LIFE OF THE MESSIAH – 017
DR. ARNOLD G. FRUCHTENBAUM
VIII. The Preparation for the Death of the King
Paragraphs 139-152
B. The Preparation for Messiah’s Death
Paragraphs 140-148
Let’s turn in our Harmony to paragraph 140, and on your outlines you want to be on page 16. Now for the last session we began the eighth main division which has to do with the preparation for the death of the King, comprising paragraphs 139 through 152 and we spent quite a bit of time in one paragraph because of its length, in 139. On your outline we’re down to capital B, the preparation for Messiah’s death comprising paragraphs 140-148.
1. The Prediction of His Death
Paragraph 140a – Mark 14:1a; Matthew 26:1-2; Luke 11:1
Now in paragraph 140a we have the prediction of His death. It’s still Tuesday, the 12th of Nisan, and our date April 4, AD 30. Mark’s account states, Mark 14:1, “Now after two days was the Feast of the Passover and Unleavened Bread.” In the Mosaic Law the Feast of Passover was one day, followed by seven days of Unleavened Bread, and those were two separate festivals, though one immediately followed the other. Now by first century Israel, and even among Jewish people today, they kind of combine the two and therefore you’ll hear Jewish people talk about the eight days of Passover. But technically Passover was only one day followed by seven days of Unleavened Bread. And by New Testament times you find all eight days called both Passover and Unleavened Bread as it is here.
And he points out what happened two days after these words, so Passover would fall on sundown Thursday. We have here the fourth announcement of His death, but this time He even dates it, as Matthew 26:2 points out. Again, they don’t understand these things so when it finally happens it catches them by surprise, as we’ll see.
The Conspiracy of the Rulers
Paragraph 140b – Mark 14:1b-3; Matthew 26:3-5; Luke 11:2
Now in the second thing in the paragraph, 140b, is the conspiracy of the rulers. The conspiracy includes both Pharisees and Sadducees, as you can see at the end of Mark 14:1; the chief priests are the Sadducees, the Scribes are the Pharisees. And Matthew also adds [3] “the elders of the people,” these are also Pharisees. And the one who’s in charge of the conspiracy, in Matthew 26:3 is Caiaphas, who is the high priest, with authority over the 24 chief priests; he’s also a Sadducee. And the goal is in Matthew 26:4, “They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill Him.” So again this conspiracy includes both Pharisees and Sadducees, and they are looking for a way they can get Jesus arrested apart from the multitudes in Matthew 26:5. As we will see shortly, in the next couple of paragraphs, Judas will give them that opportunity.
Let’s notice one more thing in the conspiracy in Mark 14:2, “Not during the feast, lest haply there shall be a tumult of His people.” Now notice carefully that (?) the conspiracy includes the fact that they would not carry out the conspiracy during the Passover. At Passover time the city was very crowded, and basically they want to wait to after Passover, the pilgrims go back home, Jerusalem turns back to a smaller size, and then they would carry it out.
And here we have the satanic element in the conspiracy because while Satan wants Jesus dead he doesn’t want Him to die at the right time, at this Passover, in the right way, by crucifixion. And so we read of attempts to have Him killed, either at the wrong time, as right here, before or after Passover, or killed in the wrong manner like by sword or by stoning, because if Jesus had died at any other time than this Passover in any other way than by crucifixion, there would have been no atonement. It was not merely the death of the Messiah which was essential for the atonement, otherwise He could have died as a sixty year old with the others in Bethlehem and that would have been sufficient. But that would have been insufficient; His death had to come at the proper time, this Passover, and in the proper way, by crucifixion.
The attempts are made to kill Him at the wrong time in the wrong way. So keep in mind, because we’ll be coming back to this a bit later, part of the conspiracy is to avoid doing it on the night they have to end up doing it; they want to avoid doing it during the Passover.
The Pouring of the Ointment
Paragraph 141 – Mark 14:3-9; Matthew 26:6-13; John 12:2-8
Now paragraph 141, we come to the pouring of the ointment. They’re having dinner at the home of Simon the leper, and the fact that Simon is called a leper doesn’t mean he still is a leper, otherwise he would not be allowed to live in town. This was a former leper among the lepers that Jesus would have healed. And he’s in Bethany and that’s the same town where Lazarus, Mary and Martha live and they’re all together in this household. And so they’re guests in the home of Simon, the leper.
And Mary, at this point, chooses to do something that would be very unusual to do. She takes a bottle of very expensive ointment, or perfume, and she pours it, end of Mark 14:3 on His head and John points out at the end of John 12:3, also on His feet. So both His head and feet are anointed with this special oil or perfume.
Now this was a very expensive type of perfume, it doesn’t mean that they were necessarily a wealthy family but it does mean that she’s giving some things up because this was something even the poorer class of women would keep and reserve for their wedding night. And for the wealthy class they could use it more often, but for the non wealthy class it was a one-time thing they were able to use on their wedding night. And so essentially she’s giving up something that she would have used on her wedding night to anoint Him with.
