The Passover Supper

THE PASSOVER SUPPER

Passover was the busiest time of the year in Jerusalem when crowds of Jews from all over the Empire were gathering for the feast. Jesus had arrived triumphally seated on a donkey into Jerusalem earlier in the week and the crowds had welcomed him as their prophet, miracle worker and King to be, shouting Hosannah and casting palm leaves on the ground before him. People were amazed and awestruck at his commanding presence when he tipped over the tables of the greedy money changers in the temple, and all of this brought Jesus under fiercer and more intense scrutiny from the temple leaders than ever before. Questions were hurled at him to entice him into confrontation regarding moral and legal issues of their temple religion. But Jesus was not about to be baited like an animal of prey. He fielded their questions with a calm authority, and it was the tormentors who became enraged by the superior wisdom and integrity of their victim to be. Crowds of Jews looked on in expectation. Many wanted a show of power and strength to come from Jesus after these thrusts and parries, for surely this was the time for him to start his kingdom, but they were to be disappointed. Jesus was on a path that would lead to a far greater demonstration of such power that the whole cosmos would be shaken by it, and he knew that even though the time was short, it was still not yet.

After three days of this exhausting exchange with the leaders and the constant attention from the crowds Jesus took the twelve aside and told them that he wanted to go and spend some time in prayer with his Father. He told them he wanted to share the Passover feast with them that evening. Jesus told them he had organized somewhere for them to have the meal. “Where will it be Master?” asked Peter.
“In about three hours I want you and John to go to the city square where you will find a water carrier with a pitcher of water on his shoulder. He will be looking out for you. You are to follow him to the place he leads you to and go in and ask the owner to take you to the guest room, a large room upstairs. He will be waiting for you and will show you where everything is and you can then prepare the feast for us. We will be along soon after.” With that Jesus told the others to go off and spend some time in prayer and preparation for the event, while he would pray by himself, and meet them back at the place where they now were.

The two disciples found the man carrying the pitcher of water in the square just as Jesus had said, and they followed him as he entered a two-storey building. There they met the owner of the house who led them to the room that had been prepared for them. This man had been instructed by God in a dream to set aside the room and he had obeyed without question. After his time of prayer Jesus met with the others and they went to the room. It was evening time and there was a large table set out with the Passover meal, and there they sat at the table with Jesus in the middle of them.

Passover was the festival time that celebrated the event of Moses bringing the Nation of Israel out of their slavery from Egypt. The Passover meal was not just a meal but a series of meals, interspersed with pauses for reflection and readings from the Scriptures in remembrance of the miraculous way God had freed them from their oppressors. After one of the meals, at which they ate roasted lamb and bitter herbs, Jesus stood up and went over to one of the sizeable bathing bowls and taking off his outer robe he wrapped a large towel around himself and beckoned the disciples to come over to him.
“What are you doing?” asked Peter.
“I am going to wash your feet,” replied Jesus.
it was customary as a Jewish ritual of cleansing for guests to have their feet washed by a servant of the house from the dirt and grime of walking in the dusty streets when they gathered together for a meal.
But Peter resisted this servant act from his master Jesus.

“Not mine,” exclaimed Peter. The other disciples were also curious and uneasy.
“Yes yours,” replied Jesus, “and all of the others too.” When he saw Peter balking and raising objections he stopped and stood up to face them all. “Do you remember when you all became so angry with one another when James’ and John's mother wanted me to give the highest places to her two sons next to me in my kingdom?”
“Yes,” they said, remembering it well.
“Well at that time I told you that if you want to show you have true authority you will serve one another. If you think I have authority with you then you will let me serve you by washing your feet. Otherwise, you are saying you don’t recognize my authority.”
He began to wash the disciples’ feet, and when he came to Peter, Peter protested.
“No Master you will not wash my feet.”
“So, you don’t want to be part of what I am doing?” 
Peter knelt in front of Jesus and said.
“Of course, I do. I’m sorry. Please Lord, wash my hands and my head as well.”
“Just your feet Peter, here, in the bowl.” Jesus then continued to wash the feet of all the men, as they came forward one by one, some with tear-streaked faces.

Heaven watched on silently as thousands of thousands of angels strained to see all that was being done and said in this most holy moment. They watched as their God cleansed a grimy unclean world from off those he loved, as he would for all who would let him do so, down through the ages. When he had finished washing them, he stood up again and said.
“Now you are clean, but not all of you.” One of them wanted to know what he meant, so he asked them to come back to the table with him, where they would continue their meal.

