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12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the1 covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
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Joel Brooks:have a Bible, I invite you to turn to the gospel of Mark chapter 14, where we're gonna look at a story where, Jesus does prepare a table, in the presence of His enemies. We're gonna be looking at the Lord's supper. So tonight as a church family, we are all going to gather together, and we are going to eat a whole lot of grilled sausage. It's gonna be glorious. It's one of our favorite nights of the year, the best worst fest.
Joel Brooks:But we didn't have to, to center this occasion around eating. We could have just sent out an invite to everyone and and asked everybody to come to maybe a park where there's just a large green field, and say, hey, guys. Come bring a blanket, and we're just all gonna sit down in the field together and talk for a few hours. How many of y'all would have come to that? There's something about I mean, sausage is what unites people.
Joel Brooks:Sausage is the reason you're going to come tonight. There's just something about gathering around a table with food and having family and friends gather around and eating together, that actually makes an occasion significant. I actually believe that we have a God given instinct to mark significant moments with significant meals. This is why Christmas dinners are so important. That's why Thanksgiving dinner is so important, or or your birthday meal, or or being sure to have your birthday cake, after the meal.
Joel Brooks:What is it about that? I mean, but but could you imagine having a birthday party and there not being food present? I mean, it it wouldn't be a party. These types of festive meals, they they bind together family and friends in a really unique way. And it's not so much about the food.
Joel Brooks:I mean, we enjoy the food. I mean, nobody's gonna turn down, you know, a second helping of your grandmother's famous, you know, sweet potato casserole, the kind with the burnt marshmallows on top. You're you're gonna have a second helping of that. But it's not really the food, it's the people, it's the stories. You know, your your aunt Louise telling the same story for the 100th time, and and you having to force a laugh.
Joel Brooks:You look around as you hear the same stories, you seem to say see the same faces, you're enjoying that food, and you're like, these people make me who I am. These are my people. And and it's not so much the food that's being nourished, it's it's your soul being nourished in that moment. That's what the meal's about. That's what the Jewish feasts were about.
Joel Brooks:All those feasts you read about in the Old Testament, these feasts were a way that God's people, they gather together around a meal, but not just to eat a meal. It was to have their souls nourished by remembering who they were as God's people, by remembering and hearing once again the same stories about what God had done for them. The greatest of all these feasts is what we're about to look at. The feasts of the Passover. And more than any of the other feasts, this is the one that defined who the, who Israel was as the people of God.
Joel Brooks:And this morning we're gonna look at Jesus celebrating this final Passover with His closest friends, and then how Jesus changes the meaning of some of that Passover meal, and then gives us a new meal to celebrate in order to remember him. So Mark 14, we'll begin reading in verse 12. And on the 1st day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the passover? And he sent 2 of his disciples and said to them, go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.
Joel Brooks:And wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And He will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. There prepare for us. And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening, He came with the 12.
Joel Brooks:And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. They began to be sorrowful, and they said to him, one after another, is it I? He said to them, it is 1 of the 12, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.
Joel Brooks:And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it, broke it, and he gave it to them, and he said, take, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And when he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many, truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Father, we ask that through your Spirit, you would open up your word to us, that we might come to understand the significance of this meal and how Jesus saves. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Joel Brooks:So after about 30 years of living and, 3 years of walking around with his disciples going to village to village, we have finally reached the last night of Jesus's life. Like a good movie that wants to make sure you, you observe, you capture every detail in those final moments, you slow things down. Movies go in slow motion, and Mark is about to go into slow motion here. He wants to make sure you capture everything that happens on this last night. This will be the most significant night in the light the lives of the disciples, it's the most significant night in the life of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:You don't wanna miss a thing. Mark doesn't tell us that much about this evening, but the gospel of John actually gives you 5 entire chapters that are centered during the time of this meal. The story here begins with the disciples asking Jesus what they needed to do in order to make preparations for the Passover. This would have been a huge fail. Guys, picture Valentine's Day.
Joel Brooks:You look at your wife or your girlfriend, and it's the afternoon on Valentine's Day, and you're like, hey, you want me to make reservations to go get something to eat tonight? I mean, you're way past the point of trying to make a preparation for a Passover. Jerusalem was absolutely slam packed. There are no places to reserve and to make preparations. But thankfully, Jesus, he says, guys, I got it covered.
