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So, we left off with Judas arranging to betray Jesus. And in preparing for this week I stumbled upon something that I have errantly taught and believed for years.
It’s not a hill to die on, but it does speak to the truth of things – and so it must be addressed.
So, let’s pick it up at verse 7
And read to verse 20 – remembering that this is meat and we like chewing here.
Luke 22:7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.
9 And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?
10 And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.
11 And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
12 And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.
13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Luke 22.7-20
June 7th 2020
So, while Judas is actively seeking a way to betray Jesus let’s pick it up back at verse 7
7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
And again, Passover was also called the day or feast of unleavened bread because for those eight days leaven or yeast was not eaten.
The way Luke writes this, “when the Passover must be killed,” he means when the lamb, called the paschal lamb, was supposed to be killed.
Here Luke likens the Passover to that lamb saying, “But when the Passover must be killed.” So, here’s the question.
Jesus, the Lamb of God, was to be killed as the Passover lamb for the sins of the world. So did Jesus and the apostles participate in the Passover meal – which always included a lamb – and then Jesus was killed as another lamb?
Because of this line in Luke and the other synoptics, most Christians teach that he did.
But it has never made any sense to me, in the back of my mind, why Jesus would eat of the Passover meal, with lamb included, if or since HE was the Lamb to be sacrificed.
Has this ever bothered you? I have always just set it aside – until now.
The language of Luke here (and of Matthew and Mark) do not help matters as they say (again, verse 7)
7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
And then we read seven verses later at verse 14
14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.
Let’s read our text for today one more time – just listen to it and allow your mind to hear some things that may cause your antennae to pop up.
Verse 7:
Luke 22:7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.
9 And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?
10 And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.
11 And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
12 And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.
13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Is this last supper described here the same meal as the Passover? Again, I have always taught that it was – and I have always been taught that it was – and I was wrong.
I now conclude that Jesus and his disciples did NOT eat the Passover meal together here, that He was in fact the Passover lamb that was slain, and that the Last Supper was something altogether different. Now let me explain (and hopefully prove) why.
We will begin by examining the Gospel accounts of Jesus final meal.
First, let’s look at John’s account of the “last supper.”
John emphasized that Jesus was a Jew who routinely kept Jewish customs, including the observance of God’s commanded feast days (which are listed in Leviticus 23).
John refers to at least three Passovers during the ministry of Jesus (in John 2:13; 6:4; 19:14) which includes this final one.
He also mentions the Feast of Tabernacles, known by the Jews as Sukkot (in John 7:2), the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which the Jews called Hoshanah Rabbah (in John 7:37), and the Feast of Dedication, commonly known as Chanukah (in John 10:22).
John’s account of the “last supper” is found in chapter 13 of his Gospel and he writes:
13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come forth from God, and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper, and laid aside his garments; and taking a towel, he girded himself about. 5 Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
John describes a “last supper” that took place on the same night Judas Iscariot betrayed him (John 13:21-30).
However, the first verse plainly states that this supper was “before the feast of the Passover,” which lasts for seven days (from Nisan (or April) 15 through April 21).
John is obviously referring to the same night described by the other three Gospel writers in Matthew 26; Mark 14; and here in Luke 22).
But John goes on to reiterate (several times) that these events took place “before Passover.” So clearly, the Passover meal that was traditionally eaten on the evening of April 15, had not yet been observed.
Remember, the Jews reckoned days from sunset to sunset. Judas betrayal occurred before Passover and as you will see, John points out repeatedly that the “last supper,” Jesus trial and his crucifixion all occurred before the Passover, or on what we will learn is called “the Preparation Day.
So, JOHN 18:28 says:
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.
And JOHN 19:14 says:
Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he [Pilate] said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” (NKJV)
JOHN 19:31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (NKJV)
JOHN 19:42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby. (NKJV)
All of these things happened BEFORE the Passover but instead happened on the Preparation day for the Passover!
But exactly when was the Preparation Day?
The Preparation Day for the Passover was from the evening (end) of Nisan 13 until the evening (end) of Nisan 14.
Bullinger, in his Appendix 156 to The Companion Bible, states:
“Wednesday, April 14th (commencing on Tuesday at sunset), was ‘the preparation day’, on which the crucifixion took place.”
As shown in John 19:31 above, the day following the Preparation Day was an annual high Sabbath, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, which fell annually on April 15. And God himself commanded the Israelites to observe this high Sabbath every year as EXODUS 12:16 says
On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat; that only may be prepared by you. 17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.”
LEVITICUS 23:6 also says,
“And on the fifteenth day of the same month [Abib, later called Nisan which is our April] is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.” (which made it a sabbath)
So, now let’s look at the accounts of this event recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the Synoptic Gospels and compare them with John’s version:
MATTHEW 26:17 Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18 And he said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”‘ 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they (listen) prepared the Passover 20 When evening had come, he sat down with the twelve. 21 Now as they were eating (not the Passover), he said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
MARK 14:12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare, that you may eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent out two of his disciples and said (yada yada yada – and then verse 16) “So his disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as he had said to them; and they prepared the Passover. 17 In the evening he came with the twelve. 18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with me (not the Passover) will betray me.”
