The Day of Preparation
(A monologue)
I dreaded the announcement of the new moon. Depression gripped me. I could not face the beginning of another year of feasts and fasts excluded from the spiritual life of Israel. But what was a blind man to do? I did what I did every day. My son led me to my usual place on the side of the main road that led out of Jericho. To the north was Galilee and to the southwest was the holy city. I yearned to see Jerusalem again.
Passover over was just 14 days away (14th of Nissan). Several days later I heard a crowd of people coming down the road, at first I thought it was another one of those noisy Ishmaelite caravans headed down to Petra, the capital city of the Nabateans. But I was wrong. Although it was still to early in the month, the group sounded more and more like the waves of pilgrims that passed by me on their way to the great feasts in Jerusalem.
I began to call out for alms when someone tried to stop me. He said, “Be quiet! Jesus, the Natzorean, is coming this way!” Jesus the Natzorean… That was a prophetic term! I thought to myself, “I remember when crowds used to come down from Jerusalem to hear Zecharias’ son John preach. He was a fiery preacher. After his sermons people went into the Jordan to take a ritual bath in the living waters of the river.
John used to say, "I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Matthew 3:11) I have heard of this Jesus. We in Jericho have heard about the miracles that Jesus performed in the Galilee. Amazing things, lepers, deaf, women and children, we even heard about a blind man who received his sight. Are you telling me this same Jesus is within the sound of my voice? Are the people really calling him Natzorean?
That was the prophetic term that Isaiah used for Messiah. “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch (netzer) from his roots will bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1) Zechariah had used the same term. He said, “Behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.” (Zechariah 3:8) It was as if a light when on in my head for, although I was physically blind, I had just received spiritual insight. Jesus was the son of David.
I began to call out, "JESUS SON OF DAVID HAVE MERCY ON ME." I was frantic. Then I heard his voice: "SON OF TIMAEUS!" (Luke 18:35-43) Jesus asked me, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And I said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” And Jesus said, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately I regained my sight and began following Him on the road. (Mark 10:51-52). You can’t imagine what it was like to be blind for as long as I have been and then, when I regained my sight, I was looking straight into the face of God’s Messiah. I could not stop saying those words, “Jesus is the Son of David… Jesus is God’s Messiah!” Later when Dr. Luke wrote his account of Jesus, he honored me by letting the announcement of who Jesus really was fall from my lips. Jesus is the SON OF DAVID.
I followed Jesus to Jerusalem. It was the most amazing week. It all began with Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem on the first day of the week (Zechariah 9:9). I will never forget listening to Jesus teaching His disciples on steps leading to the Huldah gates.
I purchased my Passover lamb from the temple representative and carefully watched over it for the four days preceding the day of preparation. It was unsettling to me to discover an undercurrent of ill will towards Jesus from the leaders. I could not understand that at all.
When I inquired as to where Jesus was going to eat the Passover, it became clear that He was going to celebrate with the Essenes on Mount Zion. I knew about the Essenes because their primary village was not too far from us at Wadi Qumran. The main difference that I knew about them was that their religious calendar was different from ours. They called themselves Sons of Light and based their religious calendar on the solar year.
The Sadducees who controlled the Temple based their calendar on the moon. The Sadducees took a hard line against the Essenes and would not allow them to sacrifice their Passover lambs in the temple. As far as I knew, the Essenes did not have a lamb as a part of their Passover meal.
The days went by so fast. Before I knew it, the time had come. The day of preparation is when all the things that are needed for Passover are collected. Besides gathering the various food ingredients for the Passover meal, the house is thoroughly cleaned and all leaven had to be removed. Then the Passover lamb had to be taken to the temple and sacrificed before it was brought home and cooked.
The next morning I awoke early because I wanted to attend the morning sacrifice at the temple. In fact, I was one of the first in line when the Gates called Beautiful were opened. On the way over to the temple mount, I had heard that Jesus has been arrested on some false charge the night before, but I was so preoccupied with attending the morning sacrifice I did not think about it anymore.
Morning sacrifice was slain when the rising sun lights the sky as far as Hebron. After the sacrifice I hurried back to the place where my family was staying. On the way home I again heard that the charge against Jesus was serious and that He had been taken to Pilate’s judgment hall. I felt sure He would be acquitted.
As soon as I reached our campsite in the Kidron Valley, I gathered our Passover lamb in my arms and headed back to the temple. While I was on my way, a strange thing happened. Although the weather had been beautiful that day, right at noon a haunting darkness came over the city. Hardly able to see, I joined the crowds of people making their way to the temple with their lambs.
