When I was young, my sister was a dancer. She did jazz, tap and ballet. I remember, with some level of angst, all the hours spent with my mom waiting in the car or in the hallway while my sister engaged yet again in another dress rehearsal for some major performance that was imminently coming in the next few days.
My mom and my sister would be so caught up with making preparations and rehearsing the performance that often times I would dream in my own mischievous way about how I could pull some prank or get my sister to mess up her performance. See… while my mom and sister were rehearsing for the major dance recital of the year with great anticipation and excitement… I was rehearsing what I might do to derail the dance-train with my own carefully prepared plans. We all live our lives rehearsing the ebb and flow of our souls.
You can learn a lot about people by observing the habits and the patterns of their lives. You could argue that you can know for sure what a person really loves, really wants and really worships just by observing the habitual patterns of their lifestyle. I would even say that the habits and the patterns of our lives are a constant rehearsal of the deep desires and longings and cravings of our souls.
I would propose that the habits of our lives are a rehearsal of the liturgy of our souls. A liturgy is simply an outline of the repetitive activity that we engage in. Just like a dress rehearsal for a dance recital or a play or a wedding… our souls constantly produce a series of lifestyle activity or liturgy that becomes the dress rehearsal for the dance or the play of our souls. If the life we live here on Earth is nothing but a shadow or a dress rehearsal for the life that is to come in eternity, then what truths do we rehearse with the habits and patterns of our lives? What longings and cravings does the liturgy of our lives rehearse? Is your life a constant rehearsal of the gospel? Is your life marked by the rehearsal of the message of the cross of Christ? What does the rehearsal of your life say about the condition of your soul?
As we examine this text we’re really stepping into a dress rehearsal with Jesus and his disciples. It’s a dress rehearsal called the Feast of Unleavened Bread where the Passover, the Kingdom of God, the Bread and the Cup are all rehearsed together in the context of community. In short… as we enter into this text we are really entering into an experience of being in a gospel-centered community with Christ & his apostles.
Look at Luke 22:14 – 20…
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Verses 14 – 15: Jesus Rehearses The Passover…
Luke tells us that “when the hour came, Jesus reclined at table, and the apostles were with him. And he said to them ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’” All the preparations had been made. Jesus’ predetermined plan was running its course to the cross where he would suffer for the sake of sinners. Jesus was ready to suffer so that the price for sin could be paid. He was ready to suffer so that the presence of sin in believers could be ruthlessly uprooted. He was ready to suffer so that the power of sin could be destroyed. Jesus earnestly desired to rehearse this Passover with his apostles. He craved this rehearsal. He longed for this rehearsal.
This rehearsal of the Passover was nothing new to Jesus or his apostles. Ever since the events of the Exodus, God’s people had been engaged in this annual rehearsal of God’s powerful work of rescuing and redeeming his people from the clutches of Satan, sin and death. Every year, Jews from all over the country, would take their annual vacation to Jerusalem, to rehearse the Passover. They would kill a spotless lamb, roast it for eating, prepare unleavened bread, stock up on extra wine and cook up some bitter tasting herbs. Then they would gather in small groups reclined around a table to eat and drink and rehearse the salvation that God had provided for them as he set them free from the bondage of Egypt.
In the Exodus God set the Israelites free from being slaves to cruel slave-masters. He set them free from the bondage of captivity. He rescued them from the angel of death who passed over their homes because they obediently splashed the blood of a perfect lamb on their doorposts. They ate flat bread without yeast as a rehearsal of God’s removal of sin that puffs us up. They ate bitter herbs to rehearse the bitterness of the effects of sin and slavery. They drank wine to rehearse the blood of the spotless lamb that was poured out for them. They rehearsed all of these things while seated in comfort around a table together as they rehearsed freedom in a reclined posture. This was the rehearsal that was meant to help the Israelites remember what God had done for them and what he was going to do for them in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. And now the apostles are experiencing this rehearsal in the very presence of Christ. This dress rehearsal of the Passover was meant to reorient the liturgy of their souls. What does this dress rehearsal of the Passover provoke deep within the liturgy of your soul in these moments?
