Redeemer Lutheran Church

Dear Friends in Christ,

According to Exodus, chapter 12, the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the month. It had to be because God commanded it. The people were to select the blemish-free lamb for their household on the tenth day of the month, and it would presumably be the center of attention for the next four days. But at twilight on the fourteenth day, the people had to sacrifice the lamb according to God’s command.

The Lord’s command came with good reason, though. That night at midnight, He would come through the land of Egypt and take the life of every firstborn in the country, man and beast. He wouldn’t miss a one. But He would pass over the houses whose doors were marked with the blood of the lamb.

The people were to take the blood and paint it on the door, up and down the doorposts and across the lintel; and when the Lord saw the blood on the doors, He would pass over the house and spare the lives of the firstborn inside.

That wasn’t the end of the ceremony, though. The people were to get dressed, ready for travel, because Pharaoh would soon send them out of Egypt. Once dressed for the journey, they were to eat the lamb—but not break any of its bones—until none of the meat was left.

The people thus celebrated the Passover and the Lord kept His Word. He visited Egypt and took the lives of the firstborn, man and beast; but He spared the lives of those whose homes were marked with the blood of the lamb. Then He led His people out of Egypt, in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Pharaoh pursued them, you’ll remember: the hard-hearted ruler brought his chariots out to capture and kill. So the Lord stayed between the Egyptians and His people. He parted the Red Sea so that Israel walked across it on dry land. And when Pharaoh and his army followed, the Lord closed the Red Sea and washed them all away.

That was how the people of God were delivered from Egypt. To make sure the people wouldn’t forget, the Lord commanded that they celebrate the Passover once a year, every year. They’d remember the death of the firstborn. They’d remember crossing the Red Sea. And they’d remember that the Exodus started with the little Passover lamb—the lamb that had to be sacrificed.

Centuries later, in our Gospel lesson, Jesus tells His disciples to prepare the Passover dinner. He tells them how to find the place and who to talk to. When the meal is ready, He says 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.”

This is a Passover like no other. This, the Last Supper, is in some ways the Last Passover, for the Passover is about to be fulfilled. The following day, Jesus—our Passover Lamb—is going to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. He has to be sacrificed, because this is His plan for salvation.

Where the firstborn sons of Egypt died for rebellion against the Lord, the Lord Himself—the firstborn of Mary and the only-begotten Son of God—is going to die to redeem rebellious man. Where the blood marked the vertical posts and horizontal beams of the doors in Egypt to save, Christ’s blood will mark the post and beam of the cross for the salvation of the world. He will be both the Priest and the Sacrifice as the offering is made for the sins of the world.

Where Pharaoh was drowned in the abyss of the sea as Moses led the people toward the Promised Land, Jesus is both Pharaoh and Moses on Calvary. In the place of the hard-hearted ruler, He suffers God’s judgment of death and abyss of hell on behalf of sinful man; in the place of Moses, He is doing so to lead the people out of the bondage of sin and into the kingdom of God.

All of that is going to happen the following day, when “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” takes away the sins of the world by His death on the cross. And like the Passover lamb, not one of His bones will be broken, just a spear in the side from which blood and water will flow. That is how the Passover meal is fulfilled in the kingdom of God; for not only was it given by God in Exodus 12 to point back to deliverance from Egypt, but it was also given by God to point forward to your deliverance of sin by the death of Christ.

So at this Last Supper, Jesus takes over the Passover and declares a new meal. He takes the bread, breaks it and says to His disciples, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” He takes the cup of wine and says, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” From 1 Corinthians, He also says, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:25).

The meal continues. Where the sacrificed lamb was to be eaten by the household in Egypt, so Jesus gives us His body and blood to eat and to drink, for the forgiveness of sins. Not once a year, but often: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

As Christians, we don’t celebrate the Passover every year. Some churches do, and that’s not necessarily wrong as they acquaint themselves with an Old Testament custom. But we are not required to celebrate it, because the Passover has been fulfilled in Christ. There, at the Last Supper, He ended the Passover as an annual required feast—and instead, He gave us a better Supper to eat.

