Listen

Luke 22:7-13

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ⁸ Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters,  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 room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

What’s significance of the day of unleavened bread?

The day of unleavened bread is when the Passover lamb is killed. (Luke 22:7, Matthew 26:17-19.) An unblemished lamb is killed at twilight, roasted in fire, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herb to remember how God faithfully delivered Israel from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. Leavened bread is symbolic of sin. Just as yeast causes bread to rise, a continuous submission to the enticement of fleshly desire gives birth to sin and when sin is full-grown, it brings death. Scripture instructs us to feast on the unleavened bread since we are unleavened.  How does one feast on the unleavened bread?  You become unleavened (sinless) when you fellowship with Christ in light and His blood cleanse you from all unrighteousness and His blood cleans your consciousness from dead works to serve the living God.  As you abide in Christ and He abides in you, He sanctifies you and cleanses you by the washing of the water of the word and by the Holy Spirit. As you meditate on the word and live it out, your mind will be transformed and the word of God will empower you to do what is good and acceptable in His sight. It’s the coupling of the transforming power of the word and the power of the Holy Spirit along with your obedience that sanctifies you to make you unleavened.

John 1:7

But if we walk in the light as He is the light, we fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Ephesians 5:26-27

That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word. That He might present her to Himself a glorious, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

John 15:5

I am the vine and you are the branches, He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruits; for without me you can do nothing.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8

Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not of the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice, and wickedness but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

2 Thessalonians 1:13

But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in truth.

What is the significance of the Passover?

Passover celebrates the time God save the 1^st born of Israel from death when they sprinkle the blood of the Passover lamb on their lintel and on the two doorposts of their homes, which made the Lord Passover their door and did not allow the destroyer to strike them; instead, the destroyer struck Pharaoh firstborn. The Passover is a story of redemption that depicts how God redeemed His people from slavery in Egypt with His might hand and outstretched arm (Exodus 12: 23-27, Hebrews 11:28) The Passover lamb foreshadows Christ as our Passover whose once-for-all atoning sacrifice for sin perfects forever those who are being sanctified and this sacrifice was and is a sweet smelling aroma in the presence of our Father.

“Christ sacrifice Himself to put away sin“

Why did Jesus celebrate the Passover, as our Passover?

The Passover is an ordinance that is to be remembered forever in reverence and honor to God for His faithfulness in keeping His promises and His faithfulness in preserving Israel.  Just as God initiated His covenant with Israel through the Passover, He initiates the new covenant through the blood of Jesus established on better promises. Christ observed the ordinance of the Passover to honor our father, and to foreshadow His death as the mediator of the new covenant by the means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Hebrews 10: 16-17

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Pause &think:

• Is covenant, contract, and agreement one and the same?
• Did the last supper occur before or after the Passover feast and when did Jesus become our Passover?
• How often should one partake of the Lord super?

Matthew 26: 28

For this my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Hebrews 9:15

For this reason, He is the mediator of the new covenant, by the means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

What instruction did Jesus give His disciples?

Jesus commanded Peter and John to go and make preparation for them to eat the Passover, implicitly stating that the disciples knew what the Passover preparation entails.  The Passover meal was probably made of roasted lamb, unleavened bread with bitter herbs (Exodus 12:1-11.) Jesus commanded Peter and John to “Listen” and they listened to His command, took steps of faith, and found His prophetic insight just as he had told them.  

Jesus said: my sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.  Every part of the meal was symbolic from the roasted lamb, that points to Christ, the Passover lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, to the unleavened bread that points to the bread of God who came down from heaven to give life to the world.

As the Lord commune with His disciples, He shared His intimate thoughts with them- his fervent desire to eat this Passover to finish the redemptive work of God, His suffering to enter His glory, His departure from the His own in the world to the Father and the betrayal of His own in fulfillment of scripture as He reminded them of the Kingdom of God to come. The Lord experienced a mixture of joy and sorrow at this table. He was joyous because he was fulfilling the will of the Father, yet, he mourned at the same time because Jerusalem did not know their time of visitation. And a friend in whom he trusted, who ate with Him, would betray him as well.  However, the Lord graciously shared the most significant meal with His disciples in service and in sincerity and truth.

Pause & think

• How did Christ handle betrayal?
• How did Christ keep the feast of unleavened bread?  
• Where did Jesus come from?
• How did the Lord served the disciples?

Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God.  John (13:3)

Mark 14: 21

The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.

Luke 13:34-35

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stone those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see me until the time when you say, “ Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

John 13-4-5

 He rose from supper and laid aside His garments took a towel and girded Himself. After that, the Lord poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciple’s feet and wipe them with a towel with which He was girded.

John 6:38

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent.

Who killed Jesus?

God permitted the killing of Jesus.  Jesus willing gave Himself to save us from sin to reconcile us to God, knowing that He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied and by Him, many shall be justified.

Matthew 26:3-4

Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest who as called Caiaphas and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him.

 John 10:17-18

Therefore my Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down and I have the power to take it again. This command I have received from the My Father.

John 19:11

Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

Isaiah 53:10 -11

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When you make His soul an offering for sin. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. By His knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many and He shall bear their iniquities.

Luke 22:17-18: Then He took the cup and gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves” For I say to you; I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

Jesus commanded His disciples to divide the cup among themselves before the breaking of bread, to proclaim the new covenant by His blood, which was and is shed for many for the remission of sin.  He commanded them then and now He commands us to divide the cup among ourselves, as we drink from it to proclaim the Lord’s death that crown Him with glory and honor. The Lord’s death releases us from the fear of death. The Lord’s death delivers us from a lifetime of bondage, as we unite with Him through baptism in death in anticipation of the coming kingdom of God.

Jesus took the bread and gave it to His disciples to symbolically covey that the sacrifice of His body, empowers us to die to sin and live in righteousness as we partake of it.  “He bore His body on a tree that we should die to sin and live in righteousness by His wounds we are healed.”  He commands us to eat His body to remember that He was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, and by His stripes, we are healed. Christ broke down the wall of hostility in His flesh to remove the veil that separated Jews and Gentiles to create in Him, one new man from the two to make peace that unites us as one. Christ, the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit, the Savior of the world, gives life to the world.  “ For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” When we eat His flesh and drink His blood, the “light of life” abides in us as we abide in Him.  Jesus said: “I am the bread of life. This is the bread, which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.”

Luke 22: 19:And He took bread, give thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

1 Corinthians 10:17

And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 

Luke 22: 19- 20

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it and give it to them saying “This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, He also took the cup and after supper saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

Luke 22:20: Likewise He also took the cup after supper saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.  Jesus commands us to drink from the cup of blessing to remember the new covenant is established through His blood for the remission of sin, to remember through His blood we are redeemed from the curse of the law, to remember in Him we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin, to remember we are redeemed as king and priest unto God to the praise of the Father’s glory and grace.  The Lord supper is a meal of remembrance in which we celebrate the finished work of Christ, which unites us as one body. In this meal, we also look forward to reuniting with Christ in a joyous banquet in the kingdom to come.

Matthew 26: 27-29

Then He took the cup and gave thanks and give it to them, saying “Drink from it, all of you” For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

Romans 6:4

Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we should walk in the newness of life.

 Pause & think

• What is the correlation between the Lord’s supper and baptism?
•  How does partaking in the Lord supper empower you to become one with Him?
• What action might a person need to take before partaking in the Lord’s supper?  (1 Corinthians 11:23-30)
• What are some practical ways in which we can remember Christ?

May we listen and adhere to the Lord’s command and break bread together in remembrance of Him :