Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: 
Hungry? What’s for dinner? Maybe tonight’s dinner won’t be among the most memorable. Maybe it will. What would be in your top 10 most memorable dinners of your life? A graduation celebration? A wedding reception? Family Thanksgiving dinner? Often, the dinners etched in our memory remain due to the connection we have to the people present. We remember the connection to family or close friends. We recall events and evenings filled with emotions and comfort. Today is the commemoration of a famous evening meal in the waning days of Christ’s earthly ministry. The final days of Jesus’ life, his teaching and trials in Jerusalem, were incredibly charged with emotion. For the disciples who had walked so closely with him, the scenes of that week must have seemed almost unreal. But the scene into which we enter tonight is away from the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem’s business. We are alone in a solitary room with Jesus and his disciples.
It is very important to remember the setting: Jesus and his disciples were gathered to celebrate the Passover. The Passover had been ordained as an integral part of Israel’s worship life. This annual meal commemorated God’s grace as he rescued the people of Israel from death and freed them from captivity in Egypt. The book of Exodus describes the elaborate preparations that were made before the first Passover. A year‑old lamb without defect was to be slaughtered, and its blood was to be smeared on the doorframes of the houses. No yeast was to be used in the baking process. Special herbs were to be prepared. The elements of this meal had both symbolic and real significance. This meal was prepared before the angel of death killed the firstborn in Egypt—the final plague, after which Pharaoh begged the Israelites to leave Egypt. But the angel “passed over” all the houses that had doorframes stained with blood. The blood of the lamb saved those in the house. And Israel was freed from its captivity.
The old Mosaic covenant commanded that the Jewish people celebrate the Passover every year. The symbolism was so concrete: the slain lamb foreshadowed the Lamb of God, who would save the world through his blood, and who would free his people from the captivity to sin. There was a reason for such elaborate preparation. It would set this meal apart as something very special. It would constrain those who participated to consider more sincerely the miracle of God’s grace and the saving power of his promises. It would hold before them just how serious God was about their worship life. The Israelites were genuinely undeserving of God’s goodness, but they were his chosen people. At the same time, it was not just a ritual or ceremony. This was a real meal. Those who celebrated ate real lamb and real bread without yeast. The meal, therefore, proclaimed the reality of God’s deliverance.
This is what Jesus had come to do—to stand perfect and holy, pure in both motive and action, before the perfect and holy God. At the same time, he knew that he was the real lamb that the Passover lamb foreshadowed. This was especially important at this particular Passover feast. It would be his last. In less than a day, he would be hanging on the beams of a cross. Jesus was making his disciples aware of the connection between this Passover and the purpose for which he had come to live among them when he said, “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25). As such Jesus was giving new significance to the covenant of blood. Jesus was the fulfillment of what the meal foreshadowed. He was building his disciples up for what was to come. Christ intended to comfort the disciples as the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion approached.
Although they would soon see Jesus humiliated, tortured, and put to death, Christ’s testimony would not allow for despair. Take note of the closeness of this group. To all but one of them, the one who would betray the Lord, God’s clear Word was a most important part of their lives. They shared many things in the three years with Jesus; they ate together and sang hymns together. How saddened they were to learn that one of them was not of the same mind-set as the rest! There was clearly a oneness and unity among them. Jesus spoke comfortably, openly, and plainly among them, as he had throughout his public ministry. The great spiritual concepts about which Jesus spoke required careful explanation. These disciples were people whose minds had been clouded by sin. They did not always grasp the depth of Christ’s words. In their weakness, they needed solid assurance that the Lord loved and cared for each of them personally. In reality, the Lord was feeding their faith when he instituted a new covenant at this meal.
We bear many of the same characteristics of the disciples in the upper room. We can be as proud as Peter, as selfish as James and John, and as doubtful and uneasy as Thomas. The common infection of sin plagues our hearts and minds and consciences. Deep down we all hunger and thirst for righteousness and an understanding of how it is that we will be saved. And we are tempted often to think that personal obedience to the law of God is the ticket to heaven. Never mind any misplaced motives or the grudging attitude or the moments of outright disobedience. You see, the impurity of human effort simply cannot stand in the face of God’s holiness. We must put the false notions of merit aside. In the Lord’s Supper meal, we come to know that Christ supplies the righteousness we need for eternal life.
In front of the reclining disciples was the properly prepared Passover meal—lamb, wine, unleavened bread, bitter herbs. As they were nourishing their hungers with the meal and thinking about the first Passover in Egypt, singing praise to God for his wonderful care and guidance, Jesus took some of the bread, gave thanks, and said, “This is my body.” He also took the wine, gave thanks, and offered it to them saying, “This is my blood of the covenant.” What did he give to the disciples? He gave them bread and wine. He gave them his body and blood. It was and is a miracle that we cannot fully understand. This meal was consecrated now with new significance. It was to be an enduring proclamation of the rich gospel of redemption through Jesus’ own blood.
Mark 14:12‑24 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely not I?” “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered 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.
God bless you and be with you as you prepare your hearts to commemorate Maundy Thursday, the Friday we call "Good" and the celebration of the Resurrection!
Blessings on your Holy Week!
Pastor Dan
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