Review
I. EXPERIENCING THE LAST PASSOVER (vv. 17-25)
A. Setting the Time (vv. 17-19; see pp. xx-xx)
Lesson
B. Sharing the Table (vv. 20-21a)
1. Reclining at the table (v. 20)
“When the evening was come, he sat down with the twelve. ”
That’s all Matthew says about the actual Passover meal, or Paschal meal as it was often called. It is now after six o’clock on Thursday evening. Later in the night Christ will be captured and brought to a mock trial early in the morning. Then He will be crucified and die around three o’clock on Friday afternoon. Christ and His disciples had to eat the Passover meal Thursday night before midnight, and nothing could be left in the morning.
Verse 20 says Jesus “sat down” or reclined. When God initially established the Passover in Exodus 12:11 He said,”Thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste. ” But through the years the feast had developed into a more leisurely custom since there was no need to leave some country in haste. They adopted the custom of reclining when they ate the Passover, as they did for other feasts.
2. Proceeding through the meal (v. 21)
“As they did eat”
That takes us into the Passover meal itself. There was a defined sequence in the meal.
a) The first cup of red wine
The first thing they did was say a blessing and then drink the first of four cups of red wine. It was customary to mix the wine with water so that the participants would not get drunk. In fact they used a double amount of water lest they should desecrate such a sacred occasion by becoming intoxicated. That first cup of wine was accompanied by a blessing (Luke 22:17), which symbolized the blessing of God.
b) The washing of hands
This ceremonial cleansing symbolized the participants’ need for personal cleansing before they could eat the meal. Since they were celebrating God’s salvation, they wanted to be sure there was nothing unclean in them. How could they celebrate the saving work of God while entertaining the sin from which He had saved them?
(1) The argument
It is likely that at this natural interlude in the feast, the conversation of the disciples turned to a familiar theme. Luke 22:24 says, “There was also strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. ” While they were washing their hands as a sign of their inward cleansing, their souls were filled with pride and self-serving ambition. There was no connection between what they were doing on the outside and what they were doing in the inside. That is not unlike the many people who come to the Lord’s Table and go through the motions while entertaining sin in their lives.
(2) The rebuke
At this particular time, Jesus realized their need to have their feet washed (John 13:1-5). If the washing of the hands was symbolic, the washing of the feet was practical, especially if you were reclining at a meal and your head was only a few inches from someone else’s feet! In those days the people wore sandals, which didn’t keep off much of anything, so their feet were either muddy or dusty. It was a common custom to wash one’s feet whenever entering a home. But in the case of the disciples in the upper room, no servant had washed their feet. And certainly none of the disciples would stoop to do it because they were arguing about who was the greatest. Not one was willing to take the role of a servant and disqualify himself from greatness. I believe it was at that time when Jesus “rose from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (John 13:4-5). Jesus gave them a profound lesson on humility and condescending love–on meeting the needs of others by taking the role of a slave. When Jesus was finished He said, “If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (v. 14). That lesson on humility was a strong rebuke to their pride, but Jesus also gave them a verbal rebuke for their pride (Luke 22:25-27). So the disciples were fully confronted with their sin before they got any further in the meal.
c) The bitter herbs
The bitter herbs were symbolic of the bitterness of bondage in Egypt. They were first dipped into salt water or vinegar.
d) The second cup of red wine
When the father or head of the table–in this case the Lord Himself–held the second cup, he instructed the present company on the meaning of the Passover meal. The participants then sang from the Hallel, from which the English word hallelujah originates. It means “praise” and is comprised of Psalms 113-118. At this point in the meal they would sing Psalms 113-114 and then drink the second cup of wine.
e)The unleavened bread
The participant washed their hand a second time as sign of respect for the bread they were about to eat. The host combined it with bitter herbs and dipped them in a sweet apple and nut sauce called charoseth, which was then passed to the guests.
f) The lamb
The lamb was then brought out. This was the major part of the meal. Dipping the bitter herbs and unleavened bread into the charoseth prior to eating the lamb was like an appetizer. Sometimes all three were combined together and dipped in the sauce. This is probably the sop mentioned in John 13:26-27.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
