1 Corinthians 11:23-26 St. Luke 23:1-49

The Sacrifice of His Body and Blood

The first meal to be recorded in the Holy Scriptures is found in Genesis
3:6. "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its
fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." The
result of this meal was that "the eyes of both of them were opened, and they
knew that they were naked.and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God among the trees of the Garden."

One of the last meals to be recorded in the Gospel according to St. Luke
took place in a village called Emmaus. There we are told that as our Lord
sat down with Cleopas and his companion (most probably Mary, his wife),
"that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them." The result
of this meal was that "their eyes were opened and they knew Him".the exact
opposite of the first. Whereas the first meal ended with an unwelcome
revelation, leaving in its wake a shame and an estrangement, the supper at
Emmaus ended with a very welcome revelation that galvanized the recipients
into immediate and joyful action.instead of hiding from Him, they told
others about Him.they returned to Jerusalem to proclaim that which we have
come to know as the good news.

Tonight we will concern ourselves primarily with what transpired between
these two meals that consequently brought about such a contrast. During Holy
Week, we re-enact our Lord's deliberate actions, starting with His
Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem and ending with His exodus from it.

All too often the deeper meaning to these actions are lost due to a lack of
an adequate knowledge of the Older Testament, especially with regard to the
most central event in the history of Israel, namely the Lord's deliverance
of His people from bondage. The Exodus proper began with the Passover, a
ritual meal in which a lamb without spot or blemish was slaughtered, its
blood daubed on the door posts of believer's homes to protect the
inhabitants from the Angel of Death, and it body eaten by the whole family.

The yearly repetition of this meal was important enough for God to impose
sanctions against those who neglected to participate in it. Those who did
not understand the significance of the ritual were not excluded from
participation, but were rather instructed by the asking and answering of
questions. Thus all Israel celebrated and commemorated the great salvific
act of their God on a yearly basis. It was to be "a memorial" and "an
everlasting ordinance" because on that day, the Lord brought them out of the
land of Egypt.

It is not surprising then to see that our Lord chose this specific day on
which to institute the meal we have come to know as the Eucharist. The
Gospels and the Epistle reading for this evening teach us that this meal
also involved the sacrificial death of a Lamb and our protection from death
through participation in feasting on Him. This final Passover Meal was also
to be the herald of a deliverance - an exodus from death to life, from
slavery to freedom.

However, these contrasts and parallels are not limited to that which
fore-shadowed deliverance and that which fulfilled it. Indeed, the contrasts
and parallels are clearer when one examines the first supper, if you will,
and the last supper. The first meal brought death, symbolised by the two
animals that had to die to cover Adam and Eve's sin .the second brought
life, demonstrated in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first led to shame and sorrow, the second to liberty and joy. Death
reigned from the first meal to the second (cf. Romans 5:14-15).death came
through the first meal, but through the fulfilment of the second meal came
the resurrection of the dead (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20-24). While the first
Adam is our ancestor according to the flesh by which we were all born into
sin (cf. Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12), the Second Adam is the heavenly and
spiritual Ancestor of all those who are born again unto righteousness by
believing Him (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45-48).

Thus the Second Adam spoke in anticipation of the Last Supper: "I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he
will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I
shall give for the life of the world." Thus the received tradition was past
on: "Take eat; this is My Body which is broken for you; do this in
remembrance of Me. This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as
often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." And thus the Early Church
celebrated it: "For as the bread of the earth, receiving the invocation of
God, is no longer common bread but Eucharist, consisting of two things, an
earthly and a heavenly; so also our bodies, partaking of the Eucharist, are
no longer corruptible, having the hope of eternal resurrection." (Irenaeus,
Against Heresies, IV. xviii.)

The Covenant God established with Adam at Creation was broken with the first
supper..the New Covenant God established through His Son at the recreation,
was inaugurated at the Last Supper. The first supper proclaimed death to all
until the first Coming of Christ, and the second proclaims life to all who
would be united together in Him until He returns.

As such, the Eucharist serves to strengthen those who are in Christ, but it
also serves to challenge those who are not. Thus the Last Supper is a
continual reminder to both that there is forgiveness for the sinner - for
those still under the sentence of death since the first supper - and
strength for the saints - for those who have received life through the
propitiatory and substitutionary death of Christ.

As we saw in our introduction, the result of the first meal recorded in the
Scriptures was the opening of the eyes leading to alienation. The result of
one of the last meals recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke was also the
opening of the eyes yet leading to reconciliation. The meal that brought
about this contrast was that which our Lord instituted on this night. Thus,
as we freely come to partake once more of His Body broken and His Blood
shed, let us remember that we may share in the joy of Cleopas and his wife
only because we share in a meal that transcends time itself. Here.together
with all the saints who once were united in the death of the first meal, but
who later were united in life because of the second.here we share in the
communion of the Body and Blood of the Sacrificed Paschal Lamb, our Lord.our
Deliverer.Jesus the Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).

© Johann W. Vanderbijl III 2004