I love the Bunnings BBQ on a Saturday morning: a sausage on a piece of white bread with onion and tomato sauce. Who says Australia doesn’t have a cuisine of its own? However, it’s not just the food that I enjoy. I also enjoy seeing all the people giving up their time to fundraise for various sporting clubs, community groups and charities.

I often wonder how many hours are volunteered across Australia just at the Bunnings BBQ. People ‘give up’ a lot of time and effort for the benefit of others. As parents, we know that all too well. Imagine trying to calculate the hours you dedicate to caring for your family.

ANZAC Day is fast approaching, and on that day, you’ll often hear the phrase, “they gave their lives for the nation.”

This idea of “giving up” is also how Jesus thinks about Easter. He “gives up” his body and blood for us. Luke records this scene at the famous last supper in chapter 22:

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.”

But what does Jesus mean when he says, “my body given for you”? I think the answer lies in the type of meal Jesus and his friends had gathered to eat. They were celebrating the Passover meal together. This meal remembers and celebrates God’s great rescue of his people from slavery in Egypt 1,300 years earlier.

God’s tenth and final plague on Egypt was the death of the firstborn sons. To be rescued from this judgement, the Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb and paint its blood over the doorposts of their homes. That evening, when God brought judgement upon Egypt, he would “pass over” the houses covered by the blood. Those who took shelter under the blood of the lamb were saved.

This event became the defining moment of Israel’s history. They were rescued from slavery by the blood of another.

So, when Jesus gathers his disciples at the Passover meal, his words “my body given for you” are heavy with significance. He reinterprets this meal to explain why he will soon willingly give up his life on a Roman cross. Jesus is saying that he is the true Lamb who dies to shelter us from God’s judgement. At that last supper, he was revealing that he would be a sacrificial substitute for us.

I once wrongly believed that my rescue from sin was based on my commitment to God. I thought that if I was committed to him – if I worked really hard – then God would rescue me. But that simply can’t be right. If Jesus gives his life for me, then my rescue is based on God’s commitment to me. It’s all about what he has done, not what I have done.

Jesus dying on the cross is a sign of his deep commitment to you. All he asks is that you humbly receive this gift by faith. There could be no greater display of God’s love and commitment to you.

Happy Easter!