The Small Catechism asks, “What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?”, and the response is:

“That is shown us by these words, ‘Given and shed for you for the remission of sins’; namely, that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”

This Supper gives you the forgiveness of sins—the forgiveness of sins won by Christ on the cross for you. You were once a slave—not a slave to Pharaoh, but a slave to sin, death and devil. You could not escape, and all that was left for you was slavery and death. But as the Passover lamb was sacrificed in Egypt to set the people free from slavery, so Christ—your Passover Lamb—was sacrificed to deliver you from slavery to sin and slavery to death. In his great Easter hymn, Martin Luther writes this:
Here our true Paschal Lamb we see,

Whom God so freely gave us;
He died on the accursed tree—
So strong His love—to save us.
See, His blood now marks our door;
Faith points to it; death passes o’er,
And Satan cannot harm us. Alleluia! (LSB # 458 v.5)

Your freedom from slavery did not come cheap. It was not at the cost of a knock-kneed cute little lamb, but rather the suffering and death of the Son of God. That is how strong God’s love is to save you.

He gives you that forgiveness of sins freely as He bids you, “Take and eat, this is My body, take and drink, this is My blood…for the forgiveness of sins.” And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

There is more: born in sin, you were born with a heart as hard and dead as Pharaoh’s. You could not believe, would not believe in the gracious promises of God. That old sinful nature had to be put to death—you needed to be raised up again as a new creation. On Calvary, remember, Christ took the role of Pharaoh—He was “drowned” on the cross, suffering the abyss of hell in your place as Pharaoh was drowned in the depths of the Red Sea. He has joined you to His death and resurrection in your baptism: there, by water and the Word, you died with Him and rose again with Him. So says St. Paul in Romans 6:3-4: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” In Holy Baptism, the old sinful you has been drowned, sure as Pharaoh was in the Red Sea; and in Holy Baptism, you’ve walked out of the Red Sea alive, sure as Moses did—for by that washing of water and the Word you are now among God’s chosen people. You’re free from slavery, free from sin. You’re making your way through the wilderness of this world, led by God. You’re on your way to the Promised Land of heaven.

There is still more: following the Red Sea, the people of God were not left alone to make their way to the Promised Land. The Lord was present with them, leading them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He spoke His Word to them, repeating His Law and His Gospel, warning them of the sins that would lead them to forsake Him and repeating His promise that the Savior would come. He gave them bread from heaven every day to sustain them as manna fell from the sky. So the Lord is also present with you—not in a cloud, but in His means of grace. At your Baptism, when you passed through your Red Sea from death to life, He said to you, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

By His Word, He repeats to you His Law and His Gospel, warning you of the sins that would lead you to forsake Him, and reminding you that your Savior has come. He feeds you bread from heaven: the body and blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, the “bread of life.”

That is what this Supper is about. It is not some institution that God gives only so that we remember, and it is certainly not an ordinance by which He tests our obedience to Him. It is the Father calling His children to dinner so that they might be fed. It is the Passover fulfilled: it is Christ present with us, leading us through the wilderness and feeding us with the forgiveness that keeps us alive in Him.

Do not be deceived. Many fell in the wilderness. They rejected God’s Law, disobeyed His commands and lost the life He’d given them. They complained that His gifts of Word and manna were not enough; but without these gifts and His mercy, they died. They wanted to go back to Egypt, choosing slavery with some benefits over the promise of eternal life.

The temptations will be the same for you. As long as you’re in this wilderness, you will be tempted to forsake the Lord. You’ll be tempted to return to the slavery of sin because of the benefits of pleasure, ease and security it seems to offer: but such benefits are mirages, and sin still kills. You’ll be tempted to complain that God’s gifts of Word and Supper are not enough to sustain you, and you’ll want Him to promise life in other ways, but He does not. You’ll be tempted to neglect His means of grace while you deal with the dangers of this desert; but then you will go hungry as you starve your faith.

Beware of these sins, repent of them daily, and make your way back to His Word and His Supper. This Supper is not a pale remembrance of the Passover: it is the Passover fulfilled. It is the greater meal that to which the Passover pointed. Deliverance from Egypt was a might act of God: but in this meal, the mighty act is greater. For the Lord, who has already delivered you from sin and death by Holy Baptism, strengthens and preserves you in the one true faith unto life everlasting. That’s why Martin Luther continued in his Easter hymn to bid:

Then let us feast this Easter Day
On Christ, the bread of heaven;
The Word of grace has purged away
The old and evil leaven.
Christ alone our souls will feed;
He is our meat and drink indeed;
Faith lives upon no other! Alleluia! (LSB # 458 v.7)

Christ, your Passover Lamb, gives you the remission of sins in this Supper, for He is present with you in, with and under bread and wine. Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. And so life and salvation are yours: because you are forgiven for all of your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.