Tonight, many hundreds of years ago, a carpenter from Nazareth sat in an upper room surrounded by his closest friends and family eating a meal of yeast free bread, roast lamb and bitter herbs. A couple of thousands years before that, an entire nation sat, huddled in houses, dressed in travelling gear, eating a meal of bread, roast lamb and bitter herbs. Many thousands of years of history, and yet, both events so intimately connected to each other. And to me, in my bedroom, sipping some wine, listening to music and needing to get uni work down.
And so much focus over the next few days will be on the crazy, significant events of Jesus' death and his resurrection. But tonight, tonight my thoughts go to that supper in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem. And from there to the Israelites in Egypt. My thoughts go to the Lord's supper - the very first Lord's supper. And to the Passover, to the very first Passover.
And sometimes, sometimes we make it just that - a supper, a meal. But it was so much more, wasn't it?
There was more to the Passover than some nicely roasted lamb, weird bread and bitter herbs. It was more than just a meal. It was a promise. A promise of rescue from slavery. A promise of relief from suffering. A promise that God was in control. A promise that God was about to act.
And it was a promise that was fulfilled. That very night, God rescued the Israelites from the slavery in Egypt. He gave them relief from the suffering that comes from captivity. He proved He was in control - Pharaoh let them go. The Red Sea parted! God did act!
And it was that - that promise and that fulfillment that Jesus and his disciples were commemorating at the Last Supper. Jesus didn't just decide he was going to randomly interrupt a meal to start babbling on about blood spilled and broken body. He chose the Passover meal. He chose the meal where blood was spilled and body was broken to protect God's chosen people - go read the Exodus account! There is such a richness, such a wealth of detail, that I can't even begin to put it into words.
But Jesus chose a meal so riddled with cultural and religious significance to make His point. In choosing this meal to talk about his "body, which is given for you" (Luke 22: 19) and his "blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you" (Luke 22: 20), Jesus is saying more than "I'm about to sacrifice myself for you".
He is saying that He is about to make a very particular sacrifice, with a very particular purpose. And here, right here, this is His promise:
He will rescue us from slavery.
He will bring us relief from suffering.
God is in control.
God is about to act.
And the disciples, they probably thought about that conquering king who was going to knock down the Roman empire and restore Israel as a nation. Their minds were focused on the things of this world.
But Jesus meant something bigger. Jesus was promising rescue from the slavery of sin. The suffering of sin. And He was promising that He would give His own life to achieve it. And my mind can barely contain it.
That meal was more than just a meal. It was a promise. A promise of a rescue. Over the next three days, Jesus enacted that rescue. That meal was a promise that was fulfilled.
A promise made not only to the Israelites in Egypt, not only to the friends in that room, but to all of God's chosen people - past, present and future. A promise made to me. A promise made to you. And the Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. And I think we're in the wilderness now. But just like the rescue that Jesus promised and brought about blows away the rescue promised and brought about at the first Passover - the Promised Land we're moving towards will absolutely blow away the Israelites' Promised Land.
And so I'm going to stop. I'm going to remember that meal. That promise. That Rescue. And I'm going to thank God for it for as long as He allows it.
Because I've been saved, I've been changed, I have been set free.
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