What did Jesus share with his friends at dinner? (bread and wine)
What sad news did Jesus share with his friends? (That he would have to die on a cross.)
Why did God send Jesus? (God sent Jesus to save the world.)
Read: Matthew 26:17-30; Luke 22:7-30
This wasn’t just any supper that Jesus was sharing with his friends. This was Passover. Passover celebrated a significant event in the history of the Hebrew people, when God saved them from the plague of death in Egypt. On that day years ago, God commanded his people to spread the blood of a lamb across their doorposts, and his Spirit would protect and “pass over” them and save them from death.
At dinner that night, Jesus made known that he came to perfect the meaning of Passover. He would be the true, the last, the perfect Passover lamb. Exchanging a temporary deliverance with a permanent one, his death on the cross would save people forever. He came to reassign the meaning of the bread and wine. No longer would they represent that day in Egypt thousands of years ago. Instead, they would represent his perfect sacrifice on the cross – one that would save people from much more than physical death. Jesus’ death would rescue all people from spiritual death and sin. This was the last Passover dinner and the first ever communion.
When we take communion today, we talk about the bread representing Jesus’ body and the wine (or juice) representing his blood. It sounds weird, but we do it for a reason. Just like the Hebrew people quickly forgot about all the ways God protected them, lead them, and saved them during their years in Egypt and beyond, we forget that we are saved and redeemed, too. We live out of bondage when we are actually free. We live in our shame even though it died with Jesus on the cross. Taking communion can help us remember that while the death of Jesus happened once, it saves us forever. The bread and juice represent a salvation and victory that is always ours to claim.
Read the story of Passover in Exodus 12:1-28. What connections do you see between Passover and the events of Easter?
In what ways do you forget the permanence of Jesus’ sacrifice and your salvation and continue to live in bondage? Take communion this week – there is always bread and juice at the back of the auditorium at every campus – and remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was for you. You are saved.