Joel Brooks:He probably gave an eye roll, maybe a huge sigh, but he was like, I've already got things prepared. And then he gives them this bizarre kind of cloak and dagger instructions about how they're to go, they're to meet a guy, you'll know him, he's carrying a jar, you're to say these certain words as password, he's then gonna tell you about another guy who's gonna take you to a secret room. I mean, it's a lot of little cloak and dagger stuff there. But the reason for all of this secrecy is because remember, Jesus' enemies are after him. They're all trying to find him and to kill him, and not only that, but Jesus knows even Judas is about to betray him.
Joel Brooks:And so he has to keep the place of this Passover meal secret, even from Judas, whom can only come when he finally reveals the place to him. The reason that Mark takes all this time though to tell us, about all of the this planning and the secrecy and everything that's happening there, he tells us this for one reason, He wants you to know that Jesus is in charge. As all of this is coming to a head, Jesus is in charge. Now in more recent times, it's become this fairly common narrative that Jesus just somehow stumbled into his death. I mean, he was just, you know, this poor guy.
Joel Brooks:He was, yeah, he was wildly popular, he was a good moral teacher, but he just happened to be at the wrong place, the wrong time, caught in this power struggle between the religious leaders and the authorities of Rome, and he was arrested and he was crucified. And the narrative is that His death was a tragedy. But Jesus, we see, He did not stumble into His death. He went to Jerusalem in order to die. He knows Judas is going to betray him, but he's gonna betray him according to his timetable.
Joel Brooks:He knows his enemies are going to arrest him, but they are going to arrest him at the exact moment that he determines. He knows that he is going to be crucified, but he knows that's going to be in the Passover week, even when earlier they said they did not want Jesus arrested during this feast. He knows it's going to be in a Passover week, it's gonna be on a Friday, it's gonna be at 3 o'clock when those who are working in the temple are finishing up their final sacrifice. He will die at that moment. All of it's planned out by Jesus.
Joel Brooks:There are no surprises here. And one of the things that Jesus has put a great deal of planning into is this final passover meal with his disciples. Luke 22, we actually read that Jesus, at the start of this meal, he tells him, guys, I have eagerly desired to eat this meal with you before I suffered. In Greek, he actually says this, with desire, I have desired to eat this meal with you before I suffer. Jesus has been looking forward to this final moment with His disciples for a long time, because it's here, He'll finally explain everything.
Joel Brooks:He's finally gonna explain, who He is, how He fits in to the whole redemptive history of Israel, why He's going to the cross, what it's going to accomplish. He explains it all here. Now, once again, Mark doesn't give us all of the details here about what Jesus talks about during this meal. John has 5 chapters about that. But Mark does tell us this.
Joel Brooks:Jesus sees all of Israel's redemptive history as ultimately being about him. Now, when they arrive at this secret room for dinner, they begin to recline at the table, and eat. They they would have thrown out, you know, all these cushions, and you're kind of laying down. For me, it's really awkward. I don't know how you eat like that, just kinda laying down, but but that's what they did to each their own.
Joel Brooks:And the reason they did that, it was just a way of saying, we're in no rush. We just kinda lay down and eat. This meal's gonna take some time, and we're just gonna kinda settle in, take as long as it takes to tell the story we need to tell. The feast itself, the Passover meal was a joyful feast. Lots of drinking, singing, often there's some dancing.
Joel Brooks:We're gonna talk about the meal itself in just a moment, but, my home group, we meet together once a year to have a Passover meal together, and there is a lot of laughter. A lot of laughter, singing, kinda dancing. But there's a lot of laughter because, we try to sing the songs in Hebrew. And I don't know if you who don't speak Hebrew, I don't really speak Hebrew, try to sing songs in Hebrew, it gets pretty comical pretty fast. We'll be singing a song called Dayenu, for those of you who have done this before.
Joel Brooks:You know, the Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu. I mean, it's a fast one. You just wanna get up and dance. No one can understand any of the words except for diano. It is the earworm of all earworms.
Joel Brooks:You sing it for the next year. But we just laugh. It's a joyful, fun meal. Jesus goes and he pops that balloon at the start, and he sets a very somber tone to this meal. He says, at the start, one of you is going to betray me.
Joel Brooks:That will kill the mood right there. 1 of you is gonna betray me. And immediately everyone thinks, Is it me? Now the way that they say this in Greek is not like they're really wondering. They're basically 1 by 1 coming to Him and saying, surely it's not me.
