June 29, 2025 • 31 mins
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The Passover meal transforms into something extraordinary as Jesus breaks bread with his disciples the night before his crucifixion. What begins as a traditional celebration of Israel's liberation from Egypt becomes the moment when shadow meets substance—when ancient symbols find their fulfillment in the person of Christ.
We journey through Mark 14:17-26, witnessing Jesus redefine the elements of the Passover feast. The unleavened bread, traditionally representing hasty departure from bondage, becomes his body broken for humanity. The cup of wine, specifically the third "cup of redemption," becomes his blood establishing a new covenant. Freedom always carries a bittersweet quality—deliverance requires sacrifice—and Jesus reveals himself as both the celebration and the cost.
The disciples, unaware of what's coming, struggle to comprehend Jesus' announcement that one of them will betray him. They can't imagine Judas as the betrayer, highlighting how integrated he was within their community. This personal dimension of betrayal adds poignancy to the sacrifice Jesus is about to make. Meanwhile, Paul's later explanation in Colossians 2:16-17 helps us understand these feasts as "shadows of things to come, but the substance is Christ"—each ritual pointing toward redemptive work that transcends symbolism.
Most fascinating is how Jesus handles the traditional elements of Passover. The breaking of the afikomen bread, traditionally hidden away to be found later, perfectly foreshadows his death and resurrection. His statement about not drinking wine again until doing so "in the kingdom of God" suggests the story remains unfinished, pointing toward his return and the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises.
Join us in exploring this pivotal moment when a simple meal became the foundation for communion—a practice that would help believers remember Christ's sacrifice throughout history. Experience how Jesus didn't abolish these beautiful traditions but revealed himself as their ultimate purpose and fulfillment.
Mark as Played
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Mark.
Chapter 14 is where we're attoday.
Verse 17 is where we'll start.
Start, well, the book of Markconsiders the account, the
(00:34):
history of the life of Jesus,and you know by now that we are
closing in on the cross.
We have been for a while and wewill be closing in on the cross
for a little while to come herestill.
But in this we see Jesus, godin flesh, come to dwell among us
, shows the heart of God forsure, but ultimately he came to
(00:59):
die as a sacrifice, and we'llconsider that pointedly today,
specifically today, as it isThursday night in the narrative,
the night before his trial andexecution.
Now we'd call it Thursday night, but the Jews would have called
(01:20):
it the beginning of Friday.
As the sun was going down,friday was beginning and it was
the Passover.
And you remember last timeJesus sent his disciples into a
very crowded city and said Goand you'll find a man with a
water jug.
Follow him and find a place forus to observe the Passover
(01:41):
tonight.
And they do it, and they findit, just as Jesus said.
So we'll open here chapter 14,mark 14, starting in verse 17,.
And you can picture it.
It is the Passover feast, theLast Supper, as it is known,
(02:04):
passover feast, the Last Supper,as it is known, and this
Passover, usually in late April,early May, established by Moses
, there, a day to commemoratethe faithfulness of God.
You can read about these feastsin Leviticus 23, numbers 28, 29
(02:29):
.
Passover was one of.
We'll get into the passage herein a second, but Passover was
one of seven original feastsestablished by Moses, seven
major feasts there for thepeople, seven major feasts there
for the people.
Passover was one, followed veryquickly by the Feast of
(02:49):
Unleavened Bread.
The Feast of Firstfruits wouldbe Sunday, and you can imagine
the symbolism of that, as Jesuswould become the firstfruits
from the dead, as Jesus wouldbecome the first fruits from the
dead.
50 days later would be theFeast of Pentecost or the Feast
of Weeks Now.
(03:11):
Then, in the fall, there wouldbe another group of feasts the
Feast of Trumpets or Ingathering, rosh Hashanah it's known as
followed by the Day of Atonement, yom Kippur, and lastly, the
Feast of Tabernacles.
And all these feasts were putthere to remind the people of
(03:31):
God's faithfulness, differentareas of God's faithfulness,
through the harvest, through thewilderness, wanderings, but
here Passover, the one that weconsider today the Feast of
Passover, they're to remembertheir independence from Egypt, a
sort of independence day, god'sdeliverance from slavery there
(03:55):
in Egypt.
It's important for us toremember God's faithfulness, and
so God wrote it into their planthere that the people would
remember how God had beenfaithful.
Well, let's read our passagefirst.
We probably should have donethat earlier, but let's read it.
Verse 17.
In the evening, jesus came withthe twelve.
(04:17):
Now, as they sat and ate, jesussaid Assuredly I say to you,
one of you who eats with me willbetray me.
And they began to be sorrowfuland say to him one by one is it
I?
And another said is it I?
He answered and said to themit's the one of the twelve who
dips with me in the dish.