And how expensive it was comes out in Mark 15:5, he says it could have been sold for three hundred pence; basically it’s three hundred denarii. That’s about one year’s salary, so one full year’s salary is how expensive this perfume was that she anoints His head and His feet. The disciples of Jesus are troubled by this, saying that this was a wasteful way to do with the expensive perfume, it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. And one of the spokesmen happens to be Judas and while the others may have been motivated by the concern for the poor, that was not Judas’ concern; as John 12:6 points out, “Now this he said, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the bag took away what was put in therein.” He was the group treasurer and he was guilty of embezzlement. He periodically withdrew for his own private use the money that was put into it.
And Jesus silences the disciples, and He says why in Matthew 26:12, “For in that she poured this ointment upon My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.” What this shows is that she understands something that His own disciples did not understand. She somehow did understand what He taught about His death and resurrection. (?) this would be the time of His death and burial, she goes ahead and anoints Him for that preparation. So again Mary understands something others do not, which also helps to explain that of all the women mentioned coming to the tomb looking for the body, Mary is not one of them, not this Mary; other Mary’s go there but not this one, because she also would believe in the resurrection so there’s no need to try to find a body and so she doesn’t participate in those Sunday morning activities.
And in Matthew 26:13 he points out that for Mary this is going to be a place of honor, and in fact everywhere in history people will be speaking of this event as a memorial to her, as we’re doing right now. Now for Judas, his decision to betray Jesus occurs at this point of time.
4. The Promise to Betray
Paragraph 142 – Mark 14:10-11; Matthew 26:14-16; Luke 22:3-6
Now paragraph 142, the promise to betray. Now as we have seen of different people being demonized throughout the Gospel accounts, in the case of Judas he’s not just been demonized but Luke says in Luke 22:3, “And Satan entered into Judas,” he’s not really demonized, he is Satanized. In place of a normal demon being in a person it is Satan that now enters Judas, setting the stage for him to begin to communicate with the Jewish elders, specifically as we read in Matthew 26:14, the chief priests, which are the Sadducees.
Luke mentions in Luke 22:4 also with the captains, meaning the captains of the temple; these were the Jewish temple police. Now Gentile soldiers could be stationed in the outer court to maintain order, and so when Paul was mobbed in the outer court Gentile soldiers could run down and rescue Paul from the mob. But no Gentile could be inside the inner court. And so there was a Jewish temple police force to maintain order in the inner court and they’re involved in the conspiracy here, so they’ll be the ones to be involved in the arresting of Jesus.
And negotiations of how much they’re going to pay him ultimately came down to thirty pieces of silver in Matthew 26:15, fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy the Messiah will be sold out for thirty pieces of silver in Zechariah 11:4-14. Now Judas was needed to do three things; he’s paid this money to accomplish three things; he will accomplish two of those three things. First of all, he was needed to show where Jesus could be arrested apart from the multitudes. We saw in paragraph 140 they’re trying to find a way to arrest Him by subtility, away from the multitudes, so they need to have Judas find an opportunity to have Jesus arrested away from the multitudes.
The second reason he was need had to do with a point of Roman law. Now by Roman law a Roman cohort could not be released to make an arrest until someone appeared before the Roman governor accusing someone of a crime punishable under Roman law. I repeat: a Roman cohort could not be released to make an arrest until someone first appeared before the Roman governor accusing another of a crime punishable under Roman law. A second reason they would need Judas for is to appear before the Roman governor, who was then Pontius Pilate, and accuse Jesus of a crime punishable under Roman law. And he will accomplish the second purpose as well, as we shall see later this evening.
There’s a third reason he’s needed and that is to serve as the prosecuting witness at this civil or Roman trial. He won’t be needed for the Jewish trial. He will be needed for the Roman trial or civil trial, as we shall see he’ll fail to fulfill this third element.
Let’s spend a few moments now focusing on the significance of the thirty pieces of silver because this was not an accidental price. Now in the Mosaic Law, in Exodus 21:32 the Law said that if you owned an ox and your ox gored to death your neighbor’s slave, you’re obligated to pay your neighbor the amount of thirty pieces of silver. That was the valued price of a dead slave. And as (?) in history progressed that became a symbolic number of contempt; if you wanted to show contempt for somebody you would give them thirty pieces of silver, conveying to that person you’re worth as much as a dead slave is worth.
So if someone was purchasing a thing, was negotiating for a price, to avoid the figure thirty they would settle for either twenty-nine or thirty-one. Not unlike our situation here in America, concerning the number thirteen is considered a bad luck number, and often in high rise hotels I stay at in my travels I notice in the elevator it goes from floor twelve to floor fourteen. Floor thirteen has been raptured somewhere and is gone, it doesn’t exist. And even in the three level hotel I’m staying in right now I notice that the room numbers go from 211, they have odd numbers on one side, even on the other, and the other side they go from 211 to 215, there’s no 213, again to avoid the figure 13. Well for them it was the figure thirty, not thirteen.
