T Minus 3 Days and Counting: The Thursday of Passion Week
You’ll find the events of this day in: Matthew 26:17-46; Mark 14:12-42; Luke 22:7-46; John chapters 13-17
Read Matthew 26:17-46
Meals are, in every culture, a joyful event. Even people who get a fast meal alone in a drive thru enjoy the meal as a reward or moment of rest. When I taught school a teacher friend would always say to any student or teacher that interrupted their lunch, “I want to enjoy my food.” In other words, let’s discuss this afterwards, my food is meaningful to me.
The last supper highlights Thursday’s events of Passion Week. It is here that Jesus gathers his key followers in an upper room to teach, encourage, and prepare them for what is about to take place. He does this through the meal of the passover. The time was intimate and special. Matthew tells us, “When it was evening he reclined at table with the twelve (Matthew 26:20).” Homes of that day were usually one room, so one that had an upper room for this purpose indicates that whoever this person was that lent the home was a person of means. We don’t know whose house it was, just that Jesus had told his disciples, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘My Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples (Matthew 26:18).” This last meal had significance for several reasons.
The Supper was the last Passover.
Remember that in the Old Testament the Passover was begun after the last plague upon the Egyptians (Exodus 12:43). Jews would celebrate this supper annually to remember what God had performed in Egypt. It pointed toward the greater salvation that would come. All the events in the Old Testament were meant to be types, or shadows, that pointed toward the real thing (Colossians 2:17). The Passover was no different. Like the Israelites, we were slaves to sin, but we were set free (Romans 6:18). Like the Israelites in the Red Sea crossing, we were baptized (1 Corinthians 10:2), and Jesus was the lamb that was slain (Revelation 13:8).
“All the events in the Old Testament were meant to be types, or shadows, that pointed toward the real thing (Colossians 2:17).”
The Supper was the last incarnate meal.
Many people don’t think about this fact, but the Bible presents Jesus in three distinct phases of his eternal existence (if you will allow me to use that terminology). Jesus is the eternal son of God, but before his incarnation (birth) we call him the preincarnate Christ. His resurrected body is the glorified Christ. There are verses like Colossians 1:16 that describe him as pre-incarnate and eternal. It states, “For in Him all things were created.” John 1:1-4 describes in detail that Jesus was with the Father in the beginning (John 1:1). When he took on human flesh he became a man but without sin. There are many passages that discuss this role of the Son, but Philippians 2 is one of the best. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, “but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7).” The last supper is called “last” for a number of reasons, but one main reason is that this is the last formal meal as the incarnate Christ that he will have with his disciples. At the moment of his resurrection he would become the glorified Christ. That is what he is today! He is the resurrected and glorified Christ that sits at the right hand of God the Father (Hebrews 1:3-4). This supper was the last one until it is done again with the glorified Christ in his kingdom (see Revelation 19). That is why Jesus says, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when you drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom (Matthew 26:28).”
It was the last time the twelve would be together.
What begins to transpire at this point is betrayal. Matthew 26:14 tells us, “Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” This happened before supper. John records that during the supper Jesus dipped some bread and gave it to Judas saying, “What you are going to do, do it quickly (John 13:27).” The disciples would leave for the garden and spend the night in prayer. Friday would begin with arrest and end with crucifixion.
The point is that Jesus loved his own, and even in his absence he took time to eat with them, instruct them, and wash their feet. Most of the instruction and foot washing is recorded in John 13-17, but the time was time for the incarnate Christ to personally fellowship with his people.
Christ dwells with us as well. His Spirit comforts and guides us daily. In any life event, if we look to him he will instruct us and give us the strength we need to face whatever comes next. Are you looking at him?
Going Deeper:
There are many “Thursday” details that John’s gospel details. Five chapters that have some of the most famous sayings (like John 14:1-6) are the last discussion Jesus has with his twelve in the upper room. Take time to read through those chapters and note all the other things that happened on this busy night.
What other verses of Scripture show us that God seeks intimacy with us, as Christ was intimate with his twelve? How important is that fellowship with Christ to you?
