Preparing for Passover

Intro

The time is quickly approaching to the ultimate and central moment in human history, the crucifixion of Jesus

We are seeing the laying down of the machinations that will lead to Jesus’ terrible death, and glorious resurrection, which all starts with a plot by the pharisees to have Jesus killed

Yet, as we know, it is not simply the religious leaders doing, but it becomes an inside Job when Judas shows up and helps the death of Jesus come to fruition

The crowds love Jesus and they come to hear Jesus teach each day in the temple as we saw in the last verse of Luke 21

The Plot to Kill Jesus (v.1-6)

This is Holy Week for the Jewish people, they are celebrating the Passover and remembering the Exodus

Passover celebrates the liberation from Egypt found in Exodus, and the feast of unleavened bread remembers how the Israelites ate only unleavened bread on the eve of the exodus

During Passover the Jews were expected to removed all leaven (yeast) from their houses as a reminder of the haste of leaving Egypt

Exodus 12:15 CSB

15 You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel.

Passover was a required festival attendance, and so you can imagine that Jerusalem is filled to the brim (Deut. 16:16) (hundred’s of thousands) and Jesus is showing his obedience to the law by keeping the festival

The religious leaders were looking for a way to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the popularity that Jesus had, so they were unsure how to do it

Isn’t it interesting that in the week that they are killing lambs to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt, they are seeking to kill the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world? (Jn 1:29)

They perpetrated history’s greatest crime during Israel’s holiest festival, holy days coming, and hateful men scheming

They were afraid of popular opinion

You see they loved their positions of power, which Jesus had just decried very obviously with the story of the widow and Scribes

So if they were to take out Jesus a riot would rise up, and there were more crowds than usual since it was Passover

Their desire to not upset the crowds is based in their desire to appease the Romans, who certainly don’t want any funny business from an uprising during this festival

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Twenty-One: In the Upper Room (Luke 22:1–38))

Thousands of excited pilgrims crowded in and around Jerusalem during that week, causing the Romans to always be nervous about possible uprisings. Passover had strong political overtones, and it was the ideal time for some would-be messiah to attempt to overthrow Rome. This explains why King Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, were in Jerusalem instead of being at Tiberius and Caesarea respectively. They wanted to help keep the peace.

Rome could rule lightly, and allow people to keep their cultural and religious traditions, or they could rule with an iron fist, and the religious leaders didn’t want to forfeit their freedom for the crowd’s love of Jesus

The Message of Luke a. The Plan of Destruction (22:1–6)

We have seen how the Pharisees, the sect within Judaism which had been particularly opposed to Jesus, have now handed over the role of his bitterest enemies to the chief priests, scribes, and elders, the leaders of the Jewish people. They are the official representatives of the old Israel, Judaism as it had become, a religious system unwilling to accept God’s chosen Messiah when he came to claim its allegiance.

They had gotten ready by cleansing their homes of leaven, but not their hearts, it is no wonder that Jesus told his disciples

Luke 12:1 “1 Meanwhile, a crowd of many thousands came together, so that they were trampling on one another. He began to say to his disciples first, “Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

So they got some supernatural help

Satan possessed Judas, and Judas went to seek to betray Jesus

Exalting Jesus in Luke Satanic Influence (22:3)

Satan was an angel of God. He was created to serve God, but one day he decided he wanted to be God. He led one-third of all angels in rebellion against God and was thrown out of heaven. Hell was prepared for Satan and his angels.

Now I would like to point out that just because Satan possessed Judas does not absolve Judas of any responsibility in this , Satan worked in tandem with desires that were already in Judas

They gave him a small amount of silver, and so Judas started to look for a way to betray Jesus to the religious leaders away from the crowds

We know from the other gospels it was only 30 pieces of silver which was an insignificant amount

Yet in the grand scope of Luke & Acts, the love of money is a great danger to be wary of, it is a telling sign of where your heart is to be found at

Isn’t it interesting that Satan also enters into Ananias in Acts 5, and another tragedy happens because of the love of money?

So this is more than just the religious leaders, there are cosmic stakes at play here, the prince of darkness intervenes himself!

There is a callback in the way that Luke writes that links Luke 4:13 and 22:6 together

Luke 4:13 CSB

13 After the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

So the time of departure had ended, and the time of Satan putting into action the death of Christ was beginning

It’s also interesting to note, that none of the apostle’s have the suspicion that Judas is a traitor, it seems he fully served in the ministry, had the same power to drive out demons, preached the good news when they were sent out, he experienced the kingdom of God, yet was never part of it

So why did Judas do this?

