IT’S FRIDAY. BUT SUNDAY’S COMING! Christ: Our Passover

Smearing blood on the doorpost.  The slaying of a flawless lamb.  Eating the meat. And hearing the narrative.  Again.  A Jewish boy listens to his father tell it.  With passion. With gratitude.  And with the fond memory of his father telling him the same story year after year.  The story of their heritage.  A story of hope.  A story of Jehovah’s deliverance.  The Passover story. 

Little children know it as the 10^th and final plague that God brought on Egypt before Pharaoh temporarily softened his heart and let the Israelites go.  Those who obeyed the edict were spared the death of their first-born.  That night when God passed over the land and saw the blood on the door post of the Hebrew’s home, they were spared.  But the idol-worshiping Egyptians scoffed and the next morning awoke to the stench of death in every home.

Israel was free.  Deliverance was just beyond the Red Sea.  And God had come to their aid once more.  So every year following was a celebration of the Passover.  And reminder of their recuse.  They emerged to become a great nation.  A consecrated people.  God’s people.  When this special Jewish feast was observed and re-enacted, they  remembered.

Now, for the last time under Moses’ law it was being celebrated.  Jesus knew His time was near.  The apostles were instructed to make preparation.  And so on the night before the Friday of His crucifixion, 13 men ate the supper. But one was about to become “the Passover” Himself.

You know Peter had heard the narrative before.  So had James.  And John.  They all.  They knew it by heart.  Maybe memories flooded their souls and filled their minds of previous Passover feasts.  Possibly some were more memorable than others.  But little did they know how special this one would become!

During the meal Jesus gave them a glimpse into his impeding death through the institution of His own memorial supper.  Ironic!  He who ate the Passover was about to become the Passover!  Because on Friday “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor 5:7).  He was “the lamb of God.”  Smitten. Slain. Sacrificed.  His blood was shed.  And now He who observed the Jewish Passover, became the Passover for ALL PEOPLE.

Incredibly those who ate that meal together would be scattered.  Judas would betray Him.  Peter would deny Him. The rest would run for cover.  While the blood the Lamb was shed!

When we meet this Sunday, we remember “Christ our Passover.”  We are reminded of His sacrifice for our sins.  We relive that brutal scene on Calvary.  We recall times when we betrayed.  Denied.  Fled.  And are humbled and grateful that we can be restored.

As we eat and drink of the memorial, we do more than “take communion.”  We share communion.  Fellowship. Intimacy. We are partners together.  With Christ.  The “Sunday of our Salvation” has been made possible through the “Friday of our Passover” Christ Jesus.

And so we joyfully sing the refrain, “When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you.”

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman