Matthew 26: 1-45
Read vs. 1-16
How many days away is the Passover? Two days
What is the Passover? What does it represent?
What must die at Passover?
Read Exodus 12:1-7 The animal they choose must be
without what? Defect
Was Christ (our Passover Lamb) sinless and without defect?
What does Jesus tell them will happen to the Son of
Man? Will be handed over and crucified
Read Daniel 7:13 Who was before him? One like a
Son of Man …. Who is the Ancient of Days? God
In Vs. 7 who came to Him and poured perfume on Him …..
a woman
Read John 12:3 Who took the
expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus? Mary (sister
of Martha and Lazarus)
Why were the disciples upset about wasting the
perfume? It could have been sold for a high price and money given to the
poor.
This perfume was thought to have been valued at one years
wages ….so it was very expensive.
Then which one of the twelve went to the Chief Priests to
ask what they would give him if he turned Jesus over to them? Judas
What did they give him? 30 pieces of silver
(this was the price that it would cost to buy a slave in those days)
Read vs. 17-30 (The Last Supper)
Where did they have the Passover supper? At a mans
house
What does Jesus tell them that one of them will
do? Betray Him
They are upset and wonder who it might be
Jesus tells them: The one who dipped his hand into the
bowl with Me
What does Judas say to Jesus? Surely you don’t mean me
What does Jesus say? You have said so
What did Jesus say as He gave the bread to His
disciples? Take and eat this is my body
What did Jesus say as He gave the disciples the cup?
Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant which is
poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ….
When God established reconciliation between man and Himself
the price was a blood sacrifice.
Read Hebrews 9:22 What does it say about the shedding
of blood? Without it , there’s no forgiveness of sins.
The Covenant with God demands the shedding of blood.
Remember what we’ve talked about when a Covenant was made in
the Old Testament – the sacrifice had to be cut in ½ and then those making the
Covenant walked through the blood between the sacrificed animals.
Read Isaiah 42: 6 God says” ….. I will make you to be
a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles”
Read vs. 31-45 (Garden of Gethsemane)
What does Jesus tell Peter he will do? This very
night, before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times
What does Jesus do in the Garden of Gethsemane?
He prays
What do the disciples do? They sleep
What does Jesus ask His Father to do? Let this cup be
taken from Me. Yet not as I will be as You will.
How many times does Jesus pray for this? Three times
When we pray for things, what should be always ask
for? That God’s will be done
The purpose of the Lord's Supper is to remember what God
has done for us in providing salvation in Christ. What you have learned
about Christ's sacrifice on your behalf that has been especially meaningful to
you? Do you thank God regularly for the ultimate victory over sin and death
that He has provided in Christ? After meditating on Isaiah 53, Ephesians 1-2,
and 1 John 4:7-11, consider what impact Christ's death should have on your
life. Having died to sin, are you living unto righteousness (1 Pet.
2:24)? Do you see good works in your life (Eph. 2:10) as a response of
your gratitude for what God has graciously accomplished for you?
Storyboards
1. Priests
meet to try to come up with a plot to kill Jesus
2. Mary
pours perfume on Jesus’s head and feet and wipes it off with her hair
3. Disciples
things it’s wasteful to use the perfume
4. Judas
meets with Priests and is given 30 pieces of silver to hand over Jesus
5. Jesus
and 12 disciples in upper room for Passover supper
6. Jesus
breaks bread and says it will symbolize His body
7. Jesus
share’s cup of wine and says it will symbolize His blood and the new covenant
8. They
sing a song
9. Jesus
tells Peter he will deny Him 3 times before the rooster crows
10. Jesus
and disciples go to the garden of gethsemane to pray
Matthew 26: 46-75
Read vs. 46 – 56 Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus
Who came to the Garden of Gethsemane to find Jesus? ______________________,
a great crowd from the Priests and the Elders
What did Judas do to identify Jesus? He said “greetings
Rabbi” and ______________________ Him
What does Jesus say to Judas? ______________________,
do what you came to do
The Greek word here is not the normal word for “friend” = “hetairos” -
Comrade, or a fellow
friend/associate
The more common term for “friend” =
“philos” – dear friend, actively fond of, friendly
What did His disciple do? He raised his sword and ______________________of
the ear of the high Priest’s Servant.
Read John 18:10 Who cut off the slaves ear? _________________
Read Luke 22: 50-51 What does Jesus do? He _______________ his ear
What does Jesus tell His disciple to do? Put your _____________________
back into its place.
