From Passover to the Lord’s Supper

From Passover to the Lord’s Supper

Matthew 26:17-30

INTRODUCTION

Passover is the oldest of the Jewish feasts and the first feast of the calendar year (Lev.23:5). The day after Passover begins the feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev.23:6) which lasts for 7 days.

The two feasts and the 8-day celebration are so closely related that the whole period is sometimes referred to as "Passover" or "the Feast of Unleavened Bread."

Four days prior to Passover, each family was to select a sacrificial lamb. Because the events of this passage take place on Thursday of the Passion Week, Jesus and the disciples had doubtlessly already done this on Monday just after the Triumphal Entry.

The lambs were to be taken to the priests at the temple at "twilight" according to Ex.12:6. There during a two-hour period they would be offered as sacrifices for sin. "Since all the lambs were killed during a two-hour period just before twilight…, it would have required about 600 priests, killing an average of 4 lambs per minute to accomplish this task in a single evening."1

Imagine the immense amount of blood from so many lambs. Historian Josephus estimated 250,000 would be slain. The priests white robes would be soaked in blood. The pavement ran with blood and the people tracked it all over the city. From the temple mount the blood ran down into the Kidron Valley where the stream turned bright red for days. The scene was a vivid reminder of the price of sin. Heb.9:22

Note in v.28 of our text that Jesus will say that His blood will be "shed for many for the remission of sins." Why? Because Heb.10:4 says, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins."

It is helpful to note that the Pharisees as well as all the Galilean Jews counted days from sunrise to sunrise while the Sadducees and the Judean Jews counted their days from sunset to sunset. Therefore 14 Nisan fell for Galileans on Thursday and on Friday for Judeans. Thus the slaughter of the lambs took place on both Thursday and Friday.

Let’s examine our text in detail to learn how Jesus both celebrated the last Passover and instituted the first Lord’s Supper.

I. Jesus Celebrates the Last Passover (vv.17-25).

A. Preparations for the Passover (vv.17-19).

It was on "the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread" that the "disciples came to Jesus" and asked, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover." It was Thursday morning and they had much to do. Not only did they have to take the lamb to be sacrificed by the priests, they needed to buy the unleavened bread, the wine and the bitter herbs for the feast. The question was not what did He want them to do, but "where" they would serve and eat this meal.

Remember the city was teeming with as many as 2 million people. Banquet rooms no doubt commanded a high price from so many visitors.

Jesus told them to "Go into the city to a certain man." Mk.14:13 and Lk.22:10 say the man would be "carrying a pitcher of water." This would be an odd sight for women normally carried water. The man would be easy to spot in the crowd. They were to say to him, "The Teacher says, ‘My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."

Observe specifically that Jesus said, "My time is at hand" (v.18). On other occasions Jesus had said, "My time has not yet come" and words to that effect (Jn.7:6,8 etc…). Now the time had come. Jn.13:1 says, "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."

Jesus said, "I will keep the Passover." This was no normal Passover, but a pivotal moment in Jesus’ ministry and in redemptive history. Lk.22:15 gives this tense, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer."

So they left and "did as Jesus had directed them." The man with the water pot showed them to "a large upper room, furnished and prepared" (Mk.14:14) There they "prepared the Passover." We don’t know what Jesus did during that day. Perhaps it was a time of intense prayer or last minute instructions to the other disciples.

B. Elements of the Passover (v.20).

For the disciples and other Jews, Passover was a joyous holiday occasion, much like Christmas or Thanksgiving to us.

1. WINE SERVED

The meal began with a serving of wine from a common cup. This was the first of 4 cups to be passed. Tradition has it that they watered down the wine to keep anyone from desecrating the meal in drunkenness.

2. CEREMONIAL WASHING

Next, there was ceremonial washing in which the washing of hands symbolized the need for the spiritual cleansing of the heart. Lk.22:24 records that there arose "a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest." Jesus "rose… and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself… poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel…" (Jn.13:4-5). Jesus acted with the lowliness of a servant. There was no hired servant to do this. The disciples were too proud to serve each other in this way. So the Son of God washed the dirty feet of men. It was both an act of pure humility and a strong rebuke to the arrogance of the disciples. He said, "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you" (Jn.13:15).

3. EATING OF BITTER HERBS

Next was the eating of the bitter herbs. The herbs and unleavened bread was dipped into a dish of charoseth, a substance made of pomegranates, apples, dates, figs, raisins and vinegar. It was symbolic of brick mortar the Jews used in their slave labor in Egypt.

The second cup was then passed.

4. CHILDREN ASK QUESTIONS

At this point of the Seder, traditionally the youngest child asks four questions and the answers reflect the narrative of the Exodus.

5. SINGING

Next would come the singing of psalms. Traditionally the Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118) were sung. The first two were normally sung here.

6. THE LAMB SERVED

Then the roasted lamb would be brought out and served. The head of the house would again wash his hands and break the unleavened bread to be passed and eaten with the roasted lamb.

C. The Betrayer Leaves the Passover (vv.21-25).

It was probably at this or some other early point in the feast that Jesus said something that caused a chill to run up each disciple’s spine. It was "as they were eating" that Jesus said, "One of you will betray Me." Until now this was a joyous festive occasion. They seem to ignore His message of death. Now it became deadly quiet.

Jesus had told them earlier that He would be "betrayed into the hands of men" (Mt.17:22; cf.20:18), but this was the first time He told that the betrayer would be one of the 12.

Instead of pointing fingers at each other, each man examined his own heart first. They were "exceedingly sorrowful" They began to ask the Lord, "Is it I?"

Jesus then said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me."

Jesus wanted the betrayer gone from the room that He might share with His genuine disciples the transformation from the old feast to the new covenant.

II. Jesus Institutes the First Lord’s Supper (vv.26-30).

The Passover had been celebrated for almost 1500 years. It was the oldest of the Old Covenant rituals. But this night would mark the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant.

V.26 says it was "as they were eating," that is the feast was still under way. After the lamb would be the passing of another cup, but Jesus "took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’"

This was a startling statement very similar to what He said in Jn.6:53, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." Jesus meant that the bread and likewise the cup were symbolic of His body and blood.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, "the city of bread." Just as there was no leaven in the Passover bread, there was no sin found in Him. Like the manna gave life in the wilderness, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (Jn.6:35).

As we remember Him in taking the bread of the Lord’s Supper we also participate in each other’s lives. 1 Cor.10:17 says, "For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread." We meet each other in common fellowship at His table and testify of our salvation to unbelievers.

Next in v.27, "He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you.’" This seems to be the third cup of Passover, "the cup of blessing" as Paul calls it in 1 Cor.10:16. He stunned them even more by saying, "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." This was repulsive to the Jews for their law forbade even eating meat contaminated with blood.

Jesus wanted them to know when they saw Him bleeding and dying on the cross that He was not the victim of Jewish power or Roman aggression but that He was "being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23).

He told them, "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." He not only wanted them to know that His departure was sure but that His return was imminent. He will drink with us one day in the Millennial Kingdom!

CONCLUSION

At last they "sung a hymn," probably Psalm 118 and "went out to the Mount of Olives."

From the Passover, the Lamb is a type of Christ, "the Lamb of God." In the Lord’s Supper, the "bread" and the "cup." Are symbols of His precious body and blood that He sacrificed for us.