New Testament BIBLE STORY #26

New Testament  BIBLE  STORY

#26

Chapter Thirty-five:

Jesus' last Passover on earth - part one

JUDAS ISCARIOT PLANS TO BETRAY JESUS

     After Jesus had finished His prophecy on the Mount of Olives

it was evening time, and He said to His disciples, "You know that

in two days it is the Passover, and the Son of man will be

delivered up to be crucified."

     We know from the last hours of Jesus' physical life on

earth, what Jesus said to them (and it was not the first time He

had told them He would die in Jerusalem), went right over their

heads; once more they just did not get it, did not really believe

those words. To them it was just incomprehensible to conceive

that their Lord and Master, the one they knew was the Messiah,

could be put to death. 

     The chief priests and the elders of the people were at this

time busy gathering together in the palace of the high priest,

who was called Caiaphas, taking counsel with each other, as to

how to arrest Jesus in a secret manner and kill him. They first

thought they better not try to do this during the Feast of the

Passover and days of Unleavened Bread (which was eight days 

in total, but during Christ's time the whole period was known

by the name "Passover").

     Then something happened to changed their minds about when

they would try to arrest and kill Jesus.

     The disciples were really not understanding what was all

going on at this time in Jesus' ministry. They did not understand

the prophecies in the Old Testament about how the Messiah would

come and have to die for the sins of the world. They were

somewhat familiar with the prophecy of the Messiah coming in

power and glory, to reign over the nations and rule the world,

but with all that Jesus was saying, and the people getting

divided over what they wanted to believe the Messiah should be

doing with them, and for them, and against the Romans, there was

confusion even in their minds. Judas Iscariot was as confused as

any of them. Surely he was thinking, the Messiah is going to rise

up with His mighty power and show these scribes and Pharisees 

and priests, a thing or two. He was probably thinking Jesus had only

used "words" against them so far, but He must be going to use His

power and obliterate them, literally. Judas was probably thinking

Christ should do that, obliterate those silly hypocritical

religious leaders of Judea. And thought no doubt Jesus would them

continue using His power to bring the people of Judah together,

form an army, fight against the Roman power, destroy them, and

set up the Kingdom of God on earth.

     How could he, he thought, help get Jesus started on this

road of conquest. His mind was not just confused, but anxious, 

on edge, eagerly desiring to see all this take place. And with his

mind in such a state of unrest and looseness, it was all that

Satan needed. Luke records for us that it was at this time that

Satan entered, literally look over the body and mind of Judas

Iscariot.

     Judas, now possessed by Satan the Devil, hurried off to the

chief priests and elders of the people, to offer his service in

how he might betray Jesus and hand Him over to them. The 

accounts in the Gospels do not tell us if Judas did this thinking 

Jesus would then have to use His power and fight and destroy the

priests and elders, and then move on to destroy the Roman armies,

or if Satan just simple got a hold of his mind, twisted it so much 

out of normal, that Judas just wanted Jesus in the hands of the 

priests and elders so they could do with Him whatever they

wanted.

     Whatever the case as to what was going on in the mind of

Judas at this time, we are told Satan entered him, and off he

went to betray Jesus to the priests and elders of Judea.

     The priests and elders of course were delighted that Judas

was offering his help so they could arrest Jesus. They had plans

to kill Him. Judas may not have known that, probably did not,

Satan no doubt kept that from the mind of Judas. Well, the

priests and elders were so grateful for Judas' offer that they

were ready to offer him money. Judas actually asked them how 

much they would give him if he delivered Jesus into their hands.

They said they would pay him thirty pieces of silver. Thirty

pieces of silver was the price for a slave (Exodus 21: 32). They

regarded Jesus as worth very little. He agreed, and from that

moment on Judas looked for a way and an opportunity to betray

Jesus into their hands (Mat.26: 1-5, 14-16; Mark 14: 1, 2, 10,

11; Luke 22: 1-6).

PREPARING FOR THE PASSOVER

     To understand some of the passages in the Gospels and the

events of the last day of the life of Christ on this earth in human 

form, we need to understand some basics about the Passover,

as well as some of the traditions that many of the Jews were

doing at the time of Christ, as taught by the scribes and

Pharisees.

