3,500 years ago, or so, God wanted to free his chosen people from slavery in Egypt. He performed many mighty acts to bring this about, but the people remained firmly in captivity. Finally, the choice became a very stark one: God would bring death to every house that did not participate in the Passover meal–a special meal reserved for God’s chosen people.
God’s people sacrificed a lamb, ate the lamb with unleavened bread at home with their families, and the death angel spared them.
Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper as part of a Passover meal. It’s no coincidence. He was reminding us of some important similarities.
We, too, were once enslaved, held in captivity to sin. And just like the Israelites of old, we were unable to rescue ourselves. Only a miracle could do it.
As we partake of this loaf, we are told we are eating the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth–the Passover lamb, sacrificed to save us from death. This meal is a mark of God’s chosen people. It’s the sacrifice that spares us from death–not our eating–but our eating shows that we are part of the community that’s been protected from death.
[Prayer for bread]
After the first Passover, the Israelites were commanded to celebrate the Passover with their families. The Passover was a way to be certain everyone in the family remembered how God had protected the Israelites from death and freed them from slavery.
And so we take this meal as a family, and the meal is a testimony to our children as to how this family came to be. We were rescued by a common sacrifice that joined us together as a single family for eternity. This meal shows our children that we are part of the chosen people of God and that we are not ashamed of that fact. Rather, we declare the death of Jesus to our families–and to the world–by participating in this most ancient ritual.
[Prayer for the cup]