Now when Zechariah became a prophet God asked Zechariah to play a Messianic role, a role the Messiah would fulfill, the role of the good shepherd, and this was Zechariah 11:4-14. For a period of time he was to feed the flock of slaughter, to feed the flock that would be destined for slaughter. After the period of feeding he would was then to go before the Jewish elders and say we did not agree to a salary in advance, so pay me what you think my work is worth. If it’s worth something to you pay me accordingly; if it’s worth nothing to you it’s okay to pay me nothing. It would have been a lot less insulting to Zechariah to pay him nothing. But to show their contempt for the prophet they pay him thirty pieces of silver, saying to Zechariah how much is your work worth? It’s worth the price of a dead slave.
And then God told Zechariah to do two things. First of all, to take the thirty pieces of silver and dump them in the temple compound area, just as Judas will do with his thirty pieces of silver. But secondly He told Zechariah this was a goodly price, I was priced of by them. This was a goodly price, I was priced of by them. But God told Zechariah that sometime that day will come that God Himself, the God of Israel, will be sold out for the price of a dead slave. And so when the chief priests were negotiating with Judas for the price of betrayal to show the contempt for Jesus they did not settle for twenty-nine or thirty-one; they settled for thirty to show the contempt. And he sold out the Messianic God-man for the price of a slave.
One more important thing to notice here. Because he’s dealing with the chief priests all of the income for the chief priests came out of the temple treasury. That’s where all their finances came from. So ultimately these thirty pieces of silver came out of the temple treasury. One major purpose for the temple treasury was to purchase sacrifices. Now this was not their intent that day; that’s what they did that day; they purchased a sacrifice, the final sacrifice for sin. As Luke’s account points out, end of Luke 22:6, from this point on Judas was looking for an opportunity where Jesus could be arrested away from the multitudes.
5. The Last Passover and the First Lord’s Supper
Paragraphs 143-148
On your outline under point 5 notice the second paragraph, from paragraph 143 to 148 we have paragraphs dealing with the last Passover and the first Lord’s Supper. Also notice as you go through these paragraphs they keep going back between paragraph… from paragraph this to that, back and forth, back and forth. A. T. Robertson, who put this Harmony together, from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, obviously didn’t have any Jewish friends that he could inquire of. He didn’t quite understand the order of the Passover and so got the order basically wrong. Had he stayed with Luke’s order he would have made a lot less mistakes but he violates Luke’s order as Luke gives us. And he thought Luke had one cup too many; in reality Luke actually has two cups too few. So I’ve rearranged his Harmony, notice most of it follows Luke’s order and it best fits the order of the way Jewish people observe the Passover to this day.
a. The Preparation for the Seder
Paragraph 143 – Mark 14:12-16; Matthew 26:17-19; Luke 22:7-13
And in paragraph 143 we have the preparation for the Seder; the Seder is the Hebrew name for the Passover meal. The word “Seder” means order because you follow the order in a very specific step by step process. And Luke 22:7 specifies, “And the day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed,” in Luke 22:7. Again, notice again by this point of time Passover and Unleavened Bread were tied together and not kept distinct any more.
And the two men in charge of getting the Passover ready in Luke 22:8 is Peter and John. And so they’re sent to make ready the Passover; as the (?) temple stood that required specific steps to be followed; nine specific steps in getting the Passover ready. There were other orderly steps, Seder steps, once you have the meal. But first of all they had to go with the lamb to the temple compound. The lamb would be tested to make sure it was without spot and without blemish.
Secondly, they would then kill the lamb inside the temple compound. Thirdly, the blood will be poured out into a bowl of some kind and because this was a feast that was one of the three festivals you have to be where the temple was, there was a private period of time and they had three long lines of Levites going from the outer temple all the way into the outer court or into the inner court to where the altar was. And in the outer area here, you would kill the lamb and catch the blood and then the blood was poured out into the bowl. And then fourthly, the bowl will be passed from one priest to another to another to another until it got to the altar and then the blood was put out on the base of the altar. And they had three long lines to carry this out. All this was done in a three hour period from about 3:00 in the afternoon till 6:00 in the evening.
Fifthly they would then sing certain psalms, Psalms 113 through 118. Sixthly, the lamb would then be cleaned, that means they would skin the lamb, the entrails would be removed. Seventh, a part of the lamb would be left for the priesthood to partake of and the priests would then bring it upon the altar. Eighth, the rest of the lamb was taken home to be roasted by fire. And nine, the other Passover items would then be prepared and made ready; that would include especially the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs and the wine.
