"Given and Shed For You"
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The
sight of blood is usually bad news; it’s, more often than not, a sign that
something has gone wrong. Even as
children, the sight of blood on a skinned knee, a cut finger, a scraped elbow
is enough reason to howl in agony, no matter if it actually hurts or not. Blood means that something isn’t as it should
be.
But
the Thursday before Jesus was crucified on the cross, He and His disciples
celebrated something in which blood was a very good sign: Passover.
Last
week, we talked about Moses and how God used him to deliver His people. If you remember, God sent 10 plagues upon
Egypt and the last one God killed every first born in Egypt human and beast. It was a bloody night. All first born, people, cattle, and lambs lay
dead by night’s end. They all died
because Pharaoh had hardened his heart against God. They all died for his sin.
Yet, God preserved
the faithful by passing over the homes that were adorned with the blood of the
lamb on the doorposts and lintels. They
hid themselves behind the blood of the lamb and death passed over them. And God also instituted a meal that day
called the Passover in which Israel would remember that night year after year. The lamb which was slain to preserve their
life from God’s wrath that night was roasted over a fire and eaten. This is the meal that Jesus and His disciples
were celebrating the night He was betrayed.
The
night that Jesus was handed over was also a bloody night. His sweat hit the ground of the Garden of
Gethsemane like blood. The whips of
Pilate, the thorns of the crown placed on His sacred head also tasted his blood
that night. And the next day, Good
Friday, the lambs of sacrifice are slaughtered in the temple.
Blood is often a
bad sign, a sign that something has gone wrong.
But not tonight. Tonight it’s
different. Tonight blood makes
everything is right with us and God.
For the body that
Jesus offers up on the cross, He gives for you.
The blood that stained the cross red is the same blood that He places
into your mouth this night. Like Israel,
we hide behind the lamb that has been sacrificed for us, that death would
Passover us, that God would not see us stained in the scarlet of our own sins,
but covered in the blood of His Son.
Others
died for the sin of Pharaoh and so it is with us. The Lamb of God, who has bore your sin unto
Himself has been sacrificed for you. And
the night that He was betrayed, handed over by God to be sacrificed, “He took bread and when He had given thanks,
He gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also, He took the cup after
supper and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying. Drink of it all of you.
This cup is the new testament in my blood. Which is given for you for the forgiveness of
sins. This do as often as you drink it
in remembrance of me.”
No
more do consecrate a day to remember Passover, the day the lambs were slain to
free the people of Israel from death.
For the spotless Lamb of God has been sacrificed on the altar of the
cross for you once for all. And His body
and His blood, He gives to you in a meal in which He is both host and
entrée. That the benefits of forgiveness
and eternal life which He won for you on the cross, are brought to you here and
now and placed on your tongue. For in the
Supper, your hand and your mouth become the throne on which He desires to sit.
Blood is often a
sign that something has gone wrong; but not tonight. For us, the blood of Jesus that He sheds on
the cross and places into our mouths is our salvation. The Lamb goes to the altar of the cross for
you, that your sins are covered and paid for in His blood which was been given
and shed all for you. Amen.
The peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
unto life everlasting. Amen.
