The True Passover

Hi there, I'm just reading from Matthew chapter 26 verses 1 to 30.

Matthew 26:1–30

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,

You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in a palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

But they said, Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster flask of a very expensive ointment,

and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.

And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste?

For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.

But Jesus, aware of this, said to him, Why do you trouble this woman?

For she has done a beautiful thing to me.

For you always will have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.

Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world,

what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said,

What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?

And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.

And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying,

Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?

He said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him,

The teacher says, My time is at hand.

I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.

And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve.

And as they were eating, he said,

Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.

And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him, one after another,

Is it I, Lord?

He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me.

The Son of Man goes as it is written of him,

But woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.

Judas, who would betray him, answered,

Is it I, Rabbi?

He said to him, You have said so.

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread,

And after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples,

And said, Take, eat, this is my body.

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks,

He gave it to them, saying,

Drink of it, all of you,

For this is my blood of the covenant,

Which is poured out for many,

For the forgiveness of sins.

I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine,

Until that day, when I drink it new,

With you in my Father's kingdom.

And then they had sung a hymn,

They, sorry, and when they had sung a hymn,

They went out to the Mount of Olives.

Well, good morning, everyone.

Will you pray with me as we come to God's word?

Lord, so many people have interpretations of your death,

But you here in your word tell us what your death is really all about.

And so I pray that your spirit would give us minds that understand you,

So that we might,

We might know salvation ourselves,

And know how to teach it to others.

And I pray, Lord, that through your word,

You would go through our minds and grip our hearts.

And I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, imagine you're walking into your HSC exam,

And a few of you here in this room don't have to imagine too hard for that.

But you're nervous, but prepared.

Your schooling has been preparing for this moment.

You feel, whether it's true or not,

You feel like your future is on the line.

The supervisor announces,

You can start.

You turn the page over.

And the ancient history question

Isn't what you studied for,

Or what the teachers even taught you.

It's on Julius Caesar,

When you're expecting Augustus Caesar,

You've got the wrong king.

How on earth did that happen this week?

You probably heard of the nine schools that taught the wrong Caesar.

There's no time to go back and do it again.

That panic.

That must have been traumatic.

Doesn't your heart just go out for those students?

It's just, that's traumatic.

That's nothing compared to the final examination we've been hearing about for four weeks.

All of us will appear before the judgment seat.

When, 25-31,

When the Son of Man comes in his glory,

And all the angels with him,

Then he will sit on his glorious throne.

Before him will be gathered all the nations.

There's only two outcomes we've been hearing for four weeks.

Come,

You who are blessed by my Father,

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Depart from me,

You cursed,

Into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

We've all got to face that face.

As C.S. Lewis puts it,

I've already said this two weeks ago,

In the end,

That face,

Which is the delight or the terror of the universe,

Must be turned upon each of us.

Either with one expression or with the other.

Either conferring glory,

Inexpressible when he welcomes you,

Or inflicting shame that can never be cured.

We've heard so many parables about being ready for that final day.

We heard about being spiritually alert,

Knowing that he could come like a thief in the night.

We are to be faithful with authority and responsibility,

Knowing we've got to give an account to our master.

We've got to take steps to endure for the long term,

Like the women who bring oil in their lamps.

They're ready to endure for the long term.

We looked at the servants who are busy advancing their master's assets.

They want to advance the kingdom,

Looking for his pleasure in the end.

And we see sheep who identify with other brothers and sisters,

Almost unselfconsciously,

In their need,

We just want to meet our brothers and sisters in their need.

We've heard all this,

But who of us can survive that great examination?

Who of us can enter that day,

Before such pure glory of the Son of Man,

And be confident.

Have I really done enough to live up to these things?

Matthew's Gospel quickly moves from that great final day,

To chapter 26,

Verses 1 and 2,

Another day.

When Jesus had finished all these sayings,

He said to his disciples,

You know that after two days,

The Passover is coming.

And the Son of Man,

The Son of Man,

Will be delivered up to be crucified.

