Jesus, the true Passover Lamb.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Scripture
Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.
12 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover so that you may eat it?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” 16 So the disciples went out, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
19 They began to be distressed and to say to him one by one, “Surely not I?”
20 He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve—the one who is dipping bread in the bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”
22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant,, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new, in the kingdom of God.”
26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away, because it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.,
28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
29 Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away, I will not.”
30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
31 But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing.
Context
This week, we turn our attention and sermon series towards the most important holiday and season in the Christian Faith, Easter, the day we celebrate The Lord Jesus’ resurrection. In today’s text, in Mark’s Gospel, we are just a few days before that first Easter Sunday. Particularly we are at the Thursday before, the day before Good Friday (which is of course the day we remember Jesus’ death and sacrifice on a cross).
In our text today, Jesus and His disciples are in Jerusalem, celebrating one of the most if not the most important Jewish Holiday and Holy week of all; the Passover. This celebration would always take place in Jerusalem, so it was the custom of the Jews to all travel the city for the festival; so the town would have been packed and abuzz everywhere for this week of celebration. This celebration, on top of being set by God himself, had a huge cultural impact on the people. It was very important and very dear, and all of Israel could have told you why they celebrated it. So, why then did they celebrate this “Passover?”
Let me take you back in time, to the days of Jewish captivity in Egypt, this can be found in Exodus chapter 12, and in our timeline lies, the Jewish scholars place this somewhere in the 13th century BC. During this time, the nation of Israel, the Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt, and God freed them from Slavery under Pharaoh through many wonders and miracles. The last of which, which we call the Passover; included rubbing of lambs blood over the doors and entryways of the Hebrew people. All of those with lamb’s blood would be spared the wrath of God, which in this case was the death of all the first born males of every household, including pharos son, the prince of Egypt. The Jews in celebration, which were freed after this in dramatic fashion were to take the slaughtered lamb and use it in a feast which we now call the Passover. That is, the death of theLamb (who know to represent Jesus) and it’s blood saved the people. It is this event, that Jesus and the disciples are celebrating in today’s text.
From this, we can see lots of information and applications that are important for us to apply today. One of the most is that Believers must understand and accept their need for an interceding sacrifice from God. Without God’s sacrifice, we can never be safe from the punishment we deserve from our sin nature. Let’s jump in, let’s look at the text and From the text, I want you to see and know these truths about Jesus, The true Passover Lamb.
Message
The first truth to know about Jesus is that: Jesus is in control. (12-16)
12 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover so that you may eat it?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” 16 So the disciples went out, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
We start here, with Jesus and His disciples and the Passover week, also known as the days of unleavened bread, was upon them. They approached Him asking where they were to go to have this important holiday fest. Jesus sent two of his disciples to go into the city (Jerusalem) and look for a man carrying a jar of water and follow him. One thing to know, that seeing a man carrying a jar of water, was a very unusual sight, typically men carried the wine vessels and the women carried the water vessels; so this is something they would have been able to spot easily. The disciples see this man and enter his house, whom tradition upholds is John Mark’s (the author of this Gospel) house, so this man was very possibly his Father. They did just as Jesus had told them, and their they found just as Jesus said would be, a room that furnished and prepared for them to have the Passover meal. Jesus told them, prepare the food there, and so they did. It’s clear here, despite Jesus not making any known arrangements or preparations; He was in control and in charge as the sovereign (the one in charge) of the universe. Where the disciples expected a sort of big job ahead of them, Jesus had already prepared the way and already had the important moment in redemptive history to come, worked out and ready.
Brothers and Sisters, Jesus no matter the circumstance, no matter the difficulty of the situation, is in control. You, if you are in Christ, have no real reason to fear. Everything on this earth is temporary and will pass, as it is supposed to. But your soul, your spiritual self lives on forever, and the soul in Christ is the soul that will only know God’s loving graces in eternity. As I was studying this text this week, I was reminded of some of Paul’s closing words in the book of Hebrew’s where he charges and reminds us to,” 13 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated,[a] as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.[b] 4 Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. 5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.[c] 6 Therefore, we may boldly say,The Lord is my helper;I will not be afraid.What can man do to me?[d]7 Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. “ Believer, Jesus Christ is charge of everything for all of time, the question is, do you work against Him or do you not only pursue Him and His will in your life, but you ask Him to change and rearrange your mind/how you think to the way that He does? Even on the way to His own death, Jesus the true Passover Lamb was in control. If He was in control, and even at the point of His own death, a death given up for us, then this just shows us; that we need His (Jesus/God’s) intercession to be redeemed from Sin.
The next truth to know about Jesus is that: Jesus is betrayed (17-21)
17 When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
19 They began to be distressed and to say to him one by one, “Surely not I?”
20 He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve—the one who is dipping bread in the bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”
Up to this point in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus had warned the disciples 3 times about His coming death. Now, he reveals a little more that they hadn’t been privy to before. This was, that one of His 12 disciples (1 of His own hand picked students, the people He had spent all this time together with since the start of His public ministry) would be the one to betray Him. Being distressed and worried by this statement, they all asked Jesus, “Surely, it’s not me is it?” Jesus then points out, yes it is one of you 12, and even points out the seriousness of it, saying it is one of you sitting here sharing a meal with me. In this time, even today this would be taboo, it would be unthinkable for this to be, as sharing a meal with someone was such a cultural act of acceptance and love of a person. Jesus tells them, I will go and do just as the prophets have written about me, I must be a lamb for the slaughter, but their will be much sadness and woe for the betrayer, in fact, my betrayer will come to wish that He had never been born because of his treachery.