Read vs. 57 – 68 Jesus before Caiaphas and the
Council
Where did they take Jesus? Vs. 57 to Caiaphas the high
______________________
(where scribes and elders were gathered)
What did they try to do? find men to ______________________
against Jesus
How did Jesus respond in vs. 64? He said … you will
see the _____________________________sitting
at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of Heaven. Who is the
Son of Man? __________________________
What did they accuse Him of in vs. 65? ______________________
The Jewish Law stated that blasphemy is deserving of death…Leviticus
24:16 states that he that blasphemes the name of the LORD
"shall surely be put to death". InJewish law the only form of blasphemy which is punishable by death is blaspheming the Ineffable Name.
Read vs. 69 - 75 Peter denies Jesus
Where is Peter? Sitting ______________________
in the courtyard
What does he say to the servant girl when she said “you also
were with Jesus the Galilean”?
in vs. 70? He denies it…. “I do not know what you ______________________”
Now where does Peter go in Vs. 71? Out to the ______________________
What does he say to the 2nd servant girl when she
says “this man was with Jesus of Nazareth”?
In vs. 72 “I do not ______________________
the man”
What does he say to the bystanders who accuse him and
recognize his accent?
In vs. 74 “I do not ______________________the
man”
When he pronounces a curse on himself….it’s a curse of death
on himself at God’s hand if his words were untrue.
What happens immediately after his third denial of
Christ? A ______________________ crows.
Read Matthew 26:34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night,
before the rooster crows, you will deny me ______________________times.”
Read Luke 22:61 What does Jesus do at that very
moment? He made ______________________contact
with Peter
What did Peter do next? He went out and ______________________
bitterly
Why did he weep bitterly?
What have you done that denies Jesus?
Storyboards
1.
Jesus in Garden
praying / disciples sleeping
2.
Judas comes with
crowd and kisses Jesus
3.
Peter pulls his
sword and cuts off the servants ear
4.
Jesus is brought
before the High Priest
5.
False witness
testify against Jesus in the hearing – they decide He deserves death
6.
Servant girl #1
in the courtyard accuses Peter of being with Jesus
7.
Servant girl #2
at the entrance to the courtyard accuses Peter of being with Jesus
8.
Bystanders near
the entrance to the courtyard accuse Peter of being with Jesus
9.
Peter denies it,
a rooster crows, and Jesus looks at him
10. Peter leaves and weeps bitterly
A blog post about the seriousness of Taking the Lord's
Supper in an Unworthy Manner
Some
additional details about the Passover
Study Guide from GTY.org
INTRODUCTION
The purpose and climax of the life of Jesus Christ was
His sacrificial death. He came into the world to die. In Mark 10:45
Jesus says, "Even the Son of man came . . . to give his life a
ransom for many. " That was not an alteration in the plan; that was the
plan. It was not a bad ending to a good beginning. Jesus came to
die for the sins of the world. One writer that the cross was not the end
of the story, but the theme of the story.
A. The Theme of Sacrifice
1. In the Old Testament
The meaning of sacrifice has been progressively given by
Old Testament revelation. In the story of Adam and Eve we first learn
that sacrifice is necessary to cover sin (Gen. 3:21). In the
sacrifice of Abel we learn that a certain sacrifice is necessary to please
God--a sacrifice of death (Gen. 4:4). From Abraham we learn that
God will provide that sacrifice, just as he provided an animal in the place of
Isaac (Gen. 22:13). The Passover reminds us that the sacrifice must
be without spot or blemish (Ex. 12:5). All those aspects of a
sacrifice prepare us for Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice.
2. In the New Testament
Everything in the New Testament focuses on the
cross. Between twenty and forty percent of the text of the gospels center
around the final week of the Lord's life. The book of Acts is the record
of the world's reaction to the death and resurrection of Christ. The
epistles were written to those who believe in the death and resurrection of
Christ to instruct them in the implications of it. In the book of
Revelation we meet the Lamb that was slain. And He will return as King of
kings and Lord of lords.
The death of Jesus Christ is the focal point of all
redemptive history. It is no accident; it is the apex of the plan of
God. From the slain animals whose skins were used to clothe Adam and Eve
to the slain Lamb of Revelation who is worshiped in glory and majesty, the
cross is everything.
