Passover Lord's Supper

Wearing masks - not when we come to the Lord’s supper

Passover - given at God’s deliverance from Egypt, originally carried out the night of the last plague.

Exodus 12:1–14 ESV

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

Man there’s a lot there!

The next Passover to be celebrated will begin April 19 of 2019.

A lamb to remove consequences of sin for a family. John proclaimed “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” when he saw Jesus.

Notice that it is God Himself who says He will come through the camp. Not the Angel of Death as has been popularized, but God. Often in our post-Christian society, there is pushback to the idea that God would not only allow their death, but cause it. V.12 clearly explains: I will execute judgements on all the gods of Egypt. Nine plagues leading up to this shows the long-suffering of the Lord.

In they kept the passover on the way in to the Promised Land. In the returning exiles did as well. Jesus participated in many passovers in His life on earth, the last being the night before crucifixion.

Specifically told to purify the food - not eat it raw - by means of fire - not water - for their protection and its symbolism.

Unleavened bread was symbolic of absence of sin. Yeast/leaven was a symbol for sin.

Bitter herbs was to represent and remind of their time in bondage. It was a difficult time to live through. Parsley to horseradish. From mildly bitter to ‘get this out of my mouth’.

For that night: eat it ready to go. When everyone is through eating, burn the rest. The smell greeting the Egyptians when they realized God had come through the land would be memorable.

The Jewish Passover became full of even more symbolism - three pieces of unleavened bread (matzahs), four cups of wine. A pouch to hold the bread.

The single pouch of three Matzahs symbolizes the unity of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The middle Matzah is removed, broken in half, and wrapped in a cloth. This is called the Afikomen. However for Christians the symbolism is obvious. The Yachatz (pouch) represents our one and only God and the three Matzah represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The breaking of the middle Matzah symbolizes the punishment and death of Jesus Christ. It is important to note that Matzah is stripped and has holes. One half of this broken Matzah is then wrapped and put away until just before the third cup. This symbolizes Jesus’ burial and resurrection on the third day. The Passover is a great reminder of what Jesus Christ did for all of us.

The Lord’s Supper - The night before crucifixion Jesus and His disciples had the Last Supper, and we commemorate this as the Lord’s supper.

That night contains the conversation we’ve been looking into over the past few weeks through and 16.

But lets remember what Jesus said to the disciples about what they were doing:

Luke 22:14–20 ESV

14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Jesus teaches them, so we learn, He is the sacrificial lamb. It is His spilled blood we remember when we come to the Lord’s Supper table. It is His broken body we remember.

So we should come to the the Lords’ Supper with the understanding of our sin and the high cost of Jesus’ life paid to forgive that sin. We come knowing that He was able to fill up the requirement of the Law, as illustrated in the Passover. The wage of sin is still death. But just like the lamb took the death, so Jesus for us.

What we cant come to the table with is pretense. A mask, if you will. No masks at the table.

The most common we wear is that we are ‘OK’. The ‘good church member’ will pull up in the parking lot for church, reach over in the glove box and firmly secure our best ‘I’m fine’ mask before we come in. Whether we are here every Sunday or are CEO church members, we practice this most devastating habit.

But why? Do we want so badly to be ok that we are willing to lie to ourselves and each other? Do we hope to ignore what’s wrong in our lives? Maybe we are completely unwilling to admit sin in our lives. Betrayed, hurt, stuck in a habit or attitude. If you hold up a mask, I cant love you. Only the mask.

Not today. Oh please not today! We cant afford to hide behind a mask today. We have to be completely transparent before the Lord before we take communion.

We’re gonna have a time of invitation and reflection. I’m going to take the liberty of inviting you to a posture: Put your face in your hands to pray. When you lift your head from that prayer, grab your mask and keep in in your hands. Set it down and do not put it back on. Then let’s enjoy coming to the table together.