Luke 22
14-16When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, “You’ve no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It’s the last one I’ll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God.”
17-18Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, “Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I’ll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives.”
19Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory.”
20He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.
21-22“Do you realize that the hand of the one who is betraying me is at this moment on this table? It’s true that the Son of Man is going down a path already marked out—no surprises there. But for the one who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man, this is doomsday.”
(The Message, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 Eugene H. Peterson by NavPress Publishing)
Nothing builds relationship like a meal. My wife is Italian. I am Italian by ingestion. When family and friends gather around our table they are getting something much more than a meal. They are getting the passed on traditions of mothers and grandmothers. When you enjoy a meal at our home, especially a Sunday pasta meal, you are getting the secret spices and untold recipes passed down from generation to generation.
When Jesus and His friends gathered on the night before His death they were getting more than just a meal. They were getting the secret that generations had passed on. In the Passover meal of the Jewish people a story of love, deliverance, life and death was passed on. It was all wrapped up that night in Jerusalem. Jesus is the sacrifice of love and deliverance. Jesus is the life brought about by His death. Generation after generation had eaten the Passover meal. Jesus became the Passover meal. In Him we eat and drink now to remember His work accomplished once and for all in the past. We eat and drink now with Him and He with us in the present. We eat and drink now in anticipation of a new world to come.
dave aucremann 