The Real Passover

Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke that He had been looking forward to celebrating His last Passover with His disciples for a long time. This was the night He instituted what we call the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. 

Originally, the Passover was a celebration to remember God saving His people from Egypt. On their last night in Egypt, the night of the final plague, they were to sacrifice a lamb and paint its blood on the doorframe of the house. The Angel of the LORD came that night to kill all the firstborn sons. He would pass over any home that was marked with blood. 

Something we seem to have forgotten is what we are actually saved from. Romans 5:9 says,

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath.” Romans 5:9 

We have to be marked with blood, too. If we’re going to be saved from the wrath of God when it’s poured out against the world. 

They were also to eat the Passover lamb and unleavened bread. This was the night of the exodus, there was no time for the bread to rise.

This meal was to be celebrated every year, around this time. The story of salvation was to be told from generation to generation so that no one would ever forget. 

Eventually, there were other things added to the tradition.

By the time Jesus celebrates the meal with His friends, there were certain Psalms that were always sang, and they would drink at least four cups of wine. We don’t know a lot about the actual Passover liturgy Jesus would have used but we have some clues based on the Seder Meal the Jews started doing after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

In Matthew, we’re told they sang a hymn. It would have been one of the Hallel Psalms, the ones traditionally used in the Passover liturgy.  

Psalm 116 is one of them, imagine this being sung on the night before the cross:

    I love the LORD because he hears my voice 

      and my prayer for mercy. 

    Because he bends down to listen, 

      I will pray as long as I have breath! 

    Death wrapped its ropes around me; 

      the terrors of the grave overtook me. 

      I saw only trouble and sorrow. 

    Then I called on the name of the LORD: 

      “Please, LORD, save me!” 

    How kind the LORD is! How good he is! 

      So merciful, this God of ours! 

    The LORD protects those of childlike faith; 

      I was facing death, and he saved me. 

    Let my soul be at rest again, 

      for the LORD has been good to me. 

    He has saved me from death, 

      my eyes from tears, 

      my feet from stumbling. 

    And so I walk in the LORD’s presence 

      as I live here on earth! 

    I believed in you, so I said, 

      “I am deeply troubled, LORD.” 

    In my anxiety I cried out to you, 

      “These people are all liars!” 

    What can I offer the LORD 

      for all he has done for me? 

    I will lift up the cup of salvation 

      and praise the LORD’s name for saving me. 

    I will keep my promises to the LORD 

      in the presence of all his people. 

    The LORD cares deeply 

      when his loved ones die. 

    O LORD, I am your servant; 

      yes, I am your servant, born into your household; 

      you have freed me from my chains. 

    I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving 

      and call on the name of the LORD. 

    I will fulfill my vows to the LORD 

      in the presence of all his people— 

    in the house of the LORD 

      in the heart of Jerusalem. 

    Praise the LORD! 

Psalm 116:1–19

That’s pretty heavy.

Jesus is sitting around the table with His friends, the disciples, the ones He’s poured His life into for three years. The only thing these men had in common was Him. A couple of Zealots, who were Jewish nationalists, terrorists against Rome. A couple students. A few fishermen. A tax collector, which is pretty much the opposite of a Zealot on the political spectrum—they collaborated with Rome to get the Jews to cough up their taxes. 

Without Jesus, they would have been enemies.

Jesus said, “One of you is going to betray me.” At first, they all wondered if it was them, “Am I the one, Lord? Is it me?” Even Judas, who had already made a deal with the religious leaders for 30 pieces of silver, even Judas asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?” 

How strange.

Jesus basically says, “you know you are, Judas.”

On the night when Jesus was betrayed, in the middle of the Passover meal, Jesus took some bread, and after He had given thanks, He blessed it saying, “take and eat, this is my body.”

Jesus was changing everything. This is the Passover now. From now on, whenever you eat this meal, until the day when I return, “this is my body, broken and given for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

Then He took the cup of wine—He lifted up the cup of salvation—He gave thanks to God, He gave it to them and said, “drink this, all of you, this is my blood, the new covenant between God and His people, poured out as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.”

He said He wouldn’t drink wine again until the day He drinks it with them in the Father’s Kingdom.

Now. lots of people have tried to explain what Jesus meant by all of that. “This is my body, this is my blood.” They try to explain it with philosophy, like transubstantiation or consubstantiation. They try to explain it with metaphysics and spiritual abstractions. Some people try to reduce it to nothing more than symbolic language.

How about this, instead. How about we just take Jesus at His word. Let “is” be “is.” Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. His word creates reality. His word changes reality—it makes reality.

Jesus “is” the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He didn’t symbolically die, He really sacrificed His life. Real body, real blood. 

