As we prepare to celebrate Easter, we want to turn our focus towards the days that led up to Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. We will post a daily reading this week. Read the scripture and the study help below, take some personal notes, pray through and meditate on what you have read, and comment below so we can share with others in our River Church family.
Today’s reading is Luke 22:7–71 Here’s an excerpt…
Luke 22:15
And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…
Yesterday’s reading came from Psalms 113 through 118. These psalms were traditionally sung during the celebration of the Jewish Passover. A large portion of today’s reading is an account of Jesus celebrating this most significant meal with His disciples. The Passover pointed God’s people back to a time when they were slaves in Egypt and God freed them from their bondage with His “mighty hand and outstretched arm” (Psalm 136:11-12). You can read about these events in the book of Exodus and see how the Egyptian Pharaoh resisted the message God sent to Him through His servant Moses.
“After this presentation to Israel’s leaders, Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.” Exodus 5:1
The death of the firstborn was the final plague that moved the Hebrews to freedom and broke Pharaoh’s unwillingness to cooperate with God’s plan. The children of Israel were protected by the plague because God instructed each household to sacrifice a lamb and then apply its blood on the sides and top of the doorframes of their homes.
“But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.” Exodus 12:13
One must understand the fundamentals of the Passover story in order to grasp the significance of the Last Supper. The sun has now set and Jesus is eating the Passover meal with His disciples, but will be hanging on a Roman cross before it sets again. There in the upper room He takes the bread and wine and offers communion with God through His own life, which is about to be given for the world. While we know that the cup was a symbol of His death, we must bear in mind that the blood also speaks of life, biblically and biologically speaking (Lev. 17:11). The freedom that the Israelites received from slavery in the Exodus, Christians have received through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The human condition is one of spiritual bondage on account of sin, but “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
God did not bring the children of Israel out of Egypt simply to leave them in the wilderness to care for themselves. He brought them out because He loved them and wanted to be in a relationship with them as their God (Deuteronomy 6:23; 7:8). As “Christ, our Passover Lamb” holds out the bread and the cup, He is saying that it points to something beyond His death and is deeper than mere forgiveness of sins; it is about LIFE being lived in and through Him, the Giver of life and the God of our salvation.
This Sunday we will be taking the Lord’s Supper together as a church to remember the death and resurrection of Christ. Prepare your hearts in such a way that this will be so much more than a religious act. May it be an experience of actually sharing in the life of the Spirit of God’s Son.