Joel Brooks:But they don't know who it is. No one suspects Judas. Think of that, for 3 years, he's part of one of this inner circle traveling all around, yet not one person suspected that Judas would be the one who betrayed them. Someone finally asked, who is it? In John's gospel, you have Peter doing this to John going, come on, you ask him, you ask him.
Joel Brooks:And John does, he leans in and he asks Jesus, Who's gonna betray you? And then Jesus says, It's the one who's putting the hand in the dip. It's Judas. And at this point, Jesus then leans over and He whispers in Judas' ear, What you do, do quickly. That's another way of saying this.
Joel Brooks:If you're gonna do it, Judas, just do it. If you're gonna do it, do it. Once again, the betrayal of Jesus is happening according to His timetable. He's the one in charge. We know from the other gospels that at that moment, Satan himself entered into Judas, and he got up and left to go betray Jesus.
Joel Brooks:And here, we we get this we get this picture of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility actually meeting together. Judas, out of his own free will, betrays Jesus, yet he does so according to the scriptures. How those things work together, I'm not really sure. You got an answer for it. Come to me afterwards, we'll talk.
Joel Brooks:I'd love to hear your answer. We're just told both of those things. It happened according to the predetermined plan of God, and Judas is fully responsible. But it does give me a great comfort when I look at this, because the most evil act in human history, God says, you know what? I use it for my redemptive purposes.
Joel Brooks:And it's actually interesting, you go through scripture, what you're gonna find is the greater the evil act behind the scenes is the greater the redemptive purpose of God in each one of those cases. It's like, He's always working behind the curtain. The greater the evil, the greater the redemptive purpose. And that gives me a lot of comfort in my life. And when the evil forces are around me or even within me, I think God's got a plan.
Joel Brooks:He's got a plan. None of this is taking him by surprise. Once Judas finally leaves, the real Passover meal can begin. I know a number of you have celebrated these. We we often call them Seder Suppers.
Joel Brooks:Seder is the Hebrew word for order. And the reason it's called a a Seder supper is because they're very particular foods that need to be eaten in a very particular order. Because the order in which you eat these foods tells a story. That's what the Passover meal is about. It tells the story of the Exodus, and how God saved Israel from slavery in Egypt.
Joel Brooks:The meal begins with a blessing. You know, when we say a blessing at the dinner table, we often ask God to bless the food. They did the opposite. They didn't ask God to bless, they took that as an opportunity to bless Him. I'm not saying that you asking God to bless the food is wrong.
Joel Brooks:I mean, it's probably a good thing that you ask God for that cream filled donut to bless it to the nourishment of your body. Like, and just to do some magical transformative work and make it nutritious. That might be a very American thing only to do. I don't know. God changed this.
Joel Brooks:But but the Jewish people, they they took us the time to just bless God, who gives that food. Here's a typical Jewish prayer at the dinner table. Blessed are you, Yahweh, our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. It's a good, good prayer. So there would be that blessing.
Joel Brooks:And then it would be followed up by a cup of wine. After everybody takes from the first cup of wine, then whoever was the youngest there, if there was a child there, or whoever was youngest in this setting, it was likely John, he would then ask this question, why is this night different than all of the other nights? And then the host, which would have been Jesus here, would answer why it's different than all the other nights, and would begin recounting all of the events of the Passover. And in this retelling of the Passover, Jesus, He would have gone over every item on the table and He would explain what it all means. On the table there would have been unleavened bread, that was called the bread of affliction.
Joel Brooks:This bread, it was unleavened because they didn't have time for it to rise during the Exodus. If you remember on that night that the Passover happened, they were told, gather together under the roof, have your luggage packed, have your coat on, have your walking stick in your hand, and then eat that way, and you don't have time to wait for dough to rise. So the bread needs to be unleavened. And so, it was like a giant salting cracker, what we know as matzo bread. Then there would have been this bowl of salt water.
Joel Brooks:The salt water represented the tears of the Israelites, that they shed from all of those years in bondage. Then you would have had a a a little saucepan full of bitter herbs to remind them of how hard and bitter life had been for them as they were slaves for the last 400 years. Then there was this dish called, you could call one of 2 things, heresyth or cherisyth. Really, you're supposed to combine those together. It's heresyth, like you're coughing up something.
Joel Brooks:Heresyth. And it was this chopped up bits of fruit, and it was supposed to resemble mortar and bricks. And it was a way of them remembering that that's what they did for pharaoh, is they were constantly making bricks out of clay for all of his construction projects, and life was hard. Then there would have been 4 cups of wine. Each cup based on 4 different promises that God makes in Exodus 6 verses 6 through 7.
