Holy Thursday March 28, 2024
“The Eternal Passover That Jesus Desired to Eat”
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Do you know the verse from Hebrews 13:8? I bet you do, even if you don’t know where it came from. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
What does that mean to you? What Jesus did then, back in Bible times, is what we can expect from Him today and also in every day to come. He doesn’t change. He’s constant, consistent, faithful. Though many years have changed since He walked the earth, He hasn’t.
And, get this, that which He offers to this world hasn’t changed either. Tonight we look at one thing that Jesus offered then, and this evening, and for all days yet to come – His holy meal. This is the meal of which He said, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:14)
Do you know of the “yesterday” of this meal? Do you know how the Passover began? God created that day to counteract the perception that the Egyptians had of Him. They thought that the Egyptian gods were stronger than the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. After all, the Israelites were their slaves. But the true God changed that perception. When God brought the final plague, the death of the first born for every family that did not have the blood of a lamb covering the entrance to their house, God created the Passover. The people of Israel, every year, would remember the deliverance of God. They would recount how that night was different than any other night. They would recount how He opened up the Red Sea and brought them through on dry ground. They would speak of manna in the desert for 40 years and water that would come from a rock. For 1400 years God reminded them of His strong and saving hand.
But they would also remember how they broke the covenant with God. The history of how life once was, was a humbling recollection of their sin. God had to do a new thing. The prophet Jeremiah says, “The time is coming”, declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them”, declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:31-32)
So, on that night, that Passover night, when the whole history of God’s faithfulness was remembered, Jesus began the gift of a new covenant. When He lifted the cup at the meal, Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20)
The past is wonderful. Think of all God did on that first Passover to point to Jesus. A lamb, without defect had to be slaughtered. The blood of the lamb needed to be put on the doorframes and the top of the door in order for there to be a rescue, a salvation, for that house. When death was sure to arrive to every home, it passed over the house covered by the blood of the perfect lamb. The New Testament says, “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (I John 1:7)
This was 1400 years before Christ, and every detail dripped of Jesus and what He was doing that night when He instituted the Lord’s Supper. In Corinthians Paul would make the connection of the past with the present with the words, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (I Corinthians 5:7)
The present is for us to experience now. The same Jesus who was pictured in the Old Testament is the one who gives us the feast today, now. You know the verse, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” We receive the body of Christ in this bread. We receive the blood of Christ in this wine. This is His New Covenant.
Can you see that it was important to Jesus to give this meal to His followers? It fulfilled what He was called to do. He says that He eagerly desired to eat the Passover with His disciples before He went to His place of suffering. Even now He eagerly desires to give us this meal, His meal, to bring wholeness to our life.
What you see in this meal is past, present and future. In a matter of a few verses Jesus would tell them of what is yet to come, “For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:16) “For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.” (Luke 22:18)
We get to experience something special, monumental, every time we come to the Lord’s Table. We are given the very body and very blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. He comes to us every time. Grace upon grace. Gift upon gift. Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)
What we receive at the Lord’s Table this evening has ties to the original Passover meal of 1400 years ago. We receive a present reality when we hear, “Take and eat. This is my body. Take and drink. This is the blood of the new covenant shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Just as Jesus is the same “yesterday, today and forever”, so this meal is something in the past, present and something yet to come.
We say that we, now, are receiving a foretaste of the feast to come. The last book in the Bible speaks of the Feast of the Lamb for the bride of Christ. We, the believers, the church, are His bride. In the Revelation of St. John we hear, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ And he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’” (Revelation 19:6-9)
Why did Jesus on that first Holy Thursday say, “I have eagerly desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer”? He would bring to fulfillment the shed blood of the Passover lamb. He would give a present gift to all who would come to the meal. He would plan to feed us, again, with heavenly food in heaven.
Receive with repentance, and faith, and joy, the gifts He desires to give you. Come, the Supper is ready. Amen!!
(This sermon is based upon the work of Jeffrey Gibbs in his Lenten series, “You Meant It For Evil, But God Meant It For Good.” Concordia Seminary Press, 2022)