B. The Theme of Matthew's Gospel
Throughout his gospel Matthew has successfully presented
Jesus as king. But the end of Christ's life forces Matthew to accomplish
something that appears to be impossible: maintaining the majesty and dignity of
Jesus Christ in the midst of His betrayal and execution. It is thrilling
to see how there is no diminishing of His glory. In Matthew 26:17-30 He
appears more majestic and sovereign than at any time in the gospel of
Matthew. Beginning in chapter 26, Matthew unfolds the glorious event of
the death and resurrection of Christ. Verse 17 begins a section where we
see Christ prepare Himself for His death by experiencing His final Passover and
then establishing the Lord's Supper.
I. EXPERIENCING THE FINAL PASSOVER (vv.
17-25) A. Setting the Time (vv. 17-19) "On the first day of
the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him,
Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go
into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at
hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the
disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the passover.
"
1. The persistence
The Lord was committed to keeping the Passover.
Matthew 3:15 tells us He came to fulfill all righteousness, which is the law of
God. One element of the law of God was keeping the Passover. Luke
22:15 tells us Jesus had an intense desire to keep the Passover with His
disciples.
The Feasts of Israel
The Jewish year was filled with special feasts, not
unlike our own. We have customs, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Good
Friday, and Easter. Some churches celebrate other holy days throughout
the year. The Jewish people were no different. They held
commemorative celebrations and festivals, which were occasions for remembering
God's work in the past.
1. The Feast of Pentecost (Weeks)
Pentecost celebrated God's provision in the harvest of
their crops.
2. The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths or Tents) This
feast commemorated Israel's wandering in the wilderness when they lived in
tents. God provided for them by giving them food and water as He led them
through the wilderness.
3. The Day of Atonement
This festival was highlighted by a sacrifice in the Holy
of Holies. The high priest entered into the Holy of Holies once a year
and sprinkled blood on the altar to atone for the sins of the nation for that
year.
4. The Feast of Purim
This feast celebrated the deliverance of the people of
Israel by Queen Esther. She intervened at a time when the Jewish race
could have been wiped out.
5. The Feast of Dedication (Hannukah)
This feast, also called the Feast of Lights, commemorated
the deliverance of Israel under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus during the
intertestamental period (about 167 [sc]B. C. ).
6. The Feast of Trumpets
This feast celebrated the new year.
7. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover) Both
are mentioned in Matthew 26:17. This was an eight-day festival. The
Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted one week, from the fifteenth to the
twenty-first of Nisan (called Abib before the exile) as prescribed in the Old
Testament (Lev. 23:5-6). Passover was celebrated the day before, on
the fourteenth. Those two celebrations were so connected in the minds of
the people that they often referred to the entire eight-day period as the Feast
of Unleavened Bread or Passover.
2. The purpose
a) The significance of Passover
(1) The symbol of deliverance
The Passover celebrated God's deliverance of Israel out
of four hundred years bondage in Egypt. In Exodus 7:8[en]12:36 God sent
plagues on the Egyptians. The last plague was the death of the firstborn
in every family in Egypt (Ex. 12:29-30). God told the people of
Israel to kill a spotless lamb and put its blood on the doorposts and the
crosspiece of their homes. When the angel of death came to kill all the
firstborn in Egypt, he would see the blood and pass over that house (Ex.
12:3-13). When the firstborn were killed, the Pharaoh sent Israel out of
Egypt, and God ultimately delivered them. So the celebration of the
Passover commemorated the sacrificial lamb whose blood enabled Israel to escape
the judgment of God. It became a symbol of Jesus, God's Passover Lamb,
whose blood enables one to escape the eternal judgment of God.
Selecting the Passover Lamb. According to Exodus
12:3, the Passover lamb was to be selected on the tenth of Nisan. As I
have studied the book of Matthew, I believe Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem
on Monday for several reasons. It fits the chronology of events better
than a Sunday entrance. It also eliminates the problem of what has been
called a silent Wednesday: if Christ entered Jerusalem on Sunday, then nothing
happened on Wednesday of Passion Week--a vacuum that's hard to imagine.
But most significantly, Monday was the tenth of Nisan in the year [sc]A.
D. 33, the year in which our Lord died. On that Monday everyone in
Jerusalem was selecting their Passover lamb.
