Luke Chapter 22 Verses 7 – 12
• A man carrying a pitcher of water would be something out of the ordinary and easy to spot. Culturally this was not something you would find a man doing. Carrying the water pots was a task for the women. But this circumstance perhaps gives us a clue that helps solve what some consider to be a Bible difficulty.
• Traditionally, the crucifixion of Jesus is remembered through what we call “Good Friday,” and that creates somewhat of a difficulty because when they asked Jesus for a sign to prove that He was the Messiah, Jesus responded to them in Matthew 12:39-40, “But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
• Where that introduces a difficulty is that if Jesus was crucified on Friday. then I can get three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), but I cannot get three nights as according to Mark 16:2, we read, “Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week (Sunday), they came to the tomb when the sun had risen...”
• But what we read here in Luke may perhaps give us some help. There was one group living in Jerusalem at this time that was essentially male only. Pretty much the only group you would find the men doing and carrying out the culturally traditional tasks of the women in their community and they were called the Essenes.
• The Essenes were extreme separatists and believed that the religion of Judaism had been so corrupt by the Jewish leaders of the day that they essentially wanted nothing to do with them including fellowship or worship. So much so that they even celebrated the Passover separately, specifically earlier (going first if you will). (You may have heard of the Essenes because it was this group that stocked the caves of Qumran giving us the Dead Sea Scrolls...and many believe that John the Baptist was actually a part of this group).
• Enough to say that this clue given by Peter may indicate that Jesus ate the Passover at the home of an Essene which would place this meal as early as Wednesday evening and thereby removing any Bible difficulty but perhaps introducing a difficulty to the church tradition of good Friday because that would put Jesus’ actual crucifixion on a Thursday...
Luke Chapter 22 Verse 13
• Take your pens and put right next to that verse in your Bibles a very important and critical doctrinal word. “Duh.” HA! They found it just as Jesus had said to them... There are a lot of very very bad investments in our world today...the flesh is at the top of that list. However, the Words of Jesus are the very best of investments one could make. As the Word of God has been given, as the Lord has said, so it will be. Bet.
• Seems that I wouldn’t have to even say that, but according to the Family Research Council in a study published less than a year ago, they found that only 6% of American adults hold to a Biblical worldview! The same study found that 88% held to a form of syncretism (which means a little bit of everything).
• Further, three out of four people surveyed considered themselves to be Christian but 95% of those surveyed do not consider success in life to be described as consistent obedience to God and over 70% do not believe that the Bible is the true and reliable source of communication from God. It is absolutely no wonder the church is in the state that it is in today…
Luke Chapter 22 Verses 14 – 16
• Literally what Jesus says here is “with desire, I have desired.” The Passover meal for the Jew wasn’t just a sit down and eat event. There were prayers involved, traditions, all thick with meaning and all memorializing the national escape from the captivity and death sentence of Egypt and yet all predicting also the coming Lord’s Passover in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Perfect proof text for this is Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”
• John the Baptist proclaimed openly when he saw Jesus in John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And with each recital, with each prayer, with each action, Jesus would be filled with joy at what it meant for those that He loved and loves with all of His heart. The Passover that year meant to His loved ones freedom from the power and penalty of sin. Restoration to God for sinful man and eternal life where there was none, again, for those He loved.
• You see, here’s the thing, when you open your heart to truly love then you also truly accept that to care for them, it may cost you...and that becomes ok. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
• Yes, the cross was before Him, but so was the freedom of His loved ones...to have the capability through His blood to lay sin aside, overcome the snares of the flesh and have eternal life. All of that on His mind in this statement to His disciples, “With fervent desire I have desired this....”
• And He says that He won’t eat of it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. When was the Kingdom of God fulfilled? Or has it been? I think one can conclude that when Jesus died on the cross, the Kingdom of God completed its fulfillment as it began at that moment to flood with the souls of forgiven men and women.
• John 19:29-30, “Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So, when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” Just moments before that, He had turned His head to the thief being crucified alongside of Him who had said to Him, “Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom”, and Jesus replied, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise!”
Luke Chapter 22 Verses 17 – 18
• This was totally new to the Passover meal…why? Because this was signaling the fulfillment of it…
Luke Chapter 22 Verses 19 – 24
• Comical, they go from wondering which of them will be the worst to which of them is the greatest...typical males. HA!
Luke Chapter 22 Verses 25 – 27
• Jesus literally came to flip the entire flawed world system on its head. The leaders and the “greaters” are the ones who will humble themselves and become those that benefit others. The richest isn’t the one with the most but the one that is willing to give the most. This will all be revealed and permanent in the Kingdom of God.
Luke Chapter 22 Verses 28 – 30
• What thrones is Jesus speaking of? Perhaps that which John sees in Revelation 4:4, “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones, I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.”
Luke Chapter 22 Verses 31 – 34
• This scene is intriguing to me. What has Peter done to provoke or enable the enemy? Up until now he has left everything to follow Jesus. Stayed loyal and by His side. Protected Him, served alongside Him. Loved Him with his whole heart. What has he done wrong that Satan would target him? Absolutely nothing.
• Peter isn’t a target for the enemy because he has done anything wrong but rather, he is a target because of the power and impact that he is capable of against Satan’s kingdom. You may be going through a very hard season of life and it’s easy to blame it all on yourself but it could be that the enemy just has you sidelined because of what you are and could be for the Kingdom of God.
• Return to Jesus. After Peter did so, he alongside of very few others, ignited a world-changing movement. A “door opening” to billions of people being saved out of the grip of sin and hell... It wasn’t Peter’s fault that Satan targeted him...it was Satan’s fault....and Peter did get sifted, Satan knew after studying him for years what his weak point would be...and Satan deployed and struck...but Peter returned. It’s time perhaps you do so as well.
• Now, some of y’all in the grip of Satan and it is your fault. You haven’t trusted the Lord. Haven’t had the wisdom to learn and walk in His Word. God’s grace is for you also. Return to Jesus and strengthen your brethren.
• That’s how you know by the way...how you know you’ve walked past the plan of the devil in your situation....is that you are strengthening those around you... Get after it... because the pause, the sifting, can last a lifetime if you let it. Notice Jesus said to Peter, “When YOU return....”