Date: November 5th 2006
Title: We need to remember!
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PREPARATION
The Bible tells us that it was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?".
The Jewish calendar was filled with religious celebrations, many of them involving feasts. The feast of Pentecost was to commemorate God’s provision at harvest time (Our Thanksgiving). The feast of booths was to celebrate the Israelites wandering for forty years in the wilderness and how God provided temporary housing and how they were dependent upon God for every thing. The day of atonement was the highest holy day to have the once-a-year sacrifice offered in the Holy of Holies to take away their sins. There were many feasts but perhaps the most central feast to the Jewish Year was Feast of Passover or the Feast of unleavened bread. It was an eight day celebration with day one being the feast of Passover and the rest of the days as the feast of unleavened bread.
These feasts both reminded the people of God’s great hand in delivering them from their slavery and oppression in Egypt.
The feast of unleavened bread was named after the type of bread the Israelites were to take with them as they left Egypt in haste. Ordinary bread in that day, like today, used leaven to cause it to ferment and rise.
Throughout Scripture leaven is used to represent influence, usually evil influence. Therefore, the Israelites were to leave Egypt and all the evil associated with that place and not take any leaven with them to use in their bread to make it rise. As a reminder of that event, every year they would remove all leaven from their homes and eat only unleavened bread for the seven days of the feast.
The custom was that each household would select a lamb to be sacrificed and eaten on the tenth day of the first month before the actual Passover meal. This would have been Monday of Passover week during the Last Supper of Jesus and so the disciples probably choose a lamb on that Monday when Jesus had his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Perhaps they kept it till Passover at Mary and Martha’s house in Bethany where they were staying.
So the disciples came to Jesus probably early on Thursday morning to ask Jesus this question, “Where do you want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?
What was needed for preparing? As I mentioned, they would already have the lamb selected, but there were other preparations needed as well. Their to do list would have included; Have the lamb slaughtered by a priest at the temple, which could only be done between the hours 3 and 5 in the afternoon. They would have had to buy unleavened bread, wine, bitter herbs, and a special dip for the Passover meal.
Then they would also have to find a location to have their meal.
Now Jesus answers the two disciples who were Peter and John and His response must have been really a puzzle to them both. He said Luke 22:10-12 (NIV) "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, [11] and say to the owner of the house, ’The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ [12] He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there."
You can almost imagine their response, “Okay, so, you want us to go into the city and find a stranger carrying a pitcher of water. This would have been very bizarre as it would have been unheard of to have a man carry such a domestic article. The man carrying the pitcher was likely a servant and they found him, just as Jesus said, and they followed him back to the house. Then they spoke to the owner and told him of their mission to procure a location for the upcoming Passover meal.
Application: What about you and me? How do we prepare to spend this time with the Lord? We read in the Bible that there was a problem very early on in the church with people not preparing for and taking appropriate care as they were involved in the Lord’s Supper. One church located in Corinth was known for being flippant and lacking proper etiquette with regard to participating in this meal. Paul, writing and rebuking them points out that they were not eating the Lord’s supper because when they came together they were rude, selfish, and thinking only of themselves. It was a big party, a time to eat, drink, and be merry!
That is why he told them that, “whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the Lord Jesus Christ and all He stands for. Why, because the cup and the bread represent what Jesus did on the cross for us.
That is why the passage says that each person needs to stop and examine themselves before they eat of the bread or drink of the cup.
This means that when we prepare we are to look deep inside and admit the sin that is there. Don’t try to hide it or deny it. Admit it to God. We must admit that we are sinful and that in and of ourselves there is nothing worthy of God’s blessing. As a matter of fact, what we do deserve is God’s wrath. This part of the Lord’s Supper called preparation is a time to reflect and admit just how sinful we really are. We are not worthy, none of us, to have communion, to have a relationship with God.
Can you admit that today? Just as important as buying the groceries for the meal, or finding the place, is preparing our hearts for this reminded of what Jesus has done for each of us.
Directed Prayer
Admit to God your sins against Him – failure to pray, to read your Bible, to listen to Him and obey.
Admit to God your sins against others – your lack of compassion, your impatience with people, your hardened heart toward people.
Admit to God your nonchalance toward spiritual things, your lack of fervor.
Worship in Song
BREAD
The Scriptures go on to tell us that Jesus took the bread and He gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
The Bible tells us in the gospel of Luke that Jesus reclined around the table with His disciples. We can imagine them as they walked up the old dust covered stairs to the upper room. They could see the meal laid out and ready for them. They would have sat on pillows on the floor at a low table. The smell of freshly cooked lamb would have been strong in the air and perhaps the sound of flies as they were swatted away from the food. The table was set and now was the time for a moment of intense intimacy. It is hard for us to relive such a moment in a setting like this.
