Part 3: The Meal

Well good morning! My name is René, I'm one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. It is really great to see you whether you're joining us live in the auditorium or there's a lot of people joining us live on Facebook live too. People watching over in the venue service in Munskey Hall, it is great to have you guys with us.

I want to talk about one particular subject today and really one particular word, here it is the word context. Context is the key to understanding, well really anything, especially things that you have a tough time understanding. Let me just give you one example. Look at this paragraph I'm going to put on the screen here. Now see if this makes any sense to you and if you can figure it out just keep it quiet for now. Let me read it to you.

A beach, let me just read it to you out loud. A beach is a better place than the street because you need lots of room. At first it's better to run than walk. You may have to try several times but it's easy to learn even kids can enjoy it. Birds rarely get too close if there are no snags, it can be very peaceful but if it breaks loose you won't get another chance. When I first read this with no context that was a head scratcher to me. It's like what this makes no sense to me.

Well let me just give you one word of context to frame this and the word is kites and now let's read it again to see if it makes more sense to you. A beach is a better place than the street because you need not lots of room. At first it's better to run than walk. You may have to try several times but it's easy to learn even kids can enjoy it. Birds rarely get too close if there are no snags it can be very peaceful but if it breaks loose you won't get another chance. Now every single word makes absolutely total sense. In fact it's impossible now to read this without seeing what seems to be its obvious meaning right?

That is the power of one word of context and what I want to do this morning is I want to show you how the exact same thing can happen with a paragraph in the Bible. There's a very famous paragraph one of the most famous paragraphs in all of scripture that you might have heard especially if you grew up in church many many times maybe hundreds of times but maybe you've never understood it yet one word I'm going to give you completely is going to change the way you see this paragraph in the Bible.

Grab your message notes light in the darkness the journey to the cross and the gospel of Mark is our Lent series for the 40 days leading up to Easter. Today, the meal. You know you might have heard the words the Last Supper or the Lord's Table, the Lord's Supper, Communion, the Eucharist those are all different words that churches use to refer to the exact same thing and it all started in our text today Mark 14 where it says Jesus took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he gave it to his disciples saying take and eat this is my body and then he took a cup this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many he said to them.

Now maybe you've been thinking to yourself for years honestly what in the world does that mean this to to some of you this is like that paragraph about kites only without the keyword kites to unlock its meaning well I've got really great news for you the Bible writers give us the kind of the magical one word of context that is going to completely unlock the meaning of every single word here and I'm excited about this this morning because maybe for years communion the Lord's Table the Eucharist hasn't really touched you deep down like maybe used to touch you maybe it's never really touched you it just seemed like a dry ritual.

When we take communion in just a few minutes if you stick with me here you are going to see it and understand it and have a deeply felt gratitude and new sense of wonder for God's amazing love for you all because of one word of context that is going to frame this paragraph. Now I'm not going to tell you what this one word of context is at first because I want to see if you can figure it out we're gonna this is verse 22 of Mark 14 we're gonna rewind about 10 verses to get the context for what's happening here starting in the verses right before this in Mark 14:12 it says on the first day of the festival of unleavened bread that's another word for Passover or what Jewish people today call the Seder when it was customary to sacrifice excuse me the Passover lamb.

Jesus disciples asked him where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover and so we sent two of his disciples telling them go into the city and this is the city of Jerusalem and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you follow him say to the owner of the house he enters the teacher asks where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples he will show you a large room upstairs furnished and ready make preparations for us there the disciples left went into the city found things just as Jesus had told them and so they prepared the Passover.

Did you notice a word mark repeats there a lot what word it's almost humorous how many times Mark goes Passover Passover but people people people it was the Passover four times in Mark 14 times total in the Gospels were told this was the Passover interestingly you know who the gospel writer is who mentions it the most the only book of the Bible written by a Gentile Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and acts and he's writing his gospel for Gentiles and six times in his gospel he says Gentiles that's all non-jewish people you got to realize this meal was at the Passover so I'm pretty sure the one word context to frame those verses at communion is the word Passover.

