Matt 26:17-30- The Passover Lamb
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· 10 viewsJesus enjoys the final Passover meal with 11 disciples and 1 betrayer.
Notes
Transcript
In Jewish life there were several festivals were kept but the 3 main festivals: Passover and unleavened bread, Feast of week(Pentecost), and Feast of booths
All Hebrew males were required to keep these
Feast of Weeks- 50th day after the beginning of the feast of the unleavened bread- Marked the end of grain harvest and began the period where first fruits could be offered.
-It was a harvest festival that called Israel to remember they were solely dependent on God for their prosperity
Feast of Booths- 15th day of the 7th month (Tishri)- lasted for 1 week
-one the first day they had a symbolic ceasing of activity and would build a tent out branches and live in them for 7 days and on the 8th day all manual labor stopped and they offered burnt sacrifices
-rememebed the time in wilderness with Moses and would recite publically the provisions of the Mosiac Covenant- blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience
Passover and unleavened bread- these two feast were initially seperate but over time they became almost synomous to each other
-Passover was on the 14th day of Abib(Nisan after exile)- lamb was acquired by the 10th day
-Eaten in groups of 10-20, only 2 men would take the lamb to the temple to be killed
-Lamb must be killed at twilight- Between the hours Jewish 9th-11th hour- 3-5 pm------ 6pm was the end of the Jewish day and beginning of the next
-Over time it moved from a meal originally eaten with coats and shoes on, while standing to meal eaten around a u shaped table
-Laying with their feet away from the table
-This festival would be followed by the feast of unleavened bread- no bread with leaven eaten
-1st and 7th days were special assemblies were no work was done except food prep
-By NT time, the Passover and unleavened bread were well attended celebrations and were called “the days of unleavened bread” (Luke 22:1, Acts 12:3)
During Jesus time, Josephus recorded around 250k lambs would be killed
based on the 10 person minimum, you have atleast 2.5 million people present in Jerusalem
They would be acquired on the 10th and killed on the 14th by the priest
The blood would flow from the temple to the Kidron valley where it would make the river bright red for days afterwards
All in remembrance of Gods delivering his people from the bondage of Egypt
If your following our time line- as the lambs are being secured for the Passover and brought into Jerusalem, So did Jesus with the triumphal entry
As the lambs were being slaughtered in temple, so too was Jesus on the cross
Controversy has arisen out the fact that Jesus and the disciples will have this meal a day too soon
Clearly, Jesus and the disciples were faithful Jews and no priest would allow a Passover lamb killed on the wrong day
However, from Josephus and the Mishna we find that Jews in Northern Palestine calculated days from sunrise to sunrise (Jesus and his disciples did this)
Southern Palestine area calculated the days from sunset to sunset- Priest and Saducees did this
This understanding helps us understand some time frames and clears any discrepancies up between John and the other Gospels
Jesus can have Passover meal with the disciples and yet still be the Passover lamb on the cross
I spent a long time walking through some of the feasts and festivals because we dont come across them all the time in text
But also because it sets the scene for text
Read the text
1. The Command of the Lamb- Vs 17-19
-in these verses their are two groups of obedient people to the command of Jesus
-His command appears to be above question
Vs 17- Where do need to go to setup the Passover meal- obedient to the Law
Vs18-Go to the city and find a certain man and tell him the time is come and the Master needs to use your house
-Whether there is more details or directives behind this statement is unknown but the response is to obey
-They already commandeered a donkey and foal just a couple days ago and Jesus response was, is they ask just tell them the Lord needs it
-That seemed to work out fine
-So here they go onward
-But also there is obedience on the part of the “certain man”
-Whether this is pre planned by Jesus or in similar fashion to his donkey acquiring- the man is found to be obedient
Vs 19- All goes as Jesus stated and the meal was prepared
2. The Composure of the Lamb- Vs 20-25
-According to Johns account- Jesus would have already washed their feet
-They are eating the meal together just as they have many times before
-Passover meal now for atleast the third time
Then comes the comment that changes everything
Vs 21- Some one will betray me- How is this possible
Vs 22- All they began to be worried and sorrowful
-They begin to ask Is it I?