Verses 16 – 18: Jesus Rehearses The Kingdom…
Luke continues his description of this dress rehearsal of the soul by drawing our attention to Jesus’ words regarding the Kingdom of God in verses 16 – 18. Jesus says “‘I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, ‘Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’” Jesus is simply rehearsing the truths of the kingdom of God with his apostles in this portion of our passage. He’s rehearsing the truth that God’s kingdom is not of this world. He’s rehearsing the truth that even though God’s kingdom is made visible to the world through the work of Christ in and through his followers it’s not yet completely established. He’s rehearsing the truth that in the completed Kingdom of God in Heaven, the bride who is the church who is knit together by the cross of Christ through the power of the Spirit will finally feast at the marriage supper of the Lamb with the groom who is Christ.
This cup in verse 17 is not the same cup as the one we see in verse 20. This first cup that Jesus gave thanks for and gave to his apostles to divide among themselves was most likely one of many cups that was passed around the table. And many scholars believe that it was the cup of communion or community or fellowship. This cup is not to be confused with the other cup that came at the end of this passage, which symbolizes Christ’s blood. Instead, this first cup gives us a glimpse yet again into the communal nature of the body of Christ. It’s literally a rehearsal of the kingdom of God, which is the community of God or the family of God. This first cup is meant to remind us of our deep need for and belonging to one another in community. By our faith in Christ and his work at the cross we are saved out of the old family or community or kingdom of sin and slavery and death and we are placed into the kingdom or the community or the family of God as his sons and daughters. This dress rehearsal of the kingdom was meant to reorient the liturgy of the souls of Jesus’ apostles.
And when Jesus says that he won’t eat of this meal again until Heaven he is simply saying that he looks forward to engaging in this communal meal in perfection at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Ask yourself this… what does this dress rehearsal of the kingdom of God provoke deep within the liturgy of your soul? What does this dress rehearsal of the kingdom of God reveal about your tendency towards individualism or your temptation to walk this road alone? The dress rehearsal of the kingdom of God is meant to reorient our souls around our need to belong to a community, a kingdom and a family that is knit together by the cross of Christ by the power of the Spirit. What does this dress rehearsal of the Kingdom provoke deep within the liturgy of your soul today?
Verse 19: Jesus Rehearses The Bread…
After Jesus rehearsed the Passover and the Kingdom with his apostles he turns his attention to rehearsing the bread with them. Luke tells us that “he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” What Jesus says here would have absolutely reoriented the souls of his apostles. Normally when the unleavened bread was broken and eaten it was done to remind the Jews of the brokenness they experienced as they fled from the oppressive slavery of Egypt but now Jesus reorients or expands the hearts of his followers to understand that the broken bread is a symbol of his soon-to-be broken body given freely on their behalf.
Imagine the significance of this moment. Imagine this moment as Jesus takes the bread and tears it into pieces right in front of them and gives it to them saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Rehearse this in memory of me.” Rehearse this memory of the gift of my body given willingly for your sake. Rehearse this memory of my body being broken for you. Rehearse this memory personally in community with one another. This dress rehearsal of the breaking and the giving of bread to one another was meant to reorient the liturgy of the apostles souls around the truth of Christ’s body being given and broken for their sin. This would have been an astounding moment to be a part of.
Think about the actual horror of the cross that would happen the next day. Can you imagine how much impact this moment would have on the souls of the apostles the next day? Can you imagine it? Imagine that you’re rehearsing this feast with Jesus just as you have done year after year and then he drops the bomb that this broken bread is actually meant to help you rehearse the horror of the cross as his body was broken and given freely for you. What does this dress rehearsal of the Bread provoke deep within the liturgy of your soul today?
Verse 20: Jesus Rehearses The Cup…
If the rehearsal of the Passover, the rehearsal of the Kingdom of God and the rehearsal of the bread weren’t enough for Jesus’ apostles, what Jesus does and says next would have been the showstopper. Luke says that Jesus took “the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” At first glance, for many of us in the West this short statement may not seem to be any more significant then the affirming of Christ’s blood being poured out for us. And it is true that this is what this short sentence is all about. But I would argue that we often are not moved deeply within our souls because we don’t have the same experience with this cup as Jesus’ original listeners.