(04:39):
The son of man indeed goes justas it is written of him.
But woe to the man to whom theson of man is betrayed.
Would have been good for thatman if he had never been born.
And as they were eating verse22, jesus took bread picture it
blessed and broke it and gave itto them and said take, eat,
(05:01):
this is my body.
And he took the cup and when hehad given thanks, he gave it to
them and they all drank from it.
And he said to them this is myblood, blood of the new covenant
, which is shed for many.
Assuredly, I say to you, I willno longer drink of the fruit of
the vine until the day when Idrink it anew in the kingdom of
(05:21):
God.
And when they had sung a hymn,they went out to the Mount of
Olives.
So here, this Passover feast,jesus is with his disciples,
remembering they're goingthrough this process of the
Passover feast and they'reremembering God's faithfulness
to deliver the people from Egypt.
Now, something we want to lookat as we consider this day and
(05:45):
this feast and what's going on,is something that we get from
Paul in Colossians, chapter 2.
Hold your place here and turnto Colossians 2, if you could.
Verse 16.
Colossians, chapter 2, verse 16.
(06:06):
Colossians 2, 16.
So a little background on thisquickly.
Paul wrote some letters for thepurpose of pointing the people
back to faith.
(06:28):
Some had come into the earlychurch and began to tell people
that being a Christian is great,believing in Jesus is wonderful
, but you really ought to addthese feasts to your life.
You really ought to become aJew first and then you can
become a Christian.
Observe the Sabbaths, observethe laws.
(06:50):
There's a few letters wherePaul really deals with this and
he gets pretty fiery.
Colossians is one, galatians isanother.
Romans definitely hits that andthe book of Hebrews maybe
written by Paul also looks atthat idea, this idea that
somehow we could become betterby observing the law.
(07:12):
We can't, the law shows us.
We can't become better byobserving the law.
None of us can do it.
We're all sinners.
And Paul gets pretty fiery whenpeople came in and said what
you need is a little bit moreNow.
Colossians 2, verse 16, paul'sreally kind of approaching this
problem in the church.
(07:32):
But notice he says this so letno one judge you in food or in
drink or regarding a festival ora new moon or Sabbaths Verse 17
, which are a shadow of thingsto come, but the substance is of
(07:53):
Christ.
So Paul is dealing with thisthing.
He says don't let anyone judgeyou about what you eat.
There's no problem with eatingbacon and cheeseburgers and all
these things.
Don't let anyone judge you bythat.
Don't let anyone judge you bythat.
Don't let anyone judge you bywhether you observe the feasts
or the Sabbaths.
You are made clean and maderighteous by what Jesus did for
(08:17):
you.
But notice what he says inverse 17.
These things the Sabbaths, thefestivals, the new moons they're
a shadow of things to come.
They're a shadow and that's agood illustration, right,
because if we go outside, maybea little later this afternoon so
you can get a nice long shadowgoing, we all have a shadow.
(08:39):
I mean it's generally, unlessyou're Peter Pan, you have your
shadow right there with you andit's attached to your foot.
You know and and so realize it.
Paul says these festivals andfeasts and Sabbaths, they're a
shadow, but the substance, thereal body, the real, you know,
(09:01):
solid part of it is Jesus.
You know, solid part of it isJesus.
Now, that's really interestingto realize as we look at this
feast of Passover.
Paul would say this feast ofPassover is a great feast but
it's a shadow of Jesus.
As we look at this feast ofPassover, we should see Jesus.
(09:27):
As we look at every feast, weshould see a picture of what God
has done through us, what Jesushas done for us.
So this is important as we goback now and we look at Mark 14
and they're observing thisPassover feast, it will be as a
(09:51):
shadow to us.
One thing you see in this as welook at this and imagine all of
this, this feast is kind ofbittersweet as we look at how it
represents Jesus and salvation.
The feasts are kind ofbittersweet, especially this one
, so check it out.
(10:11):
When we would look at thePassover as a whole, it was to
remember God's deliverance.
But you remember how it allwent down, right?
You'll remember that the peoplewere in bondage and they cried
out to God and God sent them anddeliver Moses.
Moses came with a pretty simplemessage Pharaoh, this is what
God says, let my people go.
(10:32):
And Pharaoh crossed his armsand said I don't know this God
that you're speaking of, right,right, yul Brynner, picture it,
maybe not.
And and and he hardened hisheart.
And he hardened his heart.
And God hardened his heart.
And you remember that God sentthe plagues, some pretty crazy
(10:52):
plagues.
You know flies and frogs andgnats, and you know boils and
darkness that you could feel andall these different things.
And, over and over again,pharaoh hardened his heart.
Well, you remember the storythere.
Ultimately, god said now it'sgoing to come down to this the
firstborn in Egypt, everyfirstborn throughout Egypt, will
(11:17):
die, and Pharaoh will not onlylet you go, he will force you
out.
