The Passover

Intro

It took less than ten seconds for Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt to cover the one hundred meter distance on the Olympic track and win the gold medal in London. Those few seconds cemented his status as the “fastest man alive” and placed him on the winner’s podium once again. But the race was not won in those seconds—it was won by hours and hours of practice, workouts, weightlifting, special diet, and coaching.

The race was not won in the performance but in the preparation. It is our desire for something greater that causes us to sacrifice some things, even some good things, for the sake of things that are better.

Story of saving up for my engagement ring, and Tabitha getting mad I didn’t have the ring

Jesus Fervently Desired It

The fated last supper has come upon Jesus and his disciples

Jesus knows exactly what is going to befall him in a few short hours, so what is Jesus’ frame of mind?

Jesus says I have fervently desired to eat this passover with you, before I suffer

In fact, the word here has so much weight that it can be translated literally “With Desire, I have desired!”

So what is passover?

In the Old Testament, and the second book of the Old Testament you have the book of Exodus

Israel had ended up in Egypt, and had become a large slave population, and so Moses comes in, and the 10 plagues occur, and God leads them out of Egypt towards the Promised land of Canaan

Passover is the celebration of the deliverance that came with the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn in Egypt

God sent the angel of death, and that angel would passover the houses of the Israelites if they did what God commanded and put the blood of the innocent lamb around the doorpost

So this was a remembrance dinner of when God did one of the most miraculous miracles for his people Israel

How was it eaten

Israelites did not eat in chairs and tables like we do these days, they reclined on their sides in a horseshoe shape, and Jesus would be the head of the table in the center

You see back in the days of Jesus, eating a meal together was incredibly intimate, and particularly for Passover it was done with one’s family, but here it is done with Jesus’ followers

Jesus would of met each of his disciples with a kiss of greeting, yes even Judas, and so the meal would begin with John at his right and Judas at Jesus’ left

There were several sections to the meal, each dealing with a certain memory of the Passover

First the head of the family, or the head of the meal, would announce a blessing over the first cup of wine, and the cup is shared, and then bitter herbs are dipped in a sauce

When the second cup is ready, the youngest son, or member of the meeting is asked what makes Passover different from other nights

Why is the bread without yeast?

So then the meeting host would tell the story and point to the purpose of that meal being about thanking God, and remembering what God had done

Then there would be the singing of Psalms 113-114 and would conclude this session with drinking of the second cup

Then the head of the family takes the unleavened bread, blesses and brakes it and hands it to the others, and then the meal itself is served

After the meal there are two more cups of wine along with singing the Psalms 114-118

Each of the four cups are purposeful and linked to the story of the Exodus

There are four promises God gives in Exodus Chapter 6, which correspond to the cups

I will bring you out

I will rescue you from the bondage of Egypt

I will redeem you

I will take you as My people and I will be your God

Jesus is looking forward to the joy of eating Passover, and teaching us the true meaning of Passover, found in his death on the cross

Jesus then leads with this interesting and odd phrase, that he will not eat of it again until the kingdom of God is fulfilled

There are cosmic altering things at play, and this is a pivot towards the cross, so Jesus needs to show his disciples what the Passover is to be about

Jesus takes the cup and shares it among the disciples saying he will not drink wine until the Kingdom of God comes

Jesus seems to be taking this cup during the second cup of Passover, but makes the promise of not partaking before the final cup of the dinner

Now in light of that order, Jesus is taking the third cup, sharing it with disciples, and that cup signifies “I will redeem you”, and in a few short hours, he would

When Jesus celebrates and partakes with a cup of wine again, it will be a great day for all people!

Jesus takes the bread and breaks it, and tells them this is his body given to us, eat it in remembrance of me

The bread represented sinless lamb, because the leaven in the bread represented sin

So the lamb they were sacrificing was broken and bled for them, just as Jesus would soon be broken and killed for their sins and ours

The Exodus shines a light on the future hope of Jesus as he is our passover lamb, and 1 Corinthians 5:7 “7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.”

Passover celebrated deliverance from slavery in Egypt, the Last Supper celebrates our deliverance from sin by Christ’s death

There is also betrayal afoot

Jesus had the most important meal of his life with one who Jesus knew would betray him, Judas, and when we look at the disciples, no one knew truly who it was

There is a twofold part to this, part of this is pointing to prophecy where David wrote this hundreds of years before Jesus: Ps. 41:9 “9 Even my friend in whom I trusted, one who ate my bread, has raised his heel against me.”

Yet, it is not only Judas, it points to us, and our betrayal as well as the betrayal by abandoning all the disciples would do to Jesus in a few short hours

We Should Fervently Desire Communion

One of the things that we should seek to do is emulate Christ in every way possible!

