1. Passover
Road to the Resurrection • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsJesus has the opportunity to teach about what is about to happen on the cross. He curiously chooses the passover and invites His disciples, and us with them, to participate in a new exodus. Because of the forgiveness of sins, relation is restored, and new life can begin.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them. ‘Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Main Point: What would you do in your final days? Jesus communicated why He had to die, and alluded to new life to come.
Adventure Vlogs - Running marathons, climbing mountains, jumping off very tall buildings.
Watching a new one - but then all of a sudden “I have terminal brain cancer, only three years to live.”
Ian Ward - King of Chemo. Using his last years to raise more money than anyone ever for cancer research.
He has committed to a message, and chosen to have his death communicate a message.
Jesus used His final words to do the same thing - communicate an important message. If we want to understand why Jesus died, this is the place to begin, with Jesus own words shared with His friends at passover.
New series - Road to Resurrection - not just death and forgiveness, but Jesus came here to bring new life.
1. Bread Given to You
1. Bread Given to You
Main Point: Jesus gave His bread as an image of His abiding presence and provision for them.
Meal made up of symbolic parts - form an image that communicates deep truths.
Logos - Google: the l is green, non primary - they don’t play by the rules, Apple - fruit of the tree of knowledge. Toblerone - the Matterhorn Mountain in Switzerland. Hidden inside the mountain is a bear, symbolising the unique honey flavour found in the chocolate and the fact that the chocolate is made in the ‘City of Bears’.
Images in the Lord’s Supper, Communion, Eucharist etc. - more than images though, a story!
1. Bread Given to You
1. Bread Given to You
Jesus, the night he was going to be betrayed, used His time to teach His followers what was about to happen and why.
He chose the time: Passover - on the same night they were to eat the passover lamb.
Passover - rich with imagery, He chose that narrative to frame His own death within.
Passover - Exodus, the night before they were to leave Egypt Israel were to sacrifice a goat, paint it’s blood over the doorway to indicate they were part of God’s people and God’s judgement on Egypt would pass over them without harming them.
Asked to bake bread - unleavened because they needed food for the journey out of Egypt and there wasn’t time for it to rise.
Bread at this meal, would have reminded them of their ancestors journey and the food that would have sustained them.
Mark 14:22 “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’”
Symbolic - we don’t believe it becomes His body. But the image represents a truth.
In a few days the disciples would see Him taken from them, beaten, and hung upon a cross. Gone from their presence.
The early Church would see Him return from the dead, then ascend into heaven. But still, physically gone from their presence.
Meal becomes a sign of a reality - that despite appearances, Jesus is always with us - bread a sign of His abiding presence with us.
Helpful reminder which we need!
Luther was once asked, “Do you feel that you are a child of God this morning?” and he answered, “I cannot say that I do, but I know that I am.”
Martin Luther
We don’t always feel like God is with us - the Exodus narrative God seemed distant for some 400 years - but He was always there, and His timing was perfect.
Mental Health Foundation on loneliness - Widowed, long-term health problems, being a carer - being aged between 16 and 24 years old. BIG problem among youth as well as old.
Christians are welcomed into a family, a place of love and diversity, united by another relationship - Jesus.
“What was I doing before I was talking to Jesus all day?” - real abiding presence. Though ascended, He is with us by His Spirit. Here this morning.
The Bread is a helpful reminder of His provision and presence with us. But also, special presence through the meal.
2. Cup Given to You
2. Cup Given to You
Main Point: The cup represents the blood poured out, and the sacrifice required for this new relationship.
The cup follows the bread as a symbol that represents a deep truth.
‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them.
The cup would have been drunk after the passover lamb had been sacrificed and eaten. In this way, the wine represents the blood, the sacrifice made for the people of God.
In Christian circles this image has become so familiar that it risks losing some of its’ meaning - take it for granted.
We can lose our wonder at the cross: (Vicky Beeching)
May I never lose the wonder
The wonder of the cross
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost
Undone by mercy and left speechless
Watching wide eyed at the cost
May I never lose the wonder, The wonder of the cross
This idea of sacrifice can seem somewhat alien to us - weird. Something of it when we eat an animal - they die so we can receive energy from it.
This connection wasn’t lost on humans as for most of human history pretty much everywhere in the world, sacrifice was a staple of everyday life.
Started by humans: Cain and Abel, too something that was valuable that we took and ‘gave to God’ - burnt, smoke goes upwards.
Something really costly - money is seen somewhat in this way - iPod in the collection basket. Not to earn anything, not a trade, but an expression of love - giving something costly.
Pagan understanding - trading to get what you want.
Not with God - a symbol to reflect love. Not a process.
Passover - not because of the blood, but because of the faith God would save them. Faith! What marks us out as the people of God.
Sacrificial system - not the blood of animals, but trust that God would one day provide for the forgiveness of sins.
Someone had to suffer for the forgiveness of sins.
Abraham’s covenant with God - Genesis 15 - broken animals as a symbol of what would happen if the agreement was broken.