The judge will be judged and crucified at Passover.

We better understand Passover.

That great final day depends on this Passover day,

2,000 years ago.

So, I just want to take us through this passage.

I think we're going to see two main things.

One is,

He chose to die at Passover.

He chose it,

Willingly.

And then we'll spend time looking at the meaning of his death,

In the light of Passover.

So, verses 1 to 25 of chapter 26.

If I give you just a bit of insight into our fortnightly elders meetings,

Adam sets the agenda.

We don't vote.

We aim for unanimous decisions.

And we record action items.

Profound stuff, I know.

The divinely appointed elders,

chief priests and high priests,

representing the covenant people of God,

had one agenda item,

one action item,

and they're unanimous.

They plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him,

just not at Passover.

They tried to publicly discredit him in chapter 22,

asking their toughest questions,

you remember.

But then,

he publicly discredits them as hypocrites.

They try to arrest him.

They fail.

We are at Passover.

Masses of crowds are coming,

and there was a Jewish expectation that the Messiah would reveal himself at Passover.

Messiah hopes it is at fever pitch.

They are right to be afraid of a riot,

because Jesus has ridden in on a donkey.

So let's do it after Passover.

But the Son of Man overrules them.

No,

I will die at Passover.

And then the spark that ignited and hurried the leaders' plans seems to be this meal.

This meal around the dinner table from verse 6.

They're at a meal in Bethany.

It's just outside of Jerusalem.

And mid-meal, a woman who,

John's Gospel tells us,

is Mary,

the mother of,

the mother,

the brother of Lazarus.

She honours Jesus in front of them all.

She takes this expensive ointment,

probably nard from India,

and pours it on his head.

Now, the emphasis in all the Gospels is the cost.

A year's wages.

What would you spend a year's wages on?

I've got my own things,

I'm not going to tell you.

What would you spend a year's wages on?

She just pours it on his head.

For this momentary,

filling the room with fragrance.

We all know the feeling.

You've had the feeling.

We've all had the feeling.

When someone spends money on something,

you're just like,

that is not valuable.

I think of the thousands and thousands of dollars

spent on flowers at weddings

that I heard someone spent on.

Sorry, Alyssa,

I know you've got a flower business.

I love flowers,

but this was just next level.

I just put it on a house deposit.

What do you...

Now, maybe I don't value flowers enough.

All for flowers.

This was like tens of thousands of dollars.

We've all had that feeling.

Now, my mind goes to material things,

like house deposit.

They've got more righteous indignation here.

The poor.

Imagine the suffering around Jerusalem.

The homeless.

The hungry.

The sick.

For what?

Honor him some other way.

Judas was probably the spokesperson,

if we're merging accounts with John's gospel.

But he's representing all of them.

What a waste.

They're having a go at her,

that she did the wrong thing,

and Jesus steps in and rebukes them.

She's done a beautiful thing to me.

They fail to see the unique person

and the unique moment that's happening here.

He's implying a very high claim.

I am worthy of this wasteful,

lavish expense and love.

I'm worthy of it.

And the moment,

this moment in history is unique.

Whether Mary knew it or not,

maybe she did.

Maybe she actually was listening to Jesus.

And the Spirit gave her insight.

She has done it to prepare me for burial.

He knows he's going to die at Passover.

And this is what provokes Judas.

Judas, this moment,

provokes Judas to betray him.

And I just pause to just reflect

on the terrible power of the love of money.

He was with the Son of God for three years,

seeing his miracles,

hearing his teaching wash over him.

day in and day out.

And the love of money blinded him

to see truth and beauty and value.

He goes to the chief priests

to trade him in for 30 pieces of silver,

which is just,

it's not even a good price.

It's the price for

Exodus, I think it's chapter 21,

it's the price for a slave

that's being killed accidentally.

They don't even agree on a high price.

And Judas goes,

I'm benefiting from this.

That's the power of the love of money.

Isn't that scary?

Isn't that scary?

