Sermon Tone Analysis

“Will you share my food with me?”

Today we are celebrating “communion”, a.k.a “The Lord’s Supper”

Covenants:

—Among other symbols, always established with eating a meal together

Examples

Isaac and the Philistine king, Abimelech.

They have a squabble but ultimately decide that they will no longer do any harm to each other—eat a meal together to seal the deal

Jacob and Laban: After Jacob is sent away and Laban chases him down, hot as blazes becuase his idols have turned up missing, they smooth things over, make a heap of stones (a memoria) and then eat together on top of that heap.

Done deal

In may cultures today eating a meal together remains a symbol at the very least of a deep friendship and bonds that are deep, even a covenant relationship.

The Israelites were groaning in captivity in Egypt.

Under the burning sun of the Egyptian desert, they toiled and sweated, feeling the repeated sting of the lash as their Egyptian masters drove them on like cattle.

They must have wondered many times if their lives would end, if their race would die out in captivity

Then one day, a strange man appeared wearing the rough cloak of a wilderness shepherd, his skin rough beaten by the harsh Midian wilderness, his name strangely familiar.

Moses.

Moses, Moses.

Where have we heard that name before?

Oh yes!

He was that prince who killed a slave master and fled, never to be seen again.

Yet, here he is, older, grayer, that swagger gone, that brash look in his eye replaced by....something that we can’t explain.

But he’s on a mission.

Then strange and terrible things started to happen.

The water became undrinkable because it was bloody.

Frogs, gnats, flies, dying cattle, boils, hail, locusts, darkness!

Will it never end?

And then, the most terrifying night.

The message came to them from Moses.

They were to take a perfect, one year old male lamb…one for each household.

And on the 14th day of the month at twilight, they were to take that lamb and slaughter it and smear it on the doorposts of their houses.

Because that night, the death angel was coming and every firstborn son in every house without blood on the doorposts would die.

And they were to roast the meat of the lamb over a fire and eat it along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast, with their cloaks tucked in their belts and their staffs in their hands, and sandals of their feet, ready to flee.

That night was terrible, horrible.

The people looked at each other with questioning and fearful eyes as they ate their meal in silence, hearing the sounds of screaming and mourning as house after house was struck by the death angel.

What did this all mean?

Would they be next?

Suddenly the mourning turned to shouts of anger and desperation.

“Get out!

Leave us!”

The lords were now the defeated.

The slaves were the masters and plundered the Egyptians of their gold and silver.

And the Israelites streamed out of the land of Goshen into the wilderness and set their sights on the distant country of their ancestors.

And every year, for the next 1600 years, on the first month of the year, the Israelites remembered this event, eating roasted lamb meat, bread without yeast and bitter herbs.

God gave instructions for the the Passover:

A year old lamb or goat without blemish or fault

set aside and cared for until the 14th day of the month

Slaughtered at twilight and the blood smeared on the doorposts

Then the meat roasted over the open fire

If the family was too small to eat the entire lamb, the meat was to be shared with the neighbors.

It ALL had to be eaten

Then from that evening (the 14th) to the evening of the 21st, there was to be a feast

During that feast they would not eat any yeast.

They would only eat bread made without yeast.

In the Bible, yeast is a type of sin.

Because although it is very small, a yeast spore grows and works in bread exactly how sin works in a person.

In , we find that the yearly celebration of the Passover had arrived.

(NIV)

22Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

Bread, called the Passover, was

approaching, 2and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

2and the chief priests and the teachers

of the law were looking for some way to

get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of

the people.

3Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.

Iscariot, one of the Twelve.

4And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.

5They were delighted and agreed to give him money.

6He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

the officers of the temple guard and

discussed with them how he might

betray Jesus.

5They were delighted and agreed to give

him money.

6He consented, and watched for an

opportunity to hand Jesus over to them

when no crowd was present.

7Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

8Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover."

Bread on which the Passover lamb had

to be sacrificed.

8Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go

and make preparations for us to eat the

Passover."

9"Where do you want us to prepare for it?"

they asked.

it?"

they asked.

10He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

Follow him to the house that he enters, 11and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'

man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

Follow him to the house that he enters,

11and say to the owner of the house,

'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest

room, where I may eat the Passover

with my disciples?'

12He will show you a large upper room, all furnished.

Make preparations there."

13They left and found things just as Jesus had told them.

So they prepared the Passover.

all furnished.