For believers in the room, we invite you to join us in worship by participating in the Lord’s Supper in a few minutes. We continue our study of the last week of Jesus’ life on earth. Beginning with Palm Sunday and continuing through His resurrection, we are examining the details of the most important week in history.
1. Set Up Thursday
Palm Sunday – Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
Monday – Cleansing of the Temple
Tuesday – Jesus Engages in Controversy
Wednesday – Religious Authorities Seek to Kill Jesus
It’s April 6, 30 AD or April 2, 33 AD. It’s the day known as Maundy Thursday. It’s Thursday, less than twenty four hours from Jesus’ crucifixion. Once He enters the city of Jerusalem for the Last Supper, He’ll not depart again. Jesus’ hour has now come.
Thursday – Preparation for the Passover
The Disciples Argue
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
Jesus Identifies His Betrayer
Jesus Begins the Lord’s Supper
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
“Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” 9 They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” 10 He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters 11 and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” 13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” 23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.”
24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
28 “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, 29 and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 23:7-30).
“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it” (Exodus 12:7).
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 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 no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:12-13).
2. Explain Passover Then
Passover was an ancient tradition long before Jesus’ day. For over a thousand years, Jews had annually celebrated the Passover long before Jesus. This was Israel’s most important holiday for even secular Jews stopped to celebrate this day. This feast was to trump all others as it literally changed the way they marked off their calendars. This was a time when they celebrated the beginnings of becoming their own people. All of this would have been shared after sundown that evening, Nisan 15 (Thursday nightfall to Friday nightfall).
The Passover meal had to be eaten within the walls of Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:5–6).
Yet, with sheer number of people had swelled to the point that not everyone could get inside the walls. Usually one division of priests did the work at the Temple, but for Passover twenty-four divisions of priests gathered. On Thursday morning, these twenty-four divisions of priests would burn the leaven gathered from the homes that week. All their work would cease at noon on Thursday.
The Passover meal itself — including roasted lamb, bitter herbs, unleavened bread, fruit sauce, and four cups of wine. The lambs were slain 2:30 and 5:30 in the Temple Court. A priest’s shofar blast would commence to everyone in the city that the sacrifices had begun. Pilgrims assembles to approach two long lines of priests where they would kill their own lamb. Either a gold or silver basin would catch the blood and then the priest would dispose of the blood on the altar. The lamb was the centerpiece of the meal.
This was Jesus’ last time to be with His disciples. It was sundown when the meal begin, or around six p.m. And Jesus begins the meal by saying, ““I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you…” (Luke 22:14). The bitter herbs were to remind everyone of the difficult and bitter slavery the ancient Israelites endured. The fruit sauce was to remind everyone of the misery of making bricks under Pharaoh. But it was the lamb that was so significant. The blood of the lambs had been applied to the homes of the Israelites in Egypt to protect them from the outpouring of God’s judgment upon the Egyptians.
3. Message
3.1 Securing the Room
Because of the huge crowds descending on Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus takes precautions to secure a room. The disciples would meet a man and they would recognize him by his carrying a jar of water—something one would expect a woman to be doing. The man would be looking for them and would lead them to the place for their Passover meal. The secretive nature of the meeting suggests that Jesus was seeking privacy. But it was also likely to camouflage the place of the meeting from one of His disciples, Judas. Had Judas known where the meal was to occur, Jesus would have been betrayed and taken even earlier. Everything takes place just as he had told them, suggesting the miraculous work of God. While Jesus and the Jewish people would normally eat at a table, they intentionally choose to recline on the floor for the Passover. This was done to remind everyone that their ancestors did not have time to eat on table when they were fleeing from Pharaoh and Egypt. They would have probably set in a “U” formation.
3.2 A Look Forward
“For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:16).
“For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:18). Jesus, no doubt, looked forward to the meal pictured in Revelation – the Ultimate Communion.
3.3 The Cup
Luke tells that Jesus took one cup and passed it around to everyone. But this reminds us of another cup.
“And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will’” (Matthew 26:39).
“For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs” (Psalm 75:8).
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:9-10).
Quite simply, if Jesus doesn’t drink the cup of God’s wrath for you, your only option is to drink it by yourself.
