The Bitter Taste of Slavery
The four cups of wine used in the Passover, as we saw yesterday, allow us to track the story of the Last Supper.
At Passover, the Jewish people would recount the story of God rescuing them from their slavery in Egypt. But it was more than just a verbal retelling. Every piece of the Passover meal served as a visual retelling.
The four cups of wine represented the four promises that God made.
The sacrificial lamb was a reminder that the Angel of Death had passed over their homes.
The unleavened bread told of how they had to leave Egypt so quickly that there was no time to let the bread rise.
The bitter herbs tasted like the bitterness of slavery.
The first two cups – the Cup of Sanctification and the Cup of Deliverance – are taken before the meal. The last two cups – the Cup of Redemption and the Cup of Restoration – were taken after the meal.
As Jesus sat around the Passover table with His disciples, He predicted that one of them would betray Him. The disciples are shaken at the thought and ask Jesus who he means.
Now, Jesus could have just said, “Judas.”
But Jesus is Jewish. So, as he so often does, He answers them in a very Jewish way.
Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. (John 13:26, NLT)
Jesus dips the bread in the bowl of bitter herbs – intended to remind them of the bitter taste of slavery – and hands it to Judas.
Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.” (John 13:27, NLT)
Judas got up and hurried into the night with the bitter taste of sin on his tongue.
He never tasted the Cup of Redemption.
Judas, just hours later, leads the Temple guard to Jesus and watches as He is arrested on charges of blasphemy.
I don’t know what Judas expected to happen. I don’t know what Judas was trying to accomplish in his betrayal.
Maybe he was motivated solely by greed and the thought of thirty pieces of silver in exchange for Jesus sounded too good to pass up. Maybe he, like the crowds who had cheered at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, believed Jesus would lead a revolt again Rome and was attempting for force Jesus’ hand.
I don’t know what Judas was thinking.
What I do know is that he did not expect Jesus to die.
When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” (Matthew 27:3-4, NLT)
Judas was filled with remorse. But, as far as we know, his remorse never led to repentance.
The Bible tells us that Judas went out from the Temple and hanged himself.
The Cup of Redemption was still available to him.
It was too late to undo what he had set into motion. It was not too late to come back to Jesus.
But he took his own life without having tasted of it.
Have you tasted it? Have you let it wash away the bitter taste of sin?
So long as you have breath, it is not too late.
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. (Ephesians 1:7, NLT)
Take up the cup, friends. Take it up and taste the redemption – the freedom, the forgiveness – that Jesus offers.
Read John 13:21-30 and think about a time that you had the bitter taste of sin on your tongue. Did you – have you – repented and tasted from the Cup of Redemption?