, too. They were constantly comparing themselves one way or another, and I think we all fell into that for some time, and hopefully that's our, in the continuum, we're working away from that to where we focus on our own self-awareness and what we're doing instead of what everybody else is. I mean, if everybody else is doing it perfect, or they don't live up or whatever, they don't meet some kind of, it doesn't matter.

It's irrelevant. It's just me. And there was the angle, as Harold brought out beautifully, that there are a lot of layers to it. And John, right? You got Peter, who's out there with all the bravado, right? He's like, I've got this, man.

No problem. You're not, you know. But in the meantime, John is where? He's on Jesus' bosom, right? He's right there and makes reference to himself, you know, like when he's writing the story. The disciples love Jesus. You know, I'm the one.

I'm the one. That's actually humility. It's a beautiful thing that, like, how many times can all of us relate to the point that you were actually there, right? I did feel like I was in Jesus' bosom at that point, right, Danny? Yeah, you know, the beauty of that story, I always thought about if he's laying his head on Jesus' bosom, he's hearing the heartbeat of God, literally. And, you know, what a place to be.

At such a time as this, right? Oh, yeah. Because this is the heartbeat of God while he's got Judas at the table. He's talking about his own betrayal. He's talking about all these things and the covenant that he's going to make with his own blood. And all of them are going, all of them are going, hey, ask him. Who's he talking about? But, I mean, you know, Robby's a protege of John, you know, because he always thinks God is his favorite, right? But, you know, that's the beauty of God is he makes us all feel like we're his favorite, right? And I'm guessing there was gossiping at the far ends of the table about, I bet it's him, I bet it's him, too. That's human nature.

James has two possibilities there. Man, thank you, Rodney, for an amazing topic. Yeah, good topic. And, you know, we're missing a few people at this table. And so we need you at the boot camp. I don't know how else to put it, except, man, we would love, love, love to enjoy your fellowship if you go to that. In November, right?

It's November 16th through the 19th, a weekend before Thanksgiving, later on in April. But you go to Masculine Journey, please, masculinejourney.org. We would love to see you there. Thanks so much for listening. And for Sam, we'll see you, hopefully, next week, finally. This is the Truth Network.