THE LIFE OF CHRIST
PART 84
In our last lesson, we finished up looking at the events that happened on Jesus’ last Tuesday before He would put to death. The majority of our lesson came from John 12:20-50 in which Jesus makes His final appeal to unbelievers. We also learned how Judas made an arrangement to betray Jesus for 30 silver coins. Very little, if any, is said about Wednesday, so we move on to the events of Thursday. Now I am going to do something a bit different with the event we are going to look at is recorded in Mt. 26:17-19; Mk. 14:12-16; Lk. 22:7. Each of these accounts gives a little more information than the other, so I am going to blend them together to give us the complete picture. I will make Matthew’s words look normal, Marks’s words, will be underlined, and Luke’s will be in italics.
Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, when they killed the
Passover lamb, the disciples came to Jesus, saying
to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the
Passover?" And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go
and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat. And He
said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you
carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11 "Then you shall say to the master of the house,`The Teacher says to
you, "My time is at
hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."' "Where is the guest room where I may
eat the Passover with My disciples?" "Then he will show you a
large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us."
16 So His disciples went out, and came into the
city as Jesus had directed
them, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the
Passover. (Mt.
26:17-19; Mk. 14:12-16; Lk. 22:7)
The Feast of Unleavened bread and the Passover had become synonymous terms because these events are closely observed together. The Passover was a one-night event followed up by 7 days when no unleavened bread was eaten. All faithful Jews would keep both of these because this one of those required events that all male Jews were required to attend in Jerusalem. Since this was an important event for the Jews, I want spend some time talking about the Passover.
So, we must go back to the time of Moses when he began to unleash the 10 plagues on the Egyptians, just before the 10th plague, God instructs Moses in Exodus 12 about the Passover and what the His people need to do. So, let’s see what was involved with the first Passover by reading in Exodus 12:1
Exodus 12:1
Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 "This month shall be your
beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to
you. 3 "Speak to all the
congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every
man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father,
a lamb for a household. 4
'And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next
to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according
to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 'Your lamb shall be without
blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or
from the goats. 6 'Now you
shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 'And they shall take some of
the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the
houses where they eat it.
Not only was God instituting the Passover, He was making this a new year and a new beginning for the Children of Israel. It is believed that this was around March or April that this new year began. On the 10th day of this new year, a goat or a lamb was to be selected. This was a family event and every household was to participate. We learn that God would allow 2 smaller families to share a goat or lamb.
Now this could not just be any lamb or goat, it had to be carefully chosen because they had to make sure that did not have any blemishes. This would be a healthy animal and one of your best. The second provision was that had to be a male and it had to be within its first year. Then on the 14th day, the animals were to be killed at twilight, which is just as the sun sets. Some of the animal’s blood was to be put on the two door posts and the lintel, which is the top part of the door.
Exodus 12:8'Then
they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and
with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Here we see three main ingredients, roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. The bitter herbs were to remind the children of Israel of the bitter experience they had in Egypt.
9 'Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at
all with water, but roasted in fire -- its head with its legs and its
entrails. 10 'You shall let
none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall
burn with fire.
The lamb had to be roasted and could not be eaten raw or boiled and everything was to be eaten from head to his feet before morning came. If there was anything left, it was to be burned. Now historical tradition says that each person’s portion wasn’t very big and could be as small as the size of an olive. Obviously, the more people sharing that one lamb, the smaller the portion.
11 'And thus you shall eat it: with
a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your
hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover.
This shows us that the children of Israel were to be ready to leave in a moment’s notice and we can see why, because later they would not have time to prepare much food before the Pharaoh ran them out of his kingdom. We also learn from this verse that this was the Lord’s Passover.
12 'For
I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of
Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 'Now the blood shall be a sign
for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I
strike the land of Egypt. 14
'So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to
the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an
everlasting ordinance.
God gave them clear instructions for the purpose of the Passover meal. It was to be observed as a memorial for how God passed over the children of Israel and how that night led to their salvation from Egyptian bondage.
