Lesson for the Lord’s Day

And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat. Luke 22:8

There are some interesting parallels between the Passover, a feast celebrated by Jews, and the Lord’s Supper, which is celebrated by Christians. One of those parallels is the need for preparation. With the Passover, the preparations are all physical. That is, the place where the Passover must be purged of leaven, and all of the arrangements for the meal must be carried out according to the Law and Jewish tradition. With the Lord’s Supper, the preparations are primarily spiritual, other than the setting of the table with the bread and the cup. But the purpose of both feasts is the same, as the Lord Jesus told Peter and John, ‘that we may eat’.

Because of the different type of preparation for each feast, the actions to be performed are very different. The careful following of ritual forms the preparation for the Passover. The ceremonial cleansing, the various dishes, the bitter herbs, the various cups to be consumed, these are carefully planned and set out, so that one would see very little difference between a Passover observance in one part of the world or in one house from the Passover observance in a different part of the world or in another house. But in the preparation for the Lord’s Supper, great variety is evident. The physical observance of the feast itself follows a familiar pattern. But the spiritual tone of the feast can be much different from place to place, and even from one week to the next. That is because of the difference in preparation for the feast among the participants. This means a considerable difference in the appreciation of what we eat, as we feast on the remembrance of the death of Christ.

Those who prepare for the Lord’s Supper do so in different ways and at different levels. A young and inexperienced Christian will gather a few thoughts to be expressed in a few words when He rises to worship. A mature student of the Scriptures will prepare the best of His meditations of the week to be expressed in a few more words when He rises to worship. Between the two, different men will assemble what they have experienced spiritually through the week, for presentation before the Lord. Some will select a particular hymn that has special meaning to them. And the sisters will prepare in the same way as the men, although they do so for meditation during the feast, not for presentation. The result of all of this preparation is that we eat. We eat the joy of our salvation and all that it gives us. We eat the remembrance of the life and death of the Lord Jesus in the partaking of the emblems. And we eat the glorious hope of replacing this temporary feast with the permanent feast of Heaven when our Lord comes.

Preparation for the feast is important. How we prepare determines how wonderful the feast will be and how much we have to eat. – Jim MacIntosh