Seder

Luke 22:7-23

⁷ Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ⁸ So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” ⁹ They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” ¹⁰ He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters ¹¹ and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹² And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” ¹³ And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. ¹⁴ And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. ¹⁸ For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹ And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. ²¹ But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. ²² For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” ²³ And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.

As Bible passages go, this one is huge. It is huge in its ability to bring together the entire Biblical message. It is huge in its scope and theological importance. As it is never the intent of this blog to be a scholarly commentary on the text, I will hand over that job to those better suited for the task.

Luke points to Jesus’ death as the sacrificial Passover lamb who fulfills and renders obsolete the sacrifices of the OT. This is the deeper and more important message of the narrative. This Feast of Unleavened Bread will be like none other. It falls on the day of Jesus’ passion. The Passover lamb whose blood atones for all is Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The disciples prepared for this meal with expectations of celebrating another Jewish Passover with its fixed ritual of remembering God’s gracious deliverance out of Egypt. But what the disciples experienced on this night in which Jesus was betrayed was not another Jewish Passover, but Jesus’ Passover, in which he took the fixed ritual of the Passover Seder and gave everything in this meal new meaning. He gave it Christological meaning, as he interpreted the food at the meal, the story of the exodus, the broken bread and the cup of blessing in terms of himself. He took the old Passover meal and he made it his meal by instituting a new meal that supersedes all previous meals of God’s table fellowship. Jesus is the Passover Lamb the people will now eat in, with, and under bread and wine! This is Jesus’ Passover because on this night, the Lamb who must be sacrificed stands on the threshold of the new era of salvation. The old has passed away and the new has come. After this Passover, Jesus’ Passover, there will be no more need for the Jews to celebrate the Passover because “Christ our Passover” has been slain, the world has passed over from death to life, and his life-giving flesh is now offered continually in this new Meal of his body and blood. This is the Passover for which all the previous Passovers were preparation and anticipation and the Passover whose sacrifice will be remembered and sung for all eternity.

Just, A. A., Jr. (1997). Luke 9:51–24:53 (pp. 817–818). St. Louis: CPH.

The verse that popped out for me was “Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed”. For hundreds of years the Jewish people had been practicing animal sacrifice in the Temple. Now, as the final Sacrifice has arrived on the scene, His partaking in this ancient rite will cause it to take on a whole new meaning. He is the Lamb that will be slain for the sins of the world. The animal sacrifices are no longer necessary.

Jesus hosts the most important meal in the history of the world at that Passover celebration. We echo that celebration any time we share in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. In that meal we find the forgiveness of sins and the lifting of our spirits. As Jesus blesses and shares the contents of the meal we too are blessed. And so I wonder how often we approach the table of the Lord with this passage in mind. I fear that far too often we go to Communion because that’s the next thing in the service. Our hearts and minds are distracted and thus we don’t always realize the true blessing that is ours in this meal. Perhaps our review of this important Seder brings our attention back where it belongs when we are given the chance to take part in Holy Communion. Jesus body was beaten and His blood was shed for our sins. We carry that truth away from the Supper table with us when we go back out into our world. That’s a miracle.