One On One: 100 Days With Jesus--PASSIONSample

Proposal: The One who will come for His bride    

How would you answer? If I could choose, I would eat ________for my last meal and I would eat it with ______. 

Jesus answered that question like this: My last meal will be the Passover Seder and I will eat it with My disciples. 

The Seder is the most special occasion of the year for every Jewish family. Everything about it reminds them of what is best about their heritage. The food, the symbolism, the candles, the wine, the rhetoric, the sequence, the questions—all point to the time God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. 

This year, no one in that upper room realized just how significant this Seder was, except of course, Jesus. He lived under the shadow of the cross, now about 15 hours away. The countdown had begun. Judas had left to alert the Pharisees where Jesus could be found. Jesus likely sensed Satan’s presence in the room. 

He stands and raises a cup of wine like a toast. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Wait, the disciples thought, this doesn’t sound like the Seders. This is a marriage proposal!

When a Jewish man proposed to a woman, he passed her a cup of wine. If she drank from it, she accepted the proposal and they were engaged. With the wine comes a promise—a new covenant. He promises to pay the price to take her as his bride. He would then go to his father’s house and begin building a suite of rooms for them to make their home. When the place he prepared for her was ready, he promised to come get her and they would be married that night. She wouldn’t know when he would come, so she had to stay ready. 

On their last night together before the cross, Jesus proposes to the ones He loves. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." (Luke 22:20). He makes a promise to them and every follower after: I’ll pay the price to redeem you. I'll give up my life for you and go my Father's house to prepare a place for you. And one day I will return and take you to be with me forever. 

On a night reserved for a long, grateful look at the past, Jesus redirected their attention to the future. He completed the picture of the old Passover tradition by pointing to the rescue His own sacrifice would provide the next day. 

We do the same every time we remember the Lord’s Supper like He told us to. “Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” Every time you eat the bread and drink the cup, remember the price Jesus paid and the promise He made to take you as His bride. 

Though the time may feel long, the days are short till He comes to take us home, to be forever with Him. Our house is almost ready, and the bridegroom’s return is getting closer by the day. 

Tomorrow: One on one with Jesus as He washes feet