Though we know who this betrayer is today, and certainly Jesus did, it was Judas Iscariot, the disciples did not know; but they would know very very soon. It’s very easy for us today, to look a Judas and think, “How dare He.” Yes, how dare He, but we also need to reflect on ourselves when we have this though. You will remember, last year, at our Good Friday service, we took our sin that was troubling us the most, wrote it on a note card, and nailed it to the cross you see over here. For some of us, this was very hard to do, but the truth is that, for the believer, we do this same action all the time. Every time we sin, we rebel against God and betray Him. This is a frequent rebellion and frequent betrayal, so yes believer Jesus was betrayed by Judas, but you to and I also betray Him more than we would ever care to admit. Even the best of us with the best of intentions, it all comes up short, and we need to understand that we need help from God, to provide the sacrifice we need to be made right, which brings us to our next point,
The third truth to know about Jesus is that: Jesus the willful sacrifice (22-25)
22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant,, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new, in the kingdom of God.”
This scene should feel very familiar to us, because it is one that we re-create often. This of course, is Mark’s account of the first Lord’s supper, which in this case was at the Passover meal. Here, Jesus, whether they saw or understood it or not, showed them about how He would be the sacrifice that they needed. He showed them, this bread, given to you is like my body, being broken. This cup of wine, is like my blood which is poured out for you. This blood being poured out represents the new covenant, the new promise based relation that God has with mankind, a covenant based off of faith in Jesus and not the law as it was previously. Jesus tells them, my time is coming soon, this is the last time I will drink wine with you until we are together in the new kingdom of God, meaning in eternity.
Drawing your attention back to the cross and last year. Yes, when we sin it is a betrayal of God. But guess what, it’s clear from His actions and what He has done up through all of History even to this point where Jesus will soon be the sacrifice, that God knew we would mess up. He knew we would all be frequent sinners, unable to live up the requirements of the law. In fact, even though each hammer strike rung with sadness and betrayal to God, it is also a pinning of sin the cross of Christ that God welcomes and beckons each person to do. That is, let Jesus be the sacrifice for you, let God be the sacrifice for you that he willfully did, willfully because He esteemed His Father’s will to redeem mankind to Himself. So yes, even though it hurts Him, Jesus wants you to nail your sins to the cross, and be forgiven of them, because we cannot provide a good enough sacrifice on our own, we need God to intercede (to step in) for us and provide the sacrifice, which was and is Jesus, the true Passover lamb. So believer, think upon it, which is the sin that you are holding onto, that you need to pin or nail to the cross?
Another truth to know about Jesus is that: Jesus is ahead (26-31)
26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away, because it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.,
28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
29 Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away, I will not.”
30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
31 But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing.
Now, during the Passover meal, it was customary to sing several Psalms as Hymns. One that was always done was Psalm 118. Which, if you read it and imagine Jesus singing it as well, you could see that much of this Psalm was about Him, and what He was going to do. Ending the meal, they went to the mount of Olives, and he told them about how they would depart from Him soon in fear of what was happening, referencing a prophecy about this situation from the prophet Zacheria. Jesus also tells them, don’t worry, after I rise again, I will go ahead to Galilee and see you there….. Peter, as is his personality, doesn’t like this negative thing he is hearing from Jesus, and insists that He will never ever ever do this, and he and the other disciples say that will go with him even to the death. Jesus gives him a sad truth, just watch Peter, you yourself will deny me 3 times before the morning, before the rooster crows twice.
Jesus gave these disciples a reassurance about Himself, that He would go before and ahead of us, that he is leading the way, all you have to do is follow. Essentially, after my death I am going to Galilee, meet me there. This reminds me of that famous hymn, I have decided to follow Jesus; that even though it seems odd and unusual, I will follow Jesus and do what has led me/us/you to do. (Remember, I can’t give you the exact details, but it has something to do with Loving God, loving others, and making disciples). For you today, are you following Jesus. Yes, I know that most of us in this room have made a confession and profession of faith and have thus made the lifetime commitment, but, are you making that same commitment in the particulars in your life. Are you following Jesus both in the big and the small decisions? I mean, really look at it, when I got out of bed this morning, did I do it to follow Jesus. When I choose to give either time or money or charity, is it because I am following Jesus? When I choose to think of or treat the person that is my biggest trouble right now, am I acting in way that shows I am following Jesus. Or, am I following something else, perhaps even myself? Brothers and sisters, when you decide to follow Jesus in anything, know this, He is just ahead. He is not very far away. In fact, He is actually right there with you and He will see you through whatever difficulty will come from that decision to follow Him. So follow Him, and don’t work against yourself. Because we all need intercession from God, which is from Jesus the true passover lamb.
Conclusion
Beloved, understand that you cannot and will not ever be able to be made right before God on your own. You need a special intercessor (standing in) action from God, you need the intercession of Jesus Christ the righteous to be made right before God. Don’t try to do it on you own. If you are trying or thinking about doing it on your own, just look to these passages and remember these points Jesus is in control (this is always true), Jesus is betrayed (even by you) Jesus the willful sacrifice (for your betrayal and rebellion) and that Jesus is ahead (so choose to follow Him instead.)
With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.
With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.