Last Sunday evening I partook of the Passover as instituted by our Lord. The apostle Paul wrote to the congregation at Corinth about this Passover:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." (I Corinthians 11:23-25 emphasis added)

In the Passover service we take the emblems of bread representing our Lord’s broken body, and the wine representing His shed blood, in remembrance of Him. As I was meditating upon these verses I got to thinking that our Lord’s suffering and death has to be the greatest expression of love known to the human race.

It says in Hebrews 2:9 that Jesus chose to “taste death for every person.” In order to understand what we face and deal with in life, He was not willing to impose on us that which He was not prepared to do Himself. He lived as a human being, He fought against sin and its attraction, He experienced suffering of unimaginable magnitude, and He died – not because He sinned, but because we sinned.

In this there is no greater love. In this God’s great love for you and for me is manifest (John 3:16).

However, Christ’s dying for the sins of the world is only part of the equation. Though Christ came to die and pay the penalty for our sins, we still have our part to do – if we wish to participate in the awesome future that God has planned for each and every human being – and that is, to become children of God and be given the gift of everlasting live (Romans 6:23 last part).

While Christ’s death pays the penalty for our sin, we are not to continue in sin. We are to cease from our transgression of God’s laws in order that we can become partakers of God’s divine nature. This process of not continuing in sin is highlighted as we observe the seven Days of Unleavened Bread which directly follow the Passover.

Leaven is a type of sin and becoming unleavened – that is, becoming like the sinless life of our Lord -- is an ongoing challenge for all who love the Lord.

Also, suffering is a part of the experience that God has ordained so that we may learn that there are two basic ways of life – the right way and the wrong way. The right way is the way of love towards God and love towards our neighbour (Matthew 22:37-39). The wrong way is the way of get and selfishness and every evil work (Galatians 5:19-21).

As beings of free choice, God wants us to choose the way of life, and not the way of death (Deuteronomy 30:19; II Peter 3:9). In this, too, we see His great love and the purpose He wants to achieve for each and every human being.

The Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread speak to us of a love of which there is no greater.