Essentially this is what Peter and John will be doing. Now because so many pilgrims would be coming to Jerusalem for the Passover it was impossible to house everybody within the walls of the city so outside they walls they erected these huge tent cities. And most pilgrims would eat their Passover in these tents outside the wall. So since you have very special preparations, unless you lived in Jerusalem you couldn’t have it within, or you have preparations made to have it with somebody. And so the Jews made special preparations.
He tells these two men that when they go back into the city, in Luke 22:10, go by the well, and what they’ll see is a man with a pitcher of water, gathering water. And why is that unusual? Because in the in the concept of the Middle East, that’s still true with the Arab towns in Israel to this day, it is the women who go out for the water, not the men. So it’d be very unusual to see a man carrying a pitcher and drawing water. They are to follow the man and he will show the house and what they will see is that the place had already been prepared. In church tradition this was the house of John Mark, and the same room becomes later the place of the events of Acts 2:1-4. It’s also the same room of Acts 1:13 where they chose a replacement for Judas.
And He points out this is a very significant Passover because in Matthew 26:18, “My time is at hand,” this would be the Passover fulfillment. On this Passover He will die. And Jews reckoned their time, keep in mind, Passover will fall from sundown till sundown.
Now Mark 14:15 points out what they will be shown is an upper room, what is referred to in Hebrew as an aliyh a-l-i-y-h. It would be a second level room, which was typical of only the wealthy class would have this kind of a room. It would not be a hallway but a separate room on the second floor, and furthermore the stairwell leading to it is outside the house, not inside the house. So you could go in and out, in and out, without going through the lower part of the house.
Notice two things about it; number one, it is already furnished, that would include there would be the table, there wouldn’t be any chairs because at the Passover you sat on the ground and leaned against large pillows because at the Passover Seder, the Passover meal, you recline, you don’t sit in chairs but you recline. And secondly, it was ready; in other words, everything else needed for the feast was already prepared. All they needed was to deal with the lamb after it came from the temple compound but everything else was already prepared; there’d be no more further work they would have to do. And so Jesus made all the arrangements to have everything ready well before this night. At the end of Matthew 26:19 they went ahead and they made ready the Passover. It is now the fourteenth of Nisan, or April 6, AD 30.
Now we need to do some background work before we go into some other paragraphs. The central element of the Passover is called the breaking of the afikomen, a-f-i-k-o-m-e-n, the breaking of the afikomen. In the center table you have one bag, it’s the matza, m-a-t-z-a, matza tash, t-a-s-h, the matza tash, it is one bag but it has three separate compartments. Into each compartment you place a loaf of unleavened bread, and these are the loaves of unleavened bread used for Passover. What you have is one bag with three compartments; each compartment has a loaf of unleavened bread, each one separated from the other by a single sheet.
What happens here will become the central ceremony of the Passover. Exactly how it became a central facet we don’t know; it was only practiced in the intertestamental period. Now when Jesus said, “This is My body,” keep in mind He made that statement strictly of the Passover bread. He didn’t say it of those little wafers that some churches use, or regular bread that’s been toasted and cut up into small squares as I’ve seen elsewhere. He made the statement specifically of the Jewish Passover bread.
And by Law three things have to be true of this bread for it to qualify for Passover. If any of these three things were missing you could not use it for Passover. First of all it had to be unleavened; that’s why it’s flat, notice. It has to be unleavened. Leaven throughout the Bible is a symbol of sin. And this is also a picture of His body that His body was unleavened, meaning He was sinless. Had he committed even one minor sin He would have been disqualified from being the Passover sacrifice. As it turns out He was the only Jew who ever lived that kept the Mosaic Law perfectly in the 613 commandments applicable to Him; so He had no leaven body.
Secondly, notice it has to be striped; if these stripes were missing it could not be eaten at the Passover; it has to be striped. And the body of Jesus was also striped by way of the Roman whip at the time of the scourging. As Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 53, “with His stripes we are healed.”
Now the third element is it has to be pierced, so light will penetrate through the unleavened bread. If these holes were missing it could not be eaten at the Jewish Passover; it has to be pierced. His body was also pierced twice, first of all by the nails at His crucifixion and secondly by the spear in His side. As Zechariah 12:10 prophesies, some day they will look unto Him, they shall look unto Him whom they have pierced. So being pierced and the stripe in the leaven becomes a picture of the body of the Messiah. Keep in mind specifically it’s this bread that He identifies as His body.
In this ceremony, close to the early part of the Passover, it was taken out of this three compartment bag is the middle loaf, it’s broken in two, and half of it is wrapped up in linen cloth and it must be linen cloth, then hidden away somewhere and there it stays for a long time. And having finished the first ceremony, then you have the main meal. And then following the main meal you have the second ceremony that begins by removing the unleavened bread and then breaking off the smaller pieces, passing around to everybody around the table. Everybody eats a piece of this bread.