I know traces of it in my own heart.

This opportunity Judas brings to the chief priests

seems to be too good to be passed up.

They were going to do it after Passover,

but this is a great opportunity.

And then Jesus doesn't wait for Judas to act.

He forces his hand.

You're going to betray me tonight.

He doesn't just wait for Judas to act.

They're sitting down for the Passover meal

and he drops the bombshell.

Truly I say to you,

one of you will betray me.

Now they probably all shared the bowl,

dipped their hand into the bowl.

They probably all shared it

and so they didn't know who he was talking about.

He's forcing Judas' hand to act then and there.

He's choosing to die at Passover.

Passover.

Passover.

We're confronted here, I think,

with how it can be God's plan

and Judas' plan

and the elders' leader's plan at the same time.

I'm not going to solve

how sovereignty and human free will

merge together here in a few seconds,

but I found Proverbs 16.9

a helpful way to think about it.

In a man's heart,

in a person's heart,

he plans his course,

but the Lord determines his every step.

Judas' thoughts and desires and will are his.

He's responsible.

The leaders who want to kill him,

their thoughts and desires and will are theirs.

They're responsible.

But Jesus is in charge here.

The Lord determines our every step.

Scripture affirms both.

Son of man will go as it is written of him.

Jesus is choosing how he dies

while at the same time fully responsible.

Judas wants a handful of cash.

The Lord is using that to redeem his people.

Now, I'm not claiming to solve the mystery of that,

but there is so much comfort in that.

One of the most despicable acts in history,

maybe the worst, I don't know,

a close friend kissing,

kissing the son of man,

knowing it's leading to his murder.

One of the most evil acts in history,

God is using for the greatest salvation of his people.

There's so much comfort in this.

He's no helpless victim.

I think all these passages are just,

I think the main thing we should be seeing here,

he's no helpless victim.

He's choosing the Passover to die.

Verse 17,

the disciples were asked,

where should we prepare the Passover?

Verse 18,

Jesus says,

here's where you prepare the Passover.

Verse 19,

the disciples prepared the Passover.

Do you get the picture?

Passover.

We've got to be thinking Passover.

Matthew, Mark and Luke

all put the Lord's Supper with the Passover.

John's Gospel places his death

at the time that the lambs for Passover

were being slaughtered.

And he sees relevance in the fact

that not one of his bones are broken

like an unblemished lamb.

We've got to see his death

in light of Passover.

And he's voluntarily choosing to die then.

So let's turn to that.

Verses 26 to 29,

what is the meaning of his death

in light of Passover?

Passover means three main things.

Substitution,

set free from a powerful enemy,

covenant fellowship.

Let's look at these three things.

Passover was at the heart of Jewish identity.

They changed the whole calendar year

to start the year at Passover.

This is the beating heart of Judaism.

So we're probably about mid-afternoon on Thursday

when lambs were taken to the temple court

and the priests would sacrifice the lambs.

Just picture how much blood is happening on this day.

I know the kids' talk was intense,

but this is intense.

This is a blood-filled day.

Brought to the altar.

And the blood is poured in the altar

for the forgiveness of sins

and fat burned as an offering.

Then at sunset,

they meet in households

and the head of the household

would preside over the meal

and a boy usually would ask the question,

what does all this mean?

And the head of the household

would explain what it means

as they're singing psalms

together throughout this.

There's three basic elements.

The unleavened bread,

they had four cups of wine.

Now, it's not a slosh.

They watered it down with water.

So four cups of wine

symbolizing four promises in Exodus.

And then, of course,

there's the lamb,

the roasted lamb.

In this meal,

each of these elements are symbolic.

That's how the meal operated.

It was symbolic.

Remembering that great day

back in Egypt.

So taking the unleavened bread,

they expected Jesus to say,

this is the bread...

I'll try that again.

This is the bread of our affliction,

which our fathers ate

in the land of Egypt.

But he doesn't.

He turns it about himself.

This is my body.

Now, his body was holding this bread.