As Westerners we need to wrestle with what the apostles were experiencing here. When we read this passage or when we participate in the consuming of the communion elements, we may rightly see images or paintings or movies clips depicting the bloody murder of Christ at the cross and this is a good thing for us to remember as we rehearse the cup together. But for Jesus’ audience it would have been a much more robust experience all together. You see… when Jesus’ apostles prepared the Passover in our previous verses (7 – 13) they would have gone to great lengths to get everything just right and one of the things they would have done was engage in the bloody slaughter of a spotless lamb as they rehearsed Exodus 24 together. In Exodus 24 Moses led the people of God in a mass slaughter of spotless lambs while preserving every drop of blood in large basins that he later threw one half on the alter of sacrifice and the other half on the people as he said “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you.” This was a bloody ordeal. Can you imagine making an agreement with your spouse by slaughtering a lamb and throwing the blood on each other?
One scholar says, “Making the covenant was a messy, bloody business, it was not signed like a contract, but sealed in blood. This was a sign of God’s mercy, for the blood on the alter showed that the people had forgiveness for their sins, while the blood on the people themselves showed that they were included in the covenant of salvation.” So this rehearsal of pouring out blood was a messy gruesome business and now Jesus is saying “Hey… my blood is the new covenant that is poured out for you. My blood that I give freely covers your sin. My blood that I give freely pays the price for your sin. My blood that I give freely washes away your sin. This new covenant is made wholly by me and is offered freely for you.” This is astounding! This is meant to reorient your soul! Ask yourself this: What does this dress rehearsal of the Cup provoke deep within the liturgy of your soul today?
Closing reflections…
One of the things that doesn’t go well with my soul is interruptions. I’m a fairly routine, organized, planner. I love bullet points, checklists and liturgies. And as I was writing the end of this message my phone rang. It was my wife. To be honest I wrestled for a moment with whether or not to answer it because interruption frustrates me. Nevertheless I answered the phone only to find out that one of our daughters had been missed in the line up of children being picked up from school and still needed to be picked up. So I went to the car and drove to the school to get her. When I got in the car I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I don’t deal well with interruptions. On my way there I heard a song on the radio with lyrics that said, “Love should leave a mark.” And I was astounded in that moment. The Lord had sovereignly interrupted my sermon prep… He sovereignly interrupted my daily rhythm… He sovereignly interrupted the liturgy of self that was flooding my soul… He sovereignly interrupted my liturgical writing about the liturgy of the soul… He sovereignly interrupted me to reveal to me once again the necessity of having my soul interrupted by the liturgy of the cross of Christ where his love ran red with a purpose to reorient and mark my soul with his love for all of eternity.
Some of you hearing this message today might feel like you’ve just been interrupted. Some of you feel like you’ve just had the liturgical rhythm of your soul interrupted. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe the Lord is trying to get your attention so that he can reorient your soul around the rhythmical liturgy of the cross of Christ. One scholar says that in this passage, Jesus gives “his disciples a meal to remember before making the sacrifice they could never forget.” J.C. Ryle, also commented on this passage by saying, “The two elements of bread and wine were intended to preach Christ crucified as our substitute. They were to be a visible sermon, appealing to the believer’s senses, and teaching the old foundational-truth of the gospel, that Christ’s death on the cross is the life of man’s soul.”
Christ’s death on the cross is the life of man’s soul. How is it with your soul today? Is your soul rehearsing the liturgy of the gospel? Is your soul rehearsing the freedom you have in Christ? Is your soul rehearsing the blessings you have in community with other believers? Is your soul rehearsing the gift of Christ’s broken body given at the cross? Is your soul rehearsing the gift of Christ’s blood poured out on your behalf? Is your soul rehearsing the liturgy of the Passover, the Kingdom, the Bread and the Cup today?
Or is your soul rehearsing the liturgy of self? Is your soul rehearsing the bitterness and un-forgiveness you’ve been harboring towards someone else? Is your soul rehearsing lustful fantasies of self-pleasure? Is your soul rehearsing anger and resentment towards someone who’s hurt you deeply? Is your soul rehearsing plans for self-promotion in your vocation or social status? Is your soul rehearsing ways that you can neglect your family more in pursuit of a better life? Is your soul rehearsing ways to manipulate others to give you what you want? How is it with your soul today?
If the life we live here on Earth is nothing but a shadow or a dress rehearsal for the life that is to come in eternity, then what truths do you rehearse with the habits and the patterns of your life? What longings and cravings does the liturgy of your life rehearse? Is your life a constant rehearsal of the gospel? Is your life marked by the rehearsal of the message of the cross of Christ? What does the rehearsal of your life say about the condition of your soul? What does this dress rehearsal of the Passover, the Kingdom, the Bread and the Cup provoke deep within the liturgy of your soul today?