Exodus
Here we learn about the feast of the unleavened bread, which also represents what God did for the children of Israel. God was very serious about them not having leaven because if someone was caught eating food that was leavened, they would be cut of or kicked out of the congregation of Israel. The feast was to begin after the Passover lamb was slain on the 14th day of the evening and lasted for 7 days until the 21st. This was to be observed once a year.
Now Moses takes what God has told him and he tells it to the Children of Israel, but notice what he says to them.
Exodus
Children are always watching and learning from you. It’s only natural for them to ask questions about things they do not understand, and God knows this. He knew that their children would ask them, “why are we killing a lamb, and why are we going 7 days without eating anything with leaven?” This would give them the opportunity to teach them about God.
I would also like to mention that in Numbers 9, there was a provision made for those who were unclean or had no way of being able to observe the Passover. In fact, let me just read this because God’s Word explains it better anyways:
Numbers 9:6 Now
there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could
not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron that
day. 7 And those men said to him,
"We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the
offering of the LORD at its appointed time among the children of
Israel?" 8 And Moses said to them,
"Stand still, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning
you." 9 Then the LORD spoke to
Moses, saying, 10 "Speak to the
children of Israel, saying: 'If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean
because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the LORD's
Passover. 11 'On the fourteenth day of
the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12
'They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According
to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. 13 'But the man who is clean and is not on a
journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off
from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the LORD at its
appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.
14 'And if a stranger dwells among you, and would keep the LORD's
Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to
its ceremony; you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the
native of the land.' "
There are some other traditions that would develop over time that were integrated into the observance of the Passover such as outlined by Don Walker:
1. A prayer of thanksgiving by the head of the house; drinking the first cup of (diluted) wine.
2. The eating of the bitter herbs, as a reminder of the bitter slavery in Egypt.
3. The son’s inquiry, “Why is this night distinguished from all other nights?” and the father’s appropriate reply either narrated or read.
4. The singing of the first part of the Hallel (Ps. 113-114) and the washing of hands. The second cup. The lamb was eaten in commemoration of what the ancestors had been commanded to do in the night when the Lord smote all the first-born of Egypt and delivered his people (Exo. 12-13). The unleavened bread was eaten in commemoration of the “the bread of haste” eaten by the ancestors.
5. Continuation of the meal, each easting as much as he liked, but always eating the last of the lamb. The third cup.
6. Singing of the last part of the Hallel (Psa. 115-118).
The Schertz Lectures in Luke p. 346
One last thing I want to share with comes from the TRUTH FOR TODAY COMMENTARY:
By New Testament
times, Passover lambs were sacrificed between the ninth and eleventh hours
(3:00 and 5:00 p.m.). Since thousands of pilgrims came to Jerusalem for the
feast, the slaughtering of the Passover lambs was done at the temple in three
massive shifts. The people were responsible for killing their own animals. They
would hang them on hooks mounted to the walls or to columns in order to flay
them. The priest stood in rows and passed bowls full of blood that had been
drained from the lambs. The priest closest to the alter would pour out the
blood on the base of the alter. The people removed the sacrificial portions of
the animals and gave them to the priests who, in turn, burned them on the
alter. The rest of the lamb was taken home; the meat would be roasted on a
wooden skewer in a clay oven and then eaten in the Passover meal.
I think everything I have shared with you gives you good idea about what the Passover and Feast of the Unleavened bread is about and all that involved in preparing for it and some of the traditions that were done while partaking of it. So, now let’s go back to our text that I put together from the three accounts:
Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, when they killed the
Passover lamb, the disciples came to Jesus, saying
to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the
Passover?" And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go
and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat. And He
said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you
carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11 "Then you shall say to the master of the house,`The Teacher says to
you, "My time is at
hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."' "Where is the guest room where I may
eat the Passover with My disciples?" "Then he will show you a
large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us."
16 So His disciples went out, and came into the
city as Jesus had directed
them, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the
Passover. (Mt.