Passover was symbolic.

The Lord's Supper is symbolic,

but there's great power in the symbol.

Now, you probably know the story well.

They were under a powerful enemy.

Life was bitter.

Bondage.

Darkness.

Death.

Nine plagues.

This enemy

will not let them go.

He has no intention

of letting them go.

Nine plagues

don't do it.

It's this tenth plague

that does it.

Their salvation

wasn't automatic.

They had

to take that lamb

and paint

that

doorpost

and take shelter

under that blood.

God made a promise

when he would come

through Egypt

to strike down

the firstborn.

When I see the blood,

I will pass

over you

and no plague

will befall you

to destroy you

when I strike

the land of Egypt.

In every household

there is death,

either

the son

or

in every Hebrew household

the lamb.

Substitution.

In the face

of God's judgment,

when I see

the blood,

I will pass

over you.

That boy

in every household

could look at that lamb

as they are eating it together.

You died

instead of me.

The bread

and the juice

that we're going to share

in the Lord's Supper today

is violent.

It is violent symbols.

The bread

broken

is body

broken

so that you

are made whole.

It should be

your body

broken.

It should be

mine.

But it's

substitute

for you.

Blood

poured

out

for many.

It's violent.

So the first thing

Passover means

is he's our

substitute.

In the face

of God's judgment,

when I see

the blood,

I will pass

over you.

The second thing

Passover means

is we're set

free

from a powerful

enemy.

Now for

the Israelites,

that enemy

was Pharaoh.

He had no

intention of

letting them

go.

But the

Passover

ransomed them,

set them

free.

That's what

triggers the

exodus.

They're free.

They're freedom.

I think this

one is hard

to feel

the weight

of if

we don't

understand

what we're

enslaved to

because we

are so free

in this

country.

Don't we

have so many

freedoms?

Some parts

of the world,

the political

rule is

bitter and

oppressive,

and I'm

sure I

don't have

to convince

you,

life is

full of

very bitter

things

sometimes.

I feel

like we're

going through

some of it

as a church

family.

But

enslaved,

what are we

enslaved to?

even the

millionaire

eating ice

cream on

Nobby's

beach with

his children

is

enslaved,

Scripture

said.

I think we

see it in

Judas.

He would

trade in

God an

eternal

life for

a handful

of cash

and call

it gain.

Wow.

Wow.

How many

people trade

in Jesus

for this

boy or

this girl

who they

think are

going to

fill their

soul?

whatever

ambition you

and I

have,

whether it's

sport or

even our

family,

our career,

people trade

in Jesus

all the

time.

There's so

many ideas

and views

of the world

and things

we think are

critical to

our life

that keep

drawing us

away from

Jesus and

the love of

God in

Jesus.

There is a

powerful enemy

at work.

I think we

see it in the

chief priests

and the

elders.

They're confident

they are good

people.

I find it

scary the

level of

blindness they

can have

that they

don't see

God in the

face of

Jesus.

There can

be darkened

minds in

churches

today,

eating and

drinking the

Lord's

Supper,

perhaps simply

because they've

done it all

their lives,

or perhaps

because they

see in the

ritual itself

some sort

of dose

of God's

blessing.

It's just

going through

the motions.

They don't

get Passover.

It hasn't

hit their

heart.

It hasn't

taken over

their life

yet.

Even Judas

ate the

Lord's

Supper.

There is a

powerful

spiritual

bondage.

Anyone who

sins is a

slave of

sin,

Jesus says.

Satan

blinds the

mind so

that people

don't see

the beauty

of Christ.

There is

no way to

free yourself

from the

power of

Satan and

sin.

There's no

way.

They're too

strong for

you and

me.

But

Passover

does.

Passover

sets us

free.

These

enemies have

no desire

to let us

go.

But

Passover

sets us

free.

Now,

it's not

free from

all sin.

The

freedom looks

like struggling

against sin.

Once we

were just

going along

with it,

we were

fine with

it.

Now you're

in the

fight.

