Jesus Last Week – Thursday

Passion Week – Thursday

Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”
Luke 22:15-16 NLT

As Jesus draws near to the close of His earthly Kingdom mission, He finds time to share a significant and sacred time with His most devout followers.

The Passover meal is His last.  

A meaningful time of looking back to a great deliverance and looking forward to a coming destiny.  Passover is a time of consolation, of commemoration and a time of celebration.

A Celebration of Release.  God’s power and promise is seen in the release of His chosen people from the enslavement to Egypt. Dennis Bratcher writes, “Passover is the oldest and most important of Jewish religious festivals, commemorating God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery and His creation of the Israelite people.”  Similarly, releases us from our sin, from our suffering and from our slavery.  Paul reminds us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1 NIV)

A Celebration of Redemption.  We are released because we are redeemed.  We are set free and set apart.  The song of redemption is the story of the righteous.  Mary Fairchild tells of the historical importance of an innocent lamb, “Each Hebrew family was to take a Passover lamb, slaughter it, and place some of the blood on the door frames of their homes. When the destroyer passed over Egypt, he would not enter the homes covered by the blood of the Passover lamb.”  Jesus knew that He would be our Passover Lamb.  Paul writes, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us.” (Eph 1:7-8 NIV)

A Celebration of Remembrance.  Paul tells of the sacred supper, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: 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.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Cor 11:23-26 NIV)

Robert Lowry wrote the following lyrics in 1876:

“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

“Oh! precious is the flow, That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Our Jesus celebrates our moments by setting us free, making us family and giving us a future.  

This is a day to remember Him.