Gluten-free BREAD and WINE - (4)

John 6 & Matthew 26:2,17-29– Part 4

“The Passover is two days away –

and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

Matthew 26:2

Read the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2026:%202,%2017-29&version=NIV

Listen to story here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Matt.26.2

Jesus spoke to the people by comparisons.

Jesus gave bread to the crowd.         Then he said:

I am the BREAD of life

When the Jewish crowd asked him for a sign, he said:

          I am BREAD FROM HEAVEN (manna)

There was one more comparison from the passage we’ve been reading in John chapter 6.  Jesus fed the crowd just before the Passover* Feast.  And later he told them: “This bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.”

When the people got offended at him for telling them they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he could just have said:

          I’m not talking about cannibalism, guys!  I’m telling you that

          I AM THE PASSOVER LAMB.

But they weren’t ready for that.**  He led them right up to the edge of that understanding.

He didn’t say it straight out UNTIL it was time for the Passover Feast at which he would actually suffer.

And he revealed it first only TO those closest to him – the ones who believed him.

While they were eating, Jesus took BREAD, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat;

THIS IS MY BODY

Then he took a cup (of WINE), and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you.

THIS IS MY BLOOD

Jesus was now revealing for the first time that the entire 1,300+ year history of the Jewish Passover celebration was God’s object lesson,*** preparing them for the REAL deliverance of Israel:

GOD’S PASSOVER LAMB IS JESUS

What a master teacher Jesus was!  As the twelve friends ate the bread and drank the wine, they were told that they were actually receiving into themselves God’s deliverance.  They would never forget that moment.

How about you?  Have you received God’s deliverance?  It is Jesus.

*[The Passover, for those of us who aren’t Jewish,

was God’s deliverance of Israel from the Egyptians.]

**[Since they hadn’t believed that he had come down

from heaven, how could they accept he was sent

 to earth on a deliverance mission from God?]

***[The Passover itself was a figure of speech!

A figure of speech is a comparison of something known

(Passover was well-known to the Jews)

to something new (Jesus is the Passover Lamb)

so that it can be understood.]