Sermon Tone Analysis

Luke 22:7–20 (NIV84)

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

9 “Where do you want us to prepare for it?”

they asked.

10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’

12 He will show you a large upper room, all furnished.

Make preparations there.”

13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them.

So they prepared the Passover.

14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.

15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you.

18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

We have to ask, though, what Jesus’ Last Supper actually was.

And how did it acquire its undoubtedly early attribution of Passover character?

The answer given by Meier is astonishingly simple and in many respects convincing: Jesus knew that he was about to die.

He knew that he would not be able to eat the Passover again.

Fully aware of this, he invited his disciples to a Last Supper of a very special kind, one that followed no specific Jewish ritual but, rather, constituted his farewell; during the meal he gave them something new: he gave them himself as the true Lamb and thereby instituted his Passover.

In all the Synoptic Gospels, the prophecy of Jesus’ death and Resurrection form part of this meal.

Luke presents it in an especially solemn and mysterious form: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (22:15–16).

The saying is ambiguous.

It can mean that Jesus is eating the usual Passover meal with his disciples for the last time.

But it can also mean that he is eating it no longer but, rather, is on his way to the new Passover.

One thing emerges clearly from the entire tradition: essentially, this farewell meal was not the old Passover, but the new one, which Jesus accomplished in this context.

Even though the meal that Jesus shared with the Twelve was not a Passover meal according to the ritual prescriptions of Judaism, nevertheless, in retrospect, the inner connection of the whole event with Jesus’ death and Resurrection stood out clearly.

It was Jesus’ Passover.

And in this sense he both did and did not celebrate the Passover: the old rituals could not be carried out—when their time came, Jesus had already died.

But he had given himself, and thus he had truly celebrated the Passover with them.

The old was not abolished; it was simply brought to its full meaning.

The “bread” (arton, v. 19) was the thin, unleavened bread used in the Passover.

“Gave thanks” translates the verb eucharisteō, the source of the beautiful word Eucharist, often used to signify the Lord’s Supper.

Luke alone has “given for you” (hyper hymōn didomenon) in the saying over the bread, as well as “poured out for you” (to hyper hymōn ekchynnomenon) in the cup saying (v.

20).

“In remembrance of me” (v.

19) directs our attention primarily to the person of Christ and not merely to the benefits we receive (of whatever nature we may understand them to be) from taking the bread and cup.

The final cup, following the sequence of several refillings during the Passover, signifies the “new covenant” (v.

20) in Jesus’ blood.

The disciples would have been reminded of the “blood of the covenant” (Exod 24:8), i.e., the blood used ceremonially to confirm the covenant.

The new covenant (cf.

Jer 31:31–34) carried with it assurance of forgiveness through Jesus’ blood shed on the cross and the inner work of the Holy Spirit in motivating us and enabling us to fulfill our covenantal responsibility.

Meals

The events of Maundy Thursday are highlighted by what happens during Jesus and his disciples gathering for the Passover meal.

Before we dive into that, consider this question: What special meals or foods do we eat to celebrate key events or as part of a holiday?

Fourth of July: hot dogs

Thanksgiving: Turkey

New Year’s Eve: Lutefisk and Leftsa (Be glad you are not Norwegian)

Christmas: Christmas cookies, candy canes

Easter: Easter eggs and ham

Birthday: cake

Cake is also a centerpiece food at weddings.

One tradition is to save the top tier in the freezer for the newly weds to eat on the occasion of their first wedding anniversary.

For some newlyweds, celebrating their first anniversary means eating a helping of their preserved wedding cake together.

The cake-freezing ritual stems from a 19th-century convention in which partners saved the top tier for their first child’s christening (with some believing it to be an omen of good luck).

Nearly 46 percent of brides and grooms who married in 2019 saved or planned to save the top tier of their wedding cake for their one-year anniversary, according to a 2019 study based on data from the 2020 Wedding Wire Newlywed Report, where more than 25,000 couples in the United States who were married in 2019 were interviewed.

The practice of eating designated foods for special occasions is very old.

It was an integral part of the first Passover and of Passover observances since that time.

Over the past 3,000 years, Passover has endured as the most celebrated and widely observed holiday in the Jewish tradition.

The Passover holiday commemorates the seminal event in Jewish history — the story of the Exodus which led to the birth of the Jewish nation, Israel.

In addition, the most basic and fundamental principles found in Judaism — faith, prayer, deliverance, freedom, and service to God — are woven into this timeless story.

It is one of the foundational stories in the Hebrew Bible (which Christians know as the Old Testament) —  Moses leading God’s people out of Egypt, away from Pharaoh and out of slavery.

The suffering of the children of Israel and their deliverance from slavery reaffirms our faith that God protects, provides for, and deeply loves His people and that He hears our prayers.

Learn more about the story of the Exodus with our Bible study: The Passover Experience

The command to observe Passover is found in Exodus 12 which reads:

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron  in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household…  That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast… Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.”

(Exodus 12:1-3, 8, 11)

Once a year, Jews devote an entire week to recalling the events of the Exodus, internalizing these messages, and growing in their faith.

One way they do this is through the ritual Passover meal known as the seder, which is the heart of the Passover celebration.

At the seder meal, the Haggadah is read.

This is the text that has been used for all of these generations to guide the seder, saying: “For God did not redeem our ancestors alone, but us, as well.”

What Is the Seder Plate?

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The most visible part of the seder dinner is the plate of food eaten by those in attendance.

The foods

eaten at the seder all symbolize different parts of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt.

One of the first steps Jews take to begin the seder, after the opening blessing and ritual hand-washing,

is to dip vegetables into saltwater.

Any vegetable can be used for this symbol known as karpas, but it is customary to choose something green such as parsley, celery, or cucumber.

The saltwater recalls the Israelites’ sweat and tears shed in slavery under Egyptian oppression.

But the karpas also symbolizes spring, which is when God redeemed the children of Israel and when Passover is celebrated.

Zeroah is a piece of roasted lamb meat that reminds Jews of the lamb God told the Israelites to prepare the night before they were freed from slavery.

It also reminds Jews that during the plague of the firstborn, God passed over the houses of the Israelites who had placed the blood of a slaughtered lamb on their doorposts.

Finally, the roasted bone encourages Jews to remember that just as God saved the Israelites thousands of years ago, He can do the same for us today.

The article continues to describe the other foods and drinks used in the meal.

In some Christian churches, members will still gather (usually the Bible class) to observe a Seder meal but with an emphasis on how The Lamb of God has already come (which the Jews deny).

But for most non Jews, the Passover may be something they know about but have never experienced.

Jesus certainly observed the Passover meal.

As the one sent by God to be born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, we can assume that every year he would have participated in this observance wholly and completely.

The only record we have of him doing it; however, is on Maundy Thursday.

Although some commentators argue whether or not this Last Supper was the actual Passover meal, our interpretation has always been that it is.

So the bread and fruit of the vine that he used would have been two of the ingredients used in the Passover meal.

Jesus did something during this meal that serves as transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

In the Old Covenant, the emphasis had been on what God did for his people and how they were to respond under the law.

The Old Covenant promised blessings to those who obeyed and warned of curses to those who disobeyed.

It also pointed ahead to the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

Jesus is that Lamb of God.

He was sent by God to take on humanity so that he would have a body to sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

Hebrews 10:1–10 (NIV84)

1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.