The Passover and the Psalm

Each year around Passover, I try to watch a “Christ in the Passover” video by the ministry Jews for Jesus. Every time I watch it, I’m reminded again of how much I, as a twenty-first century Gentile, fail to understand about the Last Supper. Today when I watched the video, I noticed that the presenter mentioned the final verse of the Last Supper narrative, “After they had sung a hymn, they went out” (Matt. 26:30). He explained that the anonymous hymn was probably Psalm 118. So I read through the psalm, imagining Jesus singing this song, knowing the cross is only hours away from Him. I’m sure we could spend all day on this psalm, but I want to just touch on three verses.

“…He has become my salvation” (vs. 14). Although God could physically save His people, as He did at Passover when He rescued them from Egypt, it was only through Jesus’ death that He could offer salvation from sin. Did Jesus think of that as He sang? Did He remember the ways He had rescued His people in the past, knowing that to become our eternal salvation He would have to die?

“…He has made His light shine upon us” (vs. 27). Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah begins with “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…” (Isaiah 9:2). John’s gospel starts with, “the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). The motif of light and darkness is a powerful one in the Bible. As He sang, did Jesus think about the darkness that would come upon Him as He took our sin on the cross? Did His mind leap ahead to His resurrection glory, knowing that after His sacrifice anyone living in darkness could come to Him and find eternal light?

I love how this psalm points to Jesus, and I want to close with these words, sung at both the beginning and the end, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever” (vs. 1 & 29). With Good Friday almost upon us, let’s give thanks to the Lord, who in His goodness sent His Son to rescue us from darkness and show us His salvation, not because we deserved it, but because “His love endures forever.”

This is the Youtube video I watched from Jews for Jesus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKM3t6LxF2s

Photo from https://pixabay.com/photos/olives-tree-olive-tree-green-789140/