"Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced . . .

He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me?"

"And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' "

         I would like to lead us into a time of remembrance of Jesus before coming to the table today. In the Bible, remembrance is always more than a history lesson, always more than the re-telling of a story. It is a re-telling of an event in such a way that the power of that event is present to us. Darrel Bock states that remembrance "solidifies a community's identity by taking them back to events that forged who they have now become." For the Jewish community, the Passover meal has been such a time of remembrance. For Christians it has been the Lord's Supper. Joel Green puts it this way: "The remembering brings the behaviors and attitudes of Jesus into the lives of the believers. The features of his life become embodied in the community."

         In the final week of Jesus' life he takes control of events. He clearly knows every detail of what will happen. He is not surprised or deceived by anyone on the way to the cross. He gathers his disciples together for a Passover meal, and eagerly anticipates this time with them. This is his final meal with them before the cross, the final opportunity to give them words that will sustain them through the events of the next few days.

         If you have been to a Passover dinner, you will know that the remembrance of deliverance from Egypt includes scripture reading, prayer, songs of thanks, and a detailed explanation of the various symbolic foods. As God's action in delivering his people from slavery in Egypt is told, there is also time to focus on God's faithfulness and on the hope of future deliverance and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Joel Green writes, "The celebration of the Passover is not self-interpreting – why this particular food is eaten requires exposition." Interpretation is at the center of remembrance. So at the Last Supper, Jesus explains that the bread is his body, broken for us. The wine is his blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. In the great story of God's deliverance of his people, Jesus is the central character.

         In the same way, the meaning of the cross and resurrection of Jesus is not self-evident. Telling the story, re-enacting a Passion play or making a movie of these events, is not enough. There must be explanation, there must be meaning given to the events of the arrest, trial, suffering and death of Jesus. This is where Old Testament passages fill in detail and understanding for us. So the song of the servant in Isaiah 50 brings depth and clarity to our remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus at the Lord's Table. Jesus takes on the words of the Servant in Isaiah. The inclusion of these words helps to understand and to experience the power of the cross. This remembrance brings us to the cross.

         In this passage, the servant says four things about the Sovereign Lord.

•   He has given me an instructed tongue.
•   He has opened my ears.
•   He helps me (vindicates me).
•   He helps me – who is he that will condemn me?

         The Servant says that the Sovereign LORD has given him an instructed tongue, a word that sustains the weary. Paul Hanson says that a sustaining word is not empty well-wishing. It is a word that instills hope and exposes the wickedness of the oppressor. How does this word that Jesus brings to the Last Supper, "This do in remembrance of me," sustain the weary?

In the Jewish Passover meal there is a time when the people pray for God "to remember and send the Messiah." When we come to the table, we know that God has remembered, he has saved us, he has redeemed us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We remember that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him, shall not perish but have everlasting life."

That is the word that sustains the weary.

         The Servant in Isaiah says, "The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears." Hearing is a synonym for obedience. This speaks of the suffering of Jesus. He gave his back to those who beat him, his cheeks to those who pulled his beard, his face for mocking and spitting. All these speak of disgrace, of shaming and humiliating. It is what might be done to a prisoner of war, a defeated king. Yet, the Servant is not disgraced. Why? You cannot degrade a person any more than by what happens at crucifixion. Yet Jesus crucified is not disgraced. The sovereign Lord helps him.

         At the Last Supper, Jesus takes bread and breaks it and says "This is my body which is broken for you." He takes a cup of wine and says, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." The cross is not disgrace for Christ, because it is redemptive, because through the cross we come to forgiveness of sin.

         N.T. Wright says that for the first century Jew, forgiveness of sin was always connected to a return from exile. They knew that it was their sin that sent them into exile, that brought oppression upon them. Forgiveness, then, would be a return home.

         Forgiveness of sin comes through the costly obedience of Jesus. Our sin is serious and real. It is a central problem in our living. Forgiveness is not just being excused or having faults overlooked. It is not permission to go on living as we please, wandering in lostness. Forgiveness always carries with it the call to return to the Lord. It is an opening of the way home. To be forgiven allows us to say, with the Prodigal Son, "Now I can go home. Now I can be at home."

         Then the Servant says in two different ways, "The Sovereign LORD helps me." The first help speaks of vindication by God. The second help from God means that no one will be able to condemn. There is victory in the cross. Too often these days, we see the cross portrayed as defeat and resurrection as victory. The light goes out on Good Friday, but comes back on Sunday. Death wins on Friday, but life wins on Sunday. This is not the Gospel. Jesus is the victor on the cross. Jesus defeats death in his death. Jesus breaks the power of sin on the cross. In his sacrificial death on the cross our sins are forgiven. Then, in the resurrection of Jesus, we see the victory of God, who does not abandon his son to the grave.

         The Sovereign LORD helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? Who will pass judgment on the Risen Lord? Will Pilate? Will Caesar? No, but one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

         Today, as we begin Holy Week, we break the bread, and remember it is his body broken for us. We pour the cup and remember that his blood was poured out for us. This week we will gather on Thursday and Friday to tell the story, to act it out, to hear the word of Jesus and stand near the cross. Next Sunday we will peek into the tomb and find it empty. He is Risen!

         The brass will play and the children will sing "Alleluia." In remembering, we will come to know that God our Father, the Sovereign Lord, is the one who helps us.

         Amen.