V The Last Supper
The Jewish Feast of the Passover drew near, and our dear Lord sent two of His disciples to prepare for it. He told them they were to go to a certain house in Jerusalem and they would find an upper room furnished; and there they were to make ready to eat the Passover, as all other Jewish men did at this season.
It will help us very much to understand this last supper of our Lord and Saviour if we go back and recall the circumstances of the first Passover supper fourteen hundred years before.
We read in the 12th of Exodus: “It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the Children of Israel in their generations.”
You may remember that the children of Jacob had gone from Canaan into Egypt to buy food in a time of famine.
There they found their brother Joseph, whom they had sold as a slave, who now was the greatest lord in Pharaoh’s kingdom.
Joseph was very kind to his brothers, and Pharaoh welcomed them and their father Jacob to stay in the land, and be nourished there.
But by and by there arose a king who did not remember Joseph, and he began to put burdens on these Children of Israel the Pharaohs, one after another, making them into slaves, till at last their bondage was so cruel that they turned to the Lord their God, and cried to Him to deliver them.
He raised up Moses; and at length there came a night—that wonderful night—when the whole multitude of the Children of Israel were delivered right out of Egypt!
God told Moses that on this night He was going to send a destroying angel through the land of Egypt, and that the firstborn of all the Egyptians and of every living thing was to be destroyed, as a great judgment.
But God had provided “a way of escape” for the Children of Israel.
He told them to take a lamb for each of their households, and to kill it and roast it and eat it that night in all their houses.
God told them that when they killed that lamb they were to save its blood in a basin, and take a bunch of hyssop and sprinkle that blood upon the lintel and on the side-posts of their doors; and He promised that if they did this, He would not allow the destroying angel to come near that house, and they would be perfectly safe. God said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.”
And this was why it was called “The Pass-over.”
THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.
So during that night there was a dreadful cry in the land of Egypt, for in every house, where the blood had not been sprinkled, there was one lying dead!
The Egyptians were so terrified that they thrust out the Children of Israel—they and all their little ones escaped right out of the land of Egypt for ever! And this is why, the night before our Lord was crucified for us—the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world—He gathered His twelve disciples together, and sat down to eat that Feast with them in the upper room.
Jesus told them that, with great desire, He had desired to eat this Passover with them. He knew that to-morrow He would die.
And as they were eating, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and told them that one of them would betray Him.
Close to His side, leaning on His bosom, was the disciple whom Jesus loved; and Peter beckoned to him to ask the Lord who it would be who should betray Him?
So John, lying on Jesus’ breast, whispered, “Who is it, Lord?” And Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I give a sop when I have dipped it.” And he gave the sop to Judas Iscariot.
And as they were eating, Jesus “took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them saying, ‘This is My Body, which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in My Blood, which is shed for you.’”
St. Paul says, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the Feast.”
And from that Last Supper before His death, till now, nearly for two thousand years, in one unbroken chain, week by week, those who love Christ have partaken of this Holy Feast, in remembrance of Him, till He shall come back again.
The Holy Supper was over. Judas had left them to go and betray his Master, and was gone out into the darkness. In that wonderful conversation, as Jesus talked with them for the last time, He told them many things, which they understood more clearly afterwards. He told them that He would not leave them comfortless, but would come to them; He told them that He was going to prepare a place for all who loved Him, in the many mansions of His Father’s house.
All His words were full of glory and comfort.
And then they sang a hymn together—Jesus and His disciples—and after that they went into the Mount of Olives, where the Easter Passover moon was shining among the sombre trees; and there it was that Judas found Him, and betrayed Him to the multitude.