Now here's a really big problem many Christians today don't even know what Passover means and here's why the Jewish roots of our faith have been buried over the years in fact this makes shock some of you here today but did you realize Jesus would not have called himself Christian does that shock you but the very word Christian wasn't even invented until about 20 years later in his earthly lifetime Jesus would have called himself Jewish he lived in a Jewish context he was a Jewish man unfortunately over the centuries Jesus has been whitewashed into like a Swedish hippie and this is a bad thing nothing against the Swedes we've even made the Lord's Supper into a bunch of Italians having brunch and the problem with this is that means that communion has been blanched of color and of meaning.

Now it wasn't always like this for centuries the very first Christians emphasized the connection between Passover and communion in fact in Jerusalem the archbishop of Jerusalem was the most important Christian leader in the world at the time and the first archbishop of Jerusalem was Jewish in fact the first 15 archbishops of Jerusalem were all Jewish men and they taught always celebrate Jesus's death and resurrection on Passover to preserve our Jewish roots and that ended only when Constantine the Roman Emperor in 325 came in and said actually never celebrate Jesus death and resurrection on Passover effectively erasing two centuries of our Jewish roots.

And so what I want to do this morning is to get back a lot more Jewish Jesus and a little less Roman Constantine and reestablish what communion meant to the first Christians and this is the perfect year to do it because guess what this year Passover the Seder happens again on the exact same weekend as Good Friday and Easter so it is a great time to rediscover this connection.

And here's how I want to do this I want to get our imaginations into hyperdrive mode today what was Passover like in Jesus time since the gospel writers seem to be insisting that we picture Passover to really understand this so page 2 the Seder the Passover was a little different then than it is now I could spend hours on this but the main outline is the same it was centered on four verbs in this verse Exodus 6 starting in verse 6 where God says this to the Israelites and this happened 1,400 years before Jesus I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians I will free you from slavery I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment and I will take you as my own people and I will be your God and the four verbs there bring you out free you redeem you take you those were the outline of the Seder.

Here's what happened four times during the Seder meal the host would raise his glass and lead the family gathered there for the Seder in kind of a toast for these four things God did in their history to free the Israelites and so tonight or this morning rather I want you to imagine you are there with Jesus at this Seder meal this Passover meal just picture it you are sitting at that Seder table as Jesus raises the first toast the cup of sanctification now sanctification is one of those big words that religious people use but it just means set apart God set apart the Israelites for rescue that was step one and God sets apart the Seder he makes it a special annual meal and in a broader sense for anybody who turns to the Lord God has set me apart God has chosen me he heard your cry your desperate cry he set you apart for something great so this kind of sets the stage.

And then right after this cup picture it Jesus picks up the bitter herbs now in Jesus time this was usually a bitter lettuce like romaine lettuce in the modern Seder this has been common from about 1200 AD on it might be horseradish or beets something like that but in Jesus day it was a bitter kind of a lettuce and following his lead you and all the other disciples now pick up this bitter herb in front of you and you all taste it together why what's it supposed to symbolize the bitterness of slavery and we're not done with the bitter herbs then another bitter herb like maybe parsley is dipped in salt water and you all taste that together why to remind you of the taste of tears to remind you that life still has bitterness even though you're chosen by God life is not all unicorns and rainbows right in this world you will have trouble as Jesus told his disciples at this meal even if you're God's chosen.

This is really important the bitter times in fact are often the stage for God to do great things like historically great things so if you're tasting the tears in your life right now don't give up the bitter herbs are not the meal they're just sort of the appetizer the wonderful main course is ahead so the bitter herbs have been eaten the suspense is building appetites are sharpening can you can you imagine that the meal smells great let me imagine a great barbecue right there's a lamb being roasted as you look over the juices are dripping the lamb is almost ready but there's one more thing that has to be done before the meal is served the youngest at the table in this case it would probably be the disciple John asks the famous Seder question and I want you to imagine that you are this person who asks this question you are facing Jesus at the Seder and you ask this question so let's all say the question in yellow out loud together why is this night different from all other nights and Jesus pauses it looks at you and says oh you have no idea but he starts the answer the traditional way with the story of Passover.

