# Holy Thursday: The Passover and Its Meaning
*2015-04-01*

> Bill reflects on the Exodus Passover instructions and connects them to the Last Supper, showing how remembrance leads us into the mystery of the Eucharist.

## Scripture Reading

Good morning. This is Bill Young, and welcome to the Prayer and Lunch podcast. Today is Holy Thursday, and we read from The Way of Faith 2015. Exodus 12:1, 3‑4, 11, 14 says:

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family shall take a lamb, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its nearest neighbor in obtaining one. The lamb shall be divided proportionally among the people who eat it. They shall eat it with the bread of the affliction, with bitter herbs, and with the blood on the doorposts. This is the Passover of the Lord. This day shall be a memorial for you; you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout your generations, observing it as a perpetual ordinance.’”

## A Day of Remembrance

Holy Thursday is a day of remembrance, echoing Jesus’ words, “Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19‑20). The Passover was the first great memorial instituted by God, a tangible sign that points to a deeper reality. By remembering the Passover, Israel was called to trust in God’s deliverance and to live out that trust daily.

## From Passover to the Lord’s Supper

The Last Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover. When Jesus took bread and wine, He invited us to a new covenant: “This is my body… this is my blood” (John 13:15). The power of remembrance is not merely reciting history; it is entering into the spiritual reality that those events signify. In the Eucharist we receive the same love that delivered Israel from Egypt, now poured out for us on the Cross.

## The Eucharist as Living Memory

The Eucharist is steeped in centuries of God’s fidelity. It allows us not only to remember but to know that we are embraced by God’s love. Each time we receive the Body and Blood, we are reminded that Christ died for us and rose again, giving us new life each day.

*Remembering the Passover leads us into the living mystery of the Eucharist, where Christ’s sacrifice becomes our daily source of life.*