Now what’s interesting in Judaism is this; in all the rituals that Judaism practices, biblical ones and rabbinic ones, they always have reasons for each ritual they perform. We do this because of that; we do that because of this. In fact, for all the other rituals of the Passover there’s quite a few. For every ritual they have there is an explanation as to why we do this: in remembrance of that. But on this one, strangely enough, they have no explanation. But what most of the rabbis have come up with so far is the three loaves represent the Cohen’s, which is the priesthood, the Levites, and the house of Israel. What they don’t explain is why the middle one is taken out, why it’s broken, why it’s wrapped in a linen cloth, why it’s hidden away and why it’s brought out again.
When a Jew becomes a believer in the Messiahship of Jesus he finally recognizes what this signifies and what Jesus (?) said, “This is My body, given for you.” One bag with three compartments, we believe there is only one God, He exists in three different persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The middle one is taken out of the bag which represents the incarnation, when God became man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The breaking of the middle loaf is a picture of His death; when He came to this part of the ceremony, that’s when He said “This is My body, broken for you.” It is then wrapped up in linen cloth. And the body of Jesus, when He came down from the cross, was also wrapped up in linen cloth. The hiding away is a picture of the burial. And after supper it is brought out, unwrapped, a picture of the resurrection.
Now during the Passover service you drink four cups of wine; every cup has its own name. The first two cups are drunk before dinner. Then immediately after dinner, in connection with the unwrapping of this you have the third cup and the third cup is called in Judaism the cup of the redemption. And in Judaism it symbolizes the physical redemption of the firstborn in the tenth plague. And in the case of Jesus it’s the third cup because He rose on the third day, but that’s a spiritual redemption involved, not a physical one. Then pieces are given over to each one around the family. And He told in John 6, you must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life and He interprets that to mean to believe that He is that Messianic King. So this is the central ceremony, we’ll see what happens here as we move through the text.
b. The Passover Observance
Paragraph 144a – Mark 14:17; Matthew 26:20; Luke 22:14-15
Let’s go to paragraph 144a, the Passover observance. Now in Luke’s account, Luke 22:14, “And when the hour was come, He sat down,” with them and again He focuses on the uniqueness of this Passover. He says in verse 15, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” “…this Passover,” He’s observed Passovers with them before. He was very careful to keep the Mosaic Law so He came to Jerusalem every Passover. But this one is a special Passover because this will be the Passover in which the feast will finally be fulfilled; it will be ratified by blood, His own blood.
And He points out that this will be His last Passover until the Messianic Kingdom; in the Kingdom He will again observe the Passover, later specified as we’ll see, with the apostles.
c. The First Cup
Paragraph 148a – Luke 22:17-18
Now go to paragraph 148, the first cup. Now again in the Passover dinner you have four cups of wine. And the first two cups are drunk before dinner. And here’s where A. T. Robertson just combined everything, not recognizing the distinctions. And in Luke 22:17-18 the reference He makes here is to the first cup. Verse 17 says, “And He received a cup, and when he had given thanks He said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves.”
Notice He gave thanks for it; and the first cup in Judaism is called the cup of thanksgiving. And the way the ceremony begins is the candles are lit by the woman of the household, if she’s not present, there are no women in this Passover, a man does it, and then comes the partaking of the first cup. And the first cup actually inaugurates the first ceremony. So He took this cup and He gave a special thanksgiving over it.
And again He points out in Luke 22:18, this will be the last Passover until the establishment of the Kingdom. Also notice the phrase, “the fruit of the vine” and people who believe that they drank grape juice use that, it doesn’t say wine, it says “fruit of the vine,” but if you look at any Passover book it uses that phrase but the wine you sip from the Jewish context would always be fermented. The term for the wine was a term used for Passover wine because other wines were made and sometimes they had a thing or two to leaven it, to ferment quickly they would put some leavening into it. But Passover wine had to ferment naturally. And therefore you’ll find… you go to a Jewish store for example, you’ll see wines listed there, kosher for Passover, not kosher for Passover. All wines are kosher by the days but only certain wines are kosher for Passover; only those that have been properly prepared.
d. The Washing of the Feet and the First Prediction of Judas’ Betrayal
Paragraph 145 – John 13:1-18
Now go to paragraph 145. In the Jewish service of the Passover, following the observance of the first cup you then have the washing of the hands. Now John’s account, John 13:1, points out even before this Passover, Jesus already knew from His humanity that “His hour was come” to make the atonement. So verse 1 was a statement of His awareness before the Passover, and then verse 2 says, “And during supper,” now we’re at the Passover supper. And by then verse 2 says Judas already made the decision to betray Him.
And normally the one who washes the hands is the servant and he or she will go to each person with a bowl and a pitcher, and you put your hands over the bowl and he or she will pour the water over the hands and there is a towel wrapped around the side of the servant; you take the towel and you dry your hands. In this case what we find is first of all Jesus takes the servant role and does the washing, and furthermore, in place of washing hands He washes the feet. But taking on the servant role pictures what Paul teaches in Philippians 2:5-8, that He came as a servant.
