The Real Thing

The Institution of Communion

Scriptural References

Exodus 12:1-28; Instructions for the Feast of Passover

Leviticus 17:11 (The blood is the life; given for atonement)

Matthew 26:26-30 (The Lord’s Supper)

Mark 14:22-30 (The Lord’s Supper)

Luke 22:1-23 (Passover, Lord’s Supper)

Luke 24:30-35 (The 2 disciples recognize the risen Jesus)

John 6:48-59 (Jesus is the Bread of Life, Blood gives life)

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (Paul calls Jesus the Passover Lamb)

Colossians 1:15-20 (Jesus the firstborn of all creation)

Hebrews 9:15-28 (Christ the mediator of a new covenant; greater sacrifice; operating in heavenly system rather than the copied, earthly system).

Hebrews 10:1-10 (The law a shadow of eternal realities; Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice)

Revelation 13:8 - Jesus (the Lamb) was slain before the foundation of the world

Menu (Main Points)

Jesus is the Passover Lamb.

The Passover feast uses physical symbols to communicate a heavenly reality.

In the Last Supper, Jesus invited his disciples to EXPERIENCE his salvific work, both pointing back to Israel’s rescue from Egypt and pointing toward the redemption of all of creation through his death on the cross.

Passover/Communion calls us to REMEMBER how God delivered us from sin/death and brought us into new life.

Appetizer (Intro)

I struggle with directions/maps (SN: Team Google Maps over Apple Maps; the surroundings seem clearer on the first)

Though they give me an idea of where I am going and the way to get there, they don’t give a clear picture of my actual environment

GPS/maps are helpful, but it isn’t until you actually start driving that you are able to make sense of what you first saw on a screen/paper

When we look at feasts, laws, systems instituted by God in Scripture, we must understand that they are physical symbols/representations of a spiritual reality.

Communion is technically established in the gospels, but Jesus was actually inviting his disciples to recognize and participate in an ancient system that was established before the foundations of the word and found it’s fulfillment (goal, aim) in His life, death, and resurrection.

First Course: Passover (What it meant for Israel)

In the gospels, Communion strategically took place during the Feast of Passover

pesakh (noun); related to verb pasakh (to protect from harm, as a mama bird would hover over her babies to keep them from danger)

Exodus 12

God gives Moses instructions for the Feast of Passover right before the 10th and final plague on Egypt (death of the firstborn; Exodus 11:4-5). Why tho??

God calls Israel His firstborn son (Exodus 4:22); this speaks to image/role rather than paternity/order. The “firstborn” is a reflection of the Father. When Pharaoh ordered the death of Hebrew boys (Exodus 1:22), he wasn’t just engaging in population control- HE WAS MESSING WITH GOD’S IMAGE

Each family/household must take a spotless male lamb, slaughter it, then put (paint) the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of the house.

Yahweh will see the blood on the doorposts and pass over (pasakh, protect) the house from death; Exodus 12:23

Sacrifices were common practice in the sealing of a covenant; they signaled a commitment to relationship/partnership

The Passover lamb is then roasted and eaten with unleavened bread (massot, matzah) and bitter herbs (maror).

Matzah points to anticipation/eager expectation; Israel had to be ready to leave when God commanded them to go (Exodus 12:11)

Feast of Unleavened Bread also celebrated during Passover (Exodus 12:14-20); no leaven allowed in house for 7 days; Sabbath for 7 days

leaven is associated with sin/malice (1 Corinthians 5:8)

Bitter herbs are a reminder of the bitterness of life in slavery in Egypt

The lamb is eaten quickly and completely (or excess is burned with fire); No leftovers, no unfinished business

Other elements later added to the Passover Seder (order of service):

Element documented in the gospels:

Four cups of wine: four “I will” statements spoken to Moses by Yahweh in Exodus 6:6-7

“I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” - Cup of Sanctification

“I will rescue you from their bondage.” - Cup of Deliverance

“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.” - Cup of Redemption

“I will take you as My people.” - Cup of Praise/Hallel

Contemporary elements of Passover Seder:

