Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event celebrating Passover. This is found in three of the four Gospels. Matthew, chapter 26, verses 17 through 20, is also found in Mark, chapter 14, verses 12 through 17.
And finally, we can read about it in Luke, chapter 22, verses 7 through 16.
Follow along with us as we start in Matthew, chapter 26, verses 17 through 19. And then we will finish by reading Luke, chapter 22, verses 14 through 16.
Now, on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? He said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: And when the hour came, Jesus reclined at the table and the apostles with him.
And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: So how many times have we read about the disciples or Jesus keeping the Passover so far?
[00:02:09] Speaker B: The whole ministry of Jesus Christ, those three years, three and a half years are decided by the passovers. So for three years, there are four passovers in the Gospel?
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Yeah. So this is the fourth time we're reading about the Passover, but we're going into more detail here, because this is an event where Jesus adds more meaning. He transfers the celebration later on. And in fact, we are going to be covering this over the next three episodes.
But let's go back. Just a brief recap. What is the Passover? Why is Jesus and the disciples, why are they celebrating?
[00:02:54] Speaker B: So this is one of the three major Jewish holidays in the Old Testament. And in the time of Jesus Christ, when all Jewish males were supposed to go to Jerusalem, it was a national celebration. And each one of this was pointing backwards to an event when they left Egypt and they lived in the wilderness on the way to the promised land. But at the same time, each one of them was pointing forward to a specific spiritual meaning.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: Yeah, so as the Israelites are in slavery in Egypt, God is bringing plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians because they're not allowing the Israelites to go. And we can read about these plagues in the book of Exodus. The 10th plague that comes on the Egyptians is the death of the firstborn in each family. And so the Israelites were instructed to paint blood on their doorposts and then prepare a meal to pack all their goods and be ready to go. That the meal that they were to prepare was not to be used. Don't use leavened bread. Like, this is. We're going tonight. Let's get ready, let's go. And so you have to think about this as someone comes home to you and says, we're moving out in six hours.
Someone prepare some food so we won't get hungry. Grab the stuff, let's go.
So this is the background of the event that started it. And that night, the angel of the Lord passed over the houses that had the blood on the doorposts. There was the death of the firstborns in Egypt. And the Israelites, Pharaoh finally lets them go and they leave.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Where was that blood coming from?
[00:04:49] Speaker A: The blood that was put on the doorposts is coming from a slain lamb. And so this lamb became a substitute of the death that the firstborns in the house no longer needed to die because a lamb had died for them.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: So who is represented by this lamb?
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And the Bible says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So we see Jesus as the fulfillment.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: So if I like to summarize what I heard from you, is that a specific historical event which happened in Egypt, the night when the people of Israel left the country to follow the Lord cross the Red Sea and set on the way towards the promised land.
So that historical event is encapsulated into the celebration of the Passover.
It is an emotional event because it's about the possibility of losing your firstborn at the same time, you are, as a human being, your heart breaks for one of your neighbors or friends or maybe your bosses in Egypt who lost their firstborn at the same time. Passover is pointing toward the future when we are going to have the final liberation from the power of sin. And that will be done by the Lamb of God, and we will be saved by his blood.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: And so they're gathering the disciples. They're coming to Jesus and saying, where should we celebrate the Passover? They knew that Jesus celebrated the Passover. This was his custom.
Jesus kept the feast. And so they're asking, you know, we're not at home.
We're here in Jerusalem, where are we going to do it? And Jesus tells them, go in to a city and a certain man, tell him that we're going to celebrate supper there.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: God has always someone lined up to fulfill his plans.
Yeah, there is always someone ready to assume A responsibility to open the house, to share the talents, the resources. God has always someone ready to help when we see no way out, when we have no hope. God always has a plan.
We just have to be in sync with the will of God. We have to be as Jesus Christ was always connected to the Father through prayer. So God will reveal to us and show us what he has lined up or prepared for us in advance.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Yeah, and it's not that God forced this person to do this. God knows the end from the beginning. He knows what's going to take place. And so he's just sharing with them. And so this man Mark actually goes into more detail here. Jesus says, go in, you'll see a guy carrying a water jug and follow him. And whatever house he goes into, go talk to the master of that house.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Jesus told them exactly, with so many details. The way I want my mom to tell me when she sent me to talk to one of the neighbors or to bring something, I wanted her to give me all the details. What color is the gate and how is that person going to look like? And Jesus Christ is treating them like kids to communicate.
Trust in him that he knows all the details in advance.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: I wonder, though I've shared this before. I think of my grandfather when he gave me directions, you know, this is a like I can't remember, six hour trip. And he says, drive three hours till you find the big gum tree. And Australia is filled with gum trees. And I'm like, is that the big one? Is that. And then we, my wife and I found a bit where, ah, that is the big gum tree. It stood almost one third higher than every other gum tree we had seen. And so I wonder, you know, if the disciples are getting in and seeing people with little water bottles, you know, they're now gene water bottles or whatever. Is that it? Is that it? There's a Stanley cup over there, Is that it? Oh no, there's a guy with the water jug. Let's follow him.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: And I see this like a synchronization of God's needs and people's willingness because there are always people to invite the disciples. There are always people who have this gift of hospitality and the gift of helps to open their door and to invite people inside. When Jesus sent the disciples after training them and send them two by two, he said, if someone will not receive you, no problem, but someone will receive and you will stay there until you finish your work in that town.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: I think that touches on an important point, the need for us to allow others to minister Sometimes we feel we can do it all ourselves.
I don't need anyone's help, or I don't want to impose on anyone, or I don't want to make someone else's life harder. So I'll just make do with what I have. But, you know, we find Jesus saying, no, go allow them to minister. You know, this guy has. He's got a large upper room already furnished and it's already set. So you're go and ask. And he allows people to minister to him.
And I think we can learn from that and should do the same thing.
We get to this last part of this, Jesus is saying, I've earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. This is different from every other Passover supper.
This is going to be the last one Jesus eats, right?
What does he mean until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God?
[00:11:21] Speaker B: So the Passover was not only pointing backwards to all the liberation from Egypt, it was pointing forward to the final liberation from this world of sin.
And in this regard, Jesus, the Lamb of God, would come, and we are saved by his blood.
So even if the fulfillment of this promise is gradual, the final celebration will be when the kingdom of glory comes, the second coming of Jesus Christ. And Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, and he has defeated the death and the evil one will going to be tithed and put in chains. According to Revelation chapter 20, that is when the Passover or the deepest meaning of the Passover will be fulfilled.
And in other places, Jesus told his disciples that he will invite them to eat together with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and he himself will serve them.
And in the book of Revelation, the last couple of chapters talks about the marriage supper of the Lamb. All these metaphors are coming together.
And the climax will be a celebration as no other before, when Jesus Christ will be celebrated and at the same time as he did in the upper room will serve those who will be invited to sit on the table.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: Yeah, and Paul tells us in First Corinthians 11 that we do this. We celebrate the Lord's death until he comes every time we partake in this Last Supper event. And so, yes, this celebration, it's a celebration that we can look back, but it's also a celebration we can look forward to that there's going to come a day where we no longer are slaves to sin. And I don't know about you, but I look forward to that. Day when I don't do the things I don't want to do, where I'm always doing the things that I want to do, which is the things that honor and please God and bring me close to Him. Let's pray. Father. God, we're so thankful for Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: And we know that ultimately, when Jesus comes again, we will have the choice to die for our own sins or to accept his death for our sins and have our sins forgiven. Just like the Israelites who painted blood over the doorposts. Father, we want to accept the gift of eternal life and we want to surrender to you and ask forgiveness for those sins in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Amen.