Now I was thinking how would Jesus have told the Passover story I don't know exactly but if you look at the parables he's taught tells lots of stories and if you look at the parables he's he's never a long-winded storyteller he's always very brief very concise so I imagine that he might have a two-minute minute version as he says well let's go all the way back to Moses 1400 years before this happens the Israelites are slaves in Egypt but the worst thing the Egyptians did to them was not slavery the worst was this Pharaoh orders every male Hebrew baby shall be drowned in the Nile River and God hears the cries of the Israelites and he calls Moses to go to Pharaoh let my people go Pharaoh says no so God sends plagues on the Egyptians with increasing intensity as Pharaoh keeps refusing in fact in poetic justice the Nile turns red but Pharaoh keeps refusing and so the Nile becomes the source of more plague beasts crawl out it gets worse and worse still Pharaoh says no and finally God says so be it as you killed those Hebrew children so shall there be a plague of death against the firstborn of every house in Egypt from the angel of death and no one in the land is exempt from this not Israelite not Egyptian but a way out is provided for anybody who would receive it if families get together and have well you could call it a Last Supper together and they're standing packed ready to walk out of the country with faith in God's deliverance even though they can't see it right now and for their Last Supper in Egypt they slay an unblemished spotless lamb for their meal and then they dab the blood of the lamb on the door posts of their house the top the sides and I imagine Jesus saying at this point remember that detail boys the top and the sides and then when the angel of death sees the blood of the lamb it will pass over the house that's why it's called the Passover.

I want to show you something something I just discovered this week in the Hebrew Scriptures when it uses the word Passover it's the Hebrew verb Passach from which at the Hebrew noun for Passover comes there's actually another more common Hebrew word for Passover that's not used here this word is linguistically close to an Egyptian word and the Egyptian word means to cover with wings like when a mother bird covers its babies to protect them from harm and as Jesus tells this story and gets to this word I'm thinking he starts to tear up as he remembers what he said just a couple days before Jerusalem Jerusalem how I have longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing.

National Geographic had a true story about a fire back in Yellowstone National Park and when Rangers came back into the park after the fire they found the charred remains of a bird and as one of the Rangers moved its body aside with his boots from underneath its wings scurried a tiny baby chicks alive and peeping that mother hen gave her life to protect her little ones from the fire even that little creature had sacrificial love and Jesus knows as he tells the story that is exactly what he is about to do at his crucifixion he's going to be covering you and me with his wings but you don't really understand that yet as one of the disciples at the Seder all you know is Jesus sure seems to be getting a lot more emotional as he raises the second of the four Seder cups the cup of emancipation based on the second verb of Exodus 6:6 I will free you God freed the Israelites and the point for you and me today is God liberates me to this is why Jesus came to set us free from sin.

Now when we say that what does that look like when you turn to God does God just free you instantly a hundred percent from every problem well think of it this way when the Israelites were slaves did God just beam them up and over into the promised land instantly no he does set them free miraculously they could never have done it on their own and then they have to pack up hit the road walk the steps out of slavery following the Lord one step at a time in the presence of God as they enter the promised land right and the same exact thing is true when God liberates you and me we're set free I could never escape slavery to sin on my own and then I need to walk the steps into freedom as God continues to do miracles in the presence of God.

Real-life example in a couple of weeks clay and René cross are going to be here to speak at our marriage conference clay is a great friend of mine he's a four-time dove award-winning gospel singer but his marriage to his wife René almost collapsed years ago when he confessed to her a sex addiction manifested in a porn addiction and personally I feel so sorry for René because she already had such a tough life going through life with a boy's name and then now this but poor thing but clay confesses to her this it's rough for a while but they get counseling it all happened about two decades ago they're great now but I want you to listen to what they say in this interview about how God set them free.

