Jesus, the Lord of the Feast

You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

Our New Testament lesson is from Matthew 26:26-29:

Matthew 26:26–29 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

As I said Sunday, my goal this year is to show you how Christ fulfills or completes the Law in the events of Holy Week. Tonight we are going to look at the feasts of Israel. There were of course the major feast of Israel, such as Passover, but what is not often appreciated is that every time an Israelite brought a sacrifice to the Temple, there would be a feast, or celebratory meal afterwards.

Under the New Covenant, our sacred feast is the Lord’s Supper, and at this New Covenant Feast, Jesus presides as the Lord or Master of the Feast.

Jesus is the Lord of the Feast

When Israel brought their sacrifices to the Temple or Tabernacle, a portion of that sacrifice was burned up or poured out as God’s portion, but the majority of the sacrifice was divided up between the priests and the people. After performing the sacrificial ritual, the priest who sacrificed the animal would invite the people to sit down, and then he would say, “Here, take, eat. This is the food of fellowship with you.” By doing this, that priest was acting as the master of the feast.

Under the New Covenant, Jesus is the Master of the Feast! There are two reasons for this:

First, all the Old Covenant feasts have found their ending point in the Lord’s Supper. It is not that the Lord’s Supper has replaced them, but rather, this one feast, is the culmination of them all. That Passover feast Jesus celebrated with His disciples was the last Passover Feast!

Second, Jesus had been appointed as the Great High Priest. The Levitical Priesthood had become obsolete, and just as that night was the last Passover feast, Caiaphas was the last high priest!

Why is all of this important? It us that it is not the minister who presides over the Lord’s Table, but rather Christ. When I recite the words of institution, I am simply acting as a mouthpiece of Christ. When the elders serve, they are serving as assistants of Christ, He is the one who is serving you and He is the one who is providing for you:

Jesus Provides the Sacrifice

This is an under appreciated aspect of the Lord’s Supper. Under the Old Covenant, the people themselves had to provide the sacrifice. It came from their own herds or they had to purchase it. One of the wonderful truths of the New Covenant is that the Lord Himself provides the sacrifice, by offering Himself. This wonderful truth was foreshadowed in the sacrifice of Issac.

Genesis 22:7–8 ESV

And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

While instructing the Corinthians concerning Communion, the Apostle Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 10:16 ESV

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Christ’s body and blood are present at the Lord’s Supper, not because the bread and wine are transformed or altered in any way, but because our union with Christ is so complete and perfect. This perfect union is why Paul can speak of our being “crucified with Christ” and “raised with Christ”.

Throughout the Old Covenant, the people had to provide the sacrifice. Many today, still think they have to provide a “sacrifice” to God in order to be forgiven. Friends, we can bring nothing to the Table, only our hunger and thirst. At the Lord’s Supper, Christ offers Himself to us as the only sacrifice and says to us:

Revelation 22:17 ESV

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

This invitation to “come” brings us to the third aspect of the Old Covenant feasts that Jesus “fills up” and transforms.

Jesus Becomes the Place

In Deuteronomy, God commands Israel eat their sacred meals at the place He had designated. This place was the place were God Tabernacle or Temple was. If you have read the Old Testament, you probably noticed that one of the recurring sins God accuses Israel of was sacrificing in “high places”.

Just like today, there were many in Israel and the nations that surrounded Israel that believed worship should not be regulated by the Word of God. People wrongly believe they are free to worship God whenever and wherever they please. Nothing could be farther from the truth and the Old Covenant Laws make clear. This has not changed under the New Covenant; we are not free to worship God in any other way than what He has revealed in His Word.

What has changed however is that Jesus has become the place were God’s people worship in the presence of God. In John 2:19-21, Jesus declares Himself to be the true temple. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus says that “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Finally, because of our union with Christ through the Holy Spirit, individual Christians and especially the gathered church are called “the temple of the Holy Spirit”.

All the Psalms that express the desire to worship God at the Temple on Mount Zion are now fulfilled in Christ. What an important reminder in an age when people are promoting “virtual worship services”. Virtual worship is as unsatisfying as a virtual feast. Can you imagine having a family feast via Zoom? You can do it, but it is not very satisfying and it most certainly is not the same!

The final aspect that Jesus fills up or completes in reference to the Old Testament feasts is their joy.

Sharing in the Joy of Jesus

Moses commands the people to eat the food in joy. Joy is not an optional emotion for a believer.

Many will object to this because in this world our joy goes up and down. There is a lot of stuff going on in the world today that can take away our joy. However, the joy God is commanding us to have is not to be grounded in what is happening in our lives, but in WHO is in our life, namely JESUS!

I hope you understand what I am saying to you. We are commanded to “rejoice with those that rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” We all have things in our lives what cause us to “weep”, coming to the Lord’s Table does not automatically remove those sorrows. However, coming to the Table reminds us that in the midst of our sorrows we always have a reason for Joy, namely Jesus!

This is so practical. In fact, it is the only thing that can keep us sane in this crazy world. Whatever is happening, be it good or bad, in Christ, we have a bedrock of joy!

Imagine the Rock of Gibraltar; some days the seas around it are calm and beautiful, and other days the seas are stormy and raging. The Rock however, is always the same! That Rock is Jesus!

As you come to the table tonight, let Christ serve you. You can come empty handed, because He has provided both the bread and the drink. You do not have to travel to a faraway city, but rather you only have to come to the place were “two or three are gathered in His name”. Finally, you can come in joy; a joy that does not raise or fall like the tides of the sea, but remains steady in all the seasons of life.

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