26:17-19; Mk. 14:12-16; Lk. 22:7)
Jesus’ disciples want
to know where they are to prepare the Passover meal for them to eat. Jesus tells
them exactly what to do, but He only sends Peter and John to do it. They are to
go into the city and find a man carrying a pitcher of water. Now we might think
that would be a common thing, but according to historians, it would not because
usually only women would be carrying pitchers of water. So, a man doing this
would stick out like a sore thumb.
They are to follow
this man to his master house, then they are told to tell the master the teacher
has said, My time is at hand, which refers to Jesus’ death. He wants this man
to allow them to keep the Passover at his house in the guest room. This upper
room will be furnished and prepared for them, but Peter and John finished
making the preparation for the Passover. Tradition says that this is the same
upper room that disciples gathered together in in Acts 1. One thing that is
implied by our verses is that the master of this house was a disciple of Jesus
because when they start talking to him, they say that the teacher said. The
only reason they would use the word teacher is if this man was a student.
Some have speculated
that Jesus had made a prior arrangement with this man, but personally I think
Jesus used His ability to look into the future to know that all these things
would take place from the man having the pitcher of water to this master of the
house having a room available for Him and disciples. Certainly, we know that
Jesus could know such things and, if it were true that Jesus made the
arrangement beforehand, the master of the house gives no indication that he
already knew about the arrangement. About the only hint of him knowing anything
is that he had room that furnished and prepared, but this was a guest room, so
it would not be uncommon for to always be furnished and prepared for guests.
I want to make a
speculation about Judas. We know that Judas was looking for a good time to take
Jesus down, but Judas would not be able to make the Passover meal the time Jesus
would be taken. While he would have heard the specific directions Peter and
John were to follow, he would not have known the location until later.
Now this next section
we are going to look at is not in perfect order, because as we will see, Jesus
and His disciples come together in the evening to eat the Passover meal, but
during this meal at some point we have the account of Jesus washing His
disciple’s feet. So, we are going to look at this event first and then, next
time, we will look at the details before and after this foot washing. John is
the one that covers this event.
John 13:1 Now
before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that
He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were
in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper
being ended1, the devil having already put it into the heart
of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him,
In verse 1, Jesus knew
His death was getting closer, and John expressed how Jesus loved His disciples
until the end. Verse 2 teaches us that the devil had already put the temptation
to betray Jesus in Judas’ heart while they were eating. This does not mean
Judas had no choice in the matter because he did. He simply chose to indulge in
this temptation because he had a free will. It is important to remember that a
temptation does not become a sin until we yield to the temptation (Jas.
1:13-15). The KJV and NKJV gives us the idea that the supper had already ended
in verse 2, but when we look at other versions and the original Greek, we find
out the meal was still being served. For
example, consider these three versions:
Jn. 13:2 ASV
John 13:2 And during
supper
Jn. 13:2 ESV
John 13:2 During supper
Jn. 13:2 NIV
John 13:2 The evening meal
was in progress,
This is why it is important to compare other versions and then dig deeper
to find out which is correct.
John 13:3 Jesus,
knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had
come from God and was going to God, 4
rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded
Himself. 5 After that, He
poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them
with the towel with which He was girded.
Jesus was fully aware
of His Deity and what was going to happen to Him, and He was about to teach His
disciples about humility and servitude. Before people ate during the first
century, a servant would clean the feet of the guest, which was necessary
because the people wore open sandals and their feet were always getting dirty.
Foot washing was an act of kindness, and it made the guests more comfortable as
they ate.
However, this act of
kindness had been neglected, so Jesus got up from the supper and removed His
outer garment, which would allow Him to perform the foot washing. He then
girded Himself with the towel taking the position of a hired servant. He put
water in a basin and started washing His disciples’ feet and wiping them with
the towel He girded Himself with.
John 13:6 Then He
came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing
my feet?" 7 Jesus
answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but
you will know after this." 8
Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered
him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." 9 Simon Peter said to Him,
"Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "He who
is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you
are clean, but not all of you." 11
For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, "You are not all
clean."
Peter could not
understand why Jesus wanted to wash his feet because it was unheard of for the
master to wash his servants’ feet. Peter or one of the other apostles should
have done this service, but they had not. They may of have thought they were
too important to serve each other this way because Luke’s account notes that
they were disputing among themselves that night who should be the greatest (Lk.
22:24). Sometimes, Jesus’ disciples were more concerned about their position in
Jesus’ kingdom than seeing the truth. Without saying a single word, Jesus
humbled His disciples by washing their feet. He wanted them to understand that
it was more important to serve others than to be served.
Peter was so shocked
by what Jesus was doing that he told Him that He was never going to wash his
feet. But Jesus told him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
Jesus was teaching more than just about washing feet. He was teaching them a
spiritual message because only Jesus can wash us and make us clean with His
blood. When Peter realized that He must be washed by Jesus, he goes to the
extreme and wanted Jesus to wash his hands and his head.
Jesus’ response in
verse 10 refers to the physical and the spiritual. He is saying if a person
took a bath then all he needs to be physically clean is to have his feet
washed. If a person is spiritually clean and his feet are dirty, he is still
spiritually clean. However, not all His disciples were spiritually clean,
namely Judas. Even though Jesus knew Judas would betray Him, He washed his feet
as well.
John 13:12 So when
He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to
them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 "You call me Teacher and
Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
14 "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed
your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 "For I have given you an
example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 "Most assuredly, I say to
you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater
than he who sent him. 17
"If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
When Jesus finished
washing their feet, He took His outer garments and sat down. While His
disciples thought about what Jesus did for them, He wants to know if they
understood what He had done to them. He continued to expound on what He wanted
them to understand. They knew He was their Teacher and Lord, and if He was
humble enough to serve His disciples by washing their feet, then they should be
willing to do the same.
Some teach that verse
15 is commanding us to practice foot washing, but they have missed Jesus’
point. He was not telling them or us that we should practice foot washing, but
that we should be willing to serve one another in humility because we are not
better than each other; we are equal in the site of God. To prove that Jesus
was not specifically talking about foot washing, one cannot find foot washing
being commanded anywhere in the New Testament as being part of our worship to
God. The only other place foot washing is mentioned after Jesus’ death is found
in:
1 Timothy 5:9 Do not
let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she
has been the wife of one man, 10
well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged
strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the
afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.
This passage is
talking about the qualification of a righteous widow. One of the good works she
could possess was being hospitable and washing the saints’ feet. Again, this
was done in her home and it was the custom for the host to wash the guests’
feet.
As Lipscomb noted:
There is nothing
in this that could indicate a special ordinance or formal observance to be
perpetuated in the church. The foot washing of both the Old Testament and the
New Testament was an act of helpful kindness when needed” (David Lipscomb, A
Commentary on the Gospel of John (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company,
1960), p. 210).
Jesus wanted His disciples to follow His example in
serving others. If they are willing to humble themselves as Jesus did, they
will be blessed. We must learn from this example and realize we are not better
than our brothers or sisters in Christ, and we should be willing to serve one
another. As Paul said to the Galatians: “For you,
brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an
opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal.
5:13).
John 13:18 "I
do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the
Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel
against Me.' 19 "Now I
tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that
I am He. 20 "Most
assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he
who receives Me receives Him who sent Me."
The one person He was excluding was Judas because Judas was not clean, and he would not learn to serve others. Instead, his actions would fulfill the prophecy of Psalm 41:9. Jesus foretold His disciples about this betrayal, so when it happened, it would prove once again that He is the Son of God.
Verse 20 is teaching that whoever receives those whom Jesus has sent by His authority is the same as receiving Him. When someone receives Jesus, he receives the Father as well. When someone goes out to preach the gospel, he is doing so by the authority of Jesus. When someone receives that person into his home, it is just like he has received Jesus into his home because that evangelist is representing Jesus. In fact, all Christians need to remind themselves that they are supposed to be an example of Christ in everything they do. When we live our lives for Christ, whatever is done to us is just like it is done to Christ.
Well, there is much more for us to examine, but we will have to pick this study back up next week. I hope you have learned something or have at least had your memory refreshed about the meaning of the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened and some of the events that happened that evening while they were eating the Passover meal.