Luke 22:7-8, 15-20
The Beginning
As we prepare for the Lord’s Supper, let’s go back to the beginning.
Let’s start by reviewing what took place the last hours of Jesus earthly
life.
1. Jesus ate the Passover.
a. The Passover lambs are slain during the day of the Passover.
b. The meal is prepared and the people sit down to dine as the
sun is setting.
c. The Jewish new day starts at sundown so as they people are
eating, a new Jewish day begins.
2. Jesus exposes Judas who leaves.
3. Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden.
4. Jesus betrays Jesus, Jesus is arrested.
5. Jesus is tried and held by the Sanhedrin that night.
6. At day break, Jesus is turned over to Pilate, then to Herod, then
back to Pilate.
7. \\#Mark 15:25\\ At the 3rd hour (9AM), Jesus is crucified.
8. \\#Mt 27:46\\ At the 9th hour (3PM), Jesus dies.
9. The family has from 3 PM to dark to bury Jesus for \\#Lk 23:54\\
says the next day was a Sabbath Day.
I find it interesting that virtually all the prophecies of the Suffering
Savior were fulfilled in one 24 hour period (dusk the day Jesus eats
with the disciples until dusk the next day when He was buried). I find
it even more interesting that for the Jews, that 24 hour period was one
full day (sunset to sunset).
I. The First Communion was the Last Passover
A. Luke tells us that Jesus and the disciples were to eat the
Passover together.
1. It may not mean anything but I noticed that not a single
gospel account gives us any details of the Passover being
eaten; however, they do give us the details of the first
communion.
2. I am sure the men ate the Passover for that is the stated
reason they dined.
3. However, I wonder if the Passover is not detailed because
the dinner was not the real Passover that year. I wonder if
the real Passover Sacrifice would be the One who offered on
the cross in just a few hours.
B. \\#John 13:1-2\\ Notice that John is also detailing the same
meal. Now notice:
1. The religious leaders had not eaten the Passover the NEXT
DAY after Jesus and the disciples had.
Joh 18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas
unto the hall of judgment: and it was early;
and they themselves went not into the judgment
hall, lest they should be defiled; but that
they might eat the passover.
Joh 18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should
release unto you one at the passover: will ye
therefore that I release unto you the King of
the Jews?
2. Indeed, the Bible says it was the PREPARATION for the
Passover.
Joh 19:14 And it was the preparation of the
passover, and about the sixth hour: and he
saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
C. How can this be?
1. I believe Jesus ate the Passover meal with the disciples one
day early.
a. The men should have eaten it with their families not
friends.
b. We have many "Christmas" meals. Most of them before
Christmas.
2. I believe that Jesus was dying on the cross as the Passover
lambs were being slain.
3. As the Passover lambs were being eaten, Jesus was being laid
in the grave.
D. Jesus died on the Passover because He is the Passover Lamb!
1. From this point forward, the Jews’ Passover was a celebration
of the Jewish rebellion and rejection of Jesus.
2. In short, it was not acceptable to God any longer.
3. 37 years later, God stopped the Jews from celebrating it by
allowing General Titus to destroy both Jerusalem and the
temple in 70 AD.
4. There has not been a single legitimist Passover celebration
since.
E. Hence, the first communion was the last Passover.
II. The First Communion was established with two pictures.
A. The picture of the broken bread.
1. In John 6, Jesus had told the people that He was the Bread of
Life and that the people must eat His flesh.
2. The thought of cannibalism was so repugnant to the people
that from that point, many turned back and followed Jesus
no longer.
3. And while Jesus did make it sound like that was what He
meant, He was really associating the loaf of bread with His
body.
4. And Jesus body was broken. We understand something of that.
a. We remember that ropes that held Him. Were they a
picture of the sin that binds us? Do we remember how
easily Samson broke his robes. How easily Jesus could
have broken His but He willingly allowed sin to hold
Him that day!
b. We remember that hands—both Jewish and Roman—that
slapped and beat Him. Do they not picture the world’s
reaction to God? the world’s rejection and rebellion
of Him?
c. We remember the thorns, the very curse placed upon this
earthy by God when man sinned. Do the thorns picture
Jesus taking the curse upon Himself?
d. They were shaped into a crown. They could have been
shaped into a square or a triangle but no, the thrones
and the robe were both to mock Jesus’ kingship. To make
certain the image was seen, the soldiers also gave Him
a reed for scepter.
e. The nails and the hammer. Very crude but still they
might represent man’s intellect, craftsmanship, and
technology. All of the things we create and then
attempt to use to prove that God does not exist—to
rebel against God.
f. And we remember the cross, the device used to hang Jesus
between heaven and earth.
(1) Could the cross represent the two natures of Jesus,
the earth that it was planted within and the
heavens it spiraled toward?
(2) And perhaps the cross also pictured that fact that
at the moment, Jesus was rejected by both the world
and heaven.
5. But notice that Jesus did not pass the loaf of bread to
Peter or John or Matthew to break it. He broke the loaf
himself, a reminder that man did not take Jesus’ life, Jesus
freely gave. At Isaiah wrote, "It pleased the Lord to
bruise Him."
6. And again, let’s not forget that Jesus suffering started
long before the cross.
a. "God is a spirit" Jesus said and Jesus is God.
b. Yet to be incarnated, Jesus gave up His eternal form and
His eternal rights: omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent.
c. Oh what a price that Jesus paid before His body was ever
nailed to the cross.
B. The picture of the juice.
1. As much suffering as the body of Jesus endured, it was not
what was done to the body that bought our salvation. It was
the shedding of the blood.
2. Somehow, God gathered the blood of Jesus. I suspect God
gathered it all.
a. That which was spewed from the lip that was busted when
slapped. ‘
b. That which dripped from the cheeks when struck.
c. That which collected and dropped at the whipping post and
along the trail of His path.
d. That which gathered at the foot of the cross.
3. All was taken to the heavenly altar and there poured out for
the Bible says, "Without shedding of blood is no remission."
4. I do not know if you and I will ever be allowed to the most
holy heavenly altar but perhaps God will leave the door
cracked enough one day so that we peer inside to see that
precious blood!
5. The juice is a picture of that blood.
III. The First Communion had a command given.
A. \\#19\\ The command is to remember; remember who Jesus is;
remember what Jesus endured; remember was Jesus has done.
B. By \\#Acts 2:42\\, the church was breaking bread together. That
is not a term to just mean that they were eating together. The
disciples taught the church what Jesus had taught them, the
importance of remembering Jesus.
C. So today, we remember.
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