Bread & Wine; Body & Blood

Some quick thoughts on the Last Supper account in Luke’s Gospel.

Don’t be surprised when someone close to you betrays you–Judas betrayed Jesus. (The Jewish authorities hated Jesus, but because he was popular with the crowds, they couldn’t figure out how to get to him until Judas played into their hands.)
Passover was a political event, and not just a religious one. Or, to be more accurate, there was no split between politics and religion in the ancient world: politics was religion, and vice versa. At Passover, Jews celebrated and remembered that when they were enslaved in Egypt, the Lord brought them out into the Promised Land. It’s not a perfect analogy, but celebrating Passover was like our celebrating the Fourth of July–it was a way to defiantly remember how the Children of Israel received their freedom.
This, of course, made the Romans nervous, which was why Pontius Pilate was in Jerusalem keeping watch on the crowds during Passover, and not at his opulent palace on the Mediterranean, called Caesarea Maritima.
At the Last Supper, Jesus explicitly makes the Passover ritual about him: “this is my body….this is my blood.” He is explaining to the disciples how his sacrificial death will make his people free from slavery to sin and death.

I preached on this passage Sunday, for those who are interested.

Today’s Scripture: