SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2024 1:57 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “Setting the Time”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
26:17-19
Message of the verses: “17 Now on the
first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked,
"Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" 18 And
He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher
says, "My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house
with My disciples."’" 19 The disciples did as Jesus had directed
them; and they prepared the Passover.”
“I am to
keep the Passover translates what is sometimes
called a prophetic present tense, because it uses the normal form of the Greek
present tense to state the future as if it had already arrived. Understanding the statement in that way is
fitting, because our Lord was on a divine mission set in a divine timetable,
both of which were unalterable. He not
only was ordained to celebrate the last Passover Himself but to celebrate it with
His disciples.
“The profundity of Jesus’ declaration is not
apparent on the surface. As the events
surrounding this occasion are carefully studied, however, it becomes clear that
this seemingly rather ordinary statement was of momentous significance.
“First
of all, our Lord declared His commitment to keeping the Passover. He observed the Passover for the same reason
He had been baptized, ‘to fulfill all righteousness’ (Matt. 3:15). Not only as a Jew but also as God’s own Son
it was incumbent upon Him to obey every divine commandment of the Old Testament
law. ‘Do not think that I came to
abolish the Law or the Prophets,’ He declared at the beginning of His ministry;
‘I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill’ (Matt. 5:17).
“Observing this particular feast was especially
important to Jesus. As recorded in Luke’s
account, He told the disciples, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer’ (Luke 22:15). It
was by divine imperative that Jesus not only observe this last Passover of His
earthly ministry but that He observe it with the Twelve.
“It
was without hesitation that the disciples, Peter and John, did as Jesus had
directed them; and they prepared the Passover.
Peter and John would then have had to get the lamb, probably and take it
to the Temple for sacrifice. They were
doubtlessly charged with this important task because they were the most
intimate with Jesus of the twelve. In
any case, the tradition required that only two men could carry a given lamb
into the Temple. Otherwise the court of
sacrifice would have been hopelessly crowded, with thousands of animals to be
slain and only two hours in which to do it.
“It
is clear from this passage in Matthew as well from many others in all four gospel
records, that Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover meal on Thursday
evening. Certain other passages,
however, such as the one cited below from John’s gospel, indicate that some
Jews celebrated the Passover on Friday, which seems to create a contradiction
and has given some scholars what they think is proof of scriptural error.
“The
apostle John notes that after the Passover meal Jesus took His disciples out of
the city to the Garden of Gethsemane, which was on the western slope of the
Mount of Olives. He was arrested there
and taken first to the former high priest Annas (John 18:13) and then to the
house of his son-in-law, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year (v.24). A few hours later, while it was still early
on Friday morning, Jesus was taken to Pilate.
But the Jewish leaders would ‘not enter into the Praetorium in order
that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover’ (v. 28). Unlike Jesus and the disciples, those Jews
obviously had not yet eaten the Passover.
“Some
interpreters suggest that because those religious leaders would surely have
celebrated the Passover at the proper time, Jesus must hav moved His observance
up a day. But Jesus was meticulous in
His observance of the Mosaic law and would not have desecrated such an
important feast by observing it at the wrong time. Even had He wanted to do such a thing, however,
He could not have, because the lamb eaten at the Passover meal first had to be
slaughtered by a priest in the Temple and have its blood sprinkled on the
altar. No priest would have performed
that ritual a day earlier, or even an hour earlier, than the law prescribed.
“Other
scholars suggest that the chief priests and elders involved in Jesus’ arrest
were a day late in their observance. But
in spite of their control of the temple, even those ungodly men would not have
dared make an exception for themselves for this most celebrated of all
feasts. Not only that, but John
recognized Friday as the legitimate Passover day, reporting that when Pilate finally
agreed to Jesus’ crucifixion ‘it was the day of preparation for the Passover
(John 19:14). In the same verse he
states that ‘it was about the sixth hour,’ that is, noon of Friday.
There
is still a lot to look at and so Lord willing, we will continue tomorrow
looking at this very interesting subject.
4/22/2024 2:30 PM
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