     The original Passover of Exodus 12, was a household

Passover, a few families coming together. A priest was not

needed, nor a Tabernacle or Temple. The lamb was chosen and 

was kept UP TO the 14th day of the first month. Then at "evening" 

or "between the two evening" which was at dusk or sunset, the

beginning of the 14th, that portion of time when the sun first

goes down behind the horizon and when it become  black of night.

As the sun set the family or small gathering of two or so families, 

killed the Passover lamb, and roasted it, which took a number of 

hours (some say 3 or 4 hours) and then sat down with bitter herbs, 

unleavened bread, and ate the lamb. It was well into the night 

when all of this was finally finished, often everyone stayed up all 

during that night of the 14th.

     The Passover day was not a Sabbath day, but at the end of

the 14th, the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread began,

and that first day of the Unleavened Bread feast, was a Sabbath

day. It was God's law that by the time the 15th day arrived, all

leaven was to be out of the homes of the Israelites. They had up

to and including the 14th day, to remove the leaven and prepare

for the feast of Unleavened Bread, which was to be observed for 

a full 7 days.

     Now by the time of Christ the scribes and Pharisees had

introduced and adopted a number of changes to Exodus 12. 

They and their followers had gotten into the habit of getting rid 

of leaven on the 14th day, and so in Jewish terminology, the 14th

day was "a day of unleaven" because of the tradition taught by

the Pharisees of putting out leaven on the 14th, so there was no

question of any of it being left in the home when the 15th day

arrived.

     The Pharisees had taught the people that the lambs for the

Passover were to be slain in the Temple, under the Priests and

Levites. And they traditionally started to do this on the 14th

day, after the morning sacrifice. Some scholars claim they

started at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, but others state it could have 

been much earlier, as the priests would not have been able

to kill enough lambs for the people, between only 3 p.m. and 6

p.m.

     6 p.m. was when they would start to roast the lamb, which

was the beginning of the 15th day of the first month.

     Whatever it may have been, the fact is the Pharisees had

taken the Passover meal and carried it over into the night

portion of the 15th day, which was the start of the 7 days

of the Unleavened Bread feast. They had MIXED the TWO 

separate feasts of God and put them together as one, or putting 

it another way, they had brought the Passover meal over into 

the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread.

     With this in mind, we can begin to understand some of the

words used in the Gospel accounts of this last day of Jesus' life

as a human being.

     We read in Mark and Luke that the day of "unleavened" when

the Passover lambs WERE BEING SLAIN (as the Greek tense is) 

had just come. This was the "unleavened" day when the Pharisees 

and their followers were TRADITIONALLY getting leaven out of

their homes (some even started to clear leaven out on the 13th

day), it was the BEGINNING of the 14th day, which was not a part

of the 7 days feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12), but had

become traditionally a day of "unleavened" because of what the 

Pharisees were teaching and had been practicing for a few centuries 

by this time.

     The disciples knew, from being with Jesus for three years or

so, that He observed the Passover like many other Jews, at the

beginning of the 14th day, the "evening" of the 14th day, as 

prescribed in the beginning by God in Exodus 12.

     The small groups of people in and around Jerusalem, were

beginning to gather together, they were already beginning to kill

the Passover lambs, at sundown. It was sunset at the beginning of

the 14th day of the first month, and Jesus had not said ANYTHING 

about where they would keep and observe the Passover meal. 

This was very unusual indeed. The disciples were getting very 

uptight, very anxious, very bewildered.

     Everything seemed very confusing to them, Jesus had said

things about His death that they just could not believe, and they

knew the scribes, Pharisees, and elders of the people were on the

war path as we might put it, with Jesus. And now, it was just sunset, 

he beginning of the 14th, the time when groups of people in their 

homes were killing the Passover lamb and making reading

to observe the Passover meal, and Jesus had said not one word 

to them about where they as a group would observe the Passover meal.

     

     They were now beyond themselves, and had to say something,

they could not retain their anxious thoughts any more.