We don’t know for certain, all we are told by the gospels is that he loved money, but 30 pieces of silver is very little money

However, I think there are some things that might inform us of Judas’ shortcomings, and things we might find in our own lives as we follow Jesus

Jesus did not meet his expectations of being the Messiah

He may of been disillusioned that Jesus was talking about death instead of setting up a kingdom, he thought he could force Jesus’ hand in using his power

It is interesting because Matthew gives us this insight at Jesus’ pending betrayal

Matthew 26:51–53 CSB

51 At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels?

The very power that Judas thought the Messiah should wield, was something Jesus would not bring about, in order to accomplish the purposes of God

Maybe he thought he was mistaken about Jesus even being the Messiah

If he’s not the Messiah, then he’s certainly blasphemous and should be ended, but it was playing into God’s plan all the way

Yet in all of the schemes of men, and supernatural schemes of Satan, there is Divine necessity of these things coming to pass

Preparing for Passover (v.7-13)

So while the planning was going on to kill Jesus, Jesus had other plans to attend to, to take care of the Passover meal, the term unleavened bread seems to be referring to the day that all the leaven was to be removed from the homes

Luke Disciples Prepare for the Passover / 22:7–13 / 209

The highlight of the festival was the Passover meal, a family feast with the main course of lamb. The sacrifice of a lamb and the spilling of its blood commemorated Israel’s escape from Egypt when the blood of a lamb painted on their doorposts had saved their firstborn sons from death. They then were to prepare the meat for food and eat it in their traveling clothes.

First they would need a place to meet, remember so many would come to Jerusalem that it would be incredible difficult to find a place to host the disciples

Yet Jesus takes care of it and sends Peter and John to go and make the preparations, but it is more of finishing the preparations that Jesus already made

They were to find a man with a water jug and follow him to the guest room that was prepared and reserved for the disciples

Now this might seem like an unhelpful sign, but it was incredibly rare for men to carry a water jug, as it was usually the job of women to do that, so this man would of been very obvious

John and Peter find the room, make sure everything is squared away, then go and prepare for the Passover meal

The Gospel of Luke 7.1.2. Preparation for Passover (22:7-13)

“Preparations,” then, would have involved the purchase of an unblemished lamb and the other food necessary for the meal, the sacrifice of the lamb in the temple, roasting the lamb, and the arrangement of the room

Normally Passover would be eaten with your family, but Jesus is showing a foreshadowing of the family of God, the church, of which Jesus is the head of

It might seem that things are spinning out of control with all these evil plans going around, yet Jesus shows us that it is at his timing these things shall happen

Until they arrived at the Upper Room, only Jesus, John and Peter knew where the meal would be held

That timing would include Jesus being sacrificed on Passover, at the time when many of the lambs were being slain in the temple, and so he would fulfill the OT promises of perfect lamb that takes away the sins of the world

Yet this final meal with his disciples would be ever so important, and we see it recorded in detail from John 13-17.

And interestingly enough this may of been the home of Mark, and so his Father might of been the one who met John and Peter

Once this meal is done, it is Jesus that sets into motion his death, not Judas and his scheming, not the religious elite, but God himself

Application

First is that Jesus is still in control in the most helpless of situations

When the religious leaders seek to kill Jesus

When one of his inner most companions betrays him

Jesus is still in control, it is still by God’s timing

It is a theme we see throughout Scripture and holds true in Jesus’ life

John 10:17–18 CSB

17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Nothing spirals out of control in Jesus’ life, and this is proven by not simply by how he dies, but that he raises from the dead, showing that he is more powerful than even death

So this also means that nothing in your life is too far out there, or out of control of God’s hand

He is a God that is right there with you, in the darkest nights, and hopeless days

Trust in him, in the words of Ps. 73:25-26

Psalm 73:25–26 CSB

25 Who do I have in heaven but you? And I desire nothing on earth but you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.

Yet the second one is that we have an adversary that we need to be wary of: Satan

A little compromise in our lives allows Satan a foothold, not to possess us like Judas, but certainly oppress us and lead us on the pleasure seeking thrills of sin

When we cooperate with Satan, it never ends good for us: Satan and his ilk are liars and murderers and they seek to replicate that same death in your own life

It was quite literal in Judas’ life, but in our lives, our sin ruins our relationship with God and each other

Satan’s handiwork is all around us: don’t we see personal and corporate greed rampant, flushed out in materialism and such. We see betrayal all over as well. Do we think that things like betrayal and greed come from God? No, they come from Satan and his plan!

So Christian!

Exalting Jesus in Luke Applications

Do not believe his lies. Do not believe his whispers. He betrayed Christ; he will betray every Christian. Resist the devil, and he will flee.