New Passover

New Passover for paper                                          Rev. Terry Goerz, Redeemer Lutheran Church

“Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed” Luke 22: 7  The Lord sends his disciples into Jerusalem to prepare in an upper room the meal that henceforth will counter all assaults against the people of God. The scene is magnificent: The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, who would be the last and greatest Lamb sacrificed, entered this most holy meal in remembrance of God’s deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt. Little did the disciples know that through this meal, the holy church would receive God’s gift: Christians would be passed over when judgment of sin and death would be handed down—and that gift would continue to give them that blessedness of being passed over.

The Lord always takes the initiative to save. He knows we cannot save ourselves from the accusations against us, so he prepared this holy and powerful meal, a rock-solid new covenant, and he did it on the very night he stepped in to take sin’s betrayal in our stead. Our sin, the world, and the devil accused: “You will not be passed over from death.” So, in the greatest love the world has ever known, Jesus took our place, permitting himself to be betrayed by Judas, arrested, and forced away by the mob, condemned and then crucified taking the sins of the world upon himself and the wrath of God for the sin of the world, past, present and future taken out on him there on the cross.

Usually we don’t like being passed over—passed over for a promotion, being ignored by someone whose affection we desire, being left off a guest list. Usually it hurts to be passed over. But how painful was it for Jesus not to be passed over? One among his closest companions, his very disciple, would betray him with a kiss. But the evening before in the Upper Room the Sacrament of the Altar was instituted by Christ. Paul summarizes the words Jesus spoke in instituting what we call Holy Communion today. “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23 – 25

Notice that Jesus says “my body”, and “my blood”. He does not suggest it is only symbolizing his body and blood, but in Holy Communion we receive the actual body and blood of Christ. Paul goes on to warn that Holy Communion is not to be taken in an “unworthy manner” and concludes by saying: “For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.” I Corinthians 11: 29

The Lord Jesus celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples took them back to the first Passover. They rehearsed once again what had occurred in Egypt fifteen centuries before: God’s final plague on the Egyptians, which at long last brought Israel out of slavery. In each Israelite household, a lamb had been sacrificed. The blood of the lamb had covered the lintels and doorposts of their houses. That night, the angel of death killed the firstborn in every Egyptian home, but the Israelite homes, where the blood was over the door, the angel passed over, doing no harm. That blood of a lamb was already powerful, as it pointed to the blood of the Messiah, the Lamb of God, who would come. The blood of that first Passover became the blood we receive in Holy Communion, our new Passover in a new covenant that today cleanses us of all sin!

Then Jesus did something new. He did something to make atonement permanent. At every Passover meal, several cups of wine were shared around the table. This night, when Jesus took the third cup—called the cup of redemption—he said something of this wine that had never been said before: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood”. Luke 22: 20b

This wine was now also the way his redeemed would receive his blood, God’s blood. This cup, this promise, would unite his believing people to the blood that would be—the very next day—the atonement not only for our sins but for the sins of the world. A new status now marks the baptized into Christ: they are passed over from judgment and condemnation by the forgiveness of sins to life, and salvation.

In Holy Scripture, Jesus is also a physician, most assuredly the greatest one. But what will keep us eternally under his care? His medicine, of course. It is the medicine that keeps us always passed over. St. Ambrose said, “Because I always sin, I always need to take the medicine”. The medicine has been given to you, Christians—it is your medicine; it is your new Passover—so that from sin and death you are healed; you are passed over.

In our baptism God removes the sin we inherit from Adam, and any sin in our lives before baptism. However as St. Ambrose said “we all continue to sin daily”. Our new Passover, Holy Communion, is God giving us his true body and blood and in doing so cleansing us of all sin so we are restored to our baptismal state! “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  Matthew 26:28

Blessings