Joel Brooks:And finally, central to the entire meal would have been the roasted lamb. The lamb reminded the people of how the Israelites were spared. They were spared death from death because of the blood of the lamb. You know, the story of the Exodus, it's it's God sending 9 plagues onto the Egyptians. Nine plagues that were sent as a warning to Pharaoh, You need to let my people go.
Joel Brooks:But after that happening 9 times, Pharaoh still would not do it, so God says, I'm going to send a 10th plague. I'm gonna send a destroyer, or an angel of death is going to come, and is going to kill the firstborn son in every household. Now this plague, God did not discriminate between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The angel of death would come and kill, whether it was Egyptian or whether you're Israelites, you were a sinner and you were judged worthy of condemnation. But you could be spared if if you got the blood of a lamb and you painted that blood over your doorpost.
Joel Brooks:In other words, God was saying, I'll allow you to make a substitute. You can you can sacrifice a lamb, and if you do that, you will not die. And so what would happen, and and this was the Israelites, they are the ones who chose to do this, they painted the blood over their household, is the Angel of Death would come and would see the blood over the doorpost, and they would pass over the house. That's why we have the term the Passover. The Angel of Death would pass over the house and everyone will be safe.
Joel Brooks:But that night, all throughout Egypt, there would either be a dead lamb or a dead child in every household. And so they would remember that as they would partake of the Lamb. Jesus would have taken time to carefully explain all of the
Joel Brooks:meanings of each of these items to His disciples as He retold the story of the Exodus. And as He did so, His disciples would have taken time to
Joel Brooks:carefully explain all of the meanings of participated in it in some mysterious way. It's an important point that you understand this. They're not just remembering, they're participating in that original Exodus. We see this in Deuteronomy 16. Deuteronomy 16, Moses is speaking to the 2nd generation of Israelites.
Joel Brooks:So the people he is speaking to, none of them experienced the original Passover. That was their parents who have now died. So 2nd generation, none of them were there that night, and he says these words to them, they're to celebrate the Passover because the Lord passed over your houses. Your houses. Yes, he hadn't been born yet, but he passed over your houses.
Joel Brooks:So they were to consider themselves as passed over people. And so they're reliving those events as they partake of this meal. Now Jesus, he's telling them this story, and and of course, this has been a very familiar story. And then Jesus changes it. He reinterprets some things, changes a few other things.
Joel Brooks:This is something you would never do during this month. Part of the point of this was to hear the same story over and over and over again. So it's being pounded in you. There's supposed to be no deviation at all of this story. That's the whole point.
Joel Brooks:And Jesus changes it, though. When he breaks the bread, remember, this is the bread of affliction, he says, this is my body. My body. Jesus is saying, I'm going to embody all of the affliction that Israel has ever experienced. And then he took the cup, and this was likely the 3rd cup of the meal which was the cup of redemption.
Joel Brooks:Sometimes it's called the cup of atonement. But he didn't use this cup as a way of remembering how Israel was saved because of the blood of the lamb. He says, no, no, no. Saved by my blood. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
Joel Brooks:My blood saves you. Do you see what Jesus is doing in this moment? He is saying that the entire story about the passover is actually all about him. He takes the most important meal about the most important event in all of Israel's history, and he says, all of it, all along has been about me. Yes.
Joel Brooks:Israel endured 400 years of affliction, but Jesus says, I'm about to carry on my body the affliction of the entire world from all humanity of all time. Yes. Israel was temporarily spared judgment by the blood of the lamb, But Jesus says, I am the true Passover lamb who comes to once and for all atone for the sins of this world. I'm the sacrifice to which every sacrifice points to. Or as John the Baptist said when he first saw Jesus entering the scene, he says, behold, everybody look.
Joel Brooks:It's the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And Jesus doesn't just take away the sins for an evening, he takes away the sin forever. You see, as amazing as that first exodus was, it just saved people from the Egyptians. The exodus that Jesus is about to provide is gonna save people from their sins. It's gonna save people from sin and death itself.
Joel Brooks:Now can you see why Jesus desired with great desire to share this meal with them and finally explain the meaning of it all? This is what all of it's about. It's why I came. It's why I'm going to the cross. It's how you become God's people, it's how you're saved.
