“And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” – Luke 22:15
Jesus always had a marvelous, perfect sense of timing. He knew everything that was going to happen to Him and His suffering and death came as no surprise. In light of that, it’s beautiful to see His deep desire to fellowship with His disciples before His arrest and crucifixion. Knowing how lonely He would be hanging on that cross, Jesus longed to spend one final night together, eating, talking, laughing, loving, teaching, and praying together.
This final Passover meal would celebrate God’s miraculous salvation of His people, leading them from slavery to freedom. The next day, Jesus would die on the cross to miraculously save God’s people once more, leading us from slavery to sin and death to freedom and eternal life. At that dinner, Jesus took the elements of the Passover meal and taught His disciples how they had always pointed toward His sacrifice. He turned the Passover meal into the Lord’s Supper we celebrate today. “This is my body…”. “This is my blood…”. Powerful, tangible symbols of our freedom and its terrible cost.
He would help them vividly see that His sacrifice was establishing God’s new covenant of grace, a covenant sealed by the innocent blood of Jesus, the Son of God. What a meal!!! No wonder Jesus had long been looking forward to it. By His grace, we get to partake of that meal ourselves every time we gather around the Lord’s Table. There we find spiritual nourishment as we participate in the meal that was our Savior’s heart desire! #FollowJesus