And you remember God said buthere's what I want my people to
know.
I don't want to take thefirstborn in Israel, but there's
a way to avoid it.
Take a lamb Now.
The whole story there is take alamb, bring it into your house.
(11:41):
A perfect lamb, a spotless lamb.
They were to bring this lambinto their house for like a week
.
Picture that little lamb in thehouse for a week.
That's a bad idea in a lot ofdifferent ways, right?
But really, once you take alittle lamb into your house, if
you have kids, it becomes a pet,right?
(12:02):
And there's no doubt in my mindthat the little girls didn't
dress that lamb up you know whatI mean and give it a name.
And yet that lamb was broughtin the house and ultimately was
meant to be a sacrifice.
You remember the story Put theblood of the lamb on the door of
your house.
Where I see the blood of thelamb, I'll pass over, and that's
(12:26):
why it's called Passover.
And yet this was theirindependence, this was their
freedom.
We don't usually think aboutthat part of freedom, right, in
a couple weeks, we'll celebrateour Independence Day and we'll
eat hot dogs and we'll shoot offfireworks that the Murphys sold
(12:47):
us over at their stand inBonham.
There's a plug for you.
Right, visit them.
It's a lot of fun.
They know everything about thefireworks, but you know we do
that and we celebrate ourindependence, but we rarely
think about the cost ofindependence.
We rarely think about all thosesoldiers that died, all those
(13:12):
people that fought in the warsto keep us free.
And so it's so sweet.
Freedom is sweet, but there's abitterness to it as you look at
the truth of the Passover.
They would be delivered fromslavery, yay, and they come out
with songs and dancing and andjust so much joy because of
(13:35):
their freedom.
But there's this sacrifice thatgoes down in the Passover the
lamb would be sacrificed, andit's a bitterness that it leads
to a sweetness of freedom thatthey really could never have
imagined.
So there is this kind ofbitterness.
(13:58):
But notice what Jesus saysabout his story here.
He's with his disciples, he'ssitting around the table
enjoying that meal and he saysin verse 18, truly assuredly, I
say to you, one of you who eatswith me will betray me.
(14:18):
There is a betrayer in the roomNow.
Interesting that they had noidea that it was Judas.
Right, we always picture Judas.
He's got horns, he's just evilthrough and through.
But they had no idea that itwas Judas who would betray Jesus
.
But Jesus here says it's one ofyou, one of you who eats with
(14:43):
me, and even goes on to say it'sthe one that dips with me in
the bowl.
You should know, eating was avery personal thing, makes sense
, right?
I mean, the meal was in so manyways involved a lot of things,
a lot of dips, a lot of breadand dips and like a good bowl of
(15:03):
queso, right?
You realize that some of usjust don't think sometimes and
you double dip.
That's why they give you thatextra little cup at the Mexican
restaurant.
So everybody has their own.
No fear, right.
But because of that, it was avery personal thing to eat with
someone.
In fact, even deeper than that,in their perspective, the food
(15:28):
that I'm eating is also the foodthat you're eating.
It becomes part of your body,it becomes part of my body.
There's this really unifyingthing when you would eat in the
Jewish mind.
So Jesus has brought his friendstogether.
They've been with him for yearsnow.
He's called them friends justbefore this in the book of John.
And they're eating together,very personal thing.
(15:52):
And Jesus says one of you willbetray me, and it's Judas.
And so you see the beginning ofthe bitterness of this story.
Betrayed by a friend, friendtaken, and everybody leaves
Right, judged unrighteously andand crucified without reason.
(16:17):
And just the bitterness in allthese things.
We see that pretty clearly here.
As Jesus throws this into thegroup, one of you will betray me
, notice, though.
He gives it solid meaning inverse 22.
And this is where we reallybring it together.
(16:39):
Digging deeper, in verse 22,jesus takes the shadow of the
Passover feast and his disciplesand shows us how he would be
the substance.
We read it verse 22 through 26.
It details a part of the meal.
Now check it out.
Now check it out.
(17:00):
The Passover meal, unlike, youknow, our Thanksgiving meals,
has almost like a book that youhave to go through If you want
(17:21):
to hit everything in thatPassover meal.
The way it was traditionallydone, it can take three to four
hours to get a Passover done.
In modern days, some familiesin Israel it's one and a half to
two hours, but it's a longprocess.
It's detailed.
Eat this.
Do this Children would askquestions.
Dad, why do we eat bitter herbs?
Because we had bitter herbs ofslavery in Egypt.
(17:44):
Dad, why do we eat unleavenedbread?
It's horrible.
Well, because we left in ahurry and there was no time for
the bread to rise.
So we eat unleavened bread.