     "Master, master, it is late, you've said nothing to us about

where we shall observe the Passover. People are already killing

the lambs in their groups and places of gathering. Where Lord,

will you have us go and prepare for you and us to eat the Passover?"

     Jesus chose two of them, Peter and John, and sent them,

saying to them, "Go into the city of Jerusalem, and when you

enter you will see a man carrying a jar of water, follow him into

the house where he goes, and say to the house owner, 'The Teacher

says, my time is at hand, and I will eat the Passover at your house 

with my disciples.' Ask him to show you the room where we

are to hold the Passover meal. He will show you an upper room

that is furnished; there make ready for us all."

     And the two disciples went and they found it all as Jesus

had told them. And they there prepared the Passover  meal

(Mat.26: 17-19; Mark 14: 12-16; Luke 22: 7-13).

     Finding a man in Jerusalem as Jesus had described to them,

was not hard, for it was women who usually carried the water

pots, seeing a man doing this would have been very noticeable. 

To kill and roast a lamb for Jesus and the twelve disciples,

probably would have taken about 3 to 4 hours. The two disciples

were not sent to find the room until sunset, dusk time, of the

beginning of the 14th day. By the time they arrived in

Jerusalem and found the room and killed and prepared the

Passover, for Jesus and the others to sit down and eat, it would

have been about 10 p.m. possibly even as late as 11 p.m.

     This was fine, for as I've said above, the eating of the

Passover and reflections on the whole meaning of it, often went

on all through the night, then they would go to their tents in

the morning and sleep (Deut. 16: 7). Of course in Jesus' day it

was not "tents" they went to, but homes or places where they

could sleep during the daylight hours of the 14th day. But this

Passover night and coming day would be like no other ever 

before or ever again will be.

     The Passover meal was now all prepared. They just had to

wait for Jesus to arrive with the other ten disciples.

JESUS EATS THE PASSOVER MEAL

WITH HIS DISCIPLES

     It was late that Tuesday evening (it was a Tuesday evening

when this Passover was observed in the year 30 A.D.) and Jesus

arrived at this upper room with the other ten apostles. The hour

had arrived and they all sat down. Jesus said to them, "I have

earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you all before I

suffer; for I tell you I shall never eat it again, until it is

fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." 

     They then started into the ancient and traditional Passover

meal of the basic three thing that was always a part of that

observance, namely, the lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs.

     You may want to here re-read the Old Testament Bible Story

of Exodus chapter twelve.

     It was during this Passover meal that Jesus now introduced

the New Testament ordinance of the "bread and fruit of the vine."

     

     Jesus took some of the unleavened bread and broke it into

pieces, gave thanks, and said, "Take a piece, this bread

represents my body, which is given for you: this do in like

manner in the memorial of me."

     Jesus then took the cup of the fruit of the vine, and gave

thanks. He then said to them, "Each one of you, drink from this

cup. The fruit of the vine represents my blood of the New

Covenant, which is poured out for you, for the forgiveness of

sins. I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine again, unto the

day I drink it new with you when the Kingdom of God comes."

     They all did what Jesus requested and each took a piece of

unleavened bread, and each drank from the cup of the fruit of the

vine.

     The apostle Paul also outlines this New Testament ordinance

in 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26. It is THE memorial service,

remembering the Lord's death. It was introduced by the Lord Jesus

on the evening of the 14th of the first month in the Hebrew or

Jewish calendar. It was only observed in the apostolic Church of

God, once a year, in the first part of the hours of the 14th,

what we call evening time.

     After Jesus had introduced and performed this New Testament

ordinance, He looked around at all twelve disciples and in a very

sombre tone of voice, said, "But behold the hand of him who

betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of man goes as it

has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"

     Amazement and shock came across the faces of the twelve, on

hearing those words. And soon they began to question each other,

as to which of them it was going to be that would betray Jesus

(Mat.26: 26-29; Mark 14: 22-25; Luke 22: 14-23).

JESUS' WASHES THE FEET OF HIS 12 DISCIPLES

     John is the only Gospel writer to record this next event at

that last Passover Jesus held with His disciples.