After the lamb was selected, it was to live with the
family until it was slaughtered. When it was slaughtered, it was like
slaughtering pet. That was so the people might better understand the
price of sin. If Jesus entered Jerusalem on that Monday, He entered as
the Passover Lamb of the people on the proper day. Christ fulfills the
symbolism of the Passover lamb in every way.
(2) The slaughter of lambs
Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, tells us
that over a quarter of a million lambs were slain at Passover and that there
were probably two and a half million people in Jerusalem for the
celebration. They had to have their lambs slaughtered within a two-hour
period (Josephus, Wars vi. 9. 3). The impact of a slaughter of that magnitude
is mind-boggling. It caused a river of blood to run out the back of the
Temple and down the slope into the Kidron Valley. It filled up a brook so
it ran red with blood toward Bethlehem.
The Passover was a very dramatic time of year for the
nation of Israel. They were brought face to face with their sin and
reminded that an innocent lamb had to die to atone for their sins. Now we
know that none of those lambs could take away sin, but what a profound example
it was. Thousands upon thousands of lambs were slaughtered for millions
of people, yet all combined couldn't take away one sin. Hebrews 10:3, 14
tell us that in one sacrifice Jesus Christ did what all the lambs, goats, and
bulls could never do--take away sin forever.
b) The significance of unleavened bread
Unleavened bread doesn't rise because it contains no
yeast. When the Hebrew women made bread, they would remove a piece of
dough before baking and save it as a starter for the next piece of dough.
If they didn't use a starter, the bread wouldn't rise, making it unleavened
bread. When Israel came out of Egypt, God told the people not to take
leavened bread because leaven represented influence. God was telling them
that He didn't want them to take any part of their Egyptian life and implant it
into their new life. He was delivering them from their past and starting
a new people in a new land. The symbol of that was unleavened bread.
3. The preparation
Matthew 26:17 tells us it is the first day of the
eight-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. The disciples came to Jesus and
asked, "Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the
Passover?" Mark 14:12 adds that was "when they killed the Passover.
" That tells us specifically that the Passover lamb was sacrificed on the
first of the eight days. Beforehand, each household had to rid itself of
any leaven so there wouldn't be any in the house during the eight-day period
(cf. , Ex. 12:18- 20). Only then could the Passover meal be eaten.
The Day of Christ's CrucifixionPassover always took place
on the fourteenth of Nisan. So from one year to the next it would fall on
a different day of the week. In the year our Lord was crucified, the
Passover fell on a Friday. We can be sure it was Friday because Mark
15:42 says, "It was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath.
" The Sabbath of course is Saturday. The Jewish people referred to
Friday as the day of preparation because that was the day they prepared for the
Sabbath. Since the people couldn't work or prepare meals on the Sabbath,
the day before was important.
In John 19:14 Jesus is being tried before Pilate on
"the preparation of the Passover. " That was also the normal day of
preparation for the Sabbath, which just happened to occur on the Passover that
year. Verse 31 says, "The Jews, therefore, because it was the
preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath
day (for that sabbath day was an high day). " That's another text showing
that Christ was crucified on Friday, the day before the Sabbath. Verse 42
says, "There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' preparation
day. "
Jesus was crucified on Friday, either in [sc]A. D.
30 or [sc]A. D. 33. The fourteenth of Nisan fell on a Friday in
those years. I lean toward [sc]A. D. 33 as the proper year for
Christ's death based on the chronology of other events.
A Typical Preparation for the Passover
The people had many things to do in preparation for
eating the Passover meal. They had to prepare the unleavened bread.
A bowl of saltwater was put on the Passover table to remind them of the tears
they shed in slavery and the parting of the Red Sea. They prepared a
mixture of bitter herbs, frequently made up of horseradish, chicory, endive,
lettuce, and horehound. That was done to remind them of the bitterness of
slavery and the bunch of hyssop with which the blood of the lamb had been
spread on the lintel and doorposts. They also made a paste made out of
crushed apples, dates, pomegranates, and nuts called the charoseth. It
was into this sauce that they dipped the bread during the meal. It is
best seen as symbolizing the clay and mud they used in making bricks in
Egypt. They also would put sticks of cinnamon in the sauce, which
reminded them of the straw they used in making the bricks. Four cups of wine
were prepared to remind them of the covenant of God in Exodus 6:6-7, "I
will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you
out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with
great judgments; and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a
God. "
Most importantly, the lamb had to be slain at a specific
two-hour interval during the day. Exodus 12:6 says it had to be slain in
the evening. The Hebrew text literally says "between the two
evenings. " The Jews recognized an early evening at three o'clock, and a
late evening around five o'clock. Josephus tells us that the lamb had to
be slain between the ninth and the eleventh hour, which is between three and
five in the afternoon (Wars vi. 9. 3). It had to be slain by the priests
in the Temple court. When they people arrived home, they had to roast
their lambs right away. Following sunset, sometime later in the evening,
they ate the Passover meal (Ex. 12:8). According to Josephus, there
had to be at least ten people assembled to partake of the paschal lamb (Wars
vi. 9. 3).