So it goes back and forth andthere's this detailed ceremony
three to four hours likely forthis service.
It involves bread and itinvolves wine.
(18:07):
And notice, we get a littlepicture of this as Jesus is
sharing this meal that all theseguys had had since they were
little kids.
Notice verse 22.
Let's look at it as they wereeating.
Jesus took bread and blessed itand broke it and gave it to
(18:30):
them and said take, eat, this ismy body.
So bread, picture like pitabread, not bread that's been
raised like sourdough orsomething yummy like that,
Something flat, almost like acracker, right.
And Jesus takes this unleavenedbread and he breaks it Now in
(18:53):
the Passover service.
Now come back in the Passoverservice.
There is a point where threepieces of bread are put within
this covering.
They're put together in thiscovering, three pieces of bread,
and the second piece of bread,at one point in the ceremony, is
actually taken out and broken.
(19:15):
It actually has a name, it'scalled the afikomen, right?
And you take this piece ofbread, picture it and you break
it.
Now one half of that piece ofbread is hidden somewhere around
the house.
It's a game for the kids toplay later on.
And they go and they find thispiece of bread.
(19:38):
It's great, fun, right?
It's broken, half of it's putaway for a time and found again.
Half of it is put back into thecovering.
But Jesus takes this piece ofbread and he breaks it.
Picture it His disciples havebeen through this ceremony many
(20:00):
times in their life.
Every year he takes it and hebreaks it and they go.
That's what you do with thatpiece of bread.
And then he says everybody,this is my body broken for you.
And I'm sure they scratchedtheir heads, right.
They said wait, that's no,you're going to hide part of
(20:20):
that.
And wait, that's your body,right.
And they filed it away.
There's absolutely no way theyunderstood what he was saying.
But Jesus says this is my bodybroken for you.
Remember me when you eat thisbread.
And they had no idea.
Now, as time went on, perhapsNow, as time went on, perhaps as
(20:43):
they saw Jesus broken under thecross and the beating, the
scourging, maybe it started toclick.
But afterwards they realized hereally was broken.
For us, the shadow is the feast, but the substance is what he
(21:05):
would do.
Now notice, he also takes aglass of wine, a cup, there in
verse 23.
And he took a cup and when hehad given thanks, he gave it to
them and they drank from it.
And there's also different cupsof wine involved in this
(21:25):
Passover feast, four to be exact.
And if we were to look at theservice and when that bread is
broken, this would be the thirdcup.
The cups all representdifferent things.
The first cup that they take isa cup of sanctification.
The second cup is known as acup of deliverance.
(21:48):
It deals with the plagues andthe wrath of God thrown out on
Egypt.
The third cup now check it outthe third cup is known as the
cup of redemption.
And so Jesus takes this cup ofredemption and he says everybody
, this cup, take it.
(22:10):
And he says everybody, this cup, take it.
Notice, there it says this ismy blood, the blood of the new
covenant which is shed for many.
And Jesus takes it and he saysthis is the cup of redemption,
but it's the cup of my blood.
(22:30):
And I am sure I'm positive ifthey caught what he was saying
they were all whoa blood.
What are we doing here?
And yet Jesus puts all thepieces together for them.
He says this is my blood shedfor you.
It's blood of a new covenant.
And so Jesus really makes itreal when he says this Now again
(22:56):
, they had no idea what wouldhappen.
They had no idea how it wouldapply, but they would understand
, they would get it.
Now, notice, and we'll comeback to this.
But notice, he says this Now,notice and we'll come back to
this.
But notice, he says thisAssuredly.
I say to you I will no longerdrink of the fruit of the vine
until the day when I drink it inthe kingdom new, in the kingdom
(23:18):
of God.
And when they had sung a hymn,they went out.
So interesting, there's fourcups that they would typically
use in the Passover use in thePassover.
Jesus takes three and one ofthem says I'm not going to drink
of the fruit of the vine untilI do it in my kingdom.
Now it's possible.
(23:38):
Some have said that he finishedthat feast.
He drank that cup when he wasoffered the sour wine on the
cross, and some and I think morelikely would say that it'll be
fulfilled when he comes to ruleand reign, when he finally
judges the earth, and it becomesa cup of praise God.
(24:00):
You did it, you did all of it,and so there's some perhaps
still to be fulfilled in this.
But Jesus gives this wholething substance.
And here we are, in a simplehouse.
But we're going to take timetoday to remember these things
(24:23):
by taking communion.
Jesus even told his disciplesas often as you eat of this
bread and drink of this cup youremember me?
Was he talking about Passover,maybe?
But we're also given this ideaof just any time as often as you
do it, remember him.
(24:45):
So today we're going to spendthe last couple of minutes in
communion.
So today we're going to spendthe last couple minutes in
communion, and it's either backon the counter or in the
refrigerator.
