Luke 22.7-19
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.
Jesus sent Peter and John, saying
“Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.
He replied “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters and say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher (the Rabbi) asks where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples.”
He will show you a large upper room, all furnished.
Make preparations there.”
They left and found things just as Jesus had told them… So they prepared the Passover….
When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined a the table. And he said to them,
“I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I tell you, I will not eat the Passover again until it finds fulfilment in the Kingdom of God.”
After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said,
“Take this and divide it among you.
For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.
And then he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying
“This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.”
Christians are very familiar with the words of the Holy Communion service in which Jesus asks us to REMEMBER Him in a meal. This is the Covenant He makes with us, his believers. Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will experience salvation in this life and in eternity.
Those who do not believe live in a lost world here, and also in eternity. The Bible is very clear about this, and in 75 years I have found this to be absolutely the case. In every man, woman and child there is a God-shaped hole in the heart, that nothing but Jesus will fill.
Christianity is the only faith in which God steps into the human role to save us. Our inherent sin nature makes it impossible to avoid sin, so we are all “sheep that have gone astray!” Even the saintly Mother Theresa acknowledged her sin, and so must we all. We all fail, and Christians acknowledge that and are SO grateful to Jesus for dying for us to take our deserved punishment, and enable us to return to God, all prodigal sons and daughters, every one of us.
The meaning of the word “remember” is actually two words, RE-MEMBER. To literally “put together again”…., to experience something again, in ALL its power. So when we partake of the broken bread, reminding us of his broken body, and sip the red wine or juice, reminding us of his shed blood, we actually are empowered and inspired to be Christ-like during our journey.
And that is exactly what Jesus intended us to do, to literally put Him together again, as members of HIS body. This underlines the importance of our communion with our Christian brothers and sisters, during our transitory life journey here on earth, however difficult a road that may be.
To absorb Him not only in our body in bread and wine, but also in our mind and in our spirit so that He comes to live in us.
Then we can go out as Christians into the world in the power of His Holy Spirit, literally to re-create Jesus to the world.
And we don’t have to do it alone! All those who truly repent of their sins and partake of Jesus with us, through the bread and wine, form the new body of Christ here on earth.
As the Bible says, when two or three are gathered in His name, God is with us.
We remember that the next time Jesus shared this meal with his disciples was on the road to Emmaus. When He broke bread they instantly recognised Him.
That is why it’s so important for Christians everywhere to do this in remembrance of Him every week. We are in fact following the great Jewish tradition of the weekly Shabbat. This meal foreshadows in every way the life and death of Jesus, including the broken bread, the wine, the salt reminiscent of tears, the bitter herbs, the hidden matzo and the lamb.
At Passover, this Friday night celebration is called the Seder and the whole story of the Passover is retold, and the youngest children take part to learn the tradition which will be passed on to subsequent generations.
Jesus, of course, was Jewish. So were his disciples, too. When we forget our Jewish heritage we completely lose the true meaning of this breaking of bread and drinking of wine.
We lose the Jewish significance of Jesus dying in our place, as the PASSOVER lamb slain for our sins. That we are cleansed by His blood, which was shed on the wooden cross, reminiscent of the wooden lintels of the Israelites’ houses back in slavery in Egypt…
In instituting this Communion meal, also known as the Lord’s Supper, Jesus is fulfilling God’s original great meal, the Passover, by giving Himself as the sacrifice.
Faithful Jewish people everywhere still commemorate the Passover every Friday night. It is a sacrosanct family time, when children come home and mother lights the candles and father leads the celebration. Each child is blessed individually, in their earthly father’s Blessing, culminating in the Aaronic Blessing. Whoever their earthly father, the children know their ultimate father is God himself. What a difference that makes to children, particularly those who do not have a relationship with their earthly father.
It is a meal full of symbolism. It commemorates the night when God delivered the Israelite nation out of slavery in Egypt.
You will remember Moses had been chosen by God for his humility. Not his public speaking. But God knew what he needed. Faithfulness against all odds. And that is what he got in Moses.
And Moses had to do the impossible to prove God’s power. Moses had to risk his life in confronting the Pharoah of Egypt, and persuade him to Let Gods People Go.
You will remember God empowered Moses to impose ten plagues to persuade Pharoah to let the Israelites go, the final one being the death of the first born son in each Egyptian household on Passover night.
The faithful Jews were to slay a perfect lamb for every family, and smear the blood on the doorposts of their homes before roasting the lamb and eating it.
And the night of that first Passover every house that had the blood of the lamb smeared on the wooden doorposts was spared. Their first born sons did not die.
This is why it is commemorated as the “Passover.”
It was the night that death PASSED OVER God’s Faithful people.
They did not die, but walked into the promised land. The Kingdom of Heaven.
And that is what God promises us when we keep the Lord’s Meal, as Jesus instituted here in Luke’s Gospel. He will empower us just as he empowered Moses.
Because of Jesus sacrifice on the wooden cross, because of his spilled blood and broken body, we are delivered from sin and also healed.
This is the Good News of the Gospel, that healing and salvation are open to ALL who believe, whether they are Jew and Gentile. The ONE NEW MAN, redeemed and healed through the cross. This is the Covenant we have with Him.
We never know when it will be OUR Last Supper. Make Jesus the Lord of your life right now. You never know, this might be your Last Opportunity!
Prayer
So Lord, as we re-member You in this meal, we thank You for this life saving Covenant we have with You.
Jesus, as we take the bread and the wine, may your Holy Spirit enter not only our bodies, minds and in our spirits, but also empower us, to become Your Body here on earth, saved and also healed in Jesus Name.
May we be strengthened to be salt and light to all those we meet. That through our lives, they may come to know You as their Lord and Saviour, too.
Amen