a) The request of the disciples
The disciples knew they had to prepare the Passover meal
in Jerusalem where the lamb was required to be slain, but they needed to know a
specific location. Everyone who was staying in the periphery of Jerusalem
had to crowd into the city and find a place where they could eat the Passover
and have room for at least ten people and as many as twenty. That meant
every available room in the city was filled up. So the disciples had a
legitimate question.
b) The response of Jesus
(1) The secret preparation
(a) The representatives of the Savior
i) The indefinite man
In Matthew 26:18 Jesus says, "Go into the city to
such a man. " The phrase "such a man," is the translation of the
Greek word deina. The best way to translate it would be "Mr.
So-and-so. " It's a non-descript term for when you want to be
indefinite. Now with two million people milling around the city, it would
be impossible for them to find someone named "So-and-so. " It's as if
Jesus was saying, "Go into the city and find a man, but I'm not going to
tell you who he is. " We have two options in interpreting Jesus'
intention. Either He didn't know who the man was, or He didn't want the
disciples to know who he was. Since Jesus knew everything, He must not
have wanted the disciples to know.
Fortunately for the disciples, Jesus gave them a
clue. Mark 14:13 says, "Go into the city, and there shall meet you a
man bearing a pitcher of water. " It was not common for a man to carry a
pitcher of water because the women usually did that chore. Once the
disciples found the man, they were to follow him (Mark 14:13).
ii) The intimate disciples
We know from Luke 22:8 that the Lord sent only Peter and
John into the city while the rest stayed with Him. There were several
reasons for that. One was that only two people were allowed to accompany
a lamb to the sacrifice. You can certainly understand why when there were
only two hours available to kill so many lambs. There was no way the
priests could finish in time if everyone went to the Temple. Peter and
John were chosen also because they were the intimate, trusted disciples of
Christ.
(b) The reason for the secrecy
Why was Jesus so secret about the identity of the man and
the location of his house? One simple reason: Judas Iscariot. Matthew
26:16 says, "From that time he sought opportunity to betray him. "
Judas was looking for a quiet, secluded place away from the mob where he could
turn Jesus over to the religious authorities. Jesus knew if Judas were
aware of where they were going to eat the Passover, that would be the perfect
setting for the betrayal. Peter and John never came back that day.
They left early in the day and the rest of the disciples never saw them until
that night. By then it was too late for Judas to make a deal with the
leaders.
Why did Jesus not allow Judas to betray Him before the
Passover? Because it was essential that Jesus celebrate the Passover with His
disciples. He wanted to use the Passover as an example of His own death
so He could transform that Old Covenant celebration into the table of communion
as a memorial to His death. In addition, Jesus still had much to teach the
disciples--He wanted to give them the promise of His Holy Spirit.
(2) The significant obligation
In Matthew 26:18 Jesus tells Peter and John, "Say to
him [the man], The Master [Gk. , ha didaskalos, "the teacher" or
"the rabbi"] saith. " The man probably was one of Jesus'
followers. Perhaps Jesus had even made prior arrangements with him.
Peter and John were to pass on this message: "My time [Gk. , kairos,
"a special time"] is at hand. " The moment of Christ's death was
imminent. Many times Jesus had said, "Mine hour has not yet come.
" But now He said "My time is at hand. " Then Jesus told Peter
and John to tell the man, "I will keep the Passover at thy house with my
disciples" (v. 18). The form of "I will keep" is a
prophetic (futuristic) present, which makes it an obligation. Jesus was
obligated to keep the Passover at the man's house with His disciples.
Jesus was on a divine mission with a divine timetable.
c) The reaction of the disciples
Matthew 26:19 says, "The disciples did as Jesus had
appointed [commanded] them, and they made ready the pass over. " Peter and
John went into town, found the man carrying the pitcher of water, followed him
into his house, and made all the necessary preparations.
