The Gospel of Luke 22:1-13 Preparing for the Passover
Luke 22:1-13 · Vern Peterman · Aug 28, 2016
Gospel of Luke, No. 84
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926538196014

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be stepping our way through this passage that Randy just read for us, Luke 22, 1-13. And one of the things I'll just kind of let you know, over the next several weeks as we proceed through the rest of this passage, I'm going to be telling you some things that maybe you've never heard before, surprising things, maybe even shocking in a few cases. But anyway, we'll be stepping our way through the passage, and I'll bring these things up. So, timing. We've been telling you for Sundays and Sundays that it's Wednesday. Now it's Thursday morning. So that's a difference.

Jesus on late Wednesday had gone through with the disciples there on the Mount of Olives, looking at the temple scene, what would happen in the future to them, to Jerusalem. about the temple and about his second coming he would as we Covered last week it gives some brief summaries of things that would happen during the tribulation period right before his second coming and so that was Wednesday now, it's Thursday morning and It Thursday morning now an entirely different thing is going to happen this is going to be a very different day as a special day We're going to see two parallel plots taking place here.

And I think one thing is as we step into this, this is a passage and the passages we're going to be looking at with lots of drama, lots of drama. And so two parallel plots will be going along side by side. And we're going to see how they come together. The simple plot is the disciples, and we're going to have a couple of them, Peter and John.

They're going to be preparing the Passover for Jesus and all of the disciples to observe that evening. One of the surprising things I'll have to tell you about, and we'll give you more detail later, is that there were two Passovers. There were two Passovers. And so this is the first one that they're preparing for. They had no idea how pivotal this Passover was going to be. They just thought they were preparing for another Passover, as had been done for a thousand and more years.

At the same time, Judas strikes a deal. Judas loves the deal, right? And he goes and makes a deal with the Jewish leaders that's going to solve their problem and give him a little bit of cash in the deal. He's going to make an arrangement that will avoid getting all these many Jews there, who generally favor Jesus, really upset and possibly rioting. You don't want the riot. That's really bad. The riot is really bad. Because then the Romans will seize control and the Jews will no longer have their place.

Here's Luke 22.1.

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. Now, this is something about which a great many traditions developed, and that doesn't mean consistent traditions. A great many traditions, many of which were conflicted, as we'll see. In trying to find some sort of an ancient Passover piece of artwork or something like that, very difficult to find. This particular piece shows them sitting down to a Passover meal and all is well. The hard-boiled eggs, that's a more modern tradition. It was not the case during Jesus' time. There were some other things about this picture. It's the best one I could find that aren't quite right, and we'll get to those in a bit.

Okay, this you have is kind of the Jewish calendar. It's done in a circular fashion and it shows, of course, our calendar somewhat alongside. The Jews would have 12 months in their calendar and then from time to time add a 13th month in order to get things back in sync because their calendar was a lunar calendar. So that got out of sync with the solar calendar. It's somewhat like we have our leap years and that sort of thing So this is their calendar which which starts in the Jewish New Year with Passover okay, and then unleavened bread and first fruits and And then the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, right?

And those are things that you see in Scripture. Later on into the fall season, you'd have trumpets and the atonement. And this is then tabernacles. Two more feasts were added to the Law of Moses list, and one is Hanukkah, and that's the Feast of Lights. Jesus actually observed that in John 10, 22, and 23. and then Purim taken from Esther. And that's more Halloween-ish. So those two, Hanukkah and Purim, were added.

So this Passover was a very important one to the Jews because that started their season of feasts. And so they were getting ready to observe that. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread a lot of times used interchangeably. It would say Passover and they understood because Feast of Unleavened Bread went right after that and then sometimes you just say Feast of Unleavened Bread and that would imply that the Passover started it. So now what further added to the confusion of terms is having more than one Passover. We'll talk about that later. Okay, so Passover was on the 14th day of the month of Nisn, okay? It's not Nisan. Right? Not that. Right?

So 14th day of the month of Nisn, and it was followed by the seven day feast of unleavened bread. And by the way, there are other conflicted traditions where they made it eight days. Okay? So lots of variation. One of the things that will happen is people will sometimes say, oh, the Jews did this and the Jews did that. Well, they had lots of conflicted and varying traditions. And so it is difficult to make summaries. Just they did this and they did that. Right? All right.

