Hope is Here / 04. Hope is Here // 10 The Lord's Supper - Joel Virgo // Matthew 26:17-35
04. Hope is Here // 10 The Lord's Supper - Joel Virgo // Matthew 26:17-35
In the passage this week, we read about the last night before the crucifixion. This is the crisis point that the story has been building up to. The disciples have been repeatedly told that Jesus is going to the cross and now the time has come.
As they share the Passover meal together, Jesus does not appeal to His disciples with an atmosphere of positivity, encouraging them to high achievement. Instead He has nothing positive to say about their performance over the next 24 hours, telling them that they will all fall away. This cuts across some of the expectations of what we might expect Him to say, but He is trying to help us to understand that even the best of us were scattered at the point of crisis. The bible's evaluation of humans is quite different to our own self confident one, as it highlights the way that we all fail and fall short.
It is significant that these events took place at the time of Passover. For Passover God's people ate unleavened bread, just like they did when they left Egypt in the book of Exodus. They would reuse old dough to be the leaven in their bread but at Passover they threw out all of the old dough and started again with new dough. This was symbolic of God wanting the people to cast out all that’s come before. Jesus seems to have planned for these events to align on the first day of unleavened bread. This is a story of a radical sifting of a whole community. But this is also the moment that Jesus offers the bread and wine, and in doing this offers them Himself.
Jesus was starting something new here. Our hearts are sinful and steer us away from Him, just like the disciples fled and denied Jesus at the time of His arrest. But His plan was to change our hearts through forgiveness of sins. He is making a new leaven and a new heart.
The Passover lamb acted as a propitiation for sin. It was a sacrifice that turned away the wrath of God. When the blood was seen by the angel of death it moved away. When we take the bread and wine we are reminded of Jesus' body and blood that were given as a propitiation for us. Jesus' blood speaks for us, we don’t need to be concerned with ourselves because His blood is over our door.
Now we get to come to the table and take communion as an objective reminder of the certainty of our salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice, regardless of how we feel.
Applications
Acknowledge your fallenness and sin. We are often too self confident but we have to see that we are sinners in order to understand why we need Jesus.
Trust that Jesus’ blood is enough for you. There is nothing else that you have to do so stop trying to prove yourself start focusing on Him.
If you are a Christian, take communion as a reminder of what Jesus has done for us.
As they share the Passover meal together, Jesus does not appeal to His disciples with an atmosphere of positivity, encouraging them to high achievement. Instead He has nothing positive to say about their performance over the next 24 hours, telling them that they will all fall away. This cuts across some of the expectations of what we might expect Him to say, but He is trying to help us to understand that even the best of us were scattered at the point of crisis. The bible's evaluation of humans is quite different to our own self confident one, as it highlights the way that we all fail and fall short.
It is significant that these events took place at the time of Passover. For Passover God's people ate unleavened bread, just like they did when they left Egypt in the book of Exodus. They would reuse old dough to be the leaven in their bread but at Passover they threw out all of the old dough and started again with new dough. This was symbolic of God wanting the people to cast out all that’s come before. Jesus seems to have planned for these events to align on the first day of unleavened bread. This is a story of a radical sifting of a whole community. But this is also the moment that Jesus offers the bread and wine, and in doing this offers them Himself.
Jesus was starting something new here. Our hearts are sinful and steer us away from Him, just like the disciples fled and denied Jesus at the time of His arrest. But His plan was to change our hearts through forgiveness of sins. He is making a new leaven and a new heart.
The Passover lamb acted as a propitiation for sin. It was a sacrifice that turned away the wrath of God. When the blood was seen by the angel of death it moved away. When we take the bread and wine we are reminded of Jesus' body and blood that were given as a propitiation for us. Jesus' blood speaks for us, we don’t need to be concerned with ourselves because His blood is over our door.
Now we get to come to the table and take communion as an objective reminder of the certainty of our salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice, regardless of how we feel.
Applications
Acknowledge your fallenness and sin. We are often too self confident but we have to see that we are sinners in order to understand why we need Jesus.
Trust that Jesus’ blood is enough for you. There is nothing else that you have to do so stop trying to prove yourself start focusing on Him.
If you are a Christian, take communion as a reminder of what Jesus has done for us.
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