After they had sat down, he asked for the bread and wine to be served, and then he said plainly,
“One of you will betray me.”
They were all shocked, and began to discuss this amongst themselves, but then their distress overwhelmed them, so they began to ask him one by one, “Is it me Master?” they pleaded anxiously, without getting a reply. John knew the depth of love that he himself had for Jesus and did not even question his own heart as to whether he might be the one, so he simply asked,
“Who is it Lord?” Jesus saw their trouble and concern, so he said, “The one who dips his bread with me into the soup.” At that very moment Judas had his bread in the soup along with the bread in the hand of Jesus. The moment passed in the confusion, and nothing appeared to register in the minds of the other disciples, so Jesus let the moment pass, then Judas, feeling safe, said,
“Is it me Lord?”
“You said it.” Jesus handed him the piece of dipped bread from his own hand and said to him. “Go and do what you have to do.”
Judas got up and grabbed the money bag and strode out, excited by a dark and distorted sense of power in his newfound political mission. Judas always was a political activist looking for regime change, and he had seen Jesus as the man who would satisfy his rebellious and resentful attitude to Roman authority. And now he was bitterly disappointed in the kind of servant leadership that Jesus was demonstrating. It was too weak for his liking, and he felt betrayed. Satan had captured his will and his resentful revenge was targeted at Jesus, and the best way to get even was to betray his friend Jesus in return. That cost Judas everything. The other disciples supposed that he had received instructions from their master concerning some arrangements that had been organized between them, perhaps to distribute the money to the poor.

Jesus turned to the other disciples and took a large piece of bread from the bowl. They watched him as he broke it into twelve pieces, keeping one, and handing the rest around to the remaining eleven.
“This is my body. This has been broken into pieces but when we eat it, it becomes one piece again, because we are one. Whenever you and those who come after you do this in the future, you will join yourselves to one another and to me, and I will be there with you. Unless you have my life in you, you will not know what life really is.”
He took a cup of the ceremonial wine and drank from it, then passed it around for them all to drink. After they had finished it he said to them,” This is my blood. Just as my body will be torn to pieces for you, so too will my blood be spilled for you. This is a sign of my life and of the new promise from God to give you and all of humanity our life to share, not just a life of rules and regulations, but our very divine life. Whenever people do this in the future, I want them to remember that I died for them and that I will come back again at the end of time, in the full power and glory of my kingdom.”

Once again, they recalled what he had said to them about his coming back at the end of time. He had warned them of the things that would happen in the earth just before that mighty and awesome day when he would be seen by all the world coming in the clouds of heaven. They recalled his predictions of the earthquakes and natural disasters that would strike the earth, the rising tide of self-interest and wars and terror, the epidemic of fear and hopelessness. They shuddered within themselves, and they were comforted by his presence.

The feast had come to an end, and he stood and asked them to come with him into a garden near the olive grove, where he wanted them to pray with him.
“In a few hours the temple leaders will arrest me, and I will be put on trial. After my arrest you will all become terrified and desert me, but it will fulfill the Scripture which says that when the shepherd is struck the sheep will run in all directions.”
Peter protested, “Even if everyone else deserts you I will never run,” and James and the others joined in the protest. Peter drew out his dagger, quickly followed by James.
“These are two daggers,” said Peter, seeing James's drawn dagger, “and I will die with you before I let anyone take you away.”
Jesus looked at Peter.
“Lucifer is out to get you Peter, and before the night is over you will separate yourself from me in fear, but I will be praying for you that your faith will remain strong. You will hear a rooster crowing in the morning, and when you hear it, it will be a stark reminder of what I just told you, and for now, you can both put your daggers away.”
But Peter protested all the more, and Jesus let him talk on.

Jesus took the men to the garden area and asked Peter and John and James   to accompany him further, motioning for the others to stay back. A little farther on he asked the three to wait and pray while he went on his own to pray to his Father. Finding a place, he fell on his face and began to quake inside with a peculiar dread. He would face torture and death in an unbearable and agonizing way. He would be totally alone, suffering the shame and reproach of a criminal. These thoughts tormented his mind and dried up his soul. 
Darkness tried to ride in on this torment. He began to sweat profusely, and he groaned, till he started to taste blood in his mouth. The blood ran down his chin, and then he saw droplets of blood on the backs of his hands. This was the cup of pain and sorrow that he was being asked to take. It was too much, and he begged for Father to take it away. He asked if there was some other way that he might accomplish what he had been sent to do, but he told Father that nonetheless he would do whatever he wanted him to. He staggered to his feet and groped his way to where he had left the three disciples. They were asleep.

Jesus groaned inwardly again and waking them up he pleaded with them.
“Couldn't you have stayed awake and prayed? You know I am about to die, and I feel my life draining from me already, and I am almost overwhelmed by it. You need to pray too so that you will not be completely overwhelmed.”
They spluttered out their apologies. He forlornly made his way back to his place and cried out to Father again, to never forsake him, but still the agony fastened itself to his soul. He asked Father again if there was any other way, and again he yielded his will to his Father.

After more suffering that became more than he could bear, he returned to the three, but they had fallen asleep again. He pleaded with them again not to go to sleep. They didn’t know what to say. Sleep had become their escape from the heaviness of their grief and sorrow. Father watched from heaven and shared his son's agony, knowing that this was the darkest hour that his son had ever known. This was breaking his heart and all of heaven was watching with him and sharing his grief, so he summoned an angel to go and strengthen and comfort his Son. Jesus drew in heavenly strength and stood to face his betrayal, denial, trial and flogging, his sentencing and his carrying a cross to die upon at Calvary - for us.