Watch this it's work it's an ongoing thing people ask us all the time so when did that button get switched off for you clay and you know so when were you set free set free and overcome this well in a way I was set free in a way God showed me look you struggle with this here's the path here's how to walk in this and stay closer to me guard yourself so that was freedom but it's not freedom and saying I'm done now it's like I begin now I begin now all those years I was doing nothing and falling with your strength what I'm gonna do these things gotta be intentional gotta really be serious about them and again moving back to that that mindset of man this is what God had to use and allowed in our lives to bring us to where we are today mm-hmm and if that's got to be it to keep us on our knees and keep us focused on him and keep us seeking him and telling others I have to just swallow my pride and say that's it you know again they're gonna be at our marriage seminar here in a couple of weeks I know you're gonna love these guys you can sign up online and there's also a table in the lobby today but did you hear what they said did he liberate me absolutely God set me free and then I had to work the steps God sets you free and then you keep walking with God all the way into the promised land.

Now we finally get to the meal and you're thinking at that Seder table at last I am starving and the lamb is served and the veggies and Jesus breaks bread as the host and hands it out and so that you can imagine it accurately this is not like fluffy gales bread this is unleavened flat bread to remember how the Israelites were in such a hurry to leave Egypt they didn't have time even to put leaven or yeast in the dough for it to rise but watch this by the time of Jesus the rabbis at the time said the unleavened bread had come to signify something else the spotless lamb the lamb without blemished sacrificed at Passover the leaven came to represent sin so unleavened bread is sinless the spotless lamb.

So while today the sacrificial lamb is represented by at the Seder meal by a lamb bone on the table in Jesus day they they were sacrificing the lamb and they were eating the lamb and it was symbolically represented at the table by the bread and when he breaks the bread this is where Jesus starts to alter the ancient Seder script verse 26 while they were eating Jesus took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take and eat this is my body and the disciples are like what now you're thinking Jesus what the script is what what you're supposed to say is take and eat this is the unblemished lamb the Passover lamb but Jesus is saying something is happening tonight this table that's going to make history like that night we're remembering so long ago and their heads are kind of like spinning.

And now Jesus starts picking up the pace it's almost like he has some place he needs to be and he raises another toast number three the cup of redemption and some sources say the red wine for this cup was mixed with warm water in those days to make the symbolism clear this was representative of the redemption bought by the blood of the Passover lamb now we don't use the word redemption a lot these days but as we saw a couple of weeks ago it means to pay a price to liberate something and the point is a price was paid for me what price well the Passover lamb was the price paid for the ancient Israelites but what price was paid for you and me watch what happens next then Jesus took the cup and then is an important word here we know it was the third cup the cup of redemption because they ate and then he took the cup so this had to be the cup of redemption which came after the meal and when he had given thanks he gave it to them they all drank from it and I imagine him saying very slowly and very clearly so they will always remember this moment this is my blood.

Now stop there for just a second his blood you and the other disciples are looking at each other going but this symbolizes the Passover lamb's blood but a few hours later you remember how at the Passover God told them to take the blood of the Passover lamb and put it on the doorposts and let's just practice that right now I'm gonna put an imaginary door post on the screen I want everybody to hold up your right hand hold up your right hand now pretend that you are da bing the top and the sides of the imaginary doorframe with that blood do it again top and the sides top and the sides what shape are you making with your hands the sign of the cross.

Imagine you are one of those disciples and less than 24 hours after this seder you see Jesus crucified on a cross of wood and you start getting the goosebumps as you remember how he said this is my blood and then he says of the Covenant and now the surprises are coming one right after another because a covenant is like an agreement the Covenant was the law the Torah that Moses received from God well the Prophet Jeremiah in the Hebrew scriptures says that when Messiah comes there will be a new covenant Jeremiah 31:31 the days are coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and the people of Judah it will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt it will not be like that one well how will it be different I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts and I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Well how's he gonna forgive our wickedness like for all time it's implying remember their sins no more because we have to bring sacrifices every year slowly you start to see that the perfect lamb of God Jesus was sacrificed on Passover to put an end to the need for any more sacrifice so people could be forgiven forever no more sacrifice needed and then more surprises one right after another because Jesus leaves a part of the seder undone usually there's a fourth cup at the end of the seder meal the cup of completion where God says to the Israelites in Exodus 6 I will take you as my own we remember God saying I'm not gonna free you and leave you I'm gonna be with you I'm gonna take you all the way into the promised land the point is that God leads me home he won't abandon me.