Humanity’s agreement with God has been broken - we were all charged with bearing His image to the world - instead the image of evil has been spread everywhere. Someone has suffer and be judged - the cup of God’s wrath has to be drunk by someone.
If you asked me to tidy my room as a child I would have an idea how to do it quickly, and so that it appears clean - but it would still be filthy. If you saw my teenage self clean a kitchen, you’d never want to eat anything I made you.
Thankfully God is not like that. He doesn’t want to, nor can He, sweep evil under the rug and pretend it doesn’t exist. He wants to clean up evil once and for all, remove it entirely - and Jesus’ death was part of the plan.
The sacrificial system, all of these images, point to a once-for-all sacrifice that rewards the faith of those who experienced the symbols. For passover, Israel weren’t saved by the blood of the lamb, they were saved by God because of their faith - so judgement passed over them. So too with us.
When Jesus takes the cup, representing the blood of the lamb, He identifies it with Himself.
Abraham’s Ram - God provided the sacrifice.
He, just like the passover lamb, would die for sin, just as the lamb did. So now, for those who place their faith in Him, their evil infection will be dealt with on the cross. Jesus blood, His sacrifice, would become the means by which we are saved.
Free gifts - mass produced don’t carry the same weight as being handed something by someone.
Mother’s day - they thought of you. It was placed in your hand.
Jesus makes this explicit offer. This isn’t made to a faceless crowd - Jesus handed the bread and wine to His friends. He does the same with us.
We aren’t a face in a crowd to our Father God - He knows us, and loves us. The offer of this sacrifice is made personally to us.
Bear that in mind when we take the bread and cup later - it is an invitation to take, not food to eat. Receive His invitation, and with it a new experience of life.
3. New Life Given to You
3. New Life Given to You
Main Point: Passover led to the exodus. Jesus wants to leave us with the knowledge that new life has been made possible for us. New life is a new relation with God, before the completed new creation (Kingdom).
This is the final point - the Last Supper doesn’t end with the promise of Jesus’ death - it ends with a promise of New Life.
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them.
Fragile Faith - forgiven this time, what about the next? If we stop with forgiveness we become focussed on Sin - defined by the negative, and by evil.
Carry our weight - trying our best to unload what we have, all whilst accumulating more on the way.
Hoarders of sin - so I’ve been forgiven for hoarding - but what do I now do with all the stuff?
Jesus promises us the forgiveness of sin, but MORE, new life - freedom!
Blood of the covenant, once sprinkled on the people of Israel, now establishes a new covenant in Jesus blood - one in which “many” are invited. Not just Israel now - all peoples.
Kingdom
He invites His followers to join Him in His life giving Kingdom:
‘Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’
This is the Kingdom that He established in His ministry, and which He populated by His death and resurrection. We go from one oppressive evil King - to serving the one true Lord - Jesus.
Retelling the Story
This is where the exodus narrative again is so helpful - part of a pattern of Scripture. 400 years of silence, God hears the cries of His people in slavery to Pharaoh, powerful signs are brought by Moses, a sacrifice is made for the people of God to avoid judgement, what happens next?
THEY GO FREE - not just free - they go free out of Egypt and into the promised land - but more than this. They go free out of slavery to evil and into the presence of God and His new way of living and being.
This is what Israel were longing for at the time of Jesus - Punishment of their sins led to Slavery to Rome - and Jesus does set them free politically, but in a way that is far greater than a political upheaval.
Now we were slaves to sin, evil, temptation, injustice, racism, misoginy, violence and powers than seem bent on the destruction of humanity and God’s creation (of which we all have played our part) - but now we are freed into the presence of God and life we could have never imagined.
There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus was establishing for us a new Exodus through His death - a final exodus.
A new life has begun - this is the offer of the new covenant. Jesus has died for sin on the cross, so now we turn away from evil and towards Jesus, and as we find freedom from slavery, sin and evil, we find new life - resurrection life has begun!
He is inviting His disciples into the story: We need to respond like this as Christians today.
Not just stories about other people - this is OUR story.
Don’t just read with interest - but read as if it was written about YOU, because in part it was!
New Life
What new life?
‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord,
‘when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,’
declares the Lord.
‘This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,’ declares the Lord.
‘I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbour,
or say to one another, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,’
declares the Lord.
‘For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.’
Notice the emphasis on the covenant:
‘This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,’ declares the Lord.
‘I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
And Jeremiah 31:34 “No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’”
From the forgiveness of sins comes new life - this new life is defined by a new restored relationship with our Father God.
Conclusion:
Jesus used His final words to do the same thing - communicate an important message. A Restoration of relationship, through His death for sin, our faith in Him, and an enduring relationship with God is found forever. Relationship!
SUCH LOVE: This is what Jesus died to achieve for us, a relationship like that which He has with His Father.
These were the words that would have been sung that night:
Psalm 118:14-17 “The Lord is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!’ I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.”
What has the Lord done? So much, but most of all restored us to Himself.
The divine son gives up the relationship with His divine Father for a time, so we might as mere mortals, responsible in part for the destruction of His perfect world enjoy the re He has always had.
He is the source of new life - and this is life available now.