It was followed by the seven-day feast of unleavened bread. Some traditions had eight days. Imagine seven days of unleavened bread. After a while, you have to get imaginative. They may have had unleavened bread s'mores and cakes and all sorts of things to get some variety. In other words, you just don't want to have seven days of just plain unleavened bread.

So they would have their traditions. These were typically held in homes and you may very well in a lot of situations have guests, especially around Jerusalem where you had lots of guests coming in and it was expected to offer places for guests. Sometimes they would join the family, sometimes they'd be in a separate room if they had a separate room for that. We'll find that that's what Jesus did. He wanted a particular time with his disciples and them alone. The disciples themselves didn't realize how unique and special a time this would be, and that it would be the Last Supper.

Well, one of the things in thinking through this, I thought, well, it's a good thing that Nancy and I are not Jewish. And here's why. Nancy doesn't like lamb. And a Passover meal like this, you know, of course, lamb's the main thing. And then the other thing is you've got unleavened bread, and I can't eat that stuff, right? Because I'm allergic to it. So really, it would really be sad for Nancy and I to be Jewish, because we'd be sitting down to a very large bowl of horseradish. And that just wouldn't do, right? Okay.

So these feasts, Passover and Unleavened Bread, the terms were often used interchangeably. You could say Passover and that implied Unleavened Bread. You could say Unleavened Bread and that implied Passover. And then there were the two Passovers that further confused things.

So the Jews would gather in Jerusalem and that vicinity in huge numbers. Ordinarily, Jerusalem proper might have something like 40,000 people, and it would swell in population in the immediate city to like 250,000. But then in the surrounding area, even far, far greater numbers would be gathered in neighboring towns and villages. And so they would have a huge number come in and lots and lots of guests, lots and lots of guests.

It would all originate in the law of Moses. This is Exodus 12, 13, 23, 29, and 34. And each of the subsequent books of the law had some mention of it, sometimes extensive mention of how Passover was to be done. And then on top of that, the Jews had their traditions. At the time of Moses, he established one tradition, they were to eat standing up, right?

And it was only to be just the lamb and, you know, some very simple things. By Jesus time, they had long since changed that you could, you know, you'd eat it sitting down. And they had You know, four cups of diluted wine that were part of the procedure.

And by our modern times, we have even more things that have been added to it. So we'll talk more about that when we look at it next week. So there were a great many Jews in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. And most of those were guests. Most of them were guests. and they were going and preparing for the Passover meal that day. I didn't say all of the Jews because of the second Passover, which we'll talk about later. The lambs would be slaughtered by the priests starting at noon on that Thursday, starting at noon. They would finish by about three o'clock, would be the standard time, and then they send home the lamb of the people.

The lamb was supposed to specifically be roasted. They weren't supposed to do anything else with it. It must roast it. And then they'd have simple things to add to it, including the unleavened bread, and begin right after sundown, except I have to tell you there's other Jewish traditions where they began right before sundown. So lots of conflicted traditions. Bitter herbs and unleavened bread were then eaten with the lamb.

It was basically that simple. Just those things. And that's how they would observe the Passover and prepare. So preparing for the Passover was not that complicated, except for taking the lamb up to be slaughtered. If someone lived way far away, and was observing the Passover, then they'd do it another way. But if you were in Jerusalem or in the vicinity, you'd take the lamb to the temple. And so what they would do is they would have all priests on deck, basically.

Get ready, because at noontime we're going to start, and there's just You know, one lamb after another after another. We don't have statistics for all the years, but in the year in which the temple was destroyed, we do have a number. 270,000 lambs slaughtered for Passover. 270,000 lambs slaughtered for Passover between noon and three. So, people pouring in there, the Lamb had been chosen four days before. Just like Jesus, the Lamb, was chosen four days before in His so-called triumphal entry.

Okay, so here at this time, so here you can imagine among the Jews, here is the initiating feast. They're all gathered together, most of Jerusalem and the area around it is guests. But they're Jews, they're Jews that take their Judaism seriously. They're all gathered around and there's a lot of Jewish sentiment building up here. At the same time, here's the other plot that comes in.

