It seems necessary to remind ourselves once again Luke tells his Gospel from the perspective of an educated Gentile. While there is an awareness of Jewish peculiarities, they are not central to the narrative as they were in Matthew's Gospel. Thus, Luke outlines the final hours of Jesus' life minus a great deal of Jewish detail. One thing which stands clear, though, is Luke makes clear the place of earthly national Israel and the reign of Mosaic Law ends once and for all in Christ.
At this point, only one of the disciples understands there will be no revolt, neither by divine miracle nor by insurrection. The Olivet Discourse was the final clarification for him. Judas was never loyal to Jesus Himself, but to a partisan political philosophy which included removing Rome. At first, Jesus seemed the best hope for his nation's long-sought freedom from pagan domination, a liberty to once again serve God wholly and faithfully. There is no reason to doubt Judas' sincere hope on behalf of his nation. By the same token, he quite obviously sees his God through pretty much the same lens as that of the Pharisees, with the primary difference being his hope for a purity of implementation. He hoped to do that to which the Pharisees merely paid lip service.
It was the day prior to the actual Feast of Unleavened Bread when Judas chose the pragmatic path. If the Pharisees could not be removed, best come to terms with them, by offering to bring Jesus into the custody of the national leadership. Jesus had been careful to avoid that until the time was right. As the Passover Lamb Himself, He must fulfil the Law while under the Law, which meant dying on that high and holy day upon which the identity of Israel was wholly dependent: The Exodus. A Roman could not fail to know about that event, at least as a national legend of the Jews. It remained the single mark of God's favor, of His carefully singling them out of all the nations of the world. While promised long before Moses, it was Moses who was chosen to implement the Covenant as God's agent. Having drained the whole core of spiritual value out of that covenant, it was already dead under the hands of Jewish leaders. They jumped at the chance to catch their number one problem in a quiet place, at night away from the crowds. Judas was at least faithful to his new commitment.
We take a moment to clarify the timing of these events. Luke is careful to lay out chronological and historical details with an eye outside the Jewish frame of reference. Everyone knew Jews, along with many other Near Eastern nations, regarded the new day as beginning at sunset. Judas was the treasurer, and would have been sent out on Tuesday, 12th of Nisan that year, to purchase food for the Passover Meal. During this trip, he could easily have stopped by the office of the Temple Guards and conferred with the captain on duty, who would certainly have summoned any available elders, priests, etc.
The next day, Wednesday 13 Nisan, the day lambs were presented at the Temple for ritual slaughter and butchered for roasting, Jesus sent Peter and John to find the house whose host would have offered to provide a room and the facilities for preparing the food purchased by Judas. They would have typically begun about mid-afternoon. Because this meal would have placed Jesus and the disciples inside the city walls, Jesus kept some of the arrangements secret from even His disciples. Peter and John had no idea where they were to make sure things were ready, so Jesus gave them a pre-arranged signal, something they would have noticed, since men seldom carried water. That task was always relegated to females. The house to which he carried this water jug was the place. After speaking to the hosts of the home, they inspected the settings and took the lamb to the Temple for ritual slaughter, then began the prescribed roasting process. The hour of the meal would mean the group arrived at this house when the first three stars were visible in the darkening sky. How much of this Theophilus might have known, we cannot guess, but Luke seems to assume some familiarity.
At the meal, Jesus noted it was a passionate desire of His to celebrate this last Passover. He was about to suffer, by which He meant all those awful things He had been describing to them over the past couple of years -- arrested, flogged, and nailed to a cross. It was the last time He would celebrate this festival, because it was about to reach fulfillment. It was one of those many symbols in the Law of Moses pointing out the higher spiritual realities. The Passover was not so much about the birth of an earthly Israel, but the birth of a Heavenly Kingdom, and Jesus was the Lamb. By saying He would not eat of it any more until it was fulfilled, Jesus pointed directly to the New Testament practice of communion. Thus, in the next few moments He redefined the meaning of certain elements of the Passover Meal to mean something new in the New Kingdom.
