The Passover Mandate
By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe
Today is Maundy Thursday.
Maundy means mandate. On this
day, Jesus mandated the Passover in communion, the Lord’s Supper. In Biblical times, when people ate together,
they entered into covenant with one another.
As Christians, in various times and places, when we celebrate communion,
we seldom realize that in the act we are entering into is not only covenant with
our Lord, but with one another.
After they had finished the Passover meal, Jesus and the
disciples sang a hymn and went out to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of
Olives. There Jesus prayed. He not only poured out His anguish before His
Father, He prayed for believers through all the ages. John 17:20-22: "I do not pray for these alone, but also
for those who will believe in Me through their word; "that they all may be one, as You,
Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the
world may believe that You sent Me. "And the glory which You gave Me I
have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.”
As He faced the agony of the cross, the desire of Jesus’
heart was for unity in the Church—unity across denomination, culture and
ethnicity. His desire is the same today
and forever more.
1 Corinthians 12: “For as the body is one and has many
members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so
also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether
Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one
Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.”
Let’s join together spiritually wherever we are today and,
in unity, celebrate the Lord’s Supper
.
Matthew 26:26-28: And
as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to
the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body.'' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and
gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood
of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