When He comes to Peter, Peter just can’t see the Messiah washing his feet, and raises the question in the end of John 13:6, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” The Greek is a bit more emphatic; the way the Greek reads is something like this: “Is such a One like You to wash the feet of such a one as I?” Is such a One like You going to wash the feet of someone such as I?” And it requires a negative answer, no you won’t, you won’t wash my feet. But then Jesus says, [John 13:9] “If I wash you not, you have no part with Me.” You won’t be part of my household. So Peter says in that case, wash all of me. But He says in John 13:10, “He that is bathed needs not to save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, you are clean, but not all.” Now most people, unless they were wealthy class didn’t have their own bath house in their own home so there was a public bath house you would go to. And in the dry streets of Israel in the months of… long summer months, by the time you got home your feet would be dirty again because of the dust and so on. And there was always a place at the door where you would wash your feet before you would go into the house.
Thus the point is this, that once you receive salvation you have been bathed but our feet get dirty because we still sin and therefore we must only cleanse our feet and we do that by 1 John 1:9, confessing our sins. He points out they are not all clean and here is a reference to Judas, because in John 13:11, “He knew who should betray Him.”
And in John 13:15 He points out this was given to them as an example, it’s not really an ordinances as some churches teach, that you have to wash people’s feet; it’s not an ordinance, it’s merely an example to take on the role of a servant. But in John 13:18 He points out there is someone present who will betray Him; we have the first prediction of betrayal, no one is named or shown yet but it’s the first prediction of betrayal within the Passover dinner.
e. Carpas: The Second Prediction of Judas’ Betrayal
Paragraph 146a – Mark 14:18-21; Matthew 26:21-25; Luke 22:21-23
Let’s go to paragraph 146a, what concerns us here is only the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke. What John is doing is something different, though A. T. Robertson didn’t quite understand the difference. And picking up from the previous in Matthew 26:21, “Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” That’s a continuation of what just happened in the previous paragraph. Now Mark 14:18 says, “And as they 1sat,” notice the number by the word “sat.” If you look at the footnote you’ll notice it means the meaning of reclining, because at the Passover table you recline.
Now what happens in this ceremony is called carpas; in the carpas ceremony you take a green vegetable, normally a piece of lettuce, you dip it into salt water and you eat it. Green is a symbol of spring and spring is a symbol of youth and this signified they were just a young nation, in the springtime of our nationhood God saved us by means of the salt water of the Red Sea.
And scattered across the table would be several salt water dishes, so there was a salt water dish within an easy reach of three or four people. There are at least thirteen people involved at this Passover. So He makes the announcement that one of you is going to betray Me; He wanted no one to know who it is; He does not name any one. This is the second time He prophecies about a betrayal but He hasn’t named anyone, but He does give a clue in Matthew 26:23, “He that dipped his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray Me.” What happened at that point is that Jesus would have taken His parsley or green vegetable, dipped it in the salt water dish, at that point Judas put his parsley and dipped it with Jesus in the same salt water dish. And that act of Judas identified him as the betrayer but the apostles elsewhere at the table did not catch the signal.
f. The Breaking of the Middle Matzah
Paragraph 148b – Luke 22:19
Now we go to paragraph 148, back to 148. Now we come to the breaking of the middle matzah, the middle loaf that I just illustrated. In Luke’s account, Luke 22:19, “And He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and gave to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me.” At this point He took the middle loaf out, broke it in two, wrapping half of it up in the linen cloth, and halving it. Note the word “remembrance,” because that’s the key word to the whole Passover service, is you go from ritual to ritual to ritual it’s always the same; we do this to remember that; we did that to remember this. The focus is on remembrance. He’s not teaching transubstantiation, that the bread turns into His real body; not consubstantiation that the true body is with the bread. Rather, it’s a remembrance; it’s a memorial of His body.
g. The Sop: The Third Prediction of Judas’ Betrayal
Paragraph 146b – John 13:23-30
Now back to paragraph 146, the sop. This is something you do just before dinner is served. Now there is a mixture called charoset, c-h-a-r-o-s-e-t, charoset; charoset is a mixture of apples, nuts, honey, cinnamon, wine and lemon juice; apple, nuts, honey, wine, cinnamon and lemon juice. Everything is chopped up very small and then mixed together and let stand for about 24 hours until it turns to a deep brown color, the color of brick mortar. And that’s eaten for the purpose of reminding the Jewish people, a remembrance of the work they had to do in Egypt as slaves, to make bricks and brick mortar to build the storehouses of Pharaoh.
Now the way you do this ceremony is you take a piece of unleavened bread about this size, and you dip it into the charoset, and also dip it into horseradish, that’s to make the tears come as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery, and the mourning for the sons that were killed by drowning. And then you take a second piece of small bread and put it on top and you have a small sandwich. And everybody dipped their own green vegetable, the parsley, on their own, but this was done by the one who officiates. In this case there was Jesus; He will do this thirteen times, once for each of the twelve and once for Himself.
