At the Passover Supper
53
This man would then show them a large upper room furnished for
their needs; there they were to prepare the Passover supper. And it all
happened just as the Saviour had told them it would.
At the Passover supper the disciples were alone with Jesus. The
time they spent with Him at these feasts had always been a time of
joy; but now He was troubled in spirit.
At last He said to them in tones of touching sadness:
“With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I
suffer.”
There was sweet wine on the table, and He took a cup of it, “and
gave thanks, and said:
[95]
“Take this, and divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I
will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall
come.”
Luke 22:11, 15, 17, 18
.
This was the last time that Christ was to keep the feast with His
disciples. It was really the last Passover that was ever to be kept. For
the lamb was slain to teach the people about Christ’s death; and when
Christ, the Lamb of God, should be slain for the sins of the world,
there would be no need of slaying a lamb to represent His death.
When the Jews sealed their rejection of Christ by putting Him to
death, they rejected all that gave to this feast its value and significance.
Henceforth its observance by them was a worthless form.
As Christ joined in the Paschal service, there was before His mind
the scene of His last great sacrifice. He was now in the shadow of the
cross, and the pain was torturing His heart. He knew all the anguish
that awaited Him.
He knew the ingratitude and cruelty that would be shown Him by
those He had come to save. But it was not of His own suffering that
He thought. He pitied those who would reject their Saviour and lose
eternal life.
And the thought of His disciples was uppermost in His mind. He
knew that after His own suffering was over, they would be left to
struggle in the world.
He had much to tell them that would be a stay to their hearts when
He should walk no more with them. Of these things He had hoped to
speak at this their last meeting before His death.
But He could not tell them now. He saw that they were not ready
to listen.