Jesus Share the Passover Dinner with his Apostles
Jesus, the betrayal of Judas already in the works after his anointing for burial, instructs his disciples regarding preparations for his last Passover Supper with them. Two days elapse and the disciples and Jesus finally arrive at the evening of the Passover Dinner. The Passover dinner, commemorating the great work of God in saving his people, the Children of Israel alive in Egypt was commanded to be observed several times in the Scriptures:
That ye shall say, It [is] the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. Exodus 12:27 (See all of Exodus 27)
Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season. Numbers 9:2
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Deuteronomy 16:1
In addition to the command to keep the Passover, the dinner Christ eats with the apostles at the Last Supper before the crucifixion, there were a few times during the course of Israel's history when they neglected to celebrate the Passover and had to re-establish the Passover dinner to be right with God and come again under his protection and blessing. Two of these times include the return from Exile described in Ezra and Nehemiah, and in the days of Josiah when portions of the Torah were discovered in the wall:
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover unto the LORD your God, as [it is] written in the book of this covenant. Surely there was not holden such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 2 Kings 23:21-2
For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them [were] pure, and killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. Ezra 6:20
Israel at times forgot another critical holy day, the Feast of Tabernacles such as in Ezra 3:4 and Zechariah 14:16-18, when it is noted that the festival of Sukkot, or Tabernacles will be kept by all nations coming up to the Summit of Jerusalem, in order to receive the blessing of rain accorded to those who obey God and favor the children of the Prophets, the Jews. With this sense of importance, and the commandment of God, Jesus meets with his disciples for the last time during his earthly ministry for the 'last supper' which commemorates:
1. The Sacrifice of a Lamb
2. The Blood on the Door which Saves Israel's firstborn from death, and
3. The commemoration of the bitter sufferings of Israel in the Wilderness, until the promised land would come into view.
The Seder dinner which is set before the the disciples of Yshua, includes wine, bitter herbs which commemorate the bitterness of life in the wilderness, the bread of covenant and other items: today each item is set in array on a seder plate, and eaten sequentially, recalling the struggles and deliverance of the Children of Israel, over 3500 years since their release from Egypt.
It is easy to see why this last supper was so significant, beyond the paintings and its mention in certain services: the supper would not only be the traditional Passover, but will point to the work of God about to occur. The supper though, not only points to the suffering and passion about to take place, but to its meaning to Israel, and it also encompasses several facets (not in exact order0:
1. The prophetic revelation of the betrayal of Judas (John 13:26)
| Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped [it]. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave [it] to Judas Iscariot, [the son] of Simon. |
2. The beautiful prayers and proclamations of the Messiah in declaring who he is, and praying for his apostles and disciples when he is gone (John 15-17) *
*We often separate these prayers into a separate category, but they appear only in the Gospel of John, and are chronologically in the events of the Last Supper.
3. The Washing of the Apostles' Feet as a sign of Servant-hood and humility John 13:5
4. The breaking of the bread of Covenant, and (Matthew 26:26)
5. The Offering of the Wine, the blood of the New Covenant.(Matthew 26:27)
Due to time limitations in this series, we have skipped over the triumphal entry and preparation of the dinner, and since we have in the last study dealt with the betrayal of Judas, in this study we will concentrate on the Washing of the Apostles Fee, and the breaking of the bread and wine, setting apart those other topics for a more indepth treatment in the future.
Christ Will Gird Himself & Serve Us, With Sweet Manna, All Around:
The Washing of the feet of the disciples.
While not endorsing Catholic doctrine, it was interesting that in the writing of this, the Roman church's new Pope Frances was noted on the news as going to an Italian prison and washing the feet of 10 young prisoners in a 'Holy Week' service representing the humility of Christ.
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