     The supper Passover meal had ended. The KJV translation is

correct when it says, "and supper ended" for the Greek tense here

used by John is "aorist" tense, which signifies a completed

action in the past, an event already finished in the past.

     The Devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot

to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all

things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was

going back again to God, rose from the supper table, laid aside

His outer garments, and girded Himself with a towel. He then

poured water in a bowl, and began to wash the disciples' feet,

and to wipe them with the towel He had around Himself. 

     He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to Him, "Lord, are

you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "What I am doing 

now you do not understand, but you will afterwards, later you will

understand." Peter still shocked at this thought of Jesus washing

his feet, quickly replied, "Oh no Lord, you shall never wash my

feet!"

     We have to remember that it was the lowest of the servants

of the household that washed the feet of visitors, washing away

the dust and dirt from their travel. Also remember that the people 

wore sandals, and on their bare feet. It was the custom of

the day that if you had visitors you had your lowest ranking

servant wash their feet when they came into your home.

     Peter could not think that Jesus was acting out what the

lowest household servant would do. He just was not about to let

Jesus wash his feet, thinking if anything it should be the other

way around, and he should be washing Jesus' feet.

     But Jesus answered him with, "If I do not wash your feet,

you have no part in me." Simon Peter then said, "Well Lord, not

my feet only then, but my hands and head!" Jesus said to him, "He

that has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but

he is clean all over; and you are clean but not all of you." 

     Jesus knew who it was that would betray Him, and that was

the reason He said, "You are not all clean."

     The disciples would have bathed themselves before attending

the very important Passover meal. So they really were clean in a

physical way, but in a spiritual way there was need for a lesson

to be learned in Jesus washing all of their feet, even the feet

of Judas Iscariot. They all needed to learn the lesson, which

Jesus explained (and we'll get to that right away), but one of

them (Judas) was unclean in many ways other than the physical. 

We have seen he was by now possessed by Satan the Devil himself.

     When He had washed their feet, and taken up His garments

again, and resumed His sitting place, He said to them, "Do you

understand what I have done to you? I will tell you. You call me

Teacher and Lord; and you are right, I am indeed both. If I then,

your Lord, and your Teacher, have washed your feet, then you also

ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an EXAMPLE, 

that you also SHOULD DO as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say 

to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent 

greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, BLESSED 

are you IF YOU DO them. "

     Jesus was demonstrating to them that they should be

servants. And if Jesus could get down and wash His disciples

feet, being much greater than they, being the one to send them

out to do His work, and so if He could humble Himself to wash

their feet, like a lowly servant, how much more should they be

willing to wash one another's feet. He said He had set them the

example, and that they knowing this should do likewise, and

they would be blessed for knowing and doing as He had done to

them.

     So today God's people around the world, on Passover evening,

not only take the bread and the fruit of the vine (wine or grape

juice) but also wash each other's feet.

     It is an outward symbol of a willingness to be a servant to

others, to not think too highly of themselves, to remember they

are called to serve each other, to live a life of serving and

helping each other, and all mankind, in whatever good ways they

can possibly do, with the gifts, talents, abilities, and material

goods, they have been given from God in order to share and serve

others with.

     Jesus was saying all these things to all of them, but ONE,

for He finished this event by saying, "I am not speaking of you

all; I know whom I have chosen; it is that the Scriptures may be

fulfilled, 'He who ate by bread has lifted his heel against me.'

I tell you this now, before it takes place, that when it does

take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to

you, he who receives any one whom I send receives me; and he

who receives me receives Him who sent me" (John 13: 1-20).

     The evening had taken on by now a VERY SOMBRE atmosphere, 

a grave foreboding was in that upper room. Many of the minds of the

disciples were even more troubled and confused by all that Jesus

had said and done.

     The part of that night had come, where it was customary to

leave the supper table and recline and lounge around as we say,

on various types of seats and cushions. It was the time to relax

and ponder and meditate on the Passover and all that it signified

in Jewish history. This Passover was way more significant than

any of them could have possibly imagined. Jesus was about to say

to them words that He had said a little earlier. This would once

more trouble them greatly.

          ........................................

Written January 2003 

All studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published, emailed, and

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