Luke 22.2, the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put him to death. They were afraid of the people. Why were they afraid of the people? because he got lots and lots of them. And many of the people did not have the same opinion about Jesus as these leaders did. They wanted him put to death. Many others were supportive of him. That was a problem.

Here's John 11, 47 through 53. This is where Caiaphas lays out his solution But he doesn't say how to get it done. We're going to see how that happens. So John 11, 47 through 53. Therefore, the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council. And we're saying, what are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, all men will believe in him. Wouldn't that be a shame? Right. All right. All men will believe in him.

And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. They were barely hanging on, but they had this structure where the Romans would allow them to do, you know, carry on their temple worship and all their traditions. And the Jews got special exemptions from the Romans in order, you know, not to have the Jews rebelling and rioting.

So here in verse 49, But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nations, and not for the nation only, But in order they might also gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

So from that day on they planned together to kill him. This was only days before this Passover day we're talking about here. So they had plans but they had a problem. And Judas is going to solve the problem as we're going to see. So here's the Caiaphas plan. It's in general to take Jesus life. We're going to take him out. We're going to take him out. We're going to take his life and eliminate our problem.

We'll still maintain control. The only thing was how to do it. We've got a huge number of people coming in to Jerusalem and the area, coming into the temple, and we can't just arrest them in broad daylight in front of everybody. If we cause a riot, we'll have a mess. We'll lose control. The Romans will take over and we'll lose our temple and all the things that we have.

Most people, however, favored Jesus. They didn't all have it real clear who is he, but most people thought favorably of him. And they thought, boy, we can't just arrest him in broad daylight. That's not going to go well. It's just politically untenable. We can't control the masses that well. So thinking about this, they're thinking, okay, how do we arrest Jesus away from all these Jews at a time when none of them will be paying any attention? How do we do that? So that's what they're stuck on.

So here's Luke 22.3.

And Satan entered into Judas, who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. That's a pretty incredible statement. You think, what kind of a heart does it take for Satan to enter in? I mean, that's intense. It wasn't that he was just satanically influenced, but Satan entered in. That's pretty incredible. What kind of a mind does it take to have Satan enter and to have a plot.

Oh, this guy that I've been spending the last three years with and these men, I'm going to betray essentially all of them. And I'll do it for some money. I mean, he's going to make a good deal. You also kind of wonder with this, what does Satan think he's going to accomplish?

You see, Satan has a kind of a spiritual insanity. Hey, Satan's thinking, I'll have Judas betray Jesus, and that'll work really good for me, right? Work out really well. What kind of a mind does it take to think that that's going to work out well for Satan? Doesn't he know? This death had been planned from before God said, let there be light.

There is, in this verse, the term, the twelve. And what's interesting is, as you read through the Gospels and on into the letters, the term, the twelve, gets used for the disciples at times even when there are eleven of them. So, very interesting. They just got called the twelve. Now, certain ones within the twelve were more special. And there are also other disciples. Remember in Luke chapter 10, Jesus sent out the seventy? And they came back and reported what had gone on. So there was kind of a smaller group inside the 12 that got particular attention.

I'd say Peter's probably number one, and then James and John got particular attention. And then there are those outside of the twelve as well. But that term, the twelve, referred to those specially selected disciples, the one that Jesus made apostles with, of course, the exception of Judas. And think about two.

Here is Judas, and he's just about to be seen as, this guy is beyond a rat. This guy is a horrid man. Can you imagine if you were the one who was sent out two by two and you got paired up with Judas? That would be kind of freaky. Something else to ponder too.

They didn't know until after he betrayed Jesus right in front of them. They didn't know that Judas was a rat. They didn't know it. Jesus loved Judas and didn't treat him any differently, such as to reveal that he was the betrayer. They didn't know who the betrayer was until he actually carried it out.

There's another thing too, and that is the implication from Job chapters 1 and 2, and as we'll see, Luke 22, 31, just later on in this very same chapter. The implication is that Satan has to go to God for permission to do things. And the implication would be that God knew what was happening here because Satan got permission first. But at any rate, God would know what's going on well in advance.

We're also going to see that Satan asked permission, later on in the same chapter, Satan asked permission to sift Peter like wheat. And he's granted. He's granted permission. And amazingly, Jesus, who knows what's going on in heaven, tells Peter, that's what's going to happen. Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat. Judas would do something very horrible. And in fact, Peter would too. Jesus was, in a very short number of hours, going to die for the sins of both of them. Isn't that amazing?

Here's Luke 22.4, and he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. So here's Judas, he gets together with these leaders and proposes to solve their problem.

I can take you to the place and at the right time to arrest Jesus away from everyone else. And most will be preoccupied with Passover. Having eaten a big meal and four glasses of wine and then some other And so I'll solve your problem. I know Jesus' patterns. I know where he goes and where he tends to hang out at certain hours. I can lead you right to him, away from everyone else, in the middle of the night, when everyone's preoccupied with dozing off after the Passover meal.

Judas, of course, is all about the deal. He's not going to do this for free. He's not simply going to betray Jesus out of some animosity. He wants to get something for it. He'll get paid for this betrayal, and the Jewish leaders are going to be very happy to pay him. He's going to be the right guy to do the wrong thing, right? Here's Luke 22, 5 and 6, "...and they were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented and began seeking a good opportunity to betray him to them apart from the crowd." Good place, good time.

He was going to be paid, as Matthew tells us, with 30 pieces of silver. This is a Tyrian silver shekel. So that would be the coinage. And it was easy for them to get their hands on it. This was the standard temple tax. And so the standard temple tax for 60 people would have been 30 pieces of silver. Of course, they had lots of those. So that's what Judas would get paid. They had no trouble just dipping into the temple tax money and giving it to Jesus. Of course, you're not supposed to use temple tax money for murder, Who's telling, right?

Now, what's interesting, so these guys are excited. They're celebrating. I say Yahoo or Yahoo. Yahoo is actually a name of God, right? So the leaders of the Jews were very happy to have Judas solve their problem and where and how to arrest Jesus and to get Jesus out of the way and put it on the Romans at the same time. Romans did it. It wasn't us. We didn't do anything. Romans did it.

Judas, who was really, really money-minded, got what he wanted out of the deal. Okay, I'm happy. He got 60 people's temple tax for doing this. So after all you think about it, what's going on with Judas is he's figuring out, hey, this Jesus guy isn't really going to lead me where I want to go. And Jesus, just the prior afternoon, had told them, hey, you guys get ready for persecution. It's coming. What? That wasn't what I wanted. How is that a part of the deal? And so he was shockingly disappointed in what Jesus had to offer him. Persecution? I didn't sign up for that. Right?

So now we have the Judas strategy. Got the Caiaphas solution. Now the Judas strategy is going to work out so that you would have plenty of soldiers on hand, just in case something happened, but that you're able to get Jesus when it's just Jesus and the disciples.

And it would be at night. It would be after most folks had gone to sleep for the Passover night. Big heavy meal. Several glasses of wine. Everybody would be dozing off. Perfect time to arrest Jesus. Perfect place, too. He'd work that out. So, you can imagine most Jews having no idea this is going to take place. They've all had their Passover meal. They're all in their homes. They're not gathered together in places. And so it would be a perfect time. It would be a perfect place. He knew how to pull this off. He knew Jesus' patterns.

Here's Luke 22.7.

Then came the first day of unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. This would be the area of sacrifices. People would be pouring into all the entrances of the temple. They had selected their lamb four days before. And now with this Passover, which is the first of two, this Passover they'd be pouring into the temple at noon. The priests would then begin slaughtering the lambs. It would go on for about three hours, right? Noon to three.

They'd be slaughtering the lambs. All the while, while the priests are slaughtering the lambs, the Levites are singing the Hallel. So you got the lambs being slaughtered and the priests are singing. They have this great giant chorus of men singing Psalm 113 through 118. Again and again just kind of in a loop until all the lambs are slaughtered. And then the singing stops. But it was a great chorus.

Notice here in this verse as well the interchangeability of the terms for Passover and unleavened bread. They went together. The fact that there were two Passovers further kind of put these two together as one event. So the priest would slaughter these lambs starting at noon for the Passover meal and people who had their lambs slaughtered would then take it home and get it ready to have for roasting it, have for the meal that evening. So it begins soon after sundown, or by some traditions they actually start before. So Thursday afternoon is busy for almost everyone in Israel, with the exception of those who are going to observe Passover the next day that we'll be talking about here. So here's Luke 22 8 and Jesus sent Peter and John saying go and prepare the Passover for us so that we may eat it. talking about the disciples and the apostles.