So for the third time He announces one of them will betray Him, and again they all want to know who it is, and again He does not name anyone but He does give a second clue. And the second clue is the one… the one that I will give the sop and give it to him, the one to whom I will give the sop, he’s the betrayer.
Now John’s account, John 13:23, notice it says “there was at the table reclining,” notice the word “reclining?” That’s the correct term because at Passover time you reclined. And you always reclined throughout the ceremony but for certain intervals you recline… you make a further reclining towards the left. And one of the times you recline toward the left is when you eat this particular sop.
And again they wanted to know who He’s talking about, again He doesn’t name anyone but gives the second clue in John 13:26, “He it is, for whom I shall dip the sop, and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the sop, He took it and give it to” Simon’s son Iscariot. And the first one to receive the sop is the betrayer. And He dipped the sop and the first one to receive it was Judas. At that point Judas ends up leaving the festival. He’s not here for the remainder of the feast; he won’t be there when the communion is actually partaken of.
Now keep in mind that part of the purpose of this eating is on one hand to remember the slavery in Egypt, but then secondly, to bring tears into the eye. And for Jesus it was a bitter moment, one of His own was about to betray Him, which would have brought some bitterness to Him as well.
At this juncture, in John 13:27, Satan again enters into him. And Judas’ actions are now going to be inevitable, and Jesus tells him what you do, do quickly. So Judas leaves. And even at this point the disciples, and although the clues they were given, the signs that were given still don’t get it. They’re assuming that Jesus sent him out to get some other things for the festival. Notice verse 30, “He then having received the sop went out straightway: and it was night.” That looks like an irrelevant statement. Of course it was night; the Passover was observed only at night, never in the daytime. But again, remember this is John’s Gospel; one of the sub themes is the conflict of light and darkness. It wasn’t merely a fact of history that it was nighttime when this happened; the point that Judas himself is of the night, the deed he is about to perform is a deed of the night.
h. The Third Cup - Paragraph 148c
Mark 14:23-25; Matthew 26:27-29 Luke 22:20 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Now we come back to paragraph 148, the latter part. Now again there are two cups drunk in the first ceremony, before dinner, and then two more cups after dinner. The third cup is drunk right after dinner. Now look at Luke’s account, Luke 22:20, “And the cup in like manner after supper,” notice the phrase, “after supper.” That’s how we know this is the third cup. The word “cup” the Jewish people call the cup of redemption is the cup he is referring to. In Judaism it’s a symbol of a physical redemption but now it becomes symbolic of a spiritual redemption.
He continues in Luke 22:20, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” In the Corinthian passage, again you have the phrase, “In remembrance of Me, in 1 Corinthians 11:25. So both for the bread and the cup, this is a ceremony we perform in remembrance; again not transubstantiation, not consubstantiation, it is a remembrance. And 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till He come.”
And that phrase tells you it’s a continuous observance, the frequency is for every church to decide; minimally it has to be once a year because when it says as often as you do this, it was offered at the Passover and Passover is a yearly observance. So minimally it must be observed at least once a year. But any church can choose to do it more frequently. And some churches (?) congregations do it about quarterly, some churches do it the first Sunday of each month, the Brethren churches do it every single week; all those are valid options. The requirement is once a year, after that every church can choose.
It says till He come, notice it also means that with the Second Coming the ceremony will be terminated. In place of a communion service to remember His body and His blood, for Israel and the Kingdom there will be a sacrificial system, not the Mosaic one which is ended forever, but the Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapters 40-48. Now for Israel there will be a sacrificial system for a single purpose, to show forth His death till He come.
And in Matthew 26:29 notice He says this will be My last Passover, until “I drink it new with you,” notice the phrase “with you.” Now when the Kingdom begins and the first Passover comes He will have a private Passover service, once again with these apostles; the eleven men who are still with Him. And now the cup of redemption, which again was symbolic of a physical redemption for Judaism, becomes the spiritual redemption symbol for us.
i. A Lesson in Greatness
Paragraph 144b – Luke 22:24-30
Now paragraph 144b, the second part of this paragraph, Luke 22:24-30 you have a lesson in greatness. Because there was a contention breaking out among the apostles which of them will end up being the greatest, again, what they think is going to happen is by the time these days are over He’ll set up the Messianic Kingdom; that’s what they’re anticipating. And so they all have reasons why they would be the ones chosen to be the greatest and He takes the opportunity to teach them three lessons.
First of all, there will be a distinction between the body of believers and the unbelieving world. The world exercises lordship by virtue of its authority. But the members of the body are to show greatness by means of serving. Secondly, He Himself took on the role of a servant, therefore He’s becoming their example of becoming a servant and therefore the example of what greatness involves. But thirdly, the guarantee of the future role and He again repeats the promise He made earlier; they will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel in the Messianic Kingdom.
j. The Prediction of Peter’s Denial
Paragraph 147 – Mark 14:27-31; Matthew 26:31-35; Luke 22:31-38; John 13:31-38
Now paragraph 147, in the second service there’s always room for discussion, especially between the third and fourth cup. That’s what happens in this paragraph. The departure of Judas obviously guaranteed his betrayal, and the betrayal in turn assures His coming death in John 13:31-32. And by means of His death the Son will glorify the Father but the Son will be glorified by the Father.
And in John 13:33 he again shows them of His coming departure. But in verse 34 He leaves a new commandment with them to love one another. And the test of one’s love for a neighbor was the love of self and the love of neighbor is as Christ loved us. Now the second most important commandment in the Mosaic Law is love your neighbor as you love yourself, a very good commandment, the second most important commandment in the Mosaic Law. But it can only go so far; we love our neighbor as we love ourselves; we all know people who happen to hate themselves; is it permissible to hate your neighbor like you hate yourself. So He changes the standard. Now we must love one another as He loved us. And how much did he love us? Enough to die for us; which puts it at a much higher standard than the Mosaic Law did.
Now in Matthew 26:31 He announces His coming departure, announcing that the sheep will be scattered, and that on this very night they are going to all disperse away from Him. But in Matthew 26:32, after He’s raised from the dead, what they do not yet understand, when He’s raised from the dead He’ll meet with them in Galilee. So basically He’s telling them do not stay in the city; once I’m arrested leave the city and head up for the Galilee, a three day journey. And three days later He will be resurrected, He will meet with them up in the Galilee. But again, they never catch what He’s trying to tell them and it catch them by surprise and they don’t leave for Galilee until much later.
Now in John 13:36 what He tells them, although Peter does not yet understand, that someday Peter will follow Him in the same manner; and indeed, Peter was also crucified. If the church records are correct, on an X type cross upside down.
Now Luke’s account, Luke 22:31 He points out that there’s been a tremendous spiritual conflict, a spiritual warfare over Peter. As a result Peter will slip but he will not fall from the faith. And in Luke 22:31 that once he has turned back he’s to establish the other apostles. And in fact, Peter will be the first member of the apostolic group to see the resurrected Christ. He’ll be the first member of the apostolic group to see the Messiah resurrected.
But Peter basically claims to have some loyalty to Jesus the other’s don’t have. He says in Matthew 26:33, “If all will be offended in You, I will never be offended.” And Peter emphasizes his sureness of his loyalty.
So in Mark 14:30 he then receives a prophecy of his denial; but before the second cock crowing Peter will deny Him three different times. The first cock crowing is from 9:00 p.m. until midnight; and the second cock crowing is from midnight till 3:00 a.m. Before the second crock crowing he will deny Him three times.
But Peter affirms that he will never deny Him; he says in Matthew 26:35, “Even if I must die with You, I will not deny You.” And the other apostles emphasize the same sureness; they’re ready to die with Him even this night but again, they’re not expecting a death, they’re expecting a Kingdom.
Now Luke’s account, Luke 22:35-38 there is a repeal of a previous instructions, and what He told them in paragraph 70 and 102, paragraph 70 and 102, paragraph 70 to the twelve, paragraph 102 to the seventy. He now withdraws what He said to them earlier. “I sent you forth without a purse and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything?” No. But now they need to make provisions for these things because while He was here on earth they were experiencing Kingdom living and these things would simply be automatically provided. But now they need to make their own preparations. They need to take a coat, to take a wallet, and prepare for these things on their journeys.
As for the sword, this was not a sword to be used to evangelize with, those were the sword to defend the faith with but for personal defense would be the purpose of the sword. We’re not allowed to kill for the faith but the faithful must be willing to become martyrs.
Now turn for a moment to paragraph 149; paragraphs 149 and 150 are referred to as the upper room discourse, but there is a break, and notice in paragraph 149 and go to the very end of it, John 14:31, “Arise, let us go hence,” and so there’re still in the upper room through paragraph 149 and the conversations continues when they leave for Gethsemane in paragraph 150.
Now go to paragraph 152; the Matthew 26:30 account should fit at the end of paragraph 149, just before He says, “Arise, let us go hence.” “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives.” And in English that’s the way you have to translate it because we don’t have any equivalent verb. So it looks like (?) they sang a hymn, a noun in English, and they left. But actually it doesn’t say they sang a hymn; the word “hymn” is a verb in Greek. It literally says “and they hymned,” and what they hymned is Psalms 113-118. We pair it with Psalm 118 being a very important Messianic psalm.
So Matthew 26:30 of paragraph 152 you would fit into just before “Arise, let us go hence” at the end of paragraph 149, and that’s how the Passover ends; that comes in connection with the fourth cup of wine, called the cup of praise. You drink the fourth cup of wine, you sing these psalms, and then Passover is finished.