Somebody can help me with thatbut we're going to remember what
(25:06):
God has done for us.
So let's pray and I'll do asong while we're doing that, and
then we will go through ittogether.
God, thank you for becoming thelamb.
Jesus, thank you for becomingour lamb.
It takes away the sin of theworld, but it takes away our sin
(25:29):
and God.
We consider how utterlyhopeless we were in ourselves.
We didn't fulfill the law.
We all messed up.
Not only do we sin, but God, somany times we choose to disobey
you and go our own way.
But, god, you provided a waythat the death that we deserved
(25:54):
would pass over, and it's notbecause we're good, but it's
because you're good, it'sbecause of Jesus.
God, as we continue just toconsider this in a real way by
taking this bread and drinkingthis cup, we pray that you'd
make it real in our hearts eventoday.
In Jesus name, we pray Amen.
Mark.
Chapter 14 is where we're attoday.
Verse 17 is where we'll start.
Start, well, the book of Markconsiders the account, the
(00:34):
history of the life of Jesus,and you know by now that we are
closing in on the cross.
We have been for a while and wewill be closing in on the cross
for a little while to come herestill.
But in this we see Jesus, godin flesh, come to dwell among us
, shows the heart of God forsure, but ultimately he came to
(00:59):
die as a sacrifice, and we'llconsider that pointedly today,
specifically today, as it isThursday night in the narrative,
the night before his trial andexecution.
Now we'd call it Thursday night, but the Jews would have called
(01:20):
it the beginning of Friday.
As the sun was going down,friday was beginning and it was
the Passover.
And you remember last timeJesus sent his disciples into a
very crowded city and said Goand you'll find a man with a
water jug.
Follow him and find a place forus to observe the Passover
(01:41):
tonight.
And they do it, and they findit, just as Jesus said.
So we'll open here chapter 14,mark 14, starting in verse 17,.
And you can picture it.
It is the Passover feast, theLast Supper, as it is known,
(02:04):
passover feast, the Last Supper,as it is known, and this
Passover, usually in late April,early May, established by Moses
, there, a day to commemoratethe faithfulness of God.
You can read about these feastsin Leviticus 23, numbers 28, 29
(02:29):
.
Passover was one of.
We'll get into the passage herein a second, but Passover was
one of seven original feastsestablished by Moses, seven
major feasts there for thepeople, seven major feasts there
for the people.
Passover was one, followed veryquickly by the Feast of
(02:49):
Unleavened Bread.
The Feast of Firstfruits wouldbe Sunday, and you can imagine
the symbolism of that, as Jesuswould become the firstfruits
from the dead, as Jesus wouldbecome the first fruits from the
dead.
50 days later would be theFeast of Pentecost or the Feast
of Weeks Now.
(03:11):
Then, in the fall, there wouldbe another group of feasts the
Feast of Trumpets or Ingathering, rosh Hashanah it's known as
followed by the Day of Atonement, yom Kippur, and lastly, the
Feast of Tabernacles.
And all these feasts were putthere to remind the people of
(03:31):
God's faithfulness, differentareas of God's faithfulness,
through the harvest, through thewilderness, wanderings, but
here Passover, the one that weconsider today the Feast of
Passover, they're to remembertheir independence from Egypt, a
sort of independence day, god'sdeliverance from slavery there
(03:55):
in Egypt.
It's important for us toremember God's faithfulness, and
so God wrote it into their planthere that the people would
remember how God had beenfaithful.
Well, let's read our passagefirst.
We probably should have donethat earlier, but let's read it.
Verse 17.
In the evening, jesus came withthe twelve.
(04:17):
Now, as they sat and ate, jesussaid Assuredly I say to you,
one of you who eats with me willbetray me.
And they began to be sorrowfuland say to him one by one is it
I?
And another said is it I?
He answered and said to themit's the one of the twelve who
dips with me in the dish.
(04:39):
The son of man indeed goes justas it is written of him.
But woe to the man to whom theson of man is betrayed.
Would have been good for thatman if he had never been born.
And as they were eating verse22, jesus took bread picture it
blessed and broke it and gave itto them and said take, eat,
(05:01):
this is my body.
And he took the cup and when hehad given thanks, he gave it to
them and they all drank from it.
And he said to them this is myblood, blood of the new covenant
, which is shed for many.
Assuredly, I say to you, I willno longer drink of the fruit of
the vine until the day when Idrink it anew in the kingdom of
(05:21):
God.
And when they had sung a hymn,they went out to the Mount of
Olives.
So here, this Passover feast,jesus is with his disciples,
remembering they're goingthrough this process of the
Passover feast and they'reremembering God's faithfulness
to deliver the people from Egypt.
