12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”
20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Question 1
Do you think it was a good thing that the disciples suspected themselves?
Question 2
Why do you think Jesus used bread and wine as a picture of how he gave his body and blood for the sake of his people?
The last thing we saw was Judas leaving Jesus and the disciples, turning his back on the people who had been like family to him for three years, and looking for a way to betray Jesus. In his heart he had denied it all, though on the outside he still looked like a follower of Jesus. Yet, reading these words, there is no doubt who is in control of the situation.
We see Jesus’ knowledge and ability in the way he arranges somewhere for them to celebrate Easter together. Instead of sending the disciples to find somewhere, he knows that they will be able to follow an unknown man to the right place. Then, as they eat together, Jesus reveals that he knows full well that one of them is going to betray him. Judas’ conspiracies weren’t hidden from Jesus, nor did it surprise him at all. This was the way God had arranged it from the beginning, the way the prophets had spoken about it centuries earlier.
The Jews slaughtered a lamb as a sacrifice in remembrance of the first Easter when God saved them from being slaves in Egypt. God punished the country of Egypt by killing the eldest son of each family, but he made an agreement to save any house that had killed a lamb and put the blood as a sign on the door. Now, facing his death, Jesus is making a new deal with his people. He takes bread and wine, and says that his body is going to be broken like the bread, and his blood is going to be poured like the wine. Just like the first Easter when a lamb was slaughtered in order to save God’s people and free them from Egypt, Jesus was about to die instead of sinners in order to free them from the captivity and punishment of sin. All we have to do is believe that Jesus’ sacrifice is good enough and his blood will cleanse us of all our sins.
Question 3
When you think about the fact that one of the twelve betrayed Jesus, how does that make you feel?
Question 4
In what ways is Jesus’ sacrifice more valuable than killing a lamb?
Pray
thank the Lord Jesus for giving his life to save his people.
