Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover

Luke 22:1-13

Key Verse 22:8

Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

Today’s passage is the preparation of the Passover Meal of Jesus with his disciples. In this preparation we see the contrast between what Satan did and what Jesus did. So today we would like to learn what Satan does and what Jesus does and how we should prepare our Passover. My message has two parts. Part I. Satan entered Judas (v.1-6) Part II. Make preparations there (v.7-13)

Part I. Satan entered Judas (v.1-6)

Look at verses 1-6.

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, ² and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. ³ Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. ⁴ And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.⁵ They were delighted and agreed to give him money. ⁶ He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

Verse 1 reads, “Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching”. The Festival of Unleavened Bread and the Passover was used interchangeably because the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread is the Passover where the Passover lamb would be sacrificed.

The Passover Lamb was sacrificed and its blood was put on door posts of houses of the Israel people, and the angel of death would pass over those houses. The Lord said, “When I see the blood I will Passover.”

Exodus 12:1-15

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ² “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. ⁴ If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵ The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶ Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. ⁷ Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸ That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. ⁹ Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. ¹⁰ Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. ¹¹ This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. ¹² “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. ¹⁴ “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. ¹⁵ For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 

So the Israelites were freed from their slavery in Egypt by the power of the blood of Passover Lambs. The Israel people believed the power of the Passover lamb and they were saved from their life of slavery and death. This is the exact picture of what would happen when Jesus came and was crucified because Jesus is our Passover Lamb.

So the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was celebrated throughout Israel history through God’s command. And finally the time came for the true Passover, Jesus, would be sacrificed. God’s command to keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover was to teach them to recognize Jesus, the true Passover lamb when he came.

Here we also see Satan working in the heart of Judas Iscariot. Since he did not guard his heart Satan entered him. He made a decision to betray Jesus. He discussed about how to hand over Jesus with the chief priests and officers of the temple guard. They gave him money and they planed to arrest Jesus when there was no crowd. The chief priests were afraid of Jesus because they felt that the crowd were under the influence of Jesus.

So what is Satan’s work? It is to plant doubt in Jesus. We speak and do. And there are many things that can happen. But if they plant doubt in Jesus in our hearts we can say that it can the work of Satan and we need to guard our hearts.

It is true that Satan works under God’s sovereign approval. Satan is our enemy and we need to defend ourselves. So the bible says in many places that we should be spiritually alert and make sure that we should not fall into temptation. We should not allow Satan to enter us by any means.

But we also should know that God fulfills his will even through Satan’s work. Probably this is why God allowed Satan to work in his sovereign will. Satan entered Judas and prompted him to betray Jesus. But God won the great victory through Jesus’ resurrection. So Satan broke its own head by crucifying Jesus using Judas. Indeed the bible reveals God fulfills his own will and plan even using the work of Satan.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan tempted Eve and Adam and they betrayed God. But God used the work of Satan to send his son Jesus. In the Garden the Lord God clothed both of them with garments of skin. Later, Jesus came and clothed us with his own righteousness through his blood.

So Satan works and we have our own weaknesses and we may fall into Satan’s temptation. But God fulfills his will and plan even using the work of Satan. In Genesis Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him and later sold him as slave. Surely they intended to harm him. But God intended to do good by saving many lives by sending Joseph to Egypt in advance.

Even at the time of the first Passover, Pharaoh resisted Moses. So God had to perform 10 miracles. The stubborn refusal of Pharaoh who was the symbol of Satan, only revealed the truth that God is the Lord and Moses’ faith grew and God’s glory was revealed more.

So it is true God allowed Satan to work and evil people work. But God can even use them to fulfill his plan.

Of course we should never take our sin lightly. But at the same time we should never lose our hearts and despair because of Satan’s work and our own weakness. It is because God is the one who allows Satan to work and God fulfills his own plan and will even through the work of Satan. So while we should guard ourselves against the work of Satan, we should trust that ultimate victory has already secured for us in Christ and we should never lose our hearts in doing good.

Part II. Make preparations there (v.7-13)

Look at verses 7-13.

⁷ Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ⁸ Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” ⁹ “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked. ¹⁰ He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, ¹¹ and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹² He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.” ¹³ They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

Verse 7 says, ‘Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.”

God commanded the Israelites to celebrate Passover with the festival of Unleavened Bread.

Someone asked me a question. Why did Jesus say his two disciples, Peter and John, to meet a man carrying a water jar and follow him and see the house he enters and talk to the owner of the house instead of just directing them to find the house? I did not think about the question. My guess is what Jesus did in today’s passage demonstrates who Jesus is. Jesus’ deity is more clearly demonstrated. It shows that Jesus was not blind to what was happening.

Jesus knew what was happening, but still he prepared to eat the Passover meal with his disciples.

So personally I believe Jesus wanted to plant faith in the heart of Peter and John that Jesus is the Son of God who knew the situation. It is critical for them to keep faith in Jesus in that crucial moments in their lives. And Jesus helped them to keep up their faith in this way. So what is the work of Jesus? It is to plant faith in him.

Now what is preparation for the Passover for the Israel people? It was to remove ‘yeast’ from their entire houses. They also needed to choose a year old lamb without defect and slaughter it. Removing ‘yeast’ can be compared to ‘repenting our sins’, and ‘to prepare the Passover lamb’ without defect may be related to our faith. It means to believe in the power of the blood of the Passover lamb. So ‘repent’ and ‘faith in Jesus’ is probably what is the essential part of our preparation. The fundamental repentance is repentance of our doubt in God.

When we prepare ourselves through repentance and faith in God, we can have peace.

No one is righteous. We are all sinners. In our practical life we sin today tomorrow and until we go to heaven. But no one can live under condemnation. When we are accused by someone we cannot bear it. So we have all kinds of excuses for our mistakes and sins and works and actions.

I told one person, “I can listen to whatever you say. I can be all difficulties. But I cannot bear you when you say I stand on the side of other person rather than you. You should trust my integrity.” What I was saying was “I cannot live under your condemnation even one second.” So here is our troubles. We sin. But we cannot take condemnation that comes from our sins. So we come up with millions of excuses for our sins. How can God help us on this?

So what did God for us who sins continually but who cannot live under condemnation even one second?

Romans 8:1-4

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and that is how God opened a door for us to live in God’s grace and mercy. It is because God condemned our sin in Jesus. So if we want to live based on our own righteousness we make excuses toward each other and there is no peace. But if we believe in the power of Jesus’ blood giving up our own righteousness and accepting our sins we can have with God and others.

This condemnation is none other than the essential part of death. The best preparation for Passover feast is to repent our sins and believe in Jesus as our Passover lamb that we may depend on him and we may live a life of faith even if others condemn us. Why do they do? Because they do not know what they are doing. That is why Jesus said on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” We condemn each other. Why? Because we do not know what we are doing.

However, despite all our condemnation toward each other, God established his justice by fulfilling all the righteous requirements of the law fully in us when we live according to the Holy Spirit rather than flesh.

In conclusion, we learned today, the work of Satan is to plant doubt in God. The work of Jesus is to plant faith in God. The best way to prepare for our spiritual Passover meal is to believe in the power of Jesus’ blood which removes condemnation on us.

One word: Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.