Luke passes quickly over much of the unique Jewish meaning of the symbolic meal to explain to Theophilus whence the practice of communion came. There was the common cup, to be shared among those present. It was the last wine Jesus would taste until the New Wine of the Kingdom. The unleavened bread of purity was His body, shortly to be given for His Kingdom of disciples. They were to celebrate in this fashion are a remembrance of His sacrifice. The final cup was the call to prepare for the future of God's promises. He made it a covenant of His blood, shed for the sins of the world. By these words, the Old Covenant was gone.
These symbols would take on shape and meaning for the disciples after Christ ascended and the Holy Spirit came. Until then, there were a few more items to which He must attend. First, was His betrayal. It was prophesied, and the traitor was present at that table. How sad, for while Judas alone did understand Jesus had no intention of changing the political order, he understood nothing else. Judas didn't betray simply his Rabbi, but his God. Luke mentions they discussed who the traitor could be, since any arrest of Jesus would surely include them all.
This created a dispute, but there were many such disputes among the Twelve. Luke also mentions their debate about which position each would hold in the coming royal court of their Messiah. Jesus turned this discussion on its head, pointing out the very idea was contrary to the way the Kingdom operated. Gentile rulers were referred to as serving the needs of the people, even as they might run roughshod over their subjects' lives. In the Kingdom, serving was greatness. He backed His assertion by pointing out they all called Him Master, and waited on Him as personal servants, which was part of being any great teacher's disciples. Yet, His very existence among them was as a servant, preparing the suffer the ultimate indignity on their behalf. Because they had followed Him faithfully, even to the last moment, He would indeed grant them authority. But it would be a Kingdom of servants, and they would rule as chief servants, with Him as the Lord Servant. Their service would make them fit to judge their own nation, but they would do so in the Spiritual Kingdom above.
The obvious head of the group, second to Jesus at this point, was Peter, as he was the eldest. Jesus addressed him as the leader, noting Satan had demanded -- and received -- permission to sift the whole group. It would be painful, earthshaking for them, but the chaff would be removed. Jesus had already prayed for Peter, receiving the promise he would bring them all back into service by his example and leadership. Naturally, Peter affirmed his commitment to Jesus, expecting to share the fate of his Lord. That was not to be. Even after affirming He expected Peter to keep the faith, He described how Peter would fail. Before dawn, Peter would thrice deny even knowing Him. Apparently, the Kingdom would turn a great many more things on their heads.
The old customs of the Jews regarding preachers and their care would come to an end. In the Kingdom, His servants could expect no help from the world. They did well by faith within the Covenant system, but that would die shortly. Now they must make plans to support themselves. They would need the tools of the world to make their way in it. They would need to carry purses, supplies, and perhaps even prepare to defend themselves. This gave a hint of not being too worried about human laws, since such laws would hardly favor them. Ownership of weapons was illegal under Roman law. Carrying any knife bigger than a small kitchen peeler was viewed with suspicion. It was likely professional fishermen might get away with bending the rules, but two of them that night were carrying longer knives, technically illegal. This was almost surely the result of not just preparing the Passover Meal, but thinking there might be trouble. Jesus had seemed so cautious about things up until now.
Jesus noted the prophecies said He would be considered a crook. It was to signal how God's truth was offensive to the mass of humanity, even His own people. They had long since moved so far away, there was no path back in this world, but only in that above. In this case, Jesus was in the company of men who had long considered how they might go about overthrowing the current Jewish government, and perhaps the Roman government, too. While it would happen in a symbolic sense, that was not at all what they were thinking. It would have been most likely a humorous moment when Jesus notes two of them bear illegal weapons, saying what would be in modern parlance, "That'll do it."
Return to Luke Index
[<-- Previous]
[Next -->]
By Ed Hurst
01 November 2008
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23)