“...Just as he told them.”
Luke 22:7-20
Jesus always seems to have an eye on
the future. Some might call him “forward-looking” or even
“visionary”. He says something will happen, and it does. Just
like he says. It's the mark of a true prophet, and Jesus is the
prophet of all prophets.
For some time, he had been predicting
that he would be taken by his enemies in Jerusalem, tried, convicted,
suffer, and die. And also rise again on the third day. And all of
this was about to happen, just as he told them.
Speaking of rising from the dead, he
knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead. He had gotten word that
Lazarus was sick, and rather than rushing to his bedside, Jesus
lingered. “This illness won't end in death.” But two days
later, he tells them, “Lazarus is dead. But he's only sleeping. I
go to wake him up. And I'm glad this happened, for your sake, and
for the glory of God.” And so, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead,
and called his shot even before doing it.
His entry into Jerusalem at the time of
this great passover feast was no accident. The buzz about his
raising of Lazarus whipped the crowds into a Hosanna frenzy. The air
was electric with Messianic fervor. If the people didn't cry out,
the stones would have. And Jesus knew it all. He even knew where
the exact donkey was – so that he would ride on, ride on in
majesty, ride on in lowly pomp to die.
And now it was time for the Passover
meal. The Last Supper, a poignant and intimate meal with his closest
friends. One last time before the bitter task ahead. And true to
form, Jesus knows, he sees the future - “follow the man with the
jar, he'll take you to a large upper room, furnished and ready.”
And so they found everything, “just
as he told them”. With Jesus, it's always “just as he tells
you.”
The problem with you and I is that we
don't always take Jesus at his word. Apart from the out-and-out
breaking of his law, which we do in many and various ways. Apart
from the sins of omission, those things we should be doing but aren't
and don't. Apart from sins of word and sins of thought. We also
lack faith and trust in his promises of Gospel. Can this really be
for me? Are my sins really forgiven? Even mine? Does a little
wafer and a swig of wine really do all of that? Is this really
Jesus, here, for me? Oh you, oh we of little faith. Things are
always the way Jesus says they are, and will be. Even when what you
see or hear says otherwise. For eyeballs and eardrums can lie and
deceive, but the incarnate Word of God does not.
In the second part of this passage,
Jesus also tells them a little about this meal they are eating. The
Passover. A yearly celebration for observant Jews with which these
disciples would be largely very familiar. But it seems they didn't
get the whole picture just yet. Jesus tells them this meal had to be
“fulfilled”. Yes, the meal itself is a sign pointing to
something greater.
Long ago, in the Exodus, God rescued
the people from slavery in Egypt. He delivered them from their hard
labor, from a wicked Pharaoh, and bitter persecution. God sent
plague after plague and finally the death of the firstborn of Egypt.
But he prescribed a sacrifice, a lamb without spot or blemish, whose
blood on the doorposts marked each Jewish household to be spared from
the destroyer. Each year, the Israelites would relive this event,
rehearse its details, in order to remember God's great deliverance...
but also... in anticipation of the final deliverer, the Messiah who
was to come. The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
as John the Baptist would describe him.
In Jesus, this Passover is fulfilled.
He is the great “aha!” to the year in and year out observance of
this feast. He is its end, what it was always driving toward. And
tomorrow he will meet the destruction he has set his face toward.
Tomorrow the Lamb's Blood will be on the cross-timbers. Tomorrow the
one without spot or blemish will take on all spots and blemishes to
make us free of all spots and blemishes. Friday, he comes to set
free all those in bondage to sin, to destroy the destroyer, and to
proclaim once and for all, “It is finished”. It will be the
great fulfillment. And it will be, like all things, just as he says.
So when does he eat this passover with
them again? What is this great fulfillment? Is it the cross itself?
Is it the sacrament he now institutes? Or is it the final feast at
the second coming, the marriage feast of the Lamb in his kingdom
which has no end? The answer, of course, is yes. They are all
connected. They are all part of the same great deliverance that
comes in Christ, who fulfills the kingdom of God.
In this meal, you are connected to his
cross. 1 Corinthians teaches us, “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?”
In other words, the same body and blood that was sacrificed there is
given to you to eat and drink. The same Lamb of God that was
sacrificed for you, is now given to you for the forgiveness of your
sins. Just as Jesus says.
In this meal, you are connected to that
final consummation. This is a foretaste of the feast to come, when
we with all the saints and angels sing his eternal praises in glory.
Just as the Passover pointed forward, so does the sacrament point us
forward, to the promises of Christ that still remain.
In Luke's account of the Last Supper,
he doesn't use the words “forgiveness of sins”. We see those
words in the other accounts. But in Luke Jesus does make it clear
that this is is “for you”. This, my body, is given for you.
This cup is my blood, poured out for you. And the “for you”, just
like all of Jesus' words, should be understood just as he says them.
For. You. This blessed meal is not for his own glory or benefit.
You're not doing Jesus any favors by coming to his table.
Nor is this meal for some person who
really truly deserves it. The “real Christians” or the “true
believers”. No, its for sinners. And if you're a sinner, it's for
you. It's Jesus, for you. And he is truly worthy to receive who has
faith in these words, “given and shed for you, for the forgiveness
of sins”.
He is the New Covenant in that he
fulfills the Old Covenant. And the New Covenant is sealed with and
bound up in his blood. That blood shed at the cross, that washes
away sin in its holy tide of grace. That blood more precious than
silver or gold, but free-er than the sunshine. Poured out, for you.
Just like he says.
All of what Jesus does and says is for
you. From his conception and birth. To his baptism and fasting.
His teaching and healing. And especially his suffering and dying and
rising. He does it for you. For your benefit and good, he takes all
detriment and evil. For your forgiveness he bears sin. And for your
life he swallows death whole.
So come this day, to this meal, where
all has been made ready. Come to receive the one who was and is and
always will be “for you.” Come and eat and drink his true body
and true blood. And by it receive what you need most –
forgiveness, life, salvation. Come partake in the great Passover,
fulfilled in Christ, flowing from the cross, and with the promise of
a feast yet to come. Come and eat and drink and live. It's Jesus,
for you. Just like he says. Amen.
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