Passover: Giving thanks for the blood of the Lamb

“What I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterward, you will understand.” In the name of the father of the son of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

On this holy night, we celebrate the institution of the Lord's supper. Before his passion and death, Jesus celebrated the Passover feast with his disciples. He took the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22.19). Then he took the cup and said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant of my blood” (Luke 22.29). It was no accident that he instituted the Lord’s Supper at the Passover Feast of the Jews, signaling God’s plan and promise of salvation to all those who would believe in Him.

The Passover is that great feast in which the Israelites remembered the goodness and mercy of God as he delivered them in Egypt. They were commanded to kill a lamb, to shed its blood, to paint the blood of the Lamb upon their door posts. Those whose door posts had the blood of the Lamb were spared from God's wrath. This Passover feast foreshadows the true Passover that was to come in the person of Jesus Christ. For those who are stained with the Blood of Christ, God's wrath passes over them. Those who have faith in the Lamb and in his blood receive the gift of everlasting life. All of the sins of the world was laid upon him who was and is the perfect sacrifice and propitiation for us.

Saint Paul in his letter to the Corinthian Church reminds them of the words of our Lord, when he told his disciples to celebrate the great gift of holy Eucharist. Eucharist comes from a Greek word that means Thanksgiving. When we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we perform an act of thanksgiving, just as Jesus did in the upper room with his twelve disciples. At that feast of Passover that Jesus was celebrating with his disciples, scripture tells us that Jesus took the bread and the cup and he gave thanks. He gave thanks to God for his providence, and he modeled for us what we are to do. He is the example of how we are to live. By his example, we are to live a life of Thanksgiving for all of God's goodness and grace. And above all, we should be thankful for the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sitting at the Passover meal, Jesus tells his disciples to continue the celebration of the holy Eucharist and remembrance of him. And this is what we're doing tonight. We are remembering that Christ gave himself for us. We remember that his blood was shed for us, and in so doing, in celebrating the Eucharist, we live a life of Thanksgiving. In the breaking of bread, he reveals himself to us, and in turn we should live a life of Thanksgiving.