A Final Moment of Fellowship

From the moment Jesus began His earthly ministry, He was preparing His disciples for His eventual crucifixion and resurrection. However, that was no more evident than from the moment He entered Jerusalem on the day we now refer to as Palm Sunday.

The entire week, was one of preparing the disciples to carry on the ministry after the Lord would return to heaven. And the night before the crucifixion, was a prime example of that.

However, for the apostles, it seemed to be no more than normal Passover preparation, such as they had gone through every year of their adult lives.

1 The Importance of Passover

As the main holiday for Israelites, Passover was an especially holy time. It commemorated how God had spared His people from the final plague judgment in Egypt, the death of all first-born males.

The Lord had instructed them to place blood over the lintel and doorposts of their homes. God would send what Scripture referred to as the “destroyer”. The destroyer would then bypass “pass over” all homes with the prescribed blood, thus sparing God’s people:

Exodus 12:23

A second aspect of Passover is that it also showed how the Lord delivered His people from Egyptian bondage.

However, to the Lord, Passover had other, even more important meaning.

For the Lord, Passover was more than simply commemorating what He had done for His people, but it was pointing to what He would do, but not just for Israel, but for the world, as He would send His Son to die for the sins of the world.

The blood upon the doorposts and lintel, was but a picture of the blood which Jesus would shed upon the cross, whereby all who would place their trust in Him would have eternal life.

As opposed to the blood of the bulls and lambs, which had been shed under the Old Covenant, the blood of Jesus doesn’t simply cover sin, but completely washes away sin:

Hebrews 9:14

2 A Time of Preparation

Normally, much of the Passover meal preparation was performed by women, since it would be a family affair, with generations of families gathered in observance and celebration.

However, as with everything else about the week, this Passover was different. The Lord’s final Passover was attended only by Jesus and His apostles, which meant that the twelve men had to perform all of the tasks:

Matthew 26:17-19

The feast of Unleavened Bread spanned seven day, with the first day, being when the Passover lambs were sacrificed. Therefore, the apostles would have done everything from purchasing the lamb, having it slain and roasted in the temple court, and then purchasing the remaining food items for the meal.

Even though it would have been a difficult and stressful day for the apostles, that paled in comparison to what Jesus would endure in the next few hours.

And while the apostles were simply doing that which was a normal part of life, what the Lord was about to do, was entirely for the benefit of others.

3 The Meal Itself

The Passover meal is called the “Seder” which means “order” showing how every aspect of it was orderly and purposeful.

There is an order to which each item of food is set upon and the table, and then eaten.

Additionally, throughout the meal, all participants would pray and sing praises unto the Lord.

In addition to the blood upon the doorposts, there were several other symbols of Christ in the Passover meal:

• The unleavened bread symbolized how the Israelites were forced to leave Egypt in haste, as well as how in the Bible, leaven is a type of sin, and therefore, must be discarded.

But there were even more detailed symbols concerning the unleavened bread:

• The bread would be placed in a pouch, which had three compartments, with a piece of bread placed in each compartment.
• The bread in the first compartment would always be hidden, and never touched.
• The second piece would be broken in half at the beginning of the meal, with one half placed back in its respective compartment.
• The other half called the <Afikcomen> would then be placed in a linen cloth.
• The third piece of bread would then be eaten during the meal.

Not surprisingly, there was great Messianic significance to each of those aspects, which were (and still are) lost upon the Jewish people:

• The first piece of bread represents the Father, whom no man has ever seen.
• The third piece (which is consumed during the meal) is representative of the Holy Spirit, who lives within the believer.
• When it comes to the second piece, the portion which was broken, represents the body of the Savior, which was “broken” (greatly beaten).
• The half placed in the linen cloth, is then hidden somewhere within the home, to then be found by the children, and once it is found, it would be held for “ransom”.
• That points to Jesus, who while remaining fully God, He “veiled” some of His divine attributes during His earthly ministry.
• Jesus would also be captured, beaten, killed, and buried in linen, while His life was given as a ransom for many:

Mark 10:45

And these are only a small portion of the Messianic symbols found in Passover.