And the host is supposed to close the meal by raising this toast but Jesus refuses he says truly I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God in those days this phrase theology was a way to make a vow I vow I will not eat or drink again until I do whatever you are vowing to do it was the most solemn vow you could make well Jesus here is making a vow promise he's saying I vow to you I am going to bring you into my kingdom I am going to bring you to the feast of the king on that day that God renews heaven and earth on that day that people come from the east and the west to join Abraham Isaac and Jacob and others at the feast he says and on that day that's the day we complete the seder that's today we raise the fourth cup together the cup of completion.

And I don't know about you but I am so taking Jesus word on this flat out I believe his promise I think he has credibility and I am looking forward to the moment on that day I raised my glass and there's Jesus lifting a toast and there's mom and there's dad good to see it good to see you and there's people from the Bible there's King David there's Abraham Isaac and Jacob there's Mary I want to ask her was it hard not to brag on your son all the time you know there's Adam I want to go what were you thinking what seriously and we all raise our glasses and we praise the Lamb of God who is sitting at the head of the table.

I asked you to imagine you're at this seder well you'll be at this seder because we'll all raise the cup of completion together so says Jesus now at this point in the seder there's a closing hymn it says when they sung a hymn they went out to the monovals and that's the end of their seder and what happens next is one of my favorite scenes in the whole Bible it is riveting it's dramatic it'll change your prayer life and we'll get to it next week.

For now when we take communion in a moment remember the one word context key Passover and how it adds back the color because the bread we're about to take is the unleavened bread of a Passover meal representing the unblemished lamb Jesus and the cup we take originated as the third cup of the seder the cup of redemption.

I don't know about you but at times I can hear voices saying who do you think you are René you are such a sinner sometimes specific sentence from my past popping in mind but in those times if I remember this Jesus whisper can drown out those voices as he says remember I've covered you by my blood you're safe under my wings and I've given you a new covenant I will forgive René's wickedness and I will remember his sin no more and sometimes I just weep with gratitude and in a couple of minutes we're going to take communion and I hope you hear his whisper to you too.

But as we set this up very quickly to overlooked aspects of the Last Supper because we missed the context that it was a seder meal first it's about family right the Jewish people celebrate the Passover by eating with their families they might have a lot of differences but they have this common history same with all of us here today somebody said what binds Christians together is not common education common race common income levels common politics common nationality common accents common jobs or anything else of that sort Christians come together because they've been saved by Jesus Christ.

I love this they're a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus sake you may feel a little like a misfit here but when we take the bread and the cup together you're with family even if the person who hands the elements to you doesn't look like you and doesn't talk like you and didn't vote like you or family you know imagine you're in the Sinai Desert the year after that first Passover and you see this river of humanity headed north and suddenly they stopped to eat what looks like a special meal and you say what's happening here they would have said something like this well this meal reminds me I was a slave I took shelter under the blood of the lamb I escaped my captivity and now God lives in our midst and we're following him to the promised land and do you see that's exactly what Christians say at communion this is where we find our unity.

And second remembering the context reminds me it's about food and this is super important Jesus says take and eat what am I saying you know you can have a seder meal cooked to perfection piled in front of you smelling delicious and you could still starve to death because to be nourished by a meal you have to eat it and to receive life from Jesus you need to receive it personally just like food you see but I don't totally understand all of this you don't have to understand food I can't eat this donut until I understand it you just receive it same with Jesus you can just say Jesus I don't understand it all but I want to receive you into my life and great things happen from there to receive life from food I must personally receive it right to be nourished same with the bread of life Jesus.

And as we get ready to take communion I just want to give you a chance to do that right now would you bow in prayer with me with our heads bowed I hope you've heard today that you are part of a plan that God set into motion thousands of years ago it's not just about something that happened then you are part of the story this morning part of the poetry covered by his wings in your heart right now would you just say Lord I am a sinner but thank you for your mercy the New Covenant and some of you may just want to settle the issue for the first time and just become a Jesus follower and receive him you've been thinking about it so now can you say I receive you into my life like food as my Lord and as my Savior I don't understand it all help me to understand it more in Jesus name I pray amen.