Now you're

struggling.

That's the

sign of your

freedom.

You're

fighting.

You hate

it.

It's still

present.

The sin,

but you're

fighting now.

That's the

sign of

freedom.

The power

of Passover

and Jesus'

death is

that you

can look at

that.

Whatever sin

you've

committed this

week and

you feel so

ashamed,

you can

look at it

and you

know Jesus

looks at it

and there's

no condemnation.

condemnation.

There's no

condemnation for

those in

Christ Jesus.

You can

know you

will be

finally free

from it

one day.

You've

got no

power over

me.

God's

love for

me does

not change.

I don't

belong to

this sin

anymore.

He

redeemed.

I belong

to him.

That's the

power of

the cross.

We can

look at the

things that

cause us

shame and

say that.

Passover

means

substitution.

It means

freedom from

powerful enemies

of Satan

and sin.

The third

thing that

Passover

meant was

it created

the covenant.

It led to

the covenant

at Sinai.

It created

the nation

of Israel.

They're once

slaves, now

they're the

nation.

They're the

covenant

community.

Verse 28,

for this

is my

blood of

the covenant

which is

poured out

for many

for the

forgiveness

of sins.

This

picks up

Exodus 24

Exodus 24:8

verse 8

where Moses

is sprinkling

the people.

He's read

out the

law,

Ten

Commandments

and the

law,

the book

of the

covenant.

He's

sprinkling

the people

with blood.

So Moses

took the

blood and

threw it on

the people

and said,

behold the

blood of

the covenant

that the

Lord has

made with

you in

accordance

with these

words.

And the

people said,

all that

the Lord

has spoken

we will

do and

we will

be obedient.

The contract

is signed

in blood.

But notice

here the

disciples are

not asked

to respond

to Jesus's,

Jesus I'm

going to die

for you.

They're not

asked to

respond with

pledges of

allegiance.

What we're

going to see

next week is

they all

fail that

night.

they all

fail.

This

new covenant

is unilateral.

It is

one way.

Have you

made lofty

promises of

faithfulness to

God?

I'm going to

change this

week.

I'm going to

be different.

if you do

this big

thing for

me, I'm

going to

change my

life.

Haven't we

all made

those sorts

of lofty

promises?

We don't

keep them.

I don't

know, maybe

you, I'm

guessing you

haven't if

your heart is

anything like

mine.

This covenant

is one way.

It's sworn in

his blood.

God.

Because this

covenant is

based on

better promise.

If you dig

down, what is

at the basis

of your

relationship with

God?

If you dig

right down,

what's at the

basis?

Why this?

What's at the

bottom?

You're not

going to find

yourself.

You're not

going to find

your devotion.

You're not

going to find

your faithfulness.

You won't

find you at

all.

You'll find

his blood.

God, in

this promise,

I will

remember

their sins

no more.

The Passover

means we're

in covenant

fellowship with

God and

with one

another.

We are the

people of

God.

We're the

redeemed

people of

God.

That's what

the Jews are

celebrating.

I suspect

many of

us at

times, and

maybe all

the time,

feel a bit

on the

outer of

church

sometimes.

Maybe

because you've

been here

just a short

time.

Maybe

because you've

been a

Christian a

short time.

You feel

just slightly

on the

outer.

Maybe

because you're

not the

majority

ethnic group,

Anglo-Saxon.

You might

just feel

slightly on the

outer.

Maybe

because you

know the

feelings of

guilt and

shame.

If anyone

found out,

what would

they think

of me

here?

And you

feel slightly

on the

outer.

We compare

ourselves like

I'm not as

useful as

that person.

And you

feel slightly

on the

outer.

The Lord's

Supper says

we are

in fellowship.

We are a

covenant

community.

There is

no one

on the

outer.

That

category

doesn't

exist.

We are

in covenant

fellowship

with God

and with

one another

because it's

in his

blood.

It's got

nothing to

do with

us.

When we

eat the

Lord's

Supper,

people call

it the

Lord's

Table.