Now, something we want to lookat as we consider this day and
(05:45):
this feast and what's going on,is something that we get from
Paul in Colossians, chapter 2.
Hold your place here and turnto Colossians 2, if you could.
Verse 16.
Colossians, chapter 2, verse 16.
(06:06):
Colossians 2, 16.
So a little background on thisquickly.
Paul wrote some letters for thepurpose of pointing the people
back to faith.
(06:28):
Some had come into the earlychurch and began to tell people
that being a Christian is great,believing in Jesus is wonderful
, but you really ought to addthese feasts to your life.
You really ought to become aJew first and then you can
become a Christian.
Observe the Sabbaths, observethe laws.
(06:50):
There's a few letters wherePaul really deals with this and
he gets pretty fiery.
Colossians is one, galatians isanother.
Romans definitely hits that andthe book of Hebrews maybe
written by Paul also looks atthat idea, this idea that
somehow we could become betterby observing the law.
(07:12):
We can't, the law shows us.
We can't become better byobserving the law.
None of us can do it.
We're all sinners.
And Paul gets pretty fiery whenpeople came in and said what
you need is a little bit moreNow.
Colossians 2, verse 16, paul'sreally kind of approaching this
problem in the church.
(07:32):
But notice he says this so letno one judge you in food or in
drink or regarding a festival ora new moon or Sabbaths Verse 17
, which are a shadow of thingsto come, but the substance is of
(07:53):
Christ.
So Paul is dealing with thisthing.
He says don't let anyone judgeyou about what you eat.
There's no problem with eatingbacon and cheeseburgers and all
these things.
Don't let anyone judge you bythat.
Don't let anyone judge you bythat.
Don't let anyone judge you bywhether you observe the feasts
or the Sabbaths.
You are made clean and maderighteous by what Jesus did for
(08:17):
you.
But notice what he says inverse 17.
These things the Sabbaths, thefestivals, the new moons they're
a shadow of things to come.
They're a shadow and that's agood illustration, right,
because if we go outside, maybea little later this afternoon so
you can get a nice long shadowgoing, we all have a shadow.
(08:39):
I mean it's generally, unlessyou're Peter Pan, you have your
shadow right there with you andit's attached to your foot.
You know and and so realize it.
Paul says these festivals andfeasts and Sabbaths, they're a
shadow, but the substance, thereal body, the real, you know,
(09:01):
solid part of it is Jesus.
You know, solid part of it isJesus.
Now, that's really interestingto realize as we look at this
feast of Passover.
Paul would say this feast ofPassover is a great feast but
it's a shadow of Jesus.
As we look at this feast ofPassover, we should see Jesus.
(09:27):
As we look at every feast, weshould see a picture of what God
has done through us, what Jesushas done for us.
So this is important as we goback now and we look at Mark 14
and they're observing thisPassover feast, it will be as a
(09:51):
shadow to us.
One thing you see in this as welook at this and imagine all of
this, this feast is kind ofbittersweet as we look at how it
represents Jesus and salvation.
The feasts are kind ofbittersweet, especially this one
, so check it out.
(10:11):
When we would look at thePassover as a whole, it was to
remember God's deliverance.
But you remember how it allwent down, right?
You'll remember that the peoplewere in bondage and they cried
out to God and God sent them anddeliver Moses.
Moses came with a pretty simplemessage Pharaoh, this is what
God says, let my people go.
(10:32):
And Pharaoh crossed his armsand said I don't know this God
that you're speaking of, right,right, yul Brynner, picture it,
maybe not.
And and and he hardened hisheart.
And he hardened his heart.
And God hardened his heart.
And you remember that God sentthe plagues, some pretty crazy
(10:52):
plagues.
You know flies and frogs andgnats, and you know boils and
darkness that you could feel andall these different things.
And, over and over again,pharaoh hardened his heart.
Well, you remember the storythere.
Ultimately, god said now it'sgoing to come down to this the
firstborn in Egypt, everyfirstborn throughout Egypt, will
(11:17):
die, and Pharaoh will not onlylet you go, he will force you
out.
And you remember God said buthere's what I want my people to
know.
I don't want to take thefirstborn in Israel, but there's
a way to avoid it.
Take a lamb Now.
The whole story there is take alamb, bring it into your house.
(11:41):
A perfect lamb, a spotless lamb.
They were to bring this lambinto their house for like a week
.
Picture that little lamb in thehouse for a week.
That's a bad idea in a lot ofdifferent ways, right?
But really, once you take alittle lamb into your house, if
you have kids, it becomes a pet,right?
(12:02):
And there's no doubt in my mindthat the little girls didn't
dress that lamb up you know whatI mean and give it a name.
And yet that lamb was broughtin the house and ultimately was
meant to be a sacrifice.
You remember the story Put theblood of the lamb on the door of
your house.
