Luke 22:1-23 "Passover and the New Covenant" (Reading Exodus 24) Jesus has predicted his own death three times. The last time was in 18:31-33, where he said, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise. That was pretty clear, right? Jesus had said up front what was going to happen. But the 12 didn't get it. We can appreciate their confusion, because ever since then, Jesus has been talking about the destruction of the temple and the judgment that is coming against Jerusalem. Jesus came into Jerusalem proclaiming that the temple was about to be destroyed. He cleansed the temple, casting out the sellers just like he had cast out demons throughout his ministry. In his words and in his deeds, Jesus has created the expectation that the Kingdom of God is about to be established. And it will be. But no one except Jesus has realized that the only way for the kingdom of God to come, is through death. They should have known this. Because everything in the scriptures says this. (In those days the OT was the only scripture available!) Introduction: The Context of Betrayal (22:1-6) The Lord's Supper was instituted in the context of betrayal. You don't find any traitors in the story of the Passover. But the whole narrative of the Lord's Supper is bound up with the betrayal of Jesus. The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put Jesus to death, for they feared the people. The fear of man will always get you into trouble. When you fear others, your actions are guided by that fear. And that is precisely what happens to the chief priests and scribes. They are afraid that the people would rally to Jesus if they arrested him publicly, so they want to find a private opportunity. And Judas provides that. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. What does it mean that Satan entered into Judas? Satan means the accuser. He is found in Job 1-2, as well as once in 1 Chronicles, inciting David to number Israel. He is also found in Zechariah 3, accusing the high priest, Joshua. By the time of the NT Satan has become a rather common name for the devil. Luke 21 and John 13 both refer to Satan entering Judas John's reference coming during the meal itself, after Jesus gave Judas a piece of food. Throughout Luke's gospel we have seen that Jesus does not view the Romans as his chief enemy. For that matter, the chief priests and scribes are also not the root of the problem. Pretty much everything in Jesus' ministry has clear OT roots all except one thing: casting out demons. There is no OT precedent for casting out demons. By casting out demons, Jesus has launched an attack on the power of the devil. Now Satan launches a counterattack. He entered one of the twelve in an attempt to sabotage the kingdom of God. We hear elsewhere that Judas was a thief that he was the treasurer of the twelve, and would help himself out of the group's finances (John 12:6). When it says that Satan "entered" Judas, this does not mean that Judas was Satan's puppet. Judas was a willing participant in his treason. You may have heard of the Gospel of Judas? There were several "gospels" written by the Gnostics (a heretical group in the 2nd-3rd c.). This one makes the claim that Judas was the only one of the disciples who really understood Jesus' mission. Especially since we can trace the origin of the work to a group that had no close connection to Jesus, the "Gospel of Judas" only has historical value for showing us that a lot of different groups wanted to claim Jesus as their own. But when Judas came to the chief priests and officers, they were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. If they could get Jesus alone, then they could set him up for putting him to death. 1. Preparation for the Passover (22:7-13) Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. The feast of Unleavened Bread (commonly known as Passover) was one of the three great feasts of Israel. Passover was the first day of the feast. On the evening of the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, all the Passover lamb's were slaughtered in the temple. The Passover feast was not identical to the first Passover in Egypt. In Egypt the lambs were slaughtered by the head of household, and the entire feast was performed in the homes of the Israelites in Egypt. But Deuteronomy 16:5 specifically forbade the Israelites to offer the Passover sacrifice in their homes. They were to offer it at the place that the LORD your God will choose. And since the offerings in the tabernacle/temple were to be offered by the priests, it was not the head of household, but the priests and Levites who slaughtered the Passover lambs. Ezra 6:20 relates this practice. There is actually no evidence in scripture that heads of household ever slaughtered the Passover lamb after Exodus 12. But that shouldn't surprise us, because the institution of a feast and its subsequent ritual practice often have significant differences. For instance, if you think back to Israel in Egypt, there were no priests in Israel; the Levites had not yet been selected; and there was no central place of worship. And as we will see, there are also some differences between the institution of the Lord's Supper, and its ritual practice in the church differences which are clear from the apostles' teaching and practice. So when Jesus tells Peter and John to Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it, he is sending them to the temple to have their lamb slaughtered, as well as to gather the provisions for the Passover meal. But the focus of the passage is on the room. Jesus says Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there. What is the point of saying this? Why does Luke (and Matthew and Mark for that matter) tell us that Jesus predicted this? Jesus has predicted his death three times. Luke is showing us that the word of Jesus is powerful. It is not a mere "predictive" ability. After all, Jesus is not merely predicting that something will happen. The word of Jesus not only predicts that they will find this room, but also the word of Jesus accomplishes this. The cynical might say that Jesus had planned the whole thing. He had arranged it all beforehand! But that is not what Jesus says. Jesus does not say, "hey, I've worked it all out just go talk to Simon ben-Judah." No, he says tell the master of the house, The Teacher says to you... How powerful is the word of the Teacher? When the disciples go up to this total stranger and ask to use his upper room, he gives it to them just like they asked! Why? Because the Teacher says. When Jesus speaks, his voice accomplishes what he says. The Word of Jesus not only tells you what is going to happen it also brings it to pass. 2. The Passover Meal and the Institution of the Lord's Supper (22:14-20) And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Jesus has made it clear that the kingdom of God is coming. Now he explains that the Passover is being fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Why does Jesus say this? The Passover was the celebration of Israel's deliverance from bondage in Egypt. It was the commemoration of the greatest moment in Israel's history. But Jesus says that Passover (and this Passover in particular) will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. Think about this for a minute. Why Passover? In the Passover, a lamb is sacrificed, the people partake of the sacrifice, and the blood is sprinkled on the doorposts of the house, so that the angel of death will pass over the house. Apart from the blood of the lamb, the firstborn of each house will die. In other words, God proclaimed a death sentence on Egypt and only those who were covered by the blood of the lamb would escape. Jesus has been saying now for several chapters that judgment is coming upon Israel. Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. In chapter 21 we heard that the temple will be destroyed, and as signs of this, God will send signs very much reminiscent of what he did in Egypt. In other words, Israel has become Egypt. In Moses' day the only way to escape the wrath and curse of God was through partaking of the meat of the Passover lamb, and sprinkling its blood on your house. But now in Jesus' day, the only way to escape the wrath and curse of God is through partaking of Jesus himself, and through the sprinkling of his blood. And this is the chief focus of the institution of the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is not simply a Passover meal. It is instituted during a Passover meal, but it is far bigger. You see the context of Passover in Luke's version especially in the two cups. In verse 17 Jesus took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, 'Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' If you are just thinking about the Lord's Supper, this may sound strange. Because in the Lord's Supper there is only one cup and it always comes after the bread. But in the Passover meal there were four cups. There is no reference to a Passover cup in the OT, but the Passover celebration was a full meal. And since wine was the drink of celebrations and feasting, it was very appropriate for the Passover. Luke refers to two of these cups. Verses 14-18 speak of the early part of the meal, while verses 19-20 speak of the institution of the Lord's Supper itself. Notice that the cup in verse 17 has no sacramental significance. Jesus does not say that the first cup itself has any special relation to himself. But the bread in verse 19 "is my body" and the cup in verse 20 "is the new covenant in my blood" Jesus isolates two parts of the traditional Passover meal both of which were rather incidental to the original meal and gives them new significance. In Exodus 12-13 Israel is commanded to eat only unleavened bread for seven days. For a whole week Israel was to eat only unleavened bread. But the focus of the Passover meal in Exodus 12-13 was the lamb and the bitter herbs. Jesus says nothing about the lamb or the bitter herbs. Even though he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he makes no reference to this. Rather he takes the bread. Leaven is used both positively and negatively in scripture. A little leaven leavens the whole lump is the general principle. It only takes a little yeast to make the whole loaf rise. That is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on what the yeast represents! But Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, which is exactly what was expected of the host at a Passover meal. But then Jesus added something new, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. He does not say, "celebrate the Passover meal in remembrance of me," but "do this." Jesus takes a very familiar part of the Jewish celebration of Passover and invests it with new meaning. This is my body, which is given for you. Why the bread? Why not the lamb? If he had used the lamb, then it would have been necessary to slaughter the lamb, and the Passover lamb had always been slaughtered in the tabernacle/temple. Jesus has come to bring judgment upon the temple, and besides, his body is the flesh of the sacrifice. It would not do to have meat represent his body, because that would actually confuse the symbolism. "My flesh is real food" (John 6). Jesus is the once-for-all sacrifice. The blood of bulls and goats cannot remove sin, and so God will no longer require the death of animals for his worship. Bread, of course, also reminds us of the manna in the wilderness, the grain offerings in the temple, and how Jesus fed the 4,000 and the 5,000. So while Jesus uses the unleavened bread of the Passover meal, bread has a much broader significance that Jesus is using. That is why it appears that the early church used unleavened bread during Passover week, but leavened bread throughout the rest of the year. The Lord's Supper was instituted at Passover, but it is not itself a Passover meal. Jesus takes two parts of the Passover meal, and imbues them with special significance regarding his work. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. As we've seen, there is no cup in the original Passover institution in Exodus 12-13. There is no reference to wine in the Passover meal in the OT. But in the providence of God it had become a traditional part of the Passover meal, and Jesus now takes it and gives it special significance in his own sacrament. In the Passover (as in all the covenant meals of the OT), the act with the most spiritual significance was the partaking of the meat, because in partaking of the meat you partook of the death of the sacrifice. (Paul's point in 1 Cor 10) But in the Lord's Supper the meat is replaced with bread and wine symbolizing the body and blood of the sacrifice (Jesus himself). The shocking part of this is the representation of his blood. The old covenant strictly forbade the eating of blood, because the life is in the blood. So it might seem somewhat surprising that the sacrament of the new covenant would emphasize partaking of Jesus' blood even symbolically. But that is the point of what Jesus is doing. He is saying that you have no life in you, and that if you want to live, then you need his blood. The first covenant was ratified through the shedding of blood. And in Exodus 24 Moses took the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkled it on the people, saying, Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words. Now the blood of the new covenant will be poured out. And Jesus says, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. As Jesus said in John 6, if you do not eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you have no life in you. 3. Betrayal and the Lord's Supper (22:21-23) But as we saw at the beginning, the institution of the Lord's Supper is bound up with betrayal. Because no sooner does Jesus say these things then he adds, But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed! Jesus knows who it is who will betray him. As he instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, he saw Judas sitting there. As he gave them the bread and the wine, he handed the elements to Judas as well. This reminds us that it is not our job to read hearts. Jesus knows that Judas will betray him. But at this moment Judas is a member in good standing. And so Jesus permits him to partake of the institution of the Lord's Supper in order that all generations would remember that the Lord's Table will have one of two results. If it is received by faith, then it will strengthen you unto eternal life. But if it is received without faith, then it will bring you under a curse.