Communion exhortation - 4/5/07

At the Old Testament feast of Passover, the family would have on their table at least, a lamb, sacrificed at the temple, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and wine. The lamb’s blood was required to hold back the Angel of death. Its body remained to be eaten. Jesus is our Lamb, and His blood on the cross removes the sting of death for our sins.

The unleavened bread had a double meaning. It was the bread of affliction and haste, since Israel did not have time to wait for their bread to rise as they were hurrying out of Egypt. The unleavened bread also showed the complete absence of the leaven of sin from the bread and from the household. When Jesus held up the unleavened bread and said, This is My body, He was saying in part, my life is free from sin like this bread. And so we use unleavened bread tonight. Jesus also speaks of leaven positively, saying the kingdom of heaven is like a little leaven that permeates and enlivens a whole batch of dough. So the imagery and the type of bread works either way. Tonight we remember the lack of leaven and sin in the body of Christ as He went to the cross for us.

We also have wine, which gladdens the heart of man, as the Psalmist says, but which also usually has a somewhat bitter taste. This is fitting for a feast remembering a death. The bitterness of wine represents the bitterness of Christ’s death on the cross, to free us from our bitter bondage to sin, which the bitter herbs at Passover also meant. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not all sugarcoated sweet spice, and we ought to remember this with our senses. If you usually take the juice, and you got the wine once by mistake, you know the surprising bitter taste. This is not necessarily a spiritually damaging experience, and can be an edifying one, as long as the bitterness does not overwhelm the joy of the feast set before us. The bitter taste reminds us: the blood of Jesus was spilled for us, and it was NOT a pretty picture. Christ’s passion was loving and gracious and kind, and it sets us at the Father’s table as His children, but Christ’s death itself was as bitter as sour wine. And He did it for you.