For the Jew, the feast of the Passover was the most important of all annual feasts. It was so important that each year on the fourteenth day of April, the law required every able-bodied, adult, male Jew to make his way to Jerusalem in order to participate in the mandatory Passover celebration. During the Passover thousands of families would crowd their way into Jerusalem.
Now the family traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover had several responsibilities. First and most importantly, each family had to find the perfect lamb. This was to be a lamb that was free of any blemish or defect. In addition, each family had to bring unleavened bread, bread without yeast, a special collection of bitter herbs, and wine. Each family also had to find a place to conduct their Passover celebration.
Many rituals had to be followed to celebrate the Passover feast.
There was nothing that was easy about the Passover. With thousands of pilgrims converging on Jerusalem, it was extremely challenging for them to find a place to hold their Passover feast. Each family was required by law to celebrate the Passover only within the city limits of Jerusalem. Many of the pilgrims would set up tents for the Passover. Others took up residence in every imaginable nook or cranny of the city. The fortunate ones managed to celebrate the Passover in the home of relatives or friends. Such a great number of Jews participated in the Passover that the borders of Jerusalem had to be expanded in order to accommodate the masses.
Once a suitable lamb had been found and after accommodations for the Passover had been made, the family was to present their lamb to the priest in the temple. Upon presentation, the lamb was to be slain in the court of the temple and its blood was to be sprinkled on the altar by a priest. After the lamb's blood was sprinkled, the priest would ceremonially dress the lamb and return it to the worshiper who brought it. By law, every worshiper was then required to roast the lamb and he was required to eat it within the city limits of Jerusalem before the next day.
In conjunction with the Passover, the Jews also celebrated the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Both feasts, the Passover feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, commemorated the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian captivity. Together, the Passover lamb and the unleavened bread symbolized the swift and complete deliverance that God provided Israel.
If you have read the book of Exodus you may recall the events that transpired during the Passover. Through Moses God had announced his judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Because of the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, God promised to strike down every firstborn son in Egypt. In Exodus 11:4-5 (NIV) it says, "Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well."
In order for the Israelite's firstborn sons to be spared, God gave special instructions. Each Israelite household was to slay a choice lamb and smear its blood on the sides and top of their front door frames. Those households whose door frames contained the shed blood of a choice lamb were to be spared from God's judgment.
The judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians was so severe that God gave the Israelites special instructions concerning their escape. God specifically asked the Israelites to roast the slain lambs. Roasting was the quickest and safest method of cooking lambs in those days. God also asked the Israelites to eat bitter herbs as a reminder of their bitter captivity. He didn't want them having second thoughts at the last moment. God asked them to bake their bread without yeast or leavening. There would not be time for them to bake and let their bread with yeast rise. Lastly, God asked them to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt by holding two annual Passover celebrations, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
These feasts had several purposes.
The feasts were a time of remembrance.
During the Passover feast the Jews had established a special custom. During the meal someone, usually the youngest son, was designated to ask the question, "Why is this night different from other nights?"
The customary question would then prompt the host to retell the story of the Passover in vivid detail. In the retelling of the story the host would use the unleavened bread, the roasted lamb, the bitter herbs, and the wine as a kind of multi-sensory teaching tool. Every year each successive generation would see the blood, they would smell the cooked lamb, they would touch the unleavened bread, they would taste the bitter herbs, and they would hear the cry of lambs.
The feasts have been so successful as a teaching tool that Jews continue to observe and remember the Passover in the very same manner to this day, centuries later.
The feasts were a time of celebration.
The atmosphere surrounding these feasts was always celebrative. There were frequent shouts of acclamation and praise. The streets were filled with rejoicing. Families gathered together to sing hymns and pray. Together, from house to house, and tent to tent, from every nook and cranny, as they reflected on their deliverance from Egypt, the Jewish community expressed a collective note of thanksgiving and appreciation to their God! During the Passover there wasn't a dry eye in all of Jerusalem.
To this day many Jews continue to remember the Passover with great passion, intensity, profound gratitude, and celebration.
The feasts were a time of proclamation.
The chaos in Jerusalem during these feasts was unnerving to the Roman soldiers. During the Passover every Jew was thinking the same thought. "God, I sure wish you would do to our Roman oppressors what you did to the Pharaoh and the Egyptians."
With thousands of eager Jewish pilgrims converging on Jerusalem during the Passover, the Roman guards lived in constant fear that some wannabe messiah might rise up during the Passover and lead a revolt against their oppressive Roman rule. During this time the Romans established extra guard posts and took extra measures of security.
There isn't any doubt about the purpose of these feasts. The feasts were an annual proclamation of the Jewish hope for deliverance. These feasts were a testimony of the Jewish hope that God would establish an everlasting king and an everlasting kingdom in their midst. Every year the Jews came with a sense of anticipation wondering, "Is this going to be the year God does his thing?" To this day Jews throughout the world celebrate the Passover in prayerful expectation, hoping against hope that God will one day send a messiah to restore the nation of Israel.
Jesus chose the Passover to make his final entrance to Jerusalem.
Now Jesus intentionally timed it so that his final return to Jerusalem would take place during the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was Jesus' intention to identify himself as the culmination and fulfillment of both feasts and to declare himself to be the long awaited and much hoped for messiah. On the Passover, Jesus came to Jerusalem to once more declare himself to be the bread of life. He came to declare himself to be the perfect, spotless, unblemished Passover lamb. Jesus had come to deliver them from their bitter struggle and from their bondage to sin and death.
Matthew tells us in Matthew 26:17 (NIV) that, "On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?' And Matthew tells that Jesus was well prepared. In Matthew 26:18-19 (NIV) he told his disciples, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house. So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover."
On the fourteenth of April, Jesus was preparing for the Passover like every other Jew. But by the end of the night, Jesus would have forever changed the meaning of Passover. On that night Jesus instituted what we commonly call the Lord's Supper or communion.
Much like the Feast of the Passover, the Lord's Supper also had three dimensions.
The Lord's Supper involves past remembrance.
On Passover night in the upper room, Jesus uttered numerous memorably phrases. In Luke 22:19 (NIV) we're told, "And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' "In Luke 22:20 (NIV) we're told that, "In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.' "
On that night the broken bread was to forever remind the disciples of Christ's death. What happened to the bread in Jesus' hand is what happened to him on the cross. On the cross, Jesus, the bread of life, was broken as he was crucified. Jesus, the bread of life, bore our sorrows and our sins and died a gruesome death. To this day his broken body reminds us of our deliverance from sin just as the unleavened bread reminded the Israelites of their deliverance from Egypt.
What happened to the wine in Jesus' cup is the same as what happened to him on the cross. On the cross, Jesus the lamb had his blood shed as an atonement for sin. On the cross, the blood of the spotless, perfect lamb, Jesus Christ, was offered up on our behalf. Christ's blood was shed for our sins. He paid the penalty of our sin. He bore God's wrath against sin. We were spared by Jesus the lamb.
David Garland says that Jesus used an article of food that was simple and universal. The disciples could never again recline at a meal, take bread, bless it, and break it without thinking of the last night that they were together with their Lord. Just as our memories are triggered by something that reminds us of our dear departed loved ones, these disciples can never eat another meal without thinking about what Jesus did for them.
Garland also says that the Lord's Supper works for good. It reminds us of who we are, what our story is, what our values are, and who claims us as his own. In the Lord's Supper the gospel confronts all five senses. We see, hear, taste, smell, and touch what it meant for Christ to die for us.
Together, the bread and wine are a remembrance of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. During communion we are at once confronted with the bread of life and the lamb.
The Lord's Supper involves present celebration.
In Matthew 26:18 (NIV) as he makes preparations for Passover, Jesus instructs his disciples to relay a message. "I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house." In Luke 22:15 (NIV) with each of his disciples reclining nearby Jesus tells his disciples, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer."
The Lord's Supper is a present celebration of Christ's life. David Garland says, "The celebration was meant to place each generation in touch with that event and make it a present reality. It celebrates what the Lord did for me. The Lord's Supper is not a memorial of something past and gone, but reminds us of what the Lord has done for us and makes his death and his presence a living reality.