There must have been over 100,000 men with their lambs in the crowd. I considered myself fortunate to be included in the first group of men to present their lambs to the priests. We quickly passed through the women’s court and stood before the magnificent semi-circular flight of fifteen steps leading to the men’s court and the Nicanor Gate. I had waited for years to recite the songs of ascent as I entered the men’s court
As I climbed each step I quoted the opening lines from the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134):
Step 1 Psalm 120 In my trouble I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.
Step 2 Psalm 121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from whence shall my help come?
Step 3 Psalm 122 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Step 4 Psalm 123 To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
Step 5 Psalm 124 "Had it not been the Lord who was on our side," let Israel now say.
Step 6 Psalm 125 Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides
forever.
Step 7 Psalm 126 When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who
dream.
Step 8 Psalm 127 Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who built it.
Step 9 Psalm 128 How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.
Step 10 Psalm 129 "Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up," let Israel now say.
Step 11 Psalm 130 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.
Step 12 Psalm 131 O Lord, my heart is not proud nor my eyes haughty
Step 13 Psalm 132 Remember, O Lord, on David’s behalf, all his affliction; nor do I involve myself in
great matters, or in things too difficult for me.
Step 14 Psalm 133 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!
Step 15 Psalm 134 Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the
house of the Lord.
My heart was overflowing with joy as I reached the threshold of the Nicanor Gate. As soon as our group entered the Court of Israel, several Levites shut the massive gates behind us. Three blasts from the silver trumpets rang through the temple courts. The time had come to sacrifice my Passover lamb.
Laying my hands on the head of my lamb, I confessed my sins of ignorance. I was really nervous. I asked the priest if he would kill my lamb for me, but he said he could not. The sins I had confessed were my own, the lamb was my own, and it was my responsibility to slay the lamb. With that, he handed me the knife, pulled the lamb’s gullet forward and showed me where to strike. I thrust the knife into the lamb and, as the blood gushed out, two priests with consecrated bowls of gold and silver caught the blood and carried it to the altar.
Blood from my lamb was cast at the northeast and southwest corner of the altar below the red line. While all of this took place, the Levites sang the Hallel (Psalms 113-118). The Levites sang the first line and then we repeated it. This went on until each man’s lamb had been slain and the blood sprinkled on the altar. (Psalm 113:1-9)
Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
The name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations;
His glory is above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
Who is enthroned on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in heaven and in the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap,
To make them sit with princes,
With the princes of His people.
He makes the barren woman abide in the house
As a joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord!
Our group was almost finished when it happened… The earth began to shake. I thought the temple was going to fall on top of me. I was terrified. From where I was standing I could see into the first part of the temple as far as that massive six-inch-thick veil that protected the Holy of Holies. At first I heard the sound of material tearing and then, before my eyes, I saw the veil split from top to bottom. The attending priests came running out of the inner sanctuary, crying out to God for mercy. The men around me were in fear and confusion but, just then, a strange sense of peace came over me.
I did not realize it at the time, but over the years I have come to know what actually happened on that incredible day. In fact, the Epistle to the Hebrews has been a great help to my understanding of those events. I read, “The high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:7, 11, 12)
I realized that while I was offering my Passover lamb to God inside the temple, Jesus was crucified outside city walls. While we were singing the Hallel inside that temple, He was reciting one of the most powerful Messianic Psalms outside the city from the cross. In true rabbinic form, He quoted the first line of Psalm 22 saying, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” and then he expected the people to say the rest of the Psalm…
Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I have no rest.
Yet You are holy,
O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
In You our fathers trusted;
They trusted and You delivered them.
To You they cried out and were delivered;
In You they trusted and were not disappointed.
Jesus placed His full trust in God while on the cross, and God did not disappoint Him. From the cross He entered the Holy of Holies, sprinkled His blood on very spot where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son and paid for my sins, not just my unintentional sins but all of my sins.
It was obvious to me that the rulers of the people were unable to grasp what had just happened. As soon as I could, I returned to my family with my Passover lamb. I knew exactly how I was going to break the news to my family. It was difficult to contain myself, but I waited until the meal was prepared and we all sat down to eat. I waited until my son asked the question that every Jewish boy is taught to ask at the Passover over meal… “Father, why is this night different from all other nights?” I could not contain myself any longer. I shared with my family the amazing events that had transpired that afternoon at the temple. Finally I said, “Son, this night is different from all other nights because today God’s Messiah, the one called the Son of Man, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
Years later the Apostle John looked back on the events of this day and wrote the following words about Jesus. “You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)
This was one Passover that I shall never forget. I returned to Jericho with my family and devoted the rest of my life to following Jesus of Nazareth.
Visit Pastor Peter’s teaching ministry at http://pastorpeter.com