Zeroah (shankbone of lamb): a representation of the Passover lamb that is consumed at the meal

Karpas (parsley or like): dipped in salt water to represent tears/sorrow of suffering in Egypt

Chazeret (lettuce): used in conjunction with bitter herbs

Charoset: sweet mixture of fruit, nuts, spices and wine ground with mortar; symbolic of mortar used by Hebrew slaves to build structures in Egypt

Beitzah: boiled/roasted egg symbolic of spring and festival sacrifice during temple times (char reminder of both temples’ destruction, shape symbol of eternal life)

Afikomen (middle piece of matzah): broken away and hidden until towards the end of seder, then “bought back” (redeemded) for a “price”

Passover was instituted as a reminder (memorial) of God’s deliverance of Israel from the tyranny/bondage experienced under Pharaoh in Egypt. By participating in the Passover Seder, Jewish people were identifying with Israel’s plight and celebrating their salvation from destruction. Partakers in Passover Seder are to “consider [themselves] as having personally been freed from Egypt.” (according to rabbinic tradition).

Second Course: Communion/The Lord’s Supper (What it meant for Jesus)

Jesus strategically timed and planned the celebration of the Passover seder with his disciples (HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING): Luke 22:7-13

Luke’s gospel specifically mentions that the meal takes place on the day (starts at sundown) the 14th day, when the Passover lamb is to be sacrificed (Luke 22:7)

The seder would have been very familiar to the disciples (celebrated for over 1000 years among Jews and likely a few times with Jesus himself)

Jesus gets to the unleavened bread (could be the blessing of bread, of the matzah specifically, or the afikomen at the end) and blesses it:

Baruch Atah Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Ha-olam Hamotzi Lechem Min Ha-aretz. Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings bread from the earth. (Before meal)

Baruch Atah Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech Ha-olam, Asher Kid’shanu B’mitzvotav V’tzivanu Al Achilat matzah. Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His laws and commanded us to eat matzah.

Then, Jesus appears to “upset” the order by making a nontraditional statement:

Matthew 26:26 LEB

Now while they were eating Jesus took bread and, after giving thanks, he broke it, and giving it to the disciples, he said, “Take, eat, this is my body.”

The breaking of the bread is a symbol of affliction, but also of redemption. The disciples eat it.

Later, Jesus takes the cup (likely the third, after the meal); He would have said the blessing over the wine:

Baruch Atah Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Ha-olam Boreh Pree Ha-ga-fen. Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Then, once again, He seems to “disrupt” the order with another statement:

Matthew 26:27–29 LEB

And after taking the cup and giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I tell you, from now on I will never drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father.”

Jesus doesn’t drink from the 4th cup because he has yet to return after his ascension (foreshadowing); the fourth cup is eschatological (already, not yet).

This is not the first time that Jesus mentions eating his body and drinking his blood:

John 6:54–58 “The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so also the one who eats me—that one will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.””

Consuming blood is against the Law (Leviticus 17:10), so we know that Jesus is not commanding them to break covenant with God.

Jesus is associating himself with the ATONEMENT:

Leviticus 17:11 LEB

Indeed the flesh’s life is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, because it is the blood with the life that makes atonement.

Jesus is opening the disciples eyes to an eternal truth: HE IS THE PASSOVER LAMB (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). HE IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW (Matthew 5:17).

HE IS THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM:

Hebrews 9:23–26 LEB

Therefore it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf, and not in order that he can offer himself many times, as the high priest enters into the sanctuary year by year with blood not his own, since it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared once at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Romans 10:4 “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Christ being the “end” (telos) of the law means that he is the aim, the goal. Every blameless sacrifice from the past and in the present (from Passover to the Day of Atonement) was and is a symbol. JESUS IS THE REAL THING.

According to the timeline in Luke’s gospel, Jesus would go on to be betrayed, tried, and crucified, right in the middle of the time when all of the Passover lambs were being sacrificed.