We have more copies of the three-page supplement, What Happened to the Apostles, on the cabinet to the right here as you exit this room. So look carefully. There's two Camp Elam brochures, and then there's this, and then we've got some other handouts out there as well. So pick the right one. You can also, if you didn't get a hold of this, because this is like the third week we're trying to get it out there, on Lesson 82, we've also posted it to the website.

Okay, so Jesus is going to send just a couple of the disciples, right? By sending just a couple of the disciples on ahead, this would be something where you wouldn't have Judas be a part of, where is this place, right? Ahead of time. You wouldn't want to have him get some sort of a prior, an early indication, right? You wouldn't want to have Jesus arrested ahead of schedule. And so Peter and John knew everything about, here's what you have to do to prepare a Passover. They had, you know, been a part of the family Passovers and even led, you know, Passovers previous to this.

It was just a question of where. That's the only point. So Luke 22.9, they said to him, where do you want us to prepare it? That's the only question. Where do you want us to prepare it?

Everything else was well established according to one, the law of Moses and the traditions that they were particularly under. The Pharisees and those from Galilee were prone to prepare for the Passover on this day, Thursday, right? The Sadducees on Friday, right? And so they had a different set of traditions. But according to the Pharisees' traditions, everything was laid out either by the law of Moses or the traditions that you had set up there. So we're going to see Jesus gives a rather surprising answer to the question of where Jesus and the disciples would observe their Passover together. And we're going to see what that surprise is here shortly.

Luke 22.10, And he said to them, When you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house that he enters.

Okay. Now the city of course is this ancient city of Jerusalem. They knew very well, of course, how to get there and where it was. They were most likely staying on the back side of the Mount of Olives with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Imagine sitting down at a meal with Lazarus after he'd been raised.

I mean, you'd be like, whoo. You'd do a double take a number of times, right? But that's very likely where he'd been staying. But tonight was going to be different. Tonight was going to be very different. So a man carrying water was going to be an unusual sight.

Men did not carry water. That was women's work. culture of the time and so See a man carrying water that would be unusual and Jesus knew just think about this Jesus tells okay There's a man carrying water look for that guy and of course this is this is divine revelation this isn't something that Jesus would arrange for or know ahead of time and also to have an Available room large enough for all of them at that late hour Might also be a bit of a challenge, right? But a man carrying water would be, what? That would be a surprise. It was a woman's work to carry water. So this would be a household servant. So a man carrying water would certainly stand out.

And it would also make it, because it's this very unusual thing, Judas would not be able to locate Jesus and the disciples early. Plus it was in the city and of course Judas didn't want to have some arrest take place in the city either. So there were things about where the Last Supper was held and how the two disciples, just them, were able to identify it that would keep Judas from getting some prior knowledge of where things were going to happen. So Jesus said, when you see that man carrying water, follow him. So all of the residents of the city of Jerusalem, the vicinity, are expected to host other individuals. That was expected.

Imagine if you lived in Jerusalem. You would almost certainly have guests here and they would stay for a week. And you might not know who they are. and they would stay for a week. And if you were well off enough to have an extra guest room and a spare room, you might have even more guests. It was just simply expected. If you lived in or near Jerusalem, you're going to have guests and they're going to stay for a week.

In this particular case, it's a special situation because Jesus is just going to use it for the evening, right? Special circumstance. But most of the people just Would say hey, we're gonna have lots of guests, and that's just the way it is right Not only would this man be carrying water, but he also would expect that you know someone would be asking him about you know hey, where can I stay and that sort of thing and So he's he's expecting that people are going to be there right and This man is also likely a servant, especially as it was unusual to have a man carrying water, but very likely a servant. Only a servant would be asked to carry water as a man. And he also would have known that there's a room available, since he appears to be a household servant.

Here's Luke 22, 11 and 12. And Jesus telling to John and to Peter, and you shall say to the owner of the house, the teacher says to you, where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large furnished upper room, prepare it there. So Jesus told him exactly what to say to the owner of the house.