Where I see the blood of thelamb, I'll pass over, and that's
(12:26):
why it's called Passover.
And yet this was theirindependence, this was their
freedom.
We don't usually think aboutthat part of freedom, right, in
a couple weeks, we'll celebrateour Independence Day and we'll
eat hot dogs and we'll shoot offfireworks that the Murphys sold
(12:47):
us over at their stand inBonham.
There's a plug for you.
Right, visit them.
It's a lot of fun.
They know everything about thefireworks, but you know we do
that and we celebrate ourindependence, but we rarely
think about the cost ofindependence.
We rarely think about all thosesoldiers that died, all those
(13:12):
people that fought in the warsto keep us free.
And so it's so sweet.
Freedom is sweet, but there's abitterness to it as you look at
the truth of the Passover.
They would be delivered fromslavery, yay, and they come out
with songs and dancing and andjust so much joy because of
(13:35):
their freedom.
But there's this sacrifice thatgoes down in the Passover the
lamb would be sacrificed, andit's a bitterness that it leads
to a sweetness of freedom thatthey really could never have
imagined.
So there is this kind ofbitterness.
(13:58):
But notice what Jesus saysabout his story here.
He's with his disciples, he'ssitting around the table
enjoying that meal and he saysin verse 18, truly assuredly, I
say to you, one of you who eatswith me will betray me.
(14:18):
There is a betrayer in the roomNow.
Interesting that they had noidea that it was Judas.
Right, we always picture Judas.
He's got horns, he's just evilthrough and through.
But they had no idea that itwas Judas who would betray Jesus
.
But Jesus here says it's one ofyou, one of you who eats with
(14:43):
me, and even goes on to say it'sthe one that dips with me in
the bowl.
You should know, eating was avery personal thing, makes sense
, right?
I mean, the meal was in so manyways involved a lot of things,
a lot of dips, a lot of breadand dips and like a good bowl of
(15:03):
queso, right?
You realize that some of usjust don't think sometimes and
you double dip.
That's why they give you thatextra little cup at the Mexican
restaurant.
So everybody has their own.
No fear, right.
But because of that, it was avery personal thing to eat with
someone.
In fact, even deeper than that,in their perspective, the food
(15:28):
that I'm eating is also the foodthat you're eating.
It becomes part of your body,it becomes part of my body.
There's this really unifyingthing when you would eat in the
Jewish mind.
So Jesus has brought his friendstogether.
They've been with him for yearsnow.
He's called them friends justbefore this in the book of John.
And they're eating together,very personal thing.
(15:52):
And Jesus says one of you willbetray me, and it's Judas.
And so you see the beginning ofthe bitterness of this story.
Betrayed by a friend, friendtaken, and everybody leaves
Right, judged unrighteously andand crucified without reason.
(16:17):
And just the bitterness in allthese things.
We see that pretty clearly here.
As Jesus throws this into thegroup, one of you will betray me
, notice, though.
He gives it solid meaning inverse 22.
And this is where we reallybring it together.
(16:39):
Digging deeper, in verse 22,jesus takes the shadow of the
Passover feast and his disciplesand shows us how he would be
the substance.
We read it verse 22 through 26.
It details a part of the meal.
Now check it out.
Now check it out.
(17:00):
The Passover meal, unlike, youknow, our Thanksgiving meals,
has almost like a book that youhave to go through If you want
(17:21):
to hit everything in thatPassover meal.
The way it was traditionallydone, it can take three to four
hours to get a Passover done.
In modern days, some familiesin Israel it's one and a half to
two hours, but it's a longprocess.
It's detailed.
Eat this.
Do this Children would askquestions.
Dad, why do we eat bitter herbs?
Because we had bitter herbs ofslavery in Egypt.
(17:44):
Dad, why do we eat unleavenedbread?
It's horrible.
Well, because we left in ahurry and there was no time for
the bread to rise.
So we eat unleavened bread.
So it goes back and forth andthere's this detailed ceremony
three to four hours likely forthis service.
It involves bread and itinvolves wine.
(18:07):
And notice, we get a littlepicture of this as Jesus is
sharing this meal that all theseguys had had since they were
little kids.
Notice verse 22.
Let's look at it as they wereeating.
Jesus took bread and blessed itand broke it and gave it to
(18:30):
them and said take, eat, this ismy body.
So bread, picture like pitabread, not bread that's been
raised like sourdough orsomething yummy like that,
Something flat, almost like acracker, right.
And Jesus takes this unleavenedbread and he breaks it Now in
(18:53):
the Passover service.
Now come back in the Passoverservice.
There is a point where threepieces of bread are put within
this covering.
They're put together in thiscovering, three pieces of bread,
and the second piece of bread,at one point in the ceremony, is
actually taken out and broken.
