The Bread, The Cup, And The Lamb Series

Truly of them it could be said – ‘With fervent desire we desired this…’

But what of Jesus. He alone bears the knowledge of what this week is. This is the prelude to the end. For even as the sacrificial lambs were being brought into the city, so he had entered in – the Lamb of God.

Tonight is the last night of ministry; the last night of fellowship with this little band of 12 before the cup of sin must be consumed.

How many memories flooded his mind as he thought about each of them. It is with these thoughts that Jesus speaks, ‘With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you…’

II. Broken Bodies

It was the custom of Passover in Jesus day, that certain acts be performed during the meal. A number of times a cup was shared and a blessing pronounced. After the second cup is readied the youngest member at the meal asks, “Why is this night special from every other night?”

In reply the head of the household tells the story of the Exodus. Reminding all that this act is a present remembrance of and thanksgiving for God’s past liberation of oppressed people, a celebration of God’s faithfulness leading to hope in the future deliverance of God’s people. This would be followed by singing the first part of the Hallel.

It seems likely that this would have been a part of the Passover Jesus hosted. Was it John then who was the youngest, or another of the disciples who held that rank that spoke to Jesus asking him ‘Why this night was different from any other?’ How little they knew about the reality of that question.

But Jesus takes the bread then and breaks it, saying “This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me.”

What does the word ‘broken’ mean?

The dictionary defines break as – ‘to become damaged or damage something so that it separates into pieces, to cause something to stop functioning properly.’

Isn’t it remarkable that when the Lord took up the loaf and made this pronouncement he was the only one who was not broken? If the opposite of being broken is being whole than Jesus, to this point, was the only unbroken man who had ever lived.

Those sitting around the table were intimate with brokenness. They knew it and felt it in their everyday life. Do you forget who is sitting with him? Levi, the hated tax collector, who carried the scars of having broken, having cheated and stolen.

There was Simon, the zealot – or in modern language Simon the terrorist. A man who had been once broken by hate and revenge.

Sitting across from him was Peter, the impetuous one, who had been warned already once about getting in God’s way, and would be warned again tonight, rebuked for his passion to fight, and ultimately broken by his final failure in the wee hours of the morning when he would swear he never knew Jesus.

Already Judas has departed from the supper and is picking his way through the darkened streets to meet the temple guard who will shortly seize the Lord.

And as we flip through the pages of scripture we find face after face that is broken. Broken by sin, scarred by evil; people without a hope of patching together the few pieces they still have.