We're

meant to

know we're

fellowshipping

with God.

It's

holy

communion.

We have

communion

with God

as his

redeemed

people.

And

therefore,

some people

call it,

I know we

don't,

the

Eucharist.

Thanksgiving.

Now, I

don't want to

call it the

Eucharist for

lots of

baggage there,

but the

word itself,

Thanksgiving.

Because we're the

people of God,

we're the

redeemed people

of God.

Listen to an

ancient Jew

talking about

Passover.

Passover.

He brought

us out from

bondage to

freedom,

from sorrow to

gladness,

and from

mourning to

a festival

day,

and from

darkness to

great light,

and from

servitude to

redemption.

So let us

say before

him,

hallelujah.

This is a

joyful

meal.

And we're

looking forward

to that full

expression of

communion in

that promise

in verse

29.

I will not

drink again

of this fruit

of the vine

until that

day when I

drink it new

with you in

my Father's

kingdom.

I think we

get a glimpse

of that future

day, even

that meal at

Bethany.

It's at

Simon the

leper's house.

Now, he

must have been

restored.

There's no way

that they would

be sitting

around a

dinner table

sharing a

meal with

the Son of

God, and

he's fully

made whole

again.

I think that's

what we're

looking forward

to.

We're lounging

around with

the Son of

God together,

having a

meal.

It's a

substitution

set free from

a powerful

enemy, and

we are in

fellowship

with the

covenant

redeemed

people of

God.

Well, how

can we

survive that

great day

of examination

when we'll

face him on

the last

day?

It's got

nothing to

do with

us.

It's that

day past

when the

Son of

Man is

our

Passover.

Passover.

Passover.

I don't

know if

you've

heard of

the

Great

Awakening.

I'm not

even going

to guess

a century

because I

got Spurgeon's

century wrong,

so I'm

very nervous

now.

The Great

Awakening

where there

was just

mass revival

in America

and the

UK.

Before that

began,

one night

John and

Charles Wesley

were reading

Galatians,

the book of

Galatians,

with another

man called

William Holland.

And they're

reading Martin

Luther's

commentary and

he had a

preface to

the book of

Galatians and

here's what

Martin Luther

wrote.

What?

Have we

then nothing

to do?

know

nothing.

Only to

accept of

him who

of God

is made

unto us

our

wisdom,

righteousness,

sanctification

and redemption.

And

William Holland

said,

and at

those words

there came

over me

such a

power that

I cannot

well describe.

My great

burden fell

off in an

instant.

My heart

was so

filled with

peace and

love I

burst into

tears.

I almost

thought I

saw my

saviour.

My

companions

perceiving me

so affected

fell on

their knees

and prayed

and then

afterwards when

I went into

the street I

could scarcely

feel the

ground I

trot upon.

What have

we nothing

to do?

No,

nothing.

One person

said all

you need

is need.

All you

need is

nothing.

But most

people don't

have it.

They want

to bring

something.

You can

starve in

the presence

of a meal.

You need

to take

it and

eat it.

But it's

not the

taking and

eating that

contributes

anything.

It's

what it

represents at

Passover.

It's

filling your

heart.

have we

then nothing

to do?

No,

nothing.

Because the

Son of

Man died

at Passover.

He's our

substitute.

When I

see the

blood I'll

pass over

you.

We're set

free from

Satan and

sin and

we'll finally

be free of

their presence

one day.

And we

are the

covenant

fellowship

people of

God.

God

Jesus'

death

divides the

world and

I think we

see that

division in

Judas and

this woman

and Mary.

Judas,

he sees

nothing in

it and he

agrees to

trade him

in for a

very low

price.

Mary,

she sees

the unique

person and

the unique

event and

she voluntarily

joyfully

pours out

everything

because he

poured out

everything for

her.

That's our

response,

thankfulness.

We can be

ready for that

final day

simply because

he died at

Passover.

So let's

just pour out

our lives

and loving

him in

return.

And

love him