Maundy Thursday 2024

INTRODUCTION:

This evening we’re going to travel back in time to the story of the Israelites in Egypt.

They were held in captivity and slavery to Pharoah. It was a miserable experience that went on for hundreds and hundreds of years.

To show you what they went through I want to share a little video.

Show Video: 00:00-02:54

So what happens in this video?

Israel was enslaved Pharoah and suffering.

God sent Moses to deliver his people from their slavery.

God sent plagues so that Pharoah would release his people.

Pharoah kept saying no until God sent a final plague.

In that plague every 1st born was going to be killed.

To protect God’s people he told them to sacrifice a passover lamb and put the blood on the doorposts.

When God’s angel came he would passover the homes and save those first born sons.

This moved Pharoah to send the Israelites away and they were free to worship God in a new home.

This event of the passover is one of the central events of the Old Testament. The OT talks about it again and again and again. The Psalms and the prophets.

Today, Jewish people still celebrate the passover and God’s faithfulness to deliver his people.

You might be asking what does the passover have to do with Palm Sunday and Easter Week at Broadview. The answer is it has EVERYTHING to do with this week and the life/death of Jesus.

The main point of today’s service is to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. But for us to really appreciate the Lord’s Supper and what it means for us today we must understand it through the lens of the Passover meal because that was the meal Jesus originally shared with his disciples.

So we’ve got a Passover Meal set up here on the stage and I’m going to walk you thought what it might’ve looked like on that day and how each of the parts in the meal point to Jesus and what he has done for us on the cross.

Read The Text

If you have you’re Bibles you can turn them to Exodus 12. We’re going to pick it up in verse 5.

These are the instructions that God gave to the Israelites right before the final plague was going to pass into Egypt and take all of their firstborn sons.

Exodus 12:5–8 CSB

5 You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. 7 They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. 8 They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Exodus 12:11–15 CSB

11 Here is how you must eat it: You must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 “I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I am the Lord; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. 13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 “This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute. 15 You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel.

This was the first institution of what’s called the Passover meal.

Of the things that I have on this table all but TWO of them would’ve been present at that original passover meal.

I will explain those differences and why they’re here in a moment.

The Four Cups

The Passover meal traditionally consisted of four cups.

It might’ve been that they had a single cup out of which they drank four times or maybe it was four different cups.

For the purpose of illustration I’m going to use four different cups.

These four different cups were a symbolic picture of the four fold promise of God to Israel while they were in captivity to Pharoah in Egypt.

Exodus 6:6–8 CSB

6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”

The Cup of Sanctification (Kiddush)

This cup marks the beginning of the Seder and represents the promise of God to bring the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 6:6).

This cup can represent the sending of Jesus to liberate God’s people and protect them from death.

The Cup of Deliverance (Matzah):

This cup is associated with the eating of the unleavened bread and represents the promise of God to deliver the Israelites from slavery (Exodus 6:6).

This cup can symbolize the deliverance from our slavery to sin through the sacrificial death of Christ.

The Cup of Redemption (Mishpat):

This cup is associated with the blessing after the meal and represents the promise of God to redeem the Israelites (Exodus 6:6).

This cup can represent the redemption and salvation offered through Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

The Cup of Praise (Hallel):

This cup is associated with the singing of psalms and represents the promise of God to take the Israelites as His people (Exodus 6:7).

This cup can symbolize the praise and thanksgiving due to God for the redemption and adoption as His children through Christ.

THE FIRST CUP: SANCTIFICATION

Our service tonight is going to follow these four cups and the eating of the passover meal. We’re going to celebrate our

Freedom from bondage to sin/devil: (John 8:31-47 Exo 3:13-15; 12:1-41)

Becoming God’s children through the blood of Jesus: (John 6:56; 8:47; Num 3:13)

Deliverance From Death and hell: (John 6:54, 8:51 Exo 12:12-13)

New life and freedom in Jesus Name.

The passover meal would’ve begun with the first cup and a prayer of blessing to Sanctify the evening and the passover meal they were about to eat.

The Kiddush (which means sanctification) would’ve gone something along the lines of

“Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the Vine.”

If you’ll remember in the Gospels Jesus says this prayer and tells the disciples

Luke 22:17–18 CSB

17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

THE SEDER PLATE

From that point they would’ve begun going through the Seder Plate.

To walk you through the Passover Elements I’m going to do the same. The Seder Plate is a way to capture the passover meal in a glance.

The word “Seder” means order of service so it’s really a template for how the meal was to progress.

The oral tradition during the time of Jesus was probably using something similar to this in the 1st century.

Seder plates today are some of the finest and most beautiful examples of Jewish art. Families pass them down from generation to generation.

The Unleavened Bread

The first item isn’t on the plate but it’s used to eat items on the plate and that’s the Matzah Bread.

