The JESUS Film 24 Day ChallengeSample

"The JESUS Film 24-Day Challenge: Day 22"

Review

The last meal shared by Jesus and His disciples looks back to the first Passover—God’s judgment of Egypt and redemption of Israel as recorded in Exodus 11–12. After Israel spent hundreds of years as slaves in Egypt, God decreed that the time had come for their freedom. When Pharaoh refused to release them, God declared that every firstborn male—people and livestock—would die. For the Jews, however, He provided a way of redemption. They were to slaughter a lamb without any defects, and to sprinkle its blood on the doorposts of their homes. The judgment would then “pass over” those homes marked with the blood. In essence, the lamb’s blood was the substitute for their lives.

The symbolism of the Passover is clear in Luke’s account of the Last Supper. Jesus made it plain that He was the Passover lamb, and that His body and blood would be the means through which salvation was secured. He directed His disciples to regularly commemorate His sacrifice, to remind themselves of the price that was paid for their salvation.

Jesus never taught that the disciples were saved from their sins by participating in this memorial service; He used the bread and the wine as symbols of His body and blood. Salvation is through faith alone as we receive Jesus into our lives.

Reflect

• How did Jesus show His concern for His disciples, even though He knew He would be dying a horrible death just a few hours later?
• Why do you think Jesus told Peter in advance that he (Peter) would betray Him?
• Think about Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. What do you think He was referring to when He spoke of the “cup?” What lessons can we learn from Jesus’ willingness to do the Father’s will?
• Both Judas and Peter betrayed Jesus—but their later reactions were completely different. Contrast the two as they thought about what they did.

Respond

Father, thank you that You sent Your Son to die, and that His body was pierced and His blood shed for me. Give me a heart like Peter, who repented after he denied Jesus. I pray that no one would be like Judas, who hardened his heart and denied Jesus because of money. Today, Lord Jesus, I affirm again that my trust is only in You for forgiveness and redemption. I worship You because You died for me.

In Jesus’ name, amen.