The Life of the Christ - ForMinistry

Luke 22
6 He agreed and started looking for a good chance to betray Jesus
when the crowds were not around.
Jesus Eats with His Disciples
7 The day had come for the Festival of Thin Bread, and it
was time to kill the Passover lambs. 8 So Jesus said to Peter and
John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”
9 But they asked, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”
10 Jesus told them, “As you go into the city, you will meet a
man carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house 11 and say to
the owner, ‘Our teacher wants to know where he can eat the
Passover meal with his disciples.’ 12 The owner will take you
upstairs and show you a large room ready for you to use. Prepare
the meal there.”
13 Peter and John left. They found everything just as Jesus had
told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
The Lord’s Supper
14 When the time came for Jesus and the apostles to eat, 15 he
said to them, “I have very much wanted to eat this Passover meal
with you before I suffer. 16 I tell you that I will not eat another
Passover meal until it is finally eaten in God’s kingdom.”
17 Jesus took a cup of wine in his hands and gave thanks to
God. Then he told the apostles, “Take this wine and share it with
each other. 18 I tell you that I will not drink any more wine until
God’s kingdom comes.”
19 Jesus took some bread in his hands and gave thanks for it.
He broke the bread and handed it to his apostles. Then he said,
“This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this as a way of
remembering me!”
20 After the meal he took another cup of wine in his hands.
Then he said, “This is my blood. It is poured out for you, and with
it God makes his new agreement. 21 The one who will betray me is
here at the table with me! 22 The Son of Man will die in the way
that has been decided for him, but it will be terrible for the one
who betrays him!”
23 Then the apostles started arguing about who would ever
do such a thing.
An Argument about Greatness
24 The apostles got into an argument about which one of
92
them was the greatest. 25 So Jesus told them:
Foreign kings order their people around, and
powerful rulers call themselves everyone’s friends.
26 But don’t be like them. The most important one of
93
Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem
PASSOVER AND THE FESTIVAL
OF THIN BREAD
These two special spring festivals were brought together in the
Jewish calendar long before the time of Jesus. Passover was celebrated
to remind the people of Israel how God rescued them from
slavery in Egypt (Exod 12,13). It was to be celebrated on the fourteenth
day of the first month, Nisan, a month that overlaps March
and April on modern calendars. Passover started at sunset. The
Festival of Thin Bread began the next day, the fifteenth day of the
first month, and lasted for seven days (Lev 23.4-8; Num 28.17-25).
During the Passover Festival, a lamb was to be killed,
roasted, and eaten. The blood of the lamb was a reminder of the
blood that the Israelites put on their doorposts before God sent a
final plague on Egypt. God’s angel of death “passed over” the
Israelite homes that were marked by the blood, but the death angel
killed the first-born in the families of Egypt (Exod 12.1-27). The thin
(unleavened) bread that was to be eaten during Passover and
during the seven days of the Festival of Thin Bread was a reminder
of how quickly the people had to leave Egypt. They did not have
time to let the dough for their bread rise, so they made bread
without using yeast. Bread made this way will always be flat, like
a cracker.
The Festival of Thin Bread also became a time to give thanks
to God for the annual harvest of grain, which provided food for all
the people. Later, these two feasts were joined and celebrated
partly at the temple in Jerusalem and partly in people’s homes.
Jewish people came from all over the world to be in Jerusalem to
take part in these yearly feasts. Here they recalled with thanks
what God had done for them in the past and celebrated their life
together in the present.
The reports of the celebration of these meals in the time of
Jesus includes both the offering and eating of the sacrificial
lamb, eating thin bread and drinking wine. Children were taught
the meaning of the meal as they ate it. Jews throughout the
world continue to celebrate these important festivals in much the
same manner.