The Passover Meal from Luke

From the “Gospel According to Luke, Chap. 22, verses 7-13” [NRSV]

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparation for it?” “Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.” So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

Luke, the historian, has been telling us how Jesus was born, grew to manhood joined by his disciples while teaching across the land, and now comes to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. By now the people along His way have heard His teaching, know the parables, have seen the healing, and He has foretold the death of the Son of Man.

Still, what are we to make of this? Yes, we know that the chief priests, the scribes, the elders are objecting to His preaching to the people. Jesus, however, continues on the road, town to town, knowing the wide reception of the people while receiving also the anger and flat rejection of the temple chiefs. What are they all to do, His supporters, followers, His enemies? Jesus is here now, off the roads from so many places, telling the word of God to so many people.

So the time has come then for the Day of the Unleavened Bread, honored by every good Israelite. And here is the group of travelers, away from home, not connected with a temple, and what does Jesus do? How does He do it? Are these places known beforehand, these people already informed? Or have they understood God’s word all the time and how to carry out this word for His presence among them?

by Ken Wylie
for the Adult Discipleship and Member Development Council