It was customary at the Passover meal to have the head of the family break the bread and say a blessing over the bread in Hebrew- Ba-ruch a-tah Adonai, e-lo-hay-nu me-lech ha-o-lam, ha-mo-tzee le-chem min ha-a-retz which means “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”
But at the Last Supper Jesus, as head of his “family,” having given thanks for the bread, added words which gave the bread a new significance: “Take it,” he said to the disciples, “this is my body.”
The fact that He broke the bread doesn’t imply that His body was broken on the cross. As a matter of fact the Bible makes clear, as a fulfillment of prophecy that not a bone of His body was broken.
Jesus broke the bread and said this is my body, given for you. Jesus alluded to the fact that He was the bread of life several times in the Gospel of John. He said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Jesus wants us to eat this bread in remembrance of the fact that He is the bread of life! As we trust in Him, as we invite Him into our life, as we eat this bread we are remembering His sacrifice for us on the cross by giving His body for our sins.
Different Views
Some traditions believe that the bread literally becomes the body of Jesus in some supernatural way. Those outside the church in early days actually referred to Christians as cannibals who ate human flesh based on this belief.
Others believe that while the bread doesn’t actually turn into the literal flesh of Jesus, there is a supernatural presence around the bread where the bread is not literally Jesus but He is present in a real way. They say it is like a sponge filled with water, water is present in the sponge but the water is not a sponge.
We however, take the perspective that Jesus is just using a metaphor in the same way that He said, “I am the true vine” or “I am the door”. He said, “This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus is present with us as we take this bread because He said that whenever we worship Him He is present with us
So let’s take a moment to silently think and reflect and remember what Jesus has done for us in guided prayer.
Directed Prayer
Thank Jesus for taking upon Himself your sins and making it possible for you to have eternal life.
Thank Jesus for being the bread of life and making eternity a reality for each of us.
The Cup
In the same way, the Scriptures tell us, Jesus took the cup and prayed a prayer of thanks.
In accordance with the Passover meal, this cup would have been the third cup of the Passover meal called the cup of redemption. It reminds us of God’s third promise to Moses, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.” The Hebrew Word ga-al means redeemer – the one who pays a ransom for the life of another.
Jesus would have said, Ba-ruch a-tah Adonai, e-lo-hay-nu me-lech ha-o-lam, bo-ray p’ree ha-ga-fen which means Blessed are you, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who makes the fruit of the vine.
As the disciples drank the cup, Jesus added something remarkable, “This is my blood of the new covenant.”
Clearly this was a new covenant, a new agreement between God and humanity.
When God made covenants in the OT with Noah and Abraham, those covenants were confirmed with blood. When the covenant of Sinai was ratified, “Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” When ever God brought reconciliation between humanity and Himself, the price was always blood, because, “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb. 9:22)
The cup represents this new covenant that God has made with humanity, an agreement, a deal. We have a choice to say deal or no deal, to accept what Jesus is offering or turn away and try life on our own without a relationship with God.
Jesus offers us this cup, this new covenant, this new deal of having a relationship with Him. All we need to do is receive it? Accept His work on the cross to wash away the stain of our sin so God sees us as pure and Holy, not because of anything we have done, but entirely because of what God has done by sacrificing His Son on our behalf.
Guided Prayer
Thank God for the free gift of redemption – He bought back our relationship with God through His death on the cross.
Thank God for eternal life in Jesus.
The scriptures say, “Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Ministering in the name of Jesus we give you this cup.
SONG
The Invitation
The Bible says they sang a hymn and went out. The Passover meal always ended with singing and praise to God.
Today we have reason to celebrate, to sing, to praise God. Why? Because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. Through His darkest hour the light has dawned. We now have hope. Hope for our marriage, hope for our work situation, hope for our school circumstances, hope for our ailing health. The prophet Isaiah spoke about Jesus 700-800 years before He was born and He said of this Messiah that would come, “Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
This passage refers primarily to spiritual healing. Perhaps today you need a spiritual healing. It might be taking that next step in your relationship with God and being obedient to Him through Baptism. Maybe it is experiencing the healing of the Body of Christ ministering to you through joining the church body here at C&T. Possibly it is the greatest healing we can ever experience through receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior and accepting His work on the cross for your behalf. Saying “yes” to Jesus. We want to pray with you, if you are ready to be healed spiritually, then I invite you to come as we sing a song of praise for God’s great love for us in sending His Son.
Invitation Hymn/Chorus
We have experienced together the truth of God’s greatest achievement on our behalf. But we believe that according to God’s Word we can also be healed spiritually. So we are going to ask everyone to leave in silence and save your greetings to others for out in the concourse. Meanwhile, if you would like us to lay hands on you and pray for you, we will meet you here in the front of the church.
Benevolence offering