The disciples were (maybe unknowingly at the time) EXPERIENCING what had previously been conceptual, intangible. By participating in communion, the disciples were identifying with Christ’s death and celebrating their redemption by his blood (before he even went to the cross).

Jesus instructs the disciples to do these things in remembrance of him (Luke 22:19); 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 LEB

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and after he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise also the cup, after they had eaten, 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 this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This is not just a symbolic memorial; it is a prophetic declaration of Christ’s finished work. Though not yet having occurred in time, his sacrificial death was eternally decided (Revelation 13:8). The earthly event was to come, but the spiritual act (the REAL THING) was already done.

Yet, even after this participatory event, the disciples still needed to REMEMBER.

The days after Jesus’s death and before his resurrection, they seemed to have forgotten who he was, what he had done.

It wasn’t until some of the disciples encountered the risen Christ that they were reminded.

Luke 24:13-40

As two disciples walked to Emmaus, they recalled the events of Jesus’ crucifixion and the report of the empty tomb. (Witness of His sacrifice)

They expressed their hope that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel, but were disheartened by His death. (Traditional beliefs about the Messiah, business as usual)

Jesus, unrecognized, joined them and explained how the Scriptures foretold the Messiah’s suffering and glory. (Verbal communication of Truth)

At dinner, Jesus broke bread, gave thanks, and gave it to them—in that moment, their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him before He vanished. (Experiential demonstration of His finished work; REMEMBRANCE).

They returned to Jerusalem to tell the others, and as they shared, Jesus appeared again, showing His hands and feet to confirm He was truly alive. (Personal encounter with Him)

Dessert (What it means for us)

Symbols were never supposed to be the end goal. We were always meant to EXPERIENCE the Passover Lamb); and the REMEMBER (rest in, live from the reality of) His redemptive sacrifice.

CURRENT CULTURE IN AMERICAN CHURCH: Our obsession/adherence to traditional order, standard operations, business as usual, has often kept us from experiencing THE REAL THING.

JUDAS WAS ALSO CALLED. HE ALSO WALKED WITH CHRIST FOR YEARS. HE WAS ALSO AT THAT TABLE.

Did he participate in communion? (John’s gospel is the only place where it mentions him leaving the table, but doesn’t specify when).

He went to the temple and heard the teachings. He participated in the miracles and saw the healings. And he still betrayed Jesus, because He never came to realize who he truly was.

How many of us are sitting at the fellowship table with a God that we do not recognize? That we do not truly know?

Have we become so familiar with going to church, serving, singing songs, that we have missed out on experiences with the person of Christ? Have our eyes become veiled by programming and routines?

Are we satisfied with symbols? Do we want rituals without relationship?

Have our spiritual disciplines been checkboxes on our to-do lists? Is our giving obligatory? Are our prayers just lip service?

PROXIMITY, AND EVEN PARTICIPATION, ARE NOT INDICATIONS OF PERSONAL ENCOUNTER. NOTHING THAT COMES UP AGAINST THE LIVING GOD CAN REMAIN THE SAME. TRANSFORMATION REQUIRES CONTINUAL REMEMBRANCE, PERPETUAL COMMUNION.

Our commitment to the things of God has to be driven by a desire to KNOW Him, to TRUST Him, to BE with Him.

Picking Up the Tab (The Charge)

As we participate in Christ’s ministry as his Body, we must always seek to EXPERIENCE Him in every work.

Acts 2:42 “And they were devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers.”

In times where our circumstances don’t seem to reflect His reality, we must choose to continually REMEMBER (rehearse, rest in, meditate on) his Truth.

Our posture, whether serving, suffering, or sitting, should be: “God, I accept the invitation for You to show me who You are. I desire a REAL ENCOUNTER with You.”

2 Corinthians 3:17–18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory into glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Just as Moses’s face shone from being with God, so do we reflect God’s glory by experientially knowing and remembering Christ in word and deed. He is THE REAL THING.