Joel Brooks:He was so desiring for this night to explain to them everything. Now if you did not grow up in church, perhaps you just recently started going to church, or maybe this is your first time here, you've probably wondered, what the heck is going on with all these Christians talking about the blood? I mean, it's creepy. I mean, all the songs are about the blood, we're talking about how we're washed in the blood, you draw the blood from Immanuel's veins, there's a fountain full of blood, there's power in the blood, and we're seeing it. I mean, if you people just walk by the church and they're hearing all those things, they are freaked out.
Joel Brooks:And perhaps some of you have been. Why are we always talking about the blood of Jesus? Being washed in it, wider than snow, being plunged in it. There's power in it. The reason we're always singing about the blood of Jesus is because of this right here.
Joel Brooks:Jesus said, it's how you're saved. You want judgment to pass you over? It's my blood. You have to you have to have faith in my blood. When Jesus explains that his blood is the blood of redemption, he also says it's the blood of the covenant.
Joel Brooks:In Matthew's gospel, he he says the new covenant, and actually it's in, might even be in some of your translations in the gospel of Mark too. It's the blood of the new covenant. That's where we get the the word new new testament from. Covenant and testament, same word. Testament's the Latin word for covenant.
Joel Brooks:So if you're wondering why do we talk about a New Testament, it's from this right here. Jesus says this is the blood of the New Testament or the New Covenant. In that day, when a covenant was made, blood had to be shed. Now, think of it like a blood oath. I mean, you know what a blood oath is, you make a blood oath and you're essentially saying, if I fail to keep my word, may my blood be shed.
Joel Brooks:May I die if I don't keep my word. Jesus says, I will keep my word. I will save you. And through his blood, he's making a new covenant with the people, one in which we are not saved by what we do, but by what Christ has done on our behalf. And the gospel of John tells us all that this covenant entails.
Joel Brooks:He goes on to say, hey, this new covenant, I need to give the gift of my spirit. He's gonna come. He's gonna change your hearts. He's gonna give you new life. He explains what that new covenant looks like.
Joel Brooks:It's the covenant we know and joy. Now in Luke 22, we have it recorded that when Jesus told his disciples to eat and to drink, they were actually to do it in remembrance of him. So another thing he adds to this Passover meal, do this in remembrance of me. The apostle Paul, he would later say in 1st Corinthians 11, that as often as we eat and drink of this meal, we are to do it in remembrance of him. And so here we see that Jesus is not just giving us, new meaning to this Passover meal, he's actually giving us a new meal.
Joel Brooks:A a new meal in which we remember the central event in our salvation. And it's not the blood of a lamb, it's the blood of the lamb of God. It's the blood of Jesus. And he wants to make sure we never forget that. Is to be the central moment, the identifying moment for us.
Joel Brooks:We're saved by his blood. And just like those who participated in the passover meal for all those years believed that by faith, they were actually participating in that original Exodus, we now, by faith, we take this new Lord's Supper, and we participate in the death of Jesus. When he died, we died with him. And when he rose, it's our promise. We rise with him.
Joel Brooks:But this is what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 10 when he says, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? By faith, when we have this meal, we participate in the death of Jesus. And this is why this matters. What it means for us is we have already been judged for our sins.
Joel Brooks:Christ endured that judgment for us. Every sin we have ever committed has already been paid for by Jesus on the cross. When he died on the cross, it was just like we died on the cross. We participate in that. So we no longer have to fear any future judgment.
Joel Brooks:Our judgment already happened on Jesus on the cross. We've been liberated now, given new life, free to worship and to serve him. Now, as sorrowful as this last Passover meal with Jesus was, actually, every gospel lets us know that it ends in a really joyful note, with Jesus promising that someday we will all feast together again in His kingdom. Look at verse 25. Truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Joel Brooks:Matthew's gospel, it says the full phrase. He says, until I drink it anew with you in the kingdom of God. He's gonna drink it with us in his kingdom. So he's having this Passover meal. Remember, there's those different cups.
Joel Brooks:The cup in which he says, this is my blood, likely the cup of redemption, which was the 3rd cup, which means there's one final cup left. It was the cup of praise or the cup of joy. And it seems to be at this moment when they're about to take that cup, Jesus says no, I'm not gonna drink it. I'm not gonna drink it now. He actually leaves the Passover meal unfinished.