(19:15):
It actually has a name, it'scalled the afikomen, right?
And you take this piece ofbread, picture it and you break
it.
Now one half of that piece ofbread is hidden somewhere around
the house.
It's a game for the kids toplay later on.
And they go and they find thispiece of bread.
(19:38):
It's great, fun, right?
It's broken, half of it's putaway for a time and found again.
Half of it is put back into thecovering.
But Jesus takes this piece ofbread and he breaks it.
Picture it His disciples havebeen through this ceremony many
(20:00):
times in their life.
Every year he takes it and hebreaks it and they go.
That's what you do with thatpiece of bread.
And then he says everybody,this is my body broken for you.
And I'm sure they scratchedtheir heads, right.
They said wait, that's no,you're going to hide part of
(20:20):
that.
And wait, that's your body,right.
And they filed it away.
There's absolutely no way theyunderstood what he was saying.
But Jesus says this is my bodybroken for you.
Remember me when you eat thisbread.
And they had no idea.
Now, as time went on, perhapsNow, as time went on, perhaps as
(20:43):
they saw Jesus broken under thecross and the beating, the
scourging, maybe it started toclick.
But afterwards they realized hereally was broken.
For us, the shadow is the feast, but the substance is what he
(21:05):
would do.
Now notice, he also takes aglass of wine, a cup, there in
verse 23.
And he took a cup and when hehad given thanks, he gave it to
them and they drank from it.
And there's also different cupsof wine involved in this
(21:25):
Passover feast, four to be exact.
And if we were to look at theservice and when that bread is
broken, this would be the thirdcup.
The cups all representdifferent things.
The first cup that they take isa cup of sanctification.
The second cup is known as acup of deliverance.
(21:48):
It deals with the plagues andthe wrath of God thrown out on
Egypt.
The third cup now check it outthe third cup is known as the
cup of redemption.
And so Jesus takes this cup ofredemption and he says everybody
, this cup, take it.
(22:10):
And he says everybody, this cup, take it.
Notice, there it says this ismy blood, the blood of the new
covenant which is shed for many.
And Jesus takes it and he saysthis is the cup of redemption,
but it's the cup of my blood.
(22:30):
And I am sure I'm positive ifthey caught what he was saying
they were all whoa blood.
What are we doing here?
And yet Jesus puts all thepieces together for them.
He says this is my blood shedfor you.
It's blood of a new covenant.
And so Jesus really makes itreal when he says this Now again
(22:56):
, they had no idea what wouldhappen.
They had no idea how it wouldapply, but they would understand
, they would get it.
Now, notice, and we'll comeback to this.
But notice, he says this Now,notice and we'll come back to
this.
But notice, he says thisAssuredly.
I say to you I will no longerdrink of the fruit of the vine
until the day when I drink it inthe kingdom new, in the kingdom
(23:18):
of God.
And when they had sung a hymn,they went out.
So interesting, there's fourcups that they would typically
use in the Passover use in thePassover.
Jesus takes three and one ofthem says I'm not going to drink
of the fruit of the vine untilI do it in my kingdom.
Now it's possible.
(23:38):
Some have said that he finishedthat feast.
He drank that cup when he wasoffered the sour wine on the
cross, and some and I think morelikely would say that it'll be
fulfilled when he comes to ruleand reign, when he finally
judges the earth, and it becomesa cup of praise God.
(24:00):
You did it, you did all of it,and so there's some perhaps
still to be fulfilled in this.
But Jesus gives this wholething substance.
And here we are, in a simplehouse.
But we're going to take timetoday to remember these things
(24:23):
by taking communion.
Jesus even told his disciplesas often as you eat of this
bread and drink of this cup youremember me?
Was he talking about Passover,maybe?
But we're also given this ideaof just any time as often as you
do it, remember him.
(24:45):
So today we're going to spendthe last couple of minutes in
communion.
So today we're going to spendthe last couple minutes in
communion, and it's either backon the counter or in the
refrigerator.
Somebody can help me with thatbut we're going to remember what
(25:06):
God has done for us.
So let's pray and I'll do asong while we're doing that, and
then we will go through ittogether.
God, thank you for becoming thelamb.
Jesus, thank you for becomingour lamb.
It takes away the sin of theworld, but it takes away our sin
(25:29):
and God.
We consider how utterlyhopeless we were in ourselves.
We didn't fulfill the law.
We all messed up.
Not only do we sin, but God, somany times we choose to disobey
you and go our own way.
But, god, you provided a waythat the death that we deserved
(25:54):
would pass over, and it's notbecause we're good, but it's
because you're good, it'sbecause of Jesus.
God, as we continue just toconsider this in a real way by
taking this bread and drinkingthis cup, we pray that you'd
make it real in our hearts eventoday.
In Jesus name, we pray Amen.
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