-None of them seem to trust themselves and in Johns account Peter ask Jesus who the traitor is
-Here he answers the disciples- it is who dipped his hand in the dish with me
-This would have been easily noticeable
-Why the others dont seem to process this is unknown
But Jesus seems to have a glimmer of judgement and final pleading in verse 24
Im going to die as it is written but judgement be on the one who carries out the plot
-Judas will declare his hearts desire and prove himself unfaithful
Vs 25- Judas speaks up and ask if he will be the culprit to which Jesus affirms
-Why no one suspects Judas or tries to stop him as he leaves is interesting
They must not completely hear the conversation because
Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
Something sinister was going on at this meal
As they remember Gods deliverance of his people from physical bondage, Jesus is preparing to be the final Passover lamb
But not only will one of his own men go against him, Satan himself crashes the dinner and is now doing his work in Judas
-This is the only written time were Satan invades someone- demonic accounts in multiple places
-this plot is one that requires the hand of the deceiver himself
Yet the lamb composure is ominous- like sheep before the shearers- He knows his purpose
3. The Covenant of the Lamb
-once Judas and Satan leave the table- John 13 tells us this
-The meal can continue with his 11
-unsure as to where they were in the meal but Jesus initiates something new
Jesus blesses the bread and says it is his body broken for them and in the same manner with the cup and says this is my blood of the covenant which poured out for you
This Passover is one of a kind
This the last one Jesus will partake of on earth but it also is the last real legitimate Passover necessary
There will never be a need to look to have a lamb or goat or any other animal give a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins
Jesus sets the table for how the Passover will be remembered here on out
It wouldnt. Its been superceded. It purpose and function of being a shadow of the real thing or road marker forward has been accomplished
This woudlnt have glossed over the disciples
IF this isnt true, Jesus is a heretic
All their lives they would have kept the Passover- they know the story
The know what sacrifices are for but now this?
His blood to forgive our sins.... His body broken for our payment
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
The old isnt like the new
New sacrifices had to be made each year because sinned
Those sacrifices never fixed the problem- But Jesus does
The lamb couldnt satisfy the eternal wrath of God but the Lamb of God could because he was God himself
In the last couple days Jesus has said, the RL are fakes, the temple is fraud and coming down, end is coming soon, and now I am the Passover lamb
alot to take in
Vs 29- He ends this somber moment with an equally somber but yet hopefull tone
-I wont eat of this again until we partake of it again in the Heaven
-The First Lords supper he ate with the 12, the Next Lords Supper (Marriage Feast of the Lamb) he will eat it with every believer
Applications for us today
Obedience is the hallmark of a believer
-Whether it is Jesus and the Disciples obeying the Passover laws
-Whether its the Disciples obeying the Jesus spoken words
-Whether its the man obeying Jesus words spoken by the disciples
-Obedience to Christ ( the Word in Flesh) and obedience to the written word ( OT and NT) are essential
-Its like breathing for the believer
-We live in times were Gods word is more like guidelines that can be broken
-Im sure many people over the years have made similar statements as they see the church fade with society
-Repentance becomes rarely seen, Holiness has been traded in for “Likes”, and obedience is disregarded
-Beloved, is your life marked by obedience
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
2. Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
Very few if any had greater proximity to the incarnate Jesus than Judas
We already discussed he had a tendency to be dishonest- steal from the moneybag
I want to make clear, Judas wasnt one who had Jesus and lost him
Scripture doesnt speak this way- Once God has you, your his
Judas never was- but he was as close as you get to him but was the son of destruction and even had Satan himself indwell him for a period of time
If your relationship with Jesus today is based on proximity to Jesus or what you do for the church, even Judas cast out demons
But Judas heart was a pit of sin- from flowed his springs of life
Beloved, there are many things that we may be watching, listening to, being apart of this group or that, that is fighting for your heart
and give no opportunity to the devil.
there are some things that you and I are not necessarily near but Its laying in wait for us
But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.
We will never guard our hearts without Gods word
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
Beloved guard your heart
3. Jesus is better
-As we see the transition from the Passover to the Lords Supper
-We never read of the Disciples or the early church partaking of the Passover again
-After the cross, there is no need for subpar lamb that never can save
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
The shadows have given way to the reality
The little lambs have been superceded by the Lamb of God
No need to celebrate temporary restoration but now an eternal by the blood of Jesus
This Passover was special because the shadow was replaced by something better
Gospel and close