So you can imagine, here's a guy outside, and he's carrying water, Peter and John would say, yep, there's the guy right there. Right. They go and follow him and they say, hey, you know, recognizing he's probably a servant. Where is the owner? Oh, he's at the place. I'll introduce you when we get there. Right. It would do that. Jesus told them to ask about the guest room. Now this is interesting. This room is kataluma, which is the same Greek word that is used also. Remember how Joseph and Mary, there was no room at the kataluma, right?

There was no inn like we think of it, but it was rather a guest room. So this was a particular guest room which was available that was designed to have guests. So this was a guest room and the owner would expect to have people asking, can I use your guest room?

All right. It would be a larger upper room because you don't have just a small family, but you have this gathering here of initially over a dozen men there. So the room was furnished, and that would at very least have meant that they had the table and cushions, but probably also meant that they had other accommodations with the dishes and that sort of thing. And so Peter and John then would say, OK, great, this is the place.

And they'd get things arranged and get things set out. And then at least one of them would go and take the lamb up to the temple that day, starting somewhere between noon and 3 to have the lamb slaughtered. And then another of them would go out and get the other things that are involved with the meal as well. It was prescribed that they have four cups of diluted wine and then there was non-ritual wine on top of that. But getting enough then for four cups for each to have at the meal at a minimum.

And then getting the lamb roasted and that sort of thing would be the next part. So Jesus talked about my disciples, and so as they asked about my disciples, that would imply that a rabbi and his disciples were coming, and that would actually be seen by a Jew in Jerusalem as a special honor. Oh, it's not just somebody coming, but it's a rabbi and his disciples coming. That's special, right?

It was a moral imperative for them to be hospitable. You must be hospitable, right? And so for them that was a, you must be hospitable unless there's some really outrageous reason why you can't or shouldn't. Being hospitable was just required. But, but, Being hospitable to a rabbi and his disciples was like that's the best if I have to be hospitable Having a rabbi and the disciples come that would be great So Luke 22 13 and they left and found everything just as he had told them and they prepared the Passover So Peter and John found everything exactly as Christ had told them and you go into the city and And you're thinking, okay, there's nothing miraculous about that. But then to see a man carrying water, just as we get to the right place, that man leads us to where the house is, introduces them to the owner, they say what Jesus said to do, and the owner says, right here.

It's available. It's yours. This large upper room is furnished. It has everything that they need. Just as Jesus said it would be. So all Peter and John have to do is just follow the long-standing tradition. Are you going to take care of the lamb? Yeah, I'll take care of the lamb. Alright, I'll get the rest of the stuff. So the Passover meal would be prepared and ready by sundown.

And he would wash their feet. As we'll see as we get through this, he would even wash the feet of Judas Iscariot. Can you imagine that? And he would do so in such a way that none of them knew he was the betrayer. He loved Judas. He loved Judas, even enough to die for him.

Jesus would lead them through the Passover meal that evening, and parts of this would be things they would say, oh yeah, we know exactly what this is, we know what Jesus is talking about, and then he would say other things that they had no idea what he's talking about. After indicating Jesus' betrayal, actually a few times that evening, Judas would then leave them, and we'll talk about why They wouldn't expect that Judas was leaving to betray.

There's a reason. But that's next time. Okay, you have on page four, bottom of your handout, I believe, this one. And that is, we have stepping through what the sequence will be in these next few days. And so we'll be walking through that. we have the Passover lamb was slain and that this was the lambs were being slain for the Sadducees Passover on Friday.

Christ is crucified and buried that day. Increasingly the historical evidence is coming to the conclusion that was the first day of three days. It was April 3rd 33 AD. Interesting to put it in our in our modern Gregorian calendar. Then you'd have the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and that would be on Saturday.

Christ would remain in the tomb. That would be April 4, 33 AD. And then you have firstfruits, and this is why Paul uses in 1st Corinthians 15, Christ is the firstfruits, the first one to resurrect of those who are asleep. Christ is raised on April 5th, 33 AD. And several different lines of evidence point to those specific days. then Christ is resurrected.

So this is the long weekend that we're looking forward to here as we study through Luke and the times ahead of us here. You also have on page 5 this chart, which is a fascinating comparison between the timing and the events that come together between the introduction of the law to Moses and the introduction of grace to the church by Christ. First you have the Passover lamb is chosen, and then Jesus rides into Jerusalem and comes into the temple in what's called the triumphal entry. There is the Passover lamb, okay, chosen. You have later the first Passover, which we just read about today, preparing for, and that is also the institution of the Lord's table for us.

