Supper and a Sermon During Lent
Robert J. Morgan
One of the best ways to observe Lent is by joining Jesus for supper in the Upper Room and listening to his sermon in John 13 - 17, as though spoken just to you. This is a passage you can read aloud in about fifteen minutes, but it's worth a lifetime of study. It's the record of what Jesus said over a private supper with his disciples just hours before he was seized and crucified.
The first thing to notice is how John slowed his narrative to accommodate for this meal. The first twelve chapters of the Fourth Gospel cover a span of three Passovers, or three years, but the next five chapters encompass just the duration of the Last Supper. It was the Lord's most poignant night and John took in every word and recorded many details.
The next thing to notice is the visual power of the setting. Imagine yourself in a sealed upstairs room in antiquity--in Jerusalem at Passover--windows closed, tension high, lanterns burning, table spread. Both the supper and the sermon were served in an atmosphere of impending doom. It was last evening of the natural life of Jesus of Nazareth. He knew it, and he spoke soberly but serenely.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-morgan/supper-and-a-sermon-durin_b_4934617.html?utm_hp_ref=christianity