So when we eat and drink in this meal, we are eating and drinking real forgiveness. Is it still bread and wine? Yes. Is it Christ’s body and blood? Yes. We take Him at His word and that’s that. No further explanation needed.

Take and eat. They would have eaten enough bread to feel satisfied. That’s what bread is for. It fills our belly, gives us energy and life. It’s delicious. Give us this day our daily bread. We usually celebrate Communion with little flavorless wafers that barely remind us of bread at all. I think it takes more faith to believe those styrofoam discs are bread than it does to believe it is the body of the Lord.

Tonight, we will eat real bread, and enough to realize what bread actually is.

Drink this all of you. They also would have had four cups of wine each. More wine than most of them would normally drink in one setting. The Bible tells us that God gave wine to gladden the heart of man. Bread satisfies and fills your belly, but wine changes your attitude—your perception. One of the laws of the Passover is that when you eat the Passover, you have to be happy. Four cups of wine can go a long way toward making that happen.

I’m not talking about being drunk. But tonight, we will drink enough wine to feel its effect. At least you’ll have the option to. 

This is the new Passover meal. Jesus called the Cross His exodus. This is how the Lamb of God saves His people. This is how we remember what He has done.

Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Peter denied that he ever knew the Lord. All the disciples scattered and went into hiding.

The High Priest asked Jesus if He was the Son of God. Jesus answered, “you say that I am.” In other words, “you said it yourself. you know I am. You know but you don’t believe.”

Pilate asked if Jesus was the King of the Jews. Jesus answered him the same way, “You said it, not me.” So Pilate wrote it on a sign to be hung on the cross. Probably just to annoy the Jewish Leaders. 

On the cross, Jesus kept saying a phrase over and over. “Father forgive them they don’t know what they are doing.” In our English translations, it seems like He only said it once, but the Greek actually means “He kept on saying, Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” The nail in the left hand, “Father forgive them…” the nail in the right hand, “They don’t know…” the nail in the feet, “...what they’re doing.”

He sang another Psalm on the cross, too. Psalm 22 begins with this phrase, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” It was a well-known hymn. He probably sang it. Written a thousand years before the crucifixion, yet it describes the gruesome scene in perfect detail.

   “Everyone who sees me mocks me. 

      They sneer and shake their heads, saying, 

    “Is this the one who relies on the LORD? 

      Then let the LORD save him! 

    If the LORD loves him so much, 

      let the LORD rescue him!” Psalm 22:7–8

     They have pierced my hands and feet. 

    I can count all my bones. 

      My enemies stare at me and gloat. 

    They divide my garments among themselves 

      and throw dice for my clothing. Psalm 22:16–18

Psalm 22 ends with this line, 

“Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. 

         They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, 

      that he has done it.

Psalm 22:30–31

There were two thieves being crucified next to Jesus. One of them joined in with the mockers but the other asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom.

Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Tonight I want us to bring all this together:

We are the thief who was crucified next to the Lord. Our crucifixion, our death does nothing for us or anyone else. But if we are crucified with Christ, if He remembers us, that changes everything.

When our body breaks down and our blood spills out, it doesn’t do anything other than make us dead. When Jesus’ body is broken for us, His blood gives us the promise of life and resurrection. 

All through the Bible, God promises to remember His people. The Biblical concept of “remember” isn’t the same as our idea of remembering. To us, it just means to bring something to mind. In the Bible, it’s always connected to doing something. 

Like, we can remember to take out the trash, and then forget again and not actually do it. In the Bible, to remember is to actually do it.

When it says that He will remember the thief in paradise, it doesn’t mean when Jesus gets to paradise, He’ll take a moment and think about the guy that was crucified next to Him. It means He’ll do something for the man—he’ll be saved—Jesus will take him to paradise.

When we eat and drink the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, we are told to “do this in remembrance of me.” Or actually, “Do this in remembrance of my name.”

In this meal, we remember the sacrifice, the gift of Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. More importantly, we eat and drink in “remembrance of His name.” Which means, He’s the one doing the remembering. The remembrance is in His name. God is the one doing the remembering. And He’s not just thinking about us, He’s feeding us the tangible promise of the new covenant. He’s saving us. He’s remembering you.

    What can I offer the LORD 

      for all he has done for me? 

    I will lift up the cup of salvation 

      and praise the LORD’s name for saving me.

The sky went black. It was noon. There were earthquakes. Before He died, the people stopped mocking Him. He wasn’t acting like the typical person being crucified.

“Father forgive them they don’t know what they are doing. Into Your hands I commend my spirit. It is finished.”

What are we doing here tonight? We’re remembering our story of salvation, making sure to pass it on to our children, asking Jesus to remember us when He comes with His kingdom. 

AMEN