We strive to love others in the ways that he did, while calling them to repentance

We strive to break down barriers between people groups that hinder the gospel like he did with the Samaritan woman

So when something is said by Jesus to be something that he fervently desires, it should be something we fervently desire as well!

Notice that Jesus is instituting what we call communion today, since the fulfillment of him taking the final cup is going to be when Jesus comes back again

So why should we desire communion?

Well first we should understand what Communion or the Lord’s Supper is!

It comes from the greek word that has to do with fellowshipping in the church and Christ’s death

In essence we are communing with each other, and with our Lord in a special way during this act

As we confess our unholiness, we then accept Christ’s holiness in our bodies, which then moves us to be more like him!

But when Christ says this is his body, and blood we are receiving spiritual nourishment from God

To put it another way, God is present in a special way that is different than normal when we partake in communion

Jesus told us and his disciples to eat the bread in remembrance of Jesus

We fervently desire it because it allows us to fervently remember the basis for our forgiveness of sins, and relationship with God!

Now a key point is remembrance is very different in Scripture than you and I think!

It is not simply about cognitive recalling of Jesus’ death and our subsequent forgiveness

The idea is that remembering changes you and I!

As we partake in communion, it changes us and our fellowship with other people as we become more like Jesus each time

When we partake in communion we are showing Christ our deepest gratitude for our salvation and it strengthens our faith

Do you think that if you take communion to often it will become a worthless act?

I used to think that as well, I didn’t want to go through the motions of communion!

In fact when I grew up in my church we had communion once every 6 months, and then it became every other month

Yet, something changed when I went to Moody, I started attending a church where communion was every week

I thought, oh no! This is just going to become going through the motions to me!

Yet the opposite happened, each week I was faced with the holy moment of communion, and it strengthened and deepened my faith substantially!

There is something incredibly powerful about reckoning your sins each week, knowing what you have not confessed to God, and then making sure you have dealt with your sins in light of the power of communion

It strengthens my faith, and it strengthens your faith, if you take seriously what Jesus is saying here

If you are struggling with your walk with God or it seems at an apathetic place, how do you view communion? Is it the highest honor and level of importance, or just something we do each first Sunday of the month?

It is the only sacrament we get to do regularly

A sacrament is a visible reminder of a spiritual truth

The first sacrament is baptism

The second is communion, celebrating our salvation and the grace we recieved at God’s broken body on the cross

This is set up by Jesus so we better believe it is important and powerful!

There is another reason we should fervently desire communion: betrayal

Jesus was betrayed by Judas, and yet he knew Judas would betray him and had him at that final dinner anyways

The other disciples don’t do much better, they desert him and Peter denies Jesus three times!

You and I, we betray Jesus every time we sin, yet he continues to welcome us to the table, continues relationship with us

In fact, in the Scriptures, when we sin, it is compared to a cheating spouse, we run after sin and worship ourselves or other false gods

When we look at that table of Peter and Judas, is there anything really different in what they did? Both betrayed Jesus, but the different was how much they fervently desired communion with their Lord!

It is no accident that Jesus restored Peter over a meal!

So you and I need to understand that communion exists to help deal with our own betrayal of God, it gives us a point to say, stop your running, stop your hiding, stop your striving, and confess the sin that is separating us and God

After all, God already knows it!

The final reason we want to fervently desire communion is that it helps look to the future!

It helps us be like Jesus and desire the things Jesus desires, helps us overcome our own betrayal of Jesus, but also gives us the hope of looking forward

We know Jesus died and rose again, but we are awaiting his second coming when he will finally finishing that Last Supper and drink the last glass of wine!

So we partake in the last supper and we fervently await Jesus to come once more!

There is a reason that for many years the church’s weekly worship resolved around communion, because it is one of the most important things we do

When we have had a long week, it is communion that hits reset on our hearts and minds, and restores the brokenness we have brought into our relationship with God

When life throws us curve balls and unexpected suffering, it is communion that reckons with our souls to find our rest and contentment in the grace of our Saviour

When life is good and we have more than we could ever desire, it is communion that humbles us and reminds us that we are paupers before God apart from Jesus’ sacrifice

And it is earnestly desiring communion that leads us into deeper and more robust walk with Christ than we can ever accomplish on our own by joining together as a church to partake in our Saviour’s broken body

So church, why do we want to fervently desire communion?

It is our lifeline in every high, and low, each joy and pain, every laugh and cry to our Savior Jesus

Fervently, Eagerly, Vehemently desire to deepen your walk with Jesus through communion!

Colossians 3:1–3 CSB

1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.