"Lighting the Fire"
Jotting – Week 45

Celebrate with Feasting Part 2

The Passover/The Lord’s Supper

The book of Exodus in the Bible is the story of God and His actions, bringing His people from slavery and subservience in Egypt into the wilderness and pointing to the Promised Land.

Pharaoh had tried every trick he knew to keep the Israelites in his land–from killing their infant sons to forcing them to gather their own straw for the bricks they were making. God, in turn, wanted Pharaoh to know He was God and that it was His will that His people be free. Egypt was plagued with hail, blood, frogs, lice, boils and more, with Pharaoh declaring each time that he would let the people go–only to harden his heart until at last, the angel of death visited the Egyptian homes and even Pharaoh’s own son lay dead.

God, in the meantime, was preparing His people for travel. Through Moses, His servant, He detailed what they should bring, what they should eat, what they could take from the Egyptian neighbors. But before they traveled, God had them prepare a special feast, listing the dishes of the feast and how each should be prepared. Besides that, God told the Israelites how to eat the feast: “with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste” (Exodus 12:11). And then He said, “It is the LORD's Passover.”

This was a feast, a celebration, Jewish people still celebrate today. It was the festival that Jesus and His disciples celebrated in that upper room on Maundy Thursday.    Through eating the Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus was fulfilling the Law in our place. He was born “under the Law” and so submitted Himself to the keeping of it.

Jesus celebrated in spite of knowing Judas was also there, Judas who was already prepared to betray his Lord. Jesus celebrated knowing that even His inner circle of friends would fail to “watch and pray” with Him in His direst hour of need. Jesus celebrated knowing that all the disciples would forsake Him and flee. Jesus celebrated knowing Peter would later deny Him.

And it was in that upper room that Jesus instituted another celebration for His people–the Lord’s Supper. Even in the time before facing the most difficult task on earth Jesus was thinking of His disciples. He was thinking of us. He was thinking of those who today still need to hear the Good News of salvation.
Jesus wanted His disciples–and us–to know that they could celebrate in His death: “The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

In participating in the Lord’s Supper, we celebrate with other Christians that our Lord Jesus suffered physical pain and torture, was humiliated beyond anything anyone else can understand or comprehend, died on the cross for us, sacrificing Himself for our salvation and eternal life. We celebrate Jesus’ willingness to endure the shame and anguish for us. We acknowledge His abiding and everlasting and never-changing love for us. And we proclaim to others that they too are loved by the Lord, that He is waiting to claim them as His own, that their sins are forgiven and eternal life is theirs.

In observing the Passover, Jewish people proclaim the deliverance by God from their slavery in Egypt, His guidance through their wilderness days, His welcome into the Promised Land.

In celebrating the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim our deliverance from sin, death, and the devil–all defeated by Jesus; we declare His claim on our lives–His guidance and protection, His will for our lives and His love for us even (or maybe especially) during our “wilderness days”; His promise of everlasting life.

What a gift to give a new Christian! What an opportunity to join in a “fellowship meal” with all the saints on earth! What a bonding together in the body of Christ through the eating of His body and His blood in, with, and under the bread and the wine.

Together with others, new Christians and “old” saints, we show we are the Lord’s, we receive forgiveness of sins, we give evidence that we believe in Him who is able to preserve and keep us until the day of His coming.

Pray: We celebrate You, Lord, that in Your mercy, You gave us a visible way to remember Your death, a visible way for us to declare Your death for us and to receive forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. Those promises and gifts come to us each time we eat the body and drink the cup. Those promises and gifts we can offer to others in celebration of their newness of life in You. Let us always celebrate with You as the center of our lives and of our worship. In Your precious name we pray. Amen.