That day was April 2nd, 33 AD. And then on April 5th, 33 AD, Jesus would resurrect. That corresponds time-wise to the crossing of the Red Sea. Anyway, so from that first Passover, under the Law of Moses, until the giving of the Law was 50 days. From this Passover that Jesus is celebrating until the day of Pentecost is 50 days.

So amazing parallels there. And as we time things out, Jesus was ascended then on May 14, 33 A.D. from the Mount of Olives, and we'll look at that in more detail. And on May 28, 33 A.D. was the day of Pentecost. It's amazing how these things are coming together.

As 1st Corinthians 10.2 says, these things that happened in the crossing of the Red Sea was the beginning of Israel's baptism into Moses. And as we will see, the resurrection of Christ there and those events are the beginning of the church's baptism into Christ. It's amazing the parallels that God put in place roughly 1,500 years apart. Now think about this.

Couldn't Jesus have avoided all this? I mean, this is a lot of hassle. I mean, the disciples are going to get real confused and upset. Couldn't Jesus have avoided that? How about picking disciples, none of whom would betray Him? Couldn't He have just done that? I mean, that's easy, right? He knows who's going to betray Him, so why pick one? Couldn't Jesus have sidestepped the confrontation with the Sanhedrin, the supporters, and the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the Herodians. Just sidestep it. Play it cool.

Couldn't you have done that? Couldn't Jesus have just enjoyed this Passover meal? And instead of going out to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Judas knew he was going to be, to just stay there in the room? Couldn't Jesus have just avoided all that? I mean, really, isn't it possible? Does this have to be the Last Supper? How about, couldn't Jesus have just taken out the bad guys, used some awesome power, right? And just... I mean, in His second coming He's going to do that, so why not do it in the first coming?

You guys, you're all... Turn them to dust. Or, tell them, freeze! Right? Right? I mean, couldn't he have done that? And just, you know, all these guys, and they got evil plans and everything, and just go, freeze! And just walk away. Right? Could he have done that? Yeah. Why didn't he? He had the power to do all those things, didn't he? He could have done all, any of those things. Matter of fact, it would have taken just one of them to stop this from happening. Why didn't he do that?

Well, it's because before God said, let there be light, the persons of the Godhead, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, made a covenant. You, the Son, you're going to be born of a virgin. And you're going to grow up and you're going to be crucified and give your life for all of mankind. And on the third day, we're going to raise you up. They'd made a covenant. And God had that all set in place. As a matter of fact, He even chose you in Him. Ephesians chapter 1. Chose you in Him before the foundation of the world. It was all set in place. Jesus was not a victim. This was no accident.

John 3.16. This tells why God so loved the world that He gave. according to the plan, according to the covenant.

Three times, Galatians 2.20, Ephesians 5.2 and Ephesians 5.25, Christ loved and He gave. We're not done.

Hebrews 12.1 and 2, this gives us another motivation besides the love. So Jesus was motivated not just by love, although it's certainly clear that he gave because he loved, but by one more. Let's read about it in Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. Who for? Here's the motive.

For the joy set before him endured the cross. For the joy set before him did not just pick totally faithful disciples. For the joy set before him, he kept the appointment in the Garden of Eden, excuse me, Garden of Gethsemane. So he kept that appointment in the Garden of Gethsemane. He could have turned all those who opposed him to dust, or worse, but he didn't.

He loved and he gave, and for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, and that joy included you and me. In John 17, Christ prayed to the Father, and he prayed for himself, he prayed for his disciples, and he prayed for you and me. That's why He would go through this. He loved us and loves us and will forever love us.

That's why He gave and that's why He didn't take the exits that He most certainly could have. It wasn't a matter of there in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ saying, no, no, you're making a terrible mistake. Instead, let's do this. Let's do this. Because He loved and gave and for the joy that was set before Him, fellowship with you and with me forever. That's the joy that would make Him endure the cross joyfully. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for what you've revealed here because you you love us you care for us so very very much and we just thank you as we anticipate the dramatic events that are about to be shown to us we thank you that you did all this because you love us and you care for us you deliberately gave yourself and joy beyond the cross motivated you thank you in Jesus name amen