4. The problem
Notice that Matthew 26:17 says, "Where wilt thou
that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?" Verse 19 says, "They
made ready the Passover. " And verse 21 says, "As they did eat.
" Putting those three verses together we can assume they were eating the
Passover meal. Mark 14:12, 14, 16 and Luke 22:7-8, 11-12, support that
assumption. There is no doubt that they ate the Passover meal. But
there are problems that many Bible scholars have debated over.
a) The chronological discrepancy
On Thursday the disciples made preparations for the
meal. That afternoon the lamb was killed, and later that night they ate
the meal. Just before the meal Judas left them and went to the religious
leaders to betray Jesus. After Jesus and His disciples withdrew to the
Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was captured by the soldiers. The dawn of
Friday morning followed as He was brought to trial. After the Jewish
leaders held their mock trial, John 18:28 says they led "Jesus from
Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment; and it was early. And they themselves
went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they
might eat the Passover. "
Now we are faced with a chronological problem. How
could Jesus have eaten a Passover meal the night before when the Jewish leaders
didn't want to be defiled because they had yet to eat the Passover? Some claim
Jesus had a private Passover. That can't be true because the lambs could
be slain only at the authorized time. The leaders certainly weren't late
in eating it because they were extremely religious. In addition John 19:14
says, "It was the preparation of the Passover," which you recall
means it was Friday. So we know it's Friday, yet the Jewish leaders
haven't eaten the Passover. How do we resolve this?
b) The consistent proofs
We know Christ came to die as the Passover Lamb.
Matthew 27:46 says that Jesus died (on Friday) at the ninth hour, which is
three o'clock. He died at the exact moment when the screams of the lambs
would echo throughout the Temple as the slaughter began. First
Corinthians 5:7 says, "Even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us.
"
Jesus died on the day and time the lambs were slaughtered
that He might fulfill every prophecy to the letter. But how could He eat
the Passover on Thursday night? We know it wasn't just another meal because
Jesus insisted that it be eaten inside the city of Jerusalem. They
constantly referred to it as the Passover. Furthermore, it was unusual
for Jewish people to have a meal at night. To recline at the table was
unusual for anything other than a festival meal. In a normal meal the
breaking of bread occurred at the beginning, not in the middle of the meal as
in this case. The use of red wine also was unusual. They sang a
hymn when they were finished with the meal, which was true of the Passover.
And when Judas left, the disciples thought that he was going to give money to
the poor, which was a typical thing to do at the Passover. So we can be
sure they ate a Passover meal.
c) The contrasting reckonings
The answer to how we can account for Jesus and disciples eating
the Passover on a different day than the Jewish leaders is based on how days
were reckoned. We reckon a day from midnight to midnight. The
Jewish people reckoned their days differently, and they had two options: from
sunset to sunset or sunrise to sunrise. The normal routine was sunrise to
sunrise, but certain festivals, special days, and the sabbath were reckoned
from sunset to sunset.
(1) Sunset to sunset
Exodus 12:18 says the Feast of Unleavened Bread had to be
celebrated from sunset to sunset on Nisan 14 to Nisan 21. The Day of
Atonement and the weekly sabbath also were reckoned from sunset to
sunset. Leviticus 22:6 says that any uncleanness needed to be dealt with
before sunset. Perhaps things were reckoned that way because the order of
creation seems to have followed that pattern. Genesis 1:5 says "The
evening and the morning were the first day," which indicates that God
reckoned from evening to evening.
(2) Sunrise to sunrise
The Jews reckoned from sunrise to sunrise as the normal
calendar day. Although we reckon from midnight to midnight, we think of
our day as beginning when we rise in the morning. Their day officially
began in the morning. Matthew 28:1 says, "In the end of the Sabbath
. . . it began to dawn toward the first day of the week. " The first
day of the week began at dawn.
d) The critical calculations
Regarding the Passover we can see a sunrise to sunrise
reckoning in Deuteronomy 16:4. Combining that with Exodus 12:18, the
Passover day could be calculated from sunset to sunset or sunrise to
sunrise. Josephus, who was a Pharisee living in Jesus' day, explained
that the law of the Passover called for the Paschal lamb to be eaten during the
night with nothing left for morning (Antiquities, iii. 10. 5). The Talmud,
the codification of Jewish law, says it had to be eaten by midnight, which
seems to indicate that the new day began after sunset (Pesahim x. 9, Zebahim v.
