“And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat” (Lk. 22:8). All about them, people were making preparations for the great memorial. Despite conflicts with the Jews and the mounting tension they could sense, the apostles would inevitably think about the first passover in the time of Moses.
The first passover
In that first passover, there were great foreshadowing’s of the events the apostles were soon to witness. Some of the parallels they would recognize, some of them they would not.
Jesus had been introduced to them as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). They would observe that he had a remarkable relationship with his Father. “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male…” (Ex. 12:5). They should have recognized that he was the one who would deliver them from bondage to sin -Christ our passover. But they did not yet understand that aspect of the gospel.
The lamb was selected four days before Passover, Jesus had entered Jerusalem four days before Passover. As they went to prepare, the apostles would not realize the significance of that coincidence.
“The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings” (Ex. 12:6). “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children” (Mt. 27:25). Later, the apostles would witness the fulfillment of the type as they watched the trial from afar and then saw their Lord die between the evenings.
They, no doubt, understood the exhortation of eating the passover “with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand” (Ex. 12:11). They were already good soldiers of Christ who had their “loins girt about with truth…(their) feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” and who relied upon the staff of the word of God (Eph. 6:14-17). In partaking of the meal they were to prepare, however, they were to experience a living exhortation provided by their Master.
Exhortation by Jesus
As they gathered that evening, terrible events were nearly upon him and yet the Lord heartily rejoiced to share in that time of fellowship. That is the meaning of “desired” in Luke 22:15. He was not distracted by their faults, which he knew all too well. He was not immobilized by contemplating his own problems. He was not absorbed in the fact that Judas was still there. He loved the faithful ones; he rejoiced in the hope they shared and in their common devotion to God.
This is how we should feel when we come before the Lord’s table. We should not be brooding over the faults of others or absorbed in our own difficulties. Instead, we should focus on our common hope of the coming kingdom. We should rejoice in our oneness in Christ, seeking to be of one spirit as we have all been called as fellowcitizens by God. Each of us is being fitly framed to be a part of the building of God. There is no randomness in our selection. We have been chosen with design to be built together for an habitation of God. Christ is the cornerstone of the great, living building of which we are a part (Eph. 2:18-22).
Putting others first
And he washed their feet. The apostles were concerned about which of them should be the greatest. Jesus did not admonish them by his words; he did it by his actions.
The person who would lead must first serve. We can do that in our everyday lives. Husbands should love their wives. Wives should submit to their husbands. Each should be putting the well-being of the other ahead of their own.
Wanting to serve God
The cup was divided among them. We are, therefore, exhorted to share in Christ’s life of serving God and others. This requires self sacrifice and personal discipline: “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25).
Let us consider our ways. Are we thankful that God has chosen us to serve Him? Do we spend more God-given time and money on worldly pursuits or on spiritual matters?
We must acknowledge that the flesh is weak, and a grim reminder of that undeniable fact is driven home as we see Judas go out to betray his Lord for 30 pieces of silver.
We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). After this meeting is over, how quickly we become weak and forgetful and give in to our human impulses. Christ overcame his fleshly tendencies only through fervent prayer and fasting and by keeping his mind elevated, looking upward to his Father. Let us do the same, keeping our minds filled with the light of the word of God. The darkness of the world leads to confused thinking. We must remember that darkness makes a person think they can do things without being seen. Let us heed the exhortation of Jesus: “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth” (John 12:35).
Christ our passover
It was into the darkness that Judas went. It was into the darkness that Jesus and the eleven went as the forces of evil encompassed him.
He was at their mercy. After his agony in the garden, Christ was strengthened and he went forward. He submitted to a mockery of arrest and trial. He was silent before Pilate and Herod. He was tormented, scourged and crucified. What brutality; what suffering!
Let us remember that he died so that we might be reconciled to God through him. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). Jesus was alluding to the brazen serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21). Moses was commanded to make a brazen serpent and lift it on a pole so that all who looked upon it would be saved from that which poisoned them (snake bites which typified sin). Jesus likened himself to the brazen serpent; he bore human nature (although he committed no sins) and all who look to him, lifted up and crucified, can be saved from their sins.
We come here this morning to give thanks and praise to God for His love that He has provided Christ, our pass-over, that we might have hope. As we meditate upon him, let us learn the lessons of the first passover and let us follow the attitude and example of Christ as he became the antitypical true pass-over.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One