And to our text today:
LUKE 22:7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” (yadayadayada) 11 Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”‘ (Verse 13) 13 So they went and found it just as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover [hetoimasan to pascha]. 14 When the hour had come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 15 Then he said to them, (This is a really important line) “With fervent desire I have desired [epithumia epethumesa] to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
First, let’s note the timing of these events. Matthew says it was “the first of Unleavened Bread.”
Admittedly and on the surface, these accounts appear to contradict John’s account, which plainly states that the “last supper” occurred before the Feast of Passover.
However, Mark and Luke add an additional detail that helps clarify the time.
Mark says it was “the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover”; Luke states it was “the day of Unleavened Bread when the Passover must be killed.”
The Bible tells us in Exodus 12:6 that the Passover lambs were to be killed “between the evenings” on April 14. The Jews have traditionally interpreted “between the evenings” to mean “in the afternoon.”
At that time the Jews killed the Passover lambs on the afternoon of April 14 and they did it in the temple because that was the only place allowed by God.
In Josephus’ The Wars of the Jews, he reports that in the 1st century, the Passover lambs were slaughtered “from the ninth hour till the eleventh” which corresponds to our 3:00-5:00 p.m.
So obviously, the day Matthew and Mark call the “first day of Unleavened Bread” is the same day that John calls the “the Preparation Day of the Passover.”
In fact, according to Unger, the 14th of April was “called until the evening “the preparation for the Passover.”
All three Synoptic Gospels confirm that Yeshua was crucified on the “Preparation Day,” April 14:
MATTHEW 27:62 reads: On the next day [April 15], which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate.
MARK 15:42 Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the [high] Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea . . . went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
In LUKE 23:54 we will read, “That day was the Preparation, and the [high] Sabbath drew near.
So, going back to the Synoptic accounts of the meal, Matthew and Mark show that the disciples came to Yeshua just as the Preparation Day (April 14) was beginning, which would have been at sunset.
They asked him where he wanted them “to prepare” to eat the Passover meal, which would occur the next night (according to John 18:28) as the priests would be slaughtering the lambs in the temple in the afternoon of that day.
Luke records that in response to their question, Yeshua instructed Peter and John how to find the place where they should prepare to eat the Passover which again was on the night of April 15.
And he described to them an owner of the house would show them a large furnished upper room. Mark and Luke both state that it was there, in that room, that they were to prepare for the Passover (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12).
So, we can see from all three accounts (Matt. 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7-9), the disciples waited until the beginning of April 14 (sunset) to ask Christ where to prepare the Passover.
We might wonder why they would start preparing for the Passover meal the night before the actual meal was to be eaten?
In an English translation of the Jewish Mishnah, we discover why the disciples would have been concerned with preparing for the Passover that evening, even though it wouldn’t be eaten until the next night.
The phrase “prepare the Passover” found in Matthew 26:19, Mark 14:16, and Luke 22:13 comes from the Greek phrase “hetoimasan to pascha.” According to Strong’s Concordance, the Greek verb root hetoimazo means: “1) to make ready, prepare 1a) to make the necessary preparations, get everything ready . . . drawn from the oriental custom of sending on before kings on their journeys persons to level the roads and make them passable.”
So clearly, the reason the disciples questioned Yeshua about where they were going to eat the Passover meal was because Jewish custom required that the location be prepared by removing the leaven from it beginning on the night of April 14.
As mentioned earlier, the Jews ate the Passover meal on the night of April 15, which was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Exodus 12:15 commands the Israelites to remove all leaven from their dwellings and prescribes the penalty for eating leavened bread during this feast:
“for anyone who eats leavened food – that soul shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day [Nisan 15] to the seventh day [Nisan 21].”
STOP
When the disciples questioned Yeshua about where they were going to eat the Passover meal the next night, they still did not fully understand that by that time he would be dead – the one sacrificed for the sins of the world at around 3PM the following day!
The Messiah would not be able to eat the Passover lamb because he was destined to be sacrificed as our Passover as Paul says in 1st Corinthians 5:7).
But instead of explaining to them then that he would be in the grave when the time came to eat the Passover lamb, he simply told his disciples where to prepare to eat the Passover meal as a means to fulfill all things surrounding it.
After Peter and John had performed the process of removing all the leaven from the room and made ready for the upcoming feast, Yeshua used their final meal together on the night of the 14th to instruct his disciples one last time before his death.
Verse 15 of Luke 22 is key to understanding this. Here, most Christians discover support that the last supper was the Passover meal. Not so.
In the passage, Jesus says something really unique. He says:
“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
The Greek phrase translated “with fervent desire I have desired” is epithumia epethumesa. It literally means “with desire I desired.”
The first word, epithumia, is a noun. According to the Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, usually this word “has the ambivalent sense, desire, strive for, long to have / do / be something.”
