Changing What We’ve Always Done
Have you ever tried to change a long-held family tradition and met resistance?
Maybe the younger generation wants something more laid back. Or a new addition to the family by marriage makes a different holiday dish based on their traditions. Confronted with change, the matriarchs and patriarchs of the family might dig in their heels: “But this is what we’ve always done.” That will sound boring and redundant to some. But to those for whom a tradition has lasted through generations, that statement is brimming with nostalgia, memories, and emotional significance. It is hard to change something that is full of meaning.
The Passover was the annual observance that God had given to Israel to commemorate his deliverance of his people out of slavery in Egypt. This event is the pivotal, defining moment in Israelite history, forming the basis of their identity as the people of God. The Passover feast served as a regular reminder of who God is and of the unique standing of the people of Israel as those who God had redeemed for himself in the mighty act of salvation that is the Exodus story.
In Mark 14, it is nearly 1500 years after the Exodus event. We don’t know all the details of how Israel would have observed this ritual throughout her history, but we do know something about how the Passover was celebrated in Jesus’ time.
During the meal, questions would be asked about its elements, and the host would provide an explanation.
· The lamb was a reminder of the blood smeared on the door.
· The unleavened bread was a reminder of the quickness of the escape.
· The bitter herbs were a reminder of the bitterness of slavery, and so on.
Each part of the meal served as a symbol and remembrance of the story of God’s salvation in the Exodus.
This means that the meal in Mark 14:12-25 is not just an ordinary Thursday evening supper with Jesus and his disciples. This is a meal that is packed with meaning and theological significance. Can you imagine the weight of Jesus’ words in this moment as he teaches his disciples a new remembrance in the elements of that meal? When Jesus takes the bread and the cup and assigns meaning to them, he is not giving meaning to something that otherwise had no meaning. He is changing the meaning of a meal that was loaded with significance and meaning for millions of Israelites throughout her 1500 years of history!
Even more shocking, Jesus identifies the bread and the cup as now pointing to himself.
This is my body. (Mark 14:22)
This is my blood of the covenant. (Mark 14:24)
What had stood as a remembrance that previously pointed to what Yahweh had done in the Exodus will now point to Jesus’ body and blood. This is a preposterous and even blasphemous pronouncement – unless Jesus is Yahweh. And because he is, the weight of the symbolism in the Passover event serves as the perfect context for Jesus to show his disciples the significance of what is about to take place on the cross.
You would be hard-pressed to find a more significant day and a more significant way to show that the most significant event in history is about to take place. Jesus is not taking from or adding to the Passover. He is fulfilling it. This is a monumental moment in preparation for the pivotal, defining act in God’s story of redemption. Jesus is the lamb whose body was broken and whose blood was shed that the death we deserve might “pass over” us.
There’s a temptation with regularly observing the Lord’s Supper for it to become a “this is what we’ve always done” that is boring and redundant. May the context of the Passover and its significance for the Israelites stir our hearts into changing “this is what we’ve always done” to be one that holds tightly to it because it is brimming with significance for us. May we approach the Lord’s table with the weight it deserves, full of gratitude for what Jesus has done for us.
~ Andy Barker grew up in Boston, Ma. and relocated to Charlotte in 2008. He currently serves as a Shepherding Elder at LIFE Fellowship. He and his wife Melanie have five children and have attended LIFE Fellowship for over ten years.