Luke 22:7-20
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” 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 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?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 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.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
We begin this Holy Week tonight with the story of Jesus as He and His disciples prepare to celebrate the Passover meal. I love the way Jesus sends the disciples to get ready.
Can you imagine doing a road trip where your instructions are: “When you get into Denver, find the red van and follow it. When the red van stops at a house, say, ‘We're staying here,’ and the owner will say, ‘Sure!’”? That’s basically what happens with Jesus. He tells the disciples, “Go get it ready.” They ask, “Where?” and He replies, “Follow the man with the water jar. When he enters a house, say, ‘We're having the Passover here.’”
And it works—because He's Jesus. That's just how it works.
Tonight’s reading focuses on the Passover festival, the covenant, and the new covenant in Christ’s body and blood. So it's a good time to remember the original Passover meal.
A friend of mine once had to explain Passover to her Catholic mother. Her mother asked, “Isn’t that the time when they walked over the stone in front of the tomb?” No. Definitely not.
Passover points us back to Israel’s slavery in Egypt. After Abraham had Isaac, and Isaac had Jacob, Jacob’s family went down to Egypt. They stayed for 400 years, growing large and numerous, until a new Pharaoh came to power and enslaved them.
Their slavery was brutal. They were forced to build cities and towns. If you’ve watched The Ten Commandments, you know: it was bricks without straw, whips, beatings—all around awful.
So God sent Moses. Moses brought plagues—frogs, hail, darkness—and finally, during the plague of darkness, God instructed Moses to have every family take a lamb into their home. They kept it for several days, then slaughtered it and painted its blood on their doorposts. They ate the lamb with unleavened bread, dressed for travel, ready to leave, because that night, the Lord would pass through Egypt.
The Angel of Death came and killed every firstborn in Egypt—except those homes marked with lamb’s blood. Those he passed over. Hence the name: Passover.
That night was their salvation. The blood of the lamb was the sacrifice that bought Israel’s freedom and made them God’s people. They ate the body of that lamb, and the next day, they left Egypt like a conquering army. The Bible even calls them “hosts,” as if they were soldiers. The Egyptians were so eager to see them go that they threw jewelry at them.
It was their Independence Day—the moment they became a people. They crossed the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s army drowned behind them, and they arrived at Mount Sinai. There, God made a covenant with them. They would follow His commands, and He would be their God.
And part of that covenant was this: eat the Passover meal every year to remember. Not just that God saved their forefathers—but that He saved them.
But Israel did not keep that covenant. The Ten Commandments are tough. The people failed to obey God's rules. Over generations, despite God sending prophets and good kings, they broke the covenant.
Finally, God sent His Son.
This night, Jesus institutes a new covenant. At this Passover meal, He tells His disciples, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
We are in a different kind of slavery—not to Pharaoh, but to sin and death. Even those of us who are freed in Christ still feel the weight: the sins we wish we could stop committing, the aches we feel when we wake in the morning. We are bound.
That’s why Jesus came as the new Passover Lamb.
This time, the sacrifice wasn’t a sheep you lived with for a few days. This time, it was the Son of God Himself—eternal God in human flesh. And before offering Himself on the cross, He gave His disciples a new covenant: His body and blood, for them and for you.
This freedom is not from slavery in Egypt, but from sin and death itself. Jesus gives us a meal that delivers us from death—a food that leads to eternal life.
This isn’t just a symbolic reminder. It’s not merely a beautiful ceremony. It is true freedom from death. Just as the Israelites ate the Passover lamb, we eat Christ’s body. Just as the blood on their doors saved them, so Christ’s blood—received in faith—marks us, saves us, and leads us through death to life.
And the best part of this new covenant? You can’t break it.
There’s no Mount Sinai lightning or thunder. No tablets of stone. No 40 days waiting on Moses. Just a one-way promise, poured out for you in bread and wine. This is a covenant God makes, and God keeps.
Jesus is our Passover Lamb—but greater than the lambs in Egypt—because He leads us not just from slavery, but from death to everlasting life.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
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