It can also be “used for (forbidden) desire” and Yeshua uses epithumia in this sense in Luke 22:15, which best means that what Jesus said was that this would be an unfulfilled wish.
“with fervent desire I have desired” to eat this Passover with you.
This says to me that Jesus longed to be around to eat this Passover with them on the following day. Perhaps he wondered if His passion would not be required over the course of his ministry, and that he actually could be around to eat of another Passover with them.
But this was not to be the case. He knew that he was to be the lamb sacrificed, and embraced this fact by the time the preparations were in place the night before.
This desire was unrealized because it was forbidden. Had he partaken of that Passover the shedding of his blood would not have taken place.
Ferrar Fenton, in his Bible translation, accurately captures the meaning of Yeshua’s words in these verses:
LUKE 22:15 “And he said to them: ‘I have longingly desired [epithumia epethumesa] to eat this Passover with you before my suffering;” (NOW LISTEN TO WHAT LUKE WRITES IN VERSE 16)
“however, I tell you that I shall not eat of it, until it can be administered in the Kingdom of God.'”
The last meal that Yeshua and the disciples ate together was obviously some type of preparatory meal, not the Passover meal itself.
Jewish scholar David H. Stern writes of this meal:
“The Last Supper is considered by most scholars to have been a Passover meal or Seder. Many Pesach themes are deepened, reinforced and given new levels of meaning by events in the life of Yeshua the Messiah and by his words on this night. However, Joseph Shulam has suggested that it may not have been the Seder but a se’udat-mitzvah, the celebratory banquet accompanying performance of a commandment such as a wedding or b’rit-milah.
Here is the background for his argument. When a rabbi and his students finish studying a tractate of the Talmud, they celebrate with a se’udat-mitzvah (a ‘banquet of completion,’) (graduation).
Since Yeshua knew he was going to die, he may have regarded it as appropriate to complete his disciples’ earthly “course of study” with a banquet.
This solution would also resolve the perceived conflict between John and the Synoptic Gospels over the timing of the Last Supper.
We note that no lamb was present at the last supper. This was for four really good reasons for this.
Before I give them remember, the Lamb was the central figure in the Passover meal, which was to be eaten by the participants.
The first reason there was no lamb on the night of the last Supper is because it was not the day of the passover – it was the day before, the day of preparation when leaven was sought out and removed.
The second reason that there was no lamb present at the Last Supper is because the slaughtered lambs were all killed around 3PM on the following day, April 15.
The third reason that there was no lamb on this meal is because according to the Old Testament, the lambs had to be killed in the temple, and the temple was not like a butcher shop – you couldn’t just place an order and pick up your meat.
They slaughtered according to tradition, and the tradition or command says in
DEUTERONOMY 16:2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the LORD thyDeut. God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place His name there. . . . 5Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: 6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place His name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season [Aviv, see Deu. 16:1] that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
None of the four Gospels mentions “a lamb” being eaten at the “last supper” because the time had not yet come to slay the Passover when the Messiah and his disciples ate their last meal together.
As Deuteronomy clearly states, God through Moses, gave instructions regarding the proper place to sacrifice the Passover in this Scripture.
He did not allow that the Israelites to sacrifice the Passover anywhere they wanted, but only at the place where He chose to “put His name.”
During Yeshua’s life, the Temple in Jerusalem was the place where God had placed His name, and that’s where the Jews killed the Passover lambs in accordance with this command. And they killed the paschal lambs on the 15th day, beginning in the afternoon but before sunset when the Passover feast would occur.
The last reason the Lord and His disciples did not have a lamb at the last supper is because He was that Lamb.
And he would be put to death with all the other lambs before the Passover meal was eaten the following night – or as Matthew, Mark and Luke all report, around the 9th hour – or three in the afternoon.
Josephus records that the slaughter of the Passover lambs commenced at that time by the way and Christ himself fulfilled the symbolism of the Passover lamb at the exact time when he gave his life for them and the sins of the world.
A careful study of all four Gospels shows that Jesus and the disciples did not eat the Passover meal – something I have long taught.
There was no way they could have, since the time had not yet come to sacrifice the Passover lambs.
They simply prepared for the Passover meal the night before by removing all the leaven from the location they planned to use for the Feast.
Once evening fell, they had a meal there – it could have been a pre-passover meal that was known to occur when the Jews graduated from some of their studied.
It was at this meal that Judas was identified as the betrayer. Once he left, though the accounts conflict in the Gospels, Jesus institutes communion with the rest of the disciples.
After allowing them to get this room, and prepare everything necessary for the Passover (except the slaughtered lamb itself) Jesus tells the that he really desired to share the coming Passover with them.
But then he adds in Luke 22:16
16 But I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
At this point, though I doubt the disciples fully understood what he was doing, we read:
17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Here Jesus instituted the New Covenant symbols of the bread and wine that were on the table – along with the Lamb that would be slaughtered the next day at the appropriate hour.
COMMENTS
PRAYER