Through the Lord's Supper we celebrate with the living, resurrected Christ. Like the Jewish Passover, the Lord's Supper is to be a time of celebration and rejoicing and thanksgiving and joy and triumph!
When Jesus took the bread, the gospel writers tell us that Jesus gave thanks. When Jesus took the cup, the gospel writers tell us that Jesus gave thanks. Jesus himself sets the tone of celebration for the Lord's Supper.
Communion is not something that freezes us into the nostalgia of some past remembrance. Every week as we come to the Lord's table for communion, we come to make new memories. We come to commune with the resurrected and glorified Christ. We come to reestablish our ties with the bread of life and the slain lamb of old. We come to reinvigorate our spiritual passion for God's kingdom. We come to be reminded of all the reasons that Christ is worthy of our thanksgiving. We come to celebrate with glad, grateful, rejoicing, tear-stained hearts.
The Lord's Supper involves future proclamation.
In Matthew 26:27-29 (NIV) it tells us, "Then he (Jesus) took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. 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 of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom.' "
In 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV) Paul says about communion, "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."
David Garland says that communion binds the past, present, and future together. We look back to Jesus' last supper and we experience the beginning of the new covenant with God. We experience Jesus' death for us and the power of our sins being forgiven in the present. We look forward to the future celebration in God's kingdom when all will acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
The Lord's Supper is a proclamation about our future hope. Our relationship with Christ is not some lost moment in history. Our relationship with Christ is not some short-lived joy in the here and now. Our relationship with Christ is an eternal relationship that digs deep into the past through remembrance. Our relationship with Christ is an eternal relationship that fills up the present with celebration. And our relationship with Christ is an eternal relationship that extends far out into the future as we proclaim our hope that Jesus will one day return and that we will one day commune with him in his eternal kingdom.
In a few moments you will be encouraged to come to the front of the sanctuary to partake of the Lord's Supper. This is your moment to commune with Christ and to reflect on your relationship to the bread of life, the lamb of the world, our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
If you are unable to come to the front of the sanctuary to partake of communion, simply motion to an usher and communion will be served to you where you are. As we ready our hearts for communion I would ask that you simply bow as I pray and that you will continue praying as others are coming forward to be served.
A communion prayer.
Heavenly Father, in our hectic routine it is so easy to forget the past. You established this bread so that we would always remember Christ's broken body. You established this cup so that we would always remember Christ's blood which was shed and poured out on the cross for our immeasurable sins. Father, forgive us when we forget. Forgive us when our memories fail. Forgive us when we rush into communion without first rehearsing the past and reflecting on the extreme price you paid so that we might have eternal life. Father, forgive us when we fail to tell others why this table and this bread and this cup are unlike any other table, bread, and cup this world has ever known. Father, as we partake of communion help us embrace the past with remembrance.
Father, we acknowledge that too often, we fail to celebrate in the present. Help us to make new memories in the present. Help us to prioritize this table and to make time for this table in the present. Make us extra hungry and extra thirsty for communing with you in the present. Forgive us of those times when we approach this table with less than grateful hearts. Forgive us of those times when we take your broken body and shed blood for granted. Father, as we partake of communion help us to embrace the present with celebration. You are so good to us. You have given so much to us and we are so unworthy.
Father, one last struggle we have concerns our perspective on the future. So often we come to this table angry and frustrated. So often we come demanding to know why we continue to struggle with sin and why we continue to suffer through adversity, sickness, and disease. So often we come to this table acting as if the past is only history and our present blessings and misfortunes are all we will ever know. Father, please forgive us for only focusing on the past and on the here and now. Father, as we partake of communion help us embrace the future with a confident proclamation of our hope in Christ's return. Ah, the best is yet to come. Remind us that the past and present are only a foretaste, an appetizer, of the delicious banquet and feast we will one day enjoy with you in your kingdom.
May this communion ignite us with a passion for past remembrance, present celebration, and future proclamation of our hope. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.