The Crucial Hours – I will Keep the Passover

Your kid gets into a terrible car crash.  He is rushed to the hospital for surgery and the doctor comes out of the operating room and says, “We are at a crossroads. The next couple of hours are crucial.”  You get what he’s saying.  Likewise, the time we spend together this Lent is also crucial because this time leads to the cross of Jesus. We will meditate on the way the decisive and crucial hours were for Jesus, those around him, and us. On this Ash Wednesday, we consider Jesus’ critical words,

“I will observe the Passover .”

Down to the Last Detail

When the Matthew quotes Jesus saying, “I will observe the Passover,” Jesus was going to keep God’s command to celebrate the Passover.  It was about 1,500 BC when God delivered his people from Egypt. The angel of death put to death every firstborn Egyptian male as a judgment on Pharaoh and his refusal to let his people go. However, the name “Passover” came from what the angel of death DIDN’T do when he came to a Hebrew house with the blood of the Passover lamb on its doorposts. The angel passed over those homes, harming no one.

Of course Jesus was going to keep the Passover that evening. It’s what every Jew was doing. Well, probably not every Jew. There were undoubtedly some Jews who thought that it wasn’t a big deal if they didn’t keep the Passover every year. There were probably some Jews who had decided that they would just keep most of the Passover. They would get together for a meal like everyone else was doing, but they wouldn’t worry about attending to every last detail of the Passover.

There were certainly some Jews who were keeping the Passover in outward appearance only—the lamb slaughtered, the bread fully unleavened, etc.—but their hearts were somewhere else.  They were making plans to kill Jesus! If they admitted to themselves that they weren’t exactly keeping the Passover in full, they could argue that at this moment, this year, they had more pressing things to attend to like family, work, recreation, or even just being lazy.

If there was anyone who could have thought, “I think I have more pressing things on my mind right now,” it would have been Jesus!  He had the Jewish Sanhedrin plotting to kill him and a group of self-centered disciples surrounding him. If anyone ever had a good excuse to skip the Passover it was Jesus! But he didn’t. Instead he insisted, “I will observe the Passover.”

That’s an interesting choice of word—“observe.” It makes us think of how we talk about the need to keep God’s commandments, but there are times when we believe we have more pressing things on our mind; times when, instead of keeping God’s commandments, we can set them aside for now.

Just as Jesus said, “I will observe the Passover,” we say, “I will keep God’s commandments . . . ,” but then we add, “some time.” “I will keep the 3rd Commandment . . . next weekend, because I have more pressing things to do this weekend.” “I will keep God’s 6^th Commandment until a cute person walks in front of me.”  I’ll keep God’s 8^th Commandment – wait!  Do you even know what the 8th Commandment is?  What?  Is it too inconvenient to memorize a few Commandments from God?  So often our keeping of God’s commands is a conditional, partial, “How about I give you at best 85%?” commitment. Frequently, we don’t even live up to that level of commitment!  Luther commented on the Preface to the Large Catechism that if a person could not recite the 10 Commandments and the Apostles Creed that ought not be allowed to the Lord’s Supper. The words of St Paul condemn us: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law” (Gal 3:10). On this Ash Wednesday repent because you realize that you deserve God’s eternal punishment.

Observing the Passover was part of God’s law, and just like all the other demands of God’s law, Jesus had to keep them all perfectly. Not just when it was convenient, not just 90% of the time, not just when it fit into his schedule. No, the Passover was to be kept year after year, every single year. So Jesus kept the Passover Perfectly Down To the Last Detail.

That should not be at all surprising. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus indicated how committed he was.  He said, “¹⁷ “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ Amen I tell you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not even the smallest letter, or even part of a letter, will in any way pass away from the Law until everything is fulfilled.”(Matthew 5:17,18 NIV). Those of you who remember the King James Version will recall that Jesus said that not even “one jot or one tittle” would disappear from the Law.

One of the things an old guy like me notices about texting etiquette is that things like commas and periods are often not observed. Even the O in okay is sometimes omitted! I would guess it’s because they’re viewed as something of a hassle and not really too big a deal. You can leave them out without really losing any of the meaning.

Similarly, in Jesus’ time, a jot referred to the yodh, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet (in the Greek alphabet, iota). (Who knows, perhaps in the interest of time and expediency, Hebrew schoolchildren sometimes left out the yodh, and perhaps some 60-year-old rabbi ranted about it.) A tittle was even smaller, referring to a slight projecting point on some of its letters. It was very small, but it made a difference. Think of how similar an S and the numeral 5 look. Just a tiny bit of sloppiness on the two right angles of the numeral 5 turns it into an S. But while including the jot and carefully crafting the tittle would ensure the meaning was crystal clear, leaving it out probably wasn’t too big a deal either. Right?  Praise Jesus for his perfect attitude toward every tiny thing God required in the Book of the Law!  It had to be this way if Jesus was going to be our perfect substitute—right down to the smallest jot or tittle.

With Perfect Fulfillment

So Jesus kept the Passover that evening. He even took charge of the whole affair. “¹⁸ He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him the Teacher says, ‘My time is near. I will observe the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” He arranged for a place where he could celebrate with his disciples. He appointed Peter and John to make the preparations, to ensure that they would have a lamb “without blemish or defect” and have it killed. Jesus served as the host at the meal itself, distributing the unleavened bread and wine (we’ll save the details until Maundy Thursday of Holy Week). Jesus Fulfilled God’s Demands Perfectly.

Once the meal was completed, after Jesus had kept the Passover according to God’s Command, Jesus really kept the Passover. You see, the Passover meal was even more than a remembrance of God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt through the blood of a lamb. It also foreshadowed God’s deliverance of his people from sin through the promised Messiah, who would fulfill God’s demands for a perfect human life to save us from our sins. Now Jesus became the Passover Lamb. John the Baptist had proclaimed that Jesus was the one, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus, our Passover Lamb, went to the cross to pay the penalty of our sins—for every time that we have failed and refused to fulfill God’s commandments.  Shall I try it?  (Recite the 10 Commandments).  I did it.  So can I go to the Lord’s Supper?  No!  Not because I checked off the box like a good little Pharisee, but because faith in Jesus Christ makes us worthy. Because Jesus fulfilled God’s demands perfectly, there is no need to offer another sacrifice on this Ash Wednesday.  We recognize who we are—dust with a little liquid added.  We are God’s through the water of baptism and assured our sins are forgiven through the wafer and wine of the Lord’s Supper.  Jesus fulfilled everything for us perfectly!  You are forgiven.

Of all the days you remember in your life, what is the one day that you hope people don’t forget?  Your birthday, right?  You know how you would feel if no one remembered your birthday.  So, how do you think Jesus feels when he gave his life for the world and precious few bother to remember?  However, you can remember what Jesus has done for you, especially by doing what you have done here tonight and what you have the opportunity to do during Lent. You can come to hear about, and to worship, the one who perfectly fulfilled the Passover—and all things—for you.

Following major surgery the hours that follow that surgery are crucial.  Likewise, when we hear that Jesus say, “I will observe the Passover,” the Christian life that follows having heard these words is crucial.  It is not a mystery what Jesus did for you.  By observing the Passover, along with the rest of his life, Jesus saved you.  Jesus forgave you.  Jesus opened heaven for you.  Therefore, it’s crucial that we mark our foreheads and hearts with Ashes of Repentance, trusting in Jesus’ forgiveness and love.  For Jesus Perfectly Observed the Passover for you! Amen.