These would’ve been wrapped separately in a special, three-part pouch called a Matzah Tash.

The original passover had unleavened bread for two reasons.

They were in a big hurry because they’d be leaving the next day.

Yeast is a symbol of sin in the Bible and they were to sanctify themselves and this special day.

Yeast causes the bread to rise and puff up just like sin causes us to become proud and puffed up against the Lord.

This is why the Apostle Paul said to “Purge out the old leaven so we can be a new person as we are unleavened in Christ” (1 Cor 5:6-8)

We don’t put away the sin in our life SO THAT we can be redeemed. We do so because we already are the redeemed people of the Lord.

The Greens

The next item is the greens (Karpas).

The Parsley which symbolizes the Hyssop used to place the blood of the sacrificed lamb on the doorposts and the lintels of the Israelite homes during the final plague in Egypt.

Today when people eat the greens they’ll point to the color of the greens as a sign for life.

But they’ll also dip the greens in a bowl of Salt water which a representative of tears.

Some see this as a reference to the tears the Israelites cried during their captivity in Egypt.

More broadly it’s symbolic of the tears we cry when we continue to live under the bondage of sin and death. Life is a precious gift from God but it’s also full of pain and difficulty.

The Salt Water is also symbolic of God’s deliverance of our captivity and the captivity of Israel through the salty water of the red sea.

By his mercy and grace our lives have been delivered from slavery to sin and brought into a new life of hope and freedom.

The Bitter Herbs

The next element on the plate is the Bitter Herbs (Maror).

These would’ve typically been something along the lines of Horseradish. Maybe a horseradish root. (Exo 12:8; Num 9:11)

The Matzah would’ve been dipped into the horseradish and eaten to remind them of the bitterness of slavery and suffering.

The symbolism that naturally comes to mind is the bitter suffering of the Israelites while they were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt. They endured Pharaoh’s torture and whips.

But there’s an even deeper meaning than that.

The bitter herbs also point to the suffering and death that the substitute underwent in order to give live to the first born sons in every house.

This dip is likely the same dip Jesus was referencing when he talks about his betrayer at the Last Supper. Matthew 26:23

Matthew 26:23 CSB

23 He replied, “The one who dipped his hand with me in the bowl—he will betray me.

The Charoset

Next to the Bitter Herbs was the Charoset.

This is a stark contrast to the horseradish because it’s a sweet mixture with a totally different connotation.

The Charoset was a tasty combination of apples, nuts, spices (often cinnamon) and a little wine or grape juice.

When mixed, it is meant to have a consistency that reminds us of the mortar that the children of Israel used to make the bricks as they labored for Pharaoh.

This mixture was a reminder that even in the tears of suffering and bitter slavery that God is good and faithful no matter what.

It’s also a reminder that we can endure suffering, even terrible suffering, because God has promised his deliverance and ultimate triumph over evil.

And so the Matzah would be dipped into the Charoset and offset the bitter taste.

The Bitterroot

The next item is called the Hait. Hait is a bitterroot.

A horseradish root is common or an onion might’ve also been used. It’s not eaten but rather rests on the plate as a symbol. The bitter root of life.

A life of slavery to sin is indeed a bitter life. But in Christ the old has passed away and all things become new.

The Egg & The Lamb

The next two items I’m going to mention were probably NOT on the passover table when Jesus shared it with his disciples but they are symbolically important nevertheless.

The first is a hardboiled egg called the Chagigah. It’s usually a brown egg. It’s called the Chagigah because that was the original name given to the animal that was sacrificed on Passover.

The reason they have an egg there today is because there is no longer a temple in Jersualem for making sacrifices to God.

So they peel and slice a hardboiled egg as a symbol of what would’ve been and dip it in salt water as an expression of grief for the destruction of the temple.

Which leads to the final item which is the Lamb Shank Bone. The lamb is no longer eaten as passover because most Rabbis say it’s inappropriate to eat lamb at passover.

The Lamb

The next element on the plate is the Lamb Shankbone (Z’roah).

If you go back to the Exodus account there were several specifications for this lamb.

Healthiest and youngest looking yearling. (Frisky/Winsome) He would be marked for death.

They would bring it into the home, become very close and affectionate for four days in the house. (idea is that sacrifice is painful and tragic. Holiness and sin don’t mix. But God also gracious)

In this way the innocent passover lamb points to Jesus the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:19-20; Isaiah 53)

Finally the lamb would be roasted over the top of fire. Fire was symbolic of God’s judgment.

This is symbolic of Christ’s own suffering on the cross and his paying the penalty for our sins.

It’s why Jesus cried out “Why have you forsaken me” (Matt 27:46)

God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)

It was also important that not one bone of the passover lamb be broken.