Joel Brooks:But then he promises, he goes, hold that. One day we'll finish it together in my kingdom. It's a glorious promise. And Jesus knows that death is not going to be the end, but it's just gonna be the beginning of his reign, and that they're all gonna be part of his kingdom, and all of us have a cup of joy waiting for us. And this is why there's all of that feast imagery, and all of the prophets, the feast imagery that's throughout Revelation.
Joel Brooks:Revelation 19, that great feast that's there. This is Jesus saying, hey, I'm in my kingdom. I've got the table set. I reserve for you a place, and there's a cup of joy waiting for you. We'll drink it together.
Joel Brooks:What a promise to us. So in this last meal, Jesus is letting his disciples know that, yes, he's going to the cross. He's going to the grave. But guys, I have no intention of staying in that grave. 3 days, I will rise again.
Joel Brooks:And just as the grave had no power to keep Jesus, the grave no longer has any power to keep us. Someday after we die, Jesus will raise us up, and we will be in his kingdom. We will be given that final cup of joy in which we will enjoy for all of eternity. That's the blessed future that Jesus has secured through his death. Pray with me, church.
Joel Brooks:Jesus, thank you. Thank you for your sacrifice. All of history culminates in you. Lord, I pray that we would see you as central to everything, And thank You for the work that You've done on our behalf, in bringing us to You, securing us a place in the kingdom of God where we will enjoy drinking from that cup of joy forever. We pray this in your name, Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen. One of the things I love about the Passover, and we wanna be sure to remember this as we come to this table, is you actually could not celebrate the Passover outside of the old walls of Jerusalem. So no matter where you were, if you were going to celebrate the Passover meal itself, it had to be within the city. That's why Jesus, who was in Bethany, they're like, we need to go into the city, find a room, and to have this meal. And the reason they did that, God commanded it as a way of once a year gathering all the people together.
Joel Brooks:I love that. It's a way of everybody gathering together and remembering who they are as the people of God, and that God has made them a unique people, He's made them family. And that's one of the things we remember when we come to this table. We all gather together from various homes spread all throughout the city, but we're here in this place to share this meal, why? Because we're family.
Joel Brooks:And we remember collectively who we are as the people of God. You've heard me say this many times, but Jesus gave His body in order to create a body, in order to create this right here. And so as we come to this table, we do remember that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and He broke it, and He said, this is my body given to you. In the same way He took the cup. He said, this is My blood poured out for the forgiveness of many.
Joel Brooks:The Apostle Paul would later say, as often as you eat of this bread and you drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes, and He will come again. This table here is for all baptized believers. It's for those who've placed their faith in Jesus, who know that they're saved only by His blood. Not by anything they have done, but only by what He has done. So if you are a baptized believer, you're welcome to come to this table.
Joel Brooks:And I do want to say this, it's not the amount of your faith that makes you worthy to come. Think of that original Passover, when people are huddled up in their homes. In those rooms, you probably had some thread, whose faith was hanging on by a thread, who hardly had any faith at all, just a little bit. And then he had some who just, you know, they couldn't wait to see how God was gonna save them, full of faith. But you know what?
Joel Brooks:The angel of death passed over both of them because they both were sitting underneath the blood of Christ. It's not the amount of our faith. It's the object of our faith matters. So so even if it's that that little bit of faith, that's what matters because Jesus is the one who saves, not you. This is how we're gonna take of communion like we normally do.
Joel Brooks:We'll have 2 aisles here in the middle. We'll start with those in the balcony, we'll go with those in the overflow room next, and then we'll work our way forward. If you would come down these center aisles, break bread, dip it in the wine. After you take, you're welcome to return to your seat using the outer aisles, or if you wanna stay up here and pray, you can. Now, I wanna say this, I know that in this room there's likely a number of people who don't have faith in Jesus.
Joel Brooks:They're maybe you're just exploring Christianity. This is a family meal, so I'd ask, if you would refrain from coming. So you're welcome to stay in your seat. If that's awkward for you and you don't wanna, you don't want that to happen, you're welcome to come down the aisles as well. And as you come forward, just simply just lift your hand up, and we won't serve you.
Joel Brooks:Instead, you'll have one of the servers just pray a blessing over you. May the Lord bless you, and may the Lord meet you during this time. And then you're welcome to just go to your seat afterwards. But we don't wanna make you feel awkward or out of place. If you all would stand in this moment, and I'm gonna bless this meal, and then if our servers would come.
Joel Brooks:Jesus, you are the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In this moment, as we eat this bread, may our souls be nourished by you. May we feast on you by faith. We pray this in your sweet name. Amen.