Page 43 - Living Light 88

Monday April 14 - The feast
He took bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my body given for you...” Luke 22:19
Luke’s detailed account of the Last Supper (22:7-38) is full of significance. Here we draw attention to just three things. First, the date. It was the Passover meal, the annual celebration feast commemorating Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. It occurred on the 15th day of the first month in the Hebrew calendar, the time of new beginnings. The date matters because it signals that what Jesus is about to do is to launch a new and greater liberation for those enslaved by sin.
The Passover meal ritual was complex. Luke, for example, refers to two of the four cups of wine which were passed around at the meal. But simple bread and wine spoke of the way Jesus was to accomplish our liberation – through his broken body and spilt blood. Jesus, as a living, informed and understanding human being, is a far greater sacrifice than was the original unsuspecting Passover lamb.
Thirdly, Luke turns to the conversation around the table. Like many whose celebration meal has been wrecked by a family argument, the disciples quarrel about their own self-importance and status. Peter caps it all with his bombastic, and erroneous, boast about his loyalty to Christ (v 33). While their focus should have been on Jesus, it was instead on themselves. Sadly, that – even if in a different way – is still so often true when we celebrate Communion, in memory of him.
Words are not sufficient, Lord, to thank you for the deliverance our great Passover Lamb has provided. Keep our focus on him. Amen.
Tuesday April 15 - Gethsemane
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
There is no more poignant scene in the crucifixion story than this. Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane is one of the most intimate pictures we have of him. It reveals his humanity. Knowing what horror he faced, his request for the cup – a symbol of God’s wrath according to Isaiah 51 and Jeremiah 25 – to be removed was understandable. He was a real man, not a ‘superman’. But drinking it was unavoidable if mankind’s sin was to be forgiven.
His real humanity is also seen in the physical reactions he shows. Gethsemane demonstrates his trusting relationship with his heavenly Father. His first recourse is to prayer, and to submission. This was no angry father inflicting abusive suffering on his unwilling son, but Son and Father voluntarily co-operating for the salvation of the world.
Luke is forever stressing God’s kindness. Here it’s seen in God sending an angel to strengthen Jesus, when human companions had failed. They wouldn’t have understood, but the angel sent from God did.
Luke also highlights the isolation of Jesus. When I last visited this garden, it was crowded with tourists. Not so on the night of his betrayal. He is alone, praying at a distance while his disciples sleep from exhaustion nearby. No-one else could bear the weight of sin, and face death down. He, and he alone, could do so.
Tender Father, teach us to follow Jesus’ submissive and obedient example, and not repeat the mistakes of his disciples. Teach us to watch and pray. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY