The Passover
Seder...
The Supper that Jesus instituted on the night he was betrayed was a new
Passover meal. Or we might say that the Passover was the Old Testament
Lord’s Supper.
The reason the Lord instituted the Passover was so that people of
Israel would always remember and proclaim their redemption from Egypt:
This day shall be for you a memorial day too, and you shall keep it as
a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever,
you shall keep it as a feast. (Exodus 12:14)
And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has
promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to
you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the
sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the
people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our
houses.’” (Exodus 12:25-27)
The Lord’s Supper was instituted for the same reason:
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, 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.” 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.” For as often
as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death
until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
OT Israel looked back to the Exodus through the Passover meal. NT
Israel (that's us) looks back to the cross and resurrection of Jesus
through the Lord’s Supper.
As often as we eat this new Passover meal we remember a greater exodus:
"for he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and translated us
into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sin."
1. Christian Communion Is Rooted in Redemption
Are you in need of forgiveness, of deliverance, of grace? This meal is
for you. PASSOVER TRADITIONALLY HAS BEEN ABOUT DELIVERANCE, PROVISION,
PROTECTION IN A NEW PROMISE OR COVENANT CENTERED IN CHRIST
THESES ARE ROOTS OF CIVILIZATION AND FREEDOM GIVEN FROM GOD. They
extend deep into the history of God’s people and the riches of God’s
character. Luke’s account makes clear that Jesus celebrates a Passover
meal (Luke 22:8, 11, 13, 15), recalling God’s deliverance of Israel
from slavery in Egypt. We’re reminded that God is eager to save his
people (Psalm 86:5). And even as Jesus observes the Passover meal, he
elevates it, claiming that it’s ultimately about his own imminent death.
Jesus himself is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He is
the Son whom God does not spare (unlike the firstborn sons of Israel at
the first Passover) so that we may be spared. We receive this meal
because we have been delivered from death and hell, and because we know
we’re in desperate need of daily grace. THE ALTERNATIVE IS THE DEATH
ANGEL. THE WHOLE OF THE FIRSTBORN. THE HEART OF HUMANS: THE FIRSTBORN.
LIKE ISAAC?
2. It Is Planned by Jesus Himself. THE COMUNNION SEDER IS FOR YOU.
WASHING FEET. WE ARE MINISTERED TO.
Do you relish being at the table of a host who rejoices at your
presence? This meal is for you.
Jesus provides elaborate instructions for Peter and John about how and
where to prepare the Passover (Luke 22:8–13). It’s clear that this meal
is Jesus’s idea. It occurs at his initiative, under his leadership, and
according to his plan. When I proposed marriage to Debi, I left nothing
to chance. I meticulously prepared a plan — plus two backup plans
(depending on weather conditions).
In the years since, we’ve laughed about events in the past. But it
clearly communicated to her my strong desire to marry her. Jesus
carefully plans the meal, then says to his disciples: “I have earnestly
desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). He
longs for us to join him at his Table. It’s good to ask ourselves, do
we long to share this meal with Him?
We anticipate the Lord’s Supper, or
is it an afterthought? Jesus’s earnest desire invites us to desire the
meal more, PREPARING OURSELVES BEFOREHAND.
THROUGH CONFESSION OF SINS,
reconciliation with others, and joyfully PRAYER TOGETHER.
3. This Anticipates the Future. IT GIVES TO US WHO ARE IN CHRIST,
A PATHWAY. IT IS WHAT THE WORLD CANNOT HAVE OUTSIDE OF JESUS
CHRIST.
Do you want a foretaste of the new creation? This meal is for you.
The reason Jesus is eager to share the meal with his disciples is that
he won’t eat it again until “it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God”
(Luke 22:16). The “kingdom of God” here refers to the new creation
(Luke 22:18). Therefore, the implication of Jesus’s words is that the
Lord’s Supper anticipates and begins the glorious future feast of the
Messiah, a meal described in the Old and New Testaments.
The fragment of bread and taste of the cup we receive at the Lord’s
Supper is the first course of a splendid eternal feast. It will be
“fulfilled” later, but it starts now. At its source HERE ON SALERNO
ROAD, IN SOUTH STUART FLORIDA. At the Lord’s Table, in the midst
of a sin-sick world, the perfect future for which we long comes
rushing. IT MEETS US HERE IN THIS ROOM in the present hour.
IT IS a foretaste of the future. The apostle Paul was looking forward
when he said, “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you
proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). The
present meal heightens our desire for the full and final feast.
4. It Recalls Jesus’s Substitutionary Death THE ULTIMATE JUSICE PAID AS
A RANSOM FOR US TO BE RELEASED FROM THE SUPERNATURAL HOLD OF SIN-NATURE
UPON HUMANS.
Jesus says it IS AN ETERNAL MEMORIAL FOR US AND TO HIMSELF AS HIS
redemptive work ON THE CROSS:
HE SAID: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). And we.remember
not just the external events of his death — the soldiers, the
scourging, the thorns, the nails — but their redemptive significance:
HE SAID: “This is my body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19). We
remember that Jesus dies INSTEAD OF US.
We remember that by shedding his blood for us, he inaugurates a new
covenant (Luke 22:20). God’s judgment is fully poured out upon Jesus AS
JUSTICE. Our SINS ARE fully forgiven. We share this meal with Jesus, we
remember his unique, once-for-all, fully sufficient, substitutionary
death.
5. AND It Forms a New Community
Do you long for life in true community? This meal is for you.
Immediately after eating, Jesus’s disciples dispute “as to which of
them was to be regarded as the greatest” (Luke 22:24). They’ve clearly
missed the meal’s meaning and transforming power. We may miss it, too,
though perhaps in subtler ways.
The reason Luke moves immediately from the institution of the Lord’s
Supper (Luke 22:14–23) to Jesus’s teaching about humble service (Luke
22:24–27) is that he wants us to see that Jesus’s death in our place is
meant to form a new community, creating in us servant hearts, MOVING us
to love one another in humble ways.
Long ago, J.C. Ryle wrote, “He that eats the bread and drinks the wine
in a right spirit will find himself drawn into closer communion with
Christ, and will feel to know him more and understand him better.” This
is still true. This promise is for us when we feast at Jesus’s Table.