The Ironic Passover Meal (Luke 22:7-20)

The Last Supper of Jesus
Luke 22:7-20
Part Four of A Five Week Mini-Survey of Luke’s Gospel

Introduction:

Some people teach that Israel was God’s plan to redeem the world from sin and death.
But since Israel never could keep the covenant with God, God had to come up with another way to reach us. And so God created the Church. Now after two thousand years, some people speculate that if the Church doesn’t do her job of world missions that the Lord might scrap the Church and introduce a third plan. I was taught this theory in my missionary school, and objected to it so much that my teacher switched views and ended up siding with me by the end of the course.

Today’s passage is one of those passages that explodes the ridiculous theory that God had to come up with plan B because plan A wasn’t working. God did not suddenly realize that Israel could not keep the law of Moses. God didn’t call a council of his smartest angels to see if He could devise a better plan since Israel wasn’t working out. Today I hope to prove to you that God’s plan has never changed, and that it is going along just as He planned over three thousand years ago. We are not two thousand years into plan B. No, we are still in plan A, and it is working!

ESV Luke 22:7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it." 9 They said to him, "Where will you have us prepare it?" 10 He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters 11 and tell the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' 12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there." 13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.


Five parts of Luke reviewed
1) Pre Ministry of Jesus (Temptation of Christ in Wilderness)
2) Galilean Ministry of Jesus (Transfiguration)
3) On the Road to Jerusalem Ministry (Table Talk of Jesus w/Pharisee)
4) Conflict and Crucifixion in Jerusalem Luke 21-23 (Last Supper)
5) Resurrection and Exaltation Luke 24 (Road to Emmaus)

Feast of Unleavened Bread.

30,000 people in Jerusalem swelling to perhaps 100,000 people during Feast of Unleavened Bread. No place to meet...reminds me of Bethlehem and Jesus birth.
The passover meeting place feels a lot like the triumphal entry of Jesus
was it pre arranged, a word of knowledge, or a sign of Christ’s omniscience? We don't really know.

Luke 22:10-man carrying a water jar was unusual.

Perhaps Jesus did not want Judas Iscariot to hear plans for the passover, or
Perhaps Jesus gave a prophetic word, or perhaps He functioned in His omniscience. We don’t really know. To have a place for celebrating passover at the last minute like this was a sign God’s hand was on them. God fearing Jews must hold the meal in Jerusalem.

ESV Exodus 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.


The bread is symbolic of Jesus body. It is not literally his body. Jesus spoke symbolically like this often. Cite these scriptures.

ESV John 10:7 So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

ESV John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

ESV John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

The blood is symbolic of Jesus blood. It is not literally his blood.

Also-Moses used blood to symbolize sanctification of the people.

ESV Exodus 24:8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

ESV Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.


The Ironic Meal

Jesus is the passover lamb. ESV John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Here you have THE LAMB of God eating the passover lamb as He is about to become THE Passover sacrifice Himself. He institutes the tradition of communion at this very moment.

He visually explains what the passover really means. He permamently links Christian communion as the reality of the Passover meal.

He shows us what the shadow (the passover meal) reflects after 1300 years of wonder.

NIV Colossians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival{like the Feast of Unleavened Bread}, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

{brackets my addition}

Conclusion:

Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the exodus of Israel from Egypt.
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the deliverance of Israel from slavery.
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating triumph of God over Pharoah.
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the first Passover meal!
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the reality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating Jesus who is our Passover Lamb
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that Jesus died on Passover!
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that Jesus is THE Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that Jesus body saves us from slavery to sin.
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that Jesus blood delivers us from evil.
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the new community made from all nations in Christ
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the connection between Israel’s deliverance & ours
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the power of the Holy Spirit over all other spirits
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the glory of Christ in His crucifixion
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the Cross as the fulfillment of the Exodus!
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating the Cross as the reality of the Exodus!
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that Christ’s dead body is our Passover meal!
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that the angel of death will pass over us!
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that we have passed from death to life.
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that the new covenant is better than the old.
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that the new covenant helps us to overcome!
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that the new covenant is in Christ’s perfect blood!
Every time we take communion, we are celebrating that Jesus is the Holy Lamb of God!