8).
It is thought that the Galileans and Pharisees reckoned
the Passover day from sunrise to sunrise, whereas the Judeans and Sadducees,
who made up the ruling body in Jerusalem, reckoned it from sunset to
sunset. The Talmud tells us that the Galileans would not work on the day
of Passover because their day began at sunrise. The Judeans would work
until midday because their Passover day didn't begin until sunset (Pesahim iv.
5). So the Galileans and Pharisees calculated the beginning of Passover
on Thursday morning. The Judeans and Sadducees didn't calculate the
beginning of Passover until Thursday evening at sunset running until Friday
evening at sunset.
e) The convincing harmonization
Matthew 26:17 follows the Galilean reckoning, so Jesus
and the disciples had to kill their lamb on Thursday and eat the Passover meal
Thursday evening. The Judeans and Sadducees didn't begin their Passover
day festivities until late on Thursday and wouldn't kill their lambs until the
prescribed time of day on Friday. That harmonizes John 18:28 with the
other gospels.
Jesus had to die on Friday between three and five o'clock
because that's when the Judean Passover lambs would be killed. But He
also had to keep the Passover to transform it into the Lord's Table. How
could Jesus keep the Passover and still be the Passover lamb? Only if God
allowed the two options for reckoning days to take place in history. When
it came time for Jesus to die, there was no problem in having Him participate
in the Galilean Passover on Thursday night and die during the Judean Passover
on Friday afternoon.
Certainly the priest accommodated the two reckonings
because it would be virtually impossible for them to kill all the lambs in one
two-hour period. With the Galileans coming to the Temple on Thursday and
the Judeans on Friday, at least the killing of the lambs could be divided into
two days and they could accomplish their task much more easily. Since it
was difficult to find a room in Jerusalem to hold the Passover meal, how
convenient it was to be able to double the capacity of the city by having two
different days to eat the Passover.
CONCLUSION
God rules history and all tradition and customs to bring
about the minute fulfillment of His perfect plan. Jesus had to keep the
Passover to fulfill all righteousness, instruct His disciples, and give them a
new memorial feast. Yet He had to die as the Passover Lamb. He did
both because God controls history. We see Jesus Christ as anything but a
victim. In three brief verses Matthew is able to present the majesty of
Jesus Christ. This isn't something Jesus could have arranged on the
weekend. It had to have been planned before the foundation of the world
by the providence of God. Our Lord controlled every event on His path to
the cross. None of His glory and dignity are lost in the midst of His
betrayal.
Focusing on the Facts
1. What was the purpose of the life of Christ?
2. Explain how the theme of sacrifice is revealed
in both the Old and New Testaments.
3. What feasts were celebrated by Israel? What was
the significance of each one?
4. What does the Passover symbolize? Explain.
5. How did Christ's entrance into Jerusalem on
Monday symbolize the Passover lamb?
6. What did the Passover remind the nation of
Israel about?
7. Explain the significance of unleavened bread.
8. On what day of the week was Christ crucified?
How can we be sure?
9. What did the people have to do in preparation
for the Passover? What do the different preparations represent?
10. Why did the disciples need to know where they
were going to eat the Passover?
11. Why did Jesus send only Peter and John into
Jerusalem?
12. Why was Jesus secretive about where they would
eat the Passover?
13. What is significant about the phrase "I
will keep" in Matthew 26:18?
14. Define the problem raised by John 18:28.
15. How can we be sure that Christ and His
disciples did in fact eat the Passover meal?
16. How did the Jewish people reckon their days?
Explain.
17. Explain how Jesus could eat the Passover with
His disciples yet die as the Passover Lamb the next day.
Pondering the Principles
1. What does the sacrifice of Christ mean to you?
If His death is the focal point of all redemptive history, how does that affect
you? Thank Christ for His willingness to offer Himself. Are you willing
to make a sacrifice for someone else? List some specific things you might
do. Now commit yourself to doing those things this week.
2. Read Hebrews 10:1-25. What do those verses
teach you about how sin is removed? Verses 19-25 detail how we should respond
to what Christ has done. To what extent are you actively responding? Make
a list of each response you should have. You may want to carry it in your
Bible. At the end of each day this week, record next to each response how
you fulfilled each one that day. Challenge yourself to pursue ways that
you can fulfill the role God wants you to have
In
Christ’s Love,
Mike & Kim Armstrong
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