“Christ Our Passover Was Sacrificed for Us”
In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul wrote that “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” Do you understand the profound meaning this statement holds for Christians?
Shaun Venish
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by Jerold Aust
erusalem shone golden in the afternoon sun as 12 men and their Leader made their way from the Mount of Olives to a house in the city. Earlier in the day, Jesus of Nazareth had instructed two of His disciples, Peter and John, to go into Jerusalem and prepare the Passover (Luke 22:7-13). Jesus said they would encounter a man carrying water, who would show them his guest room where they could keep the Passover, a ceremony that involved eating a sacrificed lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs in remembrance of God’s redemption of the Israelites in Egypt. After finding the man, Peter and John prepared the food and drink for Jesus and the 12 to observe what would culminate in the first New Covenant Passover service. Jesus probably said little as they entered the room and surveyed the preparations. To Peter and John, no doubt Jesus appeared introspective, but, beyond this, their Teacher seemed composed and calm. They all began to relax at the table and eat, following the lead of their Master. It was then that Jesus began to speak to His disciples, explaining that He had waited for this special time so He could eat this Passover with them. “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God,” He told them (Luke 22:15-16). It was a shocking statement. Jesus spoke of suffering? The apostles found it difficult to believe that their Savior would have to suffer physical pain, let alone die this early in His life. After all, this was the same Man who had turned water into wine, fed 5,000 hungry people on five loaves and two fish and had food left over, and walked on the water of a tempestuous, stormy sea. Symbols of sacrifice At this point, the Savior began offering His disciples the symbols of unleavened bread and wine.
The bread, He explained, represented His body. The apostle Peter later defined what this meant, writing that we, as Christians, should follow in the steps of our Savior, who “bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Christ, as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), would pay the penalty for humanity’s sins “by the sacrifice of Himself ” (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:26). The wine, He then explained, represented His blood, shed for the sins of mankind (Luke 22:17-20). Earlier in the evening, the disciples had quietly watched as Jesus deliberately knelt and washed their feet. Jesus told them to follow His example, explaining that this simple ceremony was symbolic of the humble and unconditional attitude of service to humanity they needed to have (John 13:1-17). Unleavened bread and wine at the Passover observance were not new to the religious Jews of that day, but the manner in which Jesus presented them, and their meaning, were. So the disciples listened attentively to Jesus’ words and participated fully as He offered the symbols. The food and drink Christ offered His disciples had deep meaning for them and us. During the evening, He explained that before long He would offer Himself for the sins of mankind (John 13:31-33). His followers would soon see the meaning of the Passover symbols dramatically demonstrated to them. Jesus’ sacrifice prophesied Old Testament prophecies of a coming Savior’s sacrifice abound. The earliest can be found in Genesis. Speaking to Satan, the serpent, God said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall B Tm a g a z i n e . o r g
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March-April 2022
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