Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In Mark 14:22-24, Jesus invests the Passover service with its complete meaning: “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said ‘Take, eat: this is My body.’ And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, ‘This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.’” This meal became the most important one in history. The Passover itself is extraordinarily significant. Exodus 12:42 says of it, “It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children in their generations [for the generations to come].” Within this command is the promise that the Jewish people would continue to exist; in that sense, the presence of the nation of Israel today is thus a fulfillment of the Passover. An even greater fulfillment, though, is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Who here institutes the Communion service. He identifies Himself as the ultimate Passover lamb: “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7c). He is “the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). Jesus had to explain all of this beforehand to His disciples so that they could understand as the events of Good Friday and Easter unfolded. He was still teaching as His vicious, violent death was only hours away. Let us think deeply upon these things, especially when we partake of the remembrances of our Lord during our times of communion.