This is why John makes it a point in his Gospel to reveal that Jesus our passover lamb also didn’t have any broken bones so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. (John 19:36)

Reflection & Prayer

So as we reflect on this first cup we’re going to reflect on the reality sin’s bitterness and slavery.

We’re going to reflect back on the times when we were enslaved to sin and the tears that it produced in our lives.

We might also reflect on those we love who are still walking in the slavery of sin and the bitter suffering it is creating in their life.

We will sing a song that’s associated with this reality and then spend some time praying and reflecting on this truth.

SONG:

1 Corinthians 11:28–32 CSB

28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep. 31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, 32 but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world.

REFLECTION/PRAYER:

Just as God promised to bring Israel out he has promised to deliver us in Jesus. Thank you.

If there’s any sin in your life get rid of that yeast and sanctify yourself before the Lord.

Give thanks to God for the sending of Jesus to be our passover lamb who would take our place.

The Second Cup: Deliverance

The second cup in the passover meal is called the Cup of Deliverance or Matzah.

As you might remember it’s the same name for our Matzah Bread.

Before drinking the second cup some of the kids would be brought to the front of the table and ask four important questions.

In answering the questions they would retell the story of Passover.

The four questions are:

Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other nights we can eat bread or matzo. Why tonight only matzo?

On all other nights, we can eat any kind of herbs. Why tonight only bitter herbs?

On all other nights we don’t dip the herbs we eat into anything. Why tonight do we dip twice?

On all other nights we eat meat roasted, stewed, or boiled, but why tonight only roasted meat?

The Father would then give an synopsis of Israel’s national history beginning with the call of Abraham and ending with the Exodus from Egypt and giving of the Law.

With the second cup they wouldn’t drink it right away but rather dip their finger into the cup and let it drip on the plate in front of them ten different times to recall the 10 plagues God send on the Egyptians.

PICTURE:

The blood

Frogs

Gnats

Flies

Lifestock

Boils

The hail

The locusts

The darkness

Nine times Pharoah hardened his heart and nine times God sent a plague on the people. But the tenth plague was the worst of all.

How would the Israelites be delivered from the angel of death that was bout the visit the whole land and spare nobody in it’s wake?

THE BLOOD OF THE LAM. PICTURE:

The LORD told the Israelites to take the blood of the sacrificed lamb in a basin, go outside their homes and apply that blood to the door posts. Put it on the top lintel and the two side posts.

That night the death angel went through the land of Egypt and you could hear weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Imagine losing your children suddenly and unexpectedly.

But every house that was covered by the blood of the lamb was spared.

So long as the first born of that house was covered by the blood of the lamb then the angel of death would pass over that house.

The Lord was making that first born set apart for him, holy and sanctified and now delivered from death.

That’s why we call it the cup of DELIVERANCE.

This is an obvious pointer to the true Lamb of God Jesus Christ. Who also shed his blood so that we might be delivered from sin and death.

If you’re in Jesus when death comes to visit you then you’ll be passed over as well.

Jesus was also Santified and set apart from God. And when we put our faith in Jesus we become children of God just like Jesus is.

So Jesus is both our first born set apart from God in whom we hide our lives and become children of God alongside.

As well as our atoning sacrifice who shields us from death through his own death on the cross.

Matzah Bread

It’s at this cup that we break one of the three Matzah Bread pieces. It’s exactly what Jesus does in the four Gospels after drinking from the first cup.

The Matzah is unleavened bread and the Tash = bag.

Many have made a big deal out of the fact that there are THREE pieces of bread. Some suggest it is a triunity.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

High Priest, Levites, People

Father Son & Holy Spirit.

Many Messianic Jews see it as the latter because the middle Matzah is broken in half and hidden during the passover meal. The kids try and go find it later on and whoever finds it gets a reward.

It’s also tradition that only the middle Matzah is broken and eaten whereas the other two are left alone.

The thinking is that this piece of Matzah refers to the death of Jesus on the cross, his burial and his return on the third day.

How Its Made

There’s three things about the Matzah that make is acceptable for Passover.

It’s unleavened

It’s striped

It’s pierced

Some have pointed to the fact that Jesus too was sinless, stripped and pierced for our transgressions.

Jesus had stripes put into his back as he was whipped by the Roman soldiers with cat of 9 tails.

Jesus was pieced between his hands and his feet.

Isaiah 53:5 CSB

5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

The Afikoman

I said earlier that this Matzah is broken in half and one piece is hidden.

They call it the Afikoman (which means “It comes later”)

Once one of the children in the home go to find the hidden piece they bring it back to the head of the table and he breaks it into little pieces and hands it out.

This is exactly what Jesus does during his Passover Meal with this disciples.

Luke 22:19 CSB

19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Jesus was broken in death,

wrapped in a linen cloth,

buried in the tomb and

came back on the third day. Resurrected by the power of God.

He conquered sin and death so in saying “Take and eat, this is my body broken for you” he’s pointing his disciples to the reality of what’s about to happen on the cross.

Singing & Reflection

So we’re going to spend time time singing and reflecting on this core truth. After we sing I’m going to ask our Ushers if they would come up here and help distribute the elements of the Lord’s Supper.

Now that we have a fuller understanding of what the bread means, we will take it together in prayerful gratitude before the Lord.

SONG:

PRAYER:

USHERS COME TO THE FRONT:

Give thanks to God for your deliverance from slavery and sin.

Examine your own life to see if you continuing to walk in sin of any kind. Don’t take the bread in an unworthy manner.

Reflect on the suffering of Jesus on the cross, the suffering of the Israelites and even your own suffering in dealing with sin. Jesus has delivered you! Are you walking in that freedom?

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 CSB

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

The Third Cup: Redemption

Now we arrive at the third cup: The Cup of Redemption. Remember, these four cups originally stemmed from God’s promise in Exodus 6:6-7.

The cup of sanctification. “I will bring you out from forced labor…”

The cup of deliverance. “I will rescue you from slavery to them…”

The cup of redemption. “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment…”

The third cup is the cup that we often drink from when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. If you’ll remember Paul says Jesus took the cup, “after supper.” (1 Cor 11:25)

What cup comes AFTER supper in the Passover Meal? The third cup. The cup of redemption.

Jesus says of this cup that it is a cup of the “new covenant, in my blood.” (1 Cor 11:25)

When Jesus would’ve said those words “New Covenant” every ear in the room would’ve perked up.

The New Covenant

Because there’s only one place in the entire old testament where the Hebrew Words “new covenant” show up.

It’s in Jeremiah 31:31

Jeremiah 31:31 CSB

31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

This covenant isn’t like the Old Covenant which was demonstrated in the Exodus.

Jeremiah 31:33–34 CSB

33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.

In this covenant

God’s teachings are on our HEARTS (33)

God’s Grace is offered to ALL (34)

God’s Forgiveness is FOREVER (34)

The problem with God’s first covenant is that the people of Israel kept breaking it over and over and over again.

The first covenant was written on tablets of stone. And the problem with the human heart is it’s just like stone. It’s gets stubborn and hardened and obstinate against the LORD.

This covenant would be written on the tablet of our hearts.

No longer would sin be atoned for by daily sacrifices or special festivals like the day of Atonement.

Since would be dealt with once and for all through the perfect and uniquely righteous sacrifice of Jesus Christ our LORD.

So Jesus is in this upper room saying, “God is about to accomplish this new covenant through my broken body and my shed blood on the cross.”

Imagine The Disciples

Imagine the Disciples hearing this for the first time. Over and over they’ve celebrated the passover meal. Year after year after year.

They’ve heard about this new covenant. Nobody really fully understood it probably.

But now Jesus is saying, “I’m going to do something special that will reconcile you to God in a way that sin will never have to be atoned for EVER AGAIN.”

This is cup of redemption. The price is going to be paid and PAID ONCE. Once and for all.

This is why Jesus could say, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no share with me.”

John 6:53–58 CSB

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Singing & Reflection:

Now that we more fully understand this cup of redemption and what it means that we’ve not only become children of God through Jesus but that Jesus’ blood delivers us from death, we want to sing and worship the Lord.

After we’ve had some time to sing we will take the second part of the Lord’s Supper which is the cup.

Prayer:

Give thanks to God for the blood of Jesus which brings an end to death.

Ask the Lord for courage to walk with Jesus unapologetically because there is life in his name and his alone.

Pray for those who are grieving death that they would be comforted by the promise of new life.

Give thanks that God has redeemed you from the curse of the Law and your inability to please him by having Jesus do for you what you couldn’t do for yourself.

1 Corinthians 11:25 CSB

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

The Fourth Cup

The final and fourth cup is the cup of Praise. God has made us his people. We have been redeemed.

The Psalmist says in Psalm 107:2 “2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe”

So during the fourth cup the leader of the passover would lead people in singing from the Psalms.

Specifically they would sing Psalms from 113-118. They’re called the Hallel Psalms.

Hallel means cup of praise. We drink the four cup as a reminder of God’s deliverance, redemption, and setting us apart as his special people.

As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:26

1 Corinthians 11:26 CSB

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Not only does the Passover point us back to the Passion of Jesus which points back even further to the Exodus from Egypt.

The passover also points us forward to the fruit of the vine that we will drink when God’s Kingdom comes in it’s fullness one day.

Oh that we would be the generation where our Lord Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom forevermore in this world.

As we eat the bread and drink the cup we proclaim the Lord’s death until he come.

Let us sing to the Lord with thanksgiving in our hearts.

MOVIE: 2:55-END