Thoughts on Today’s Text
As Luke 22 opens the Lord Jesus Christ is facing the coming hours and days for which He came to this earth (John 12:27; 18:37). Luke recorded only hints of the fate which awaited Jesus in the earlier portion of his gospel but from Luke 9 on he gave repeated reminders of the approaching cross (Luke 9:22, 31, 44, 51). In a little more than twenty-four hours from the events described in our text, Jesus would stand before the rulers of the temple who would demand He renounce His messianic claims or face certain death. As the Passover Feast approached, spiritual darkness covered Jerusalem, and soon Jesus would walk right into that darkness. There was also darkness and sin within His own ranks. Judas Iscariot, one the Twelve was carrying out his plan to betray the Son of God (Luke 22:3).
In addition to the hatred and rejection of men Jesus was about to face, He also was about to suffer the wrath of God for the sins of all humanity. With all of that before Him, Jesus gathered His inner circle of intimate followers for a final evening together. Despite the intense pressure and uncertainty of each passing moment, He found time to strengthen His disciples and eat the Passover with them before He suffered and died. This atmosphere certainly does not seem compatible with a lesson of service. Yet, Jesus, in the midst of everything taking place uses His final hours to teach His disciples valuable lessons of service.
Passover and The Feasts of Unleavened Bread are biblical feasts instituted by God and given to the nation of Israel (Exodus 12:1-13:10; 23:14-15). After being enslaved in Egypt for 400 years God miraculously delivered Israel from Pharaoh’s bondage. But that deliverance did not come easy. Pharaoh’s heart was only broken to willingness after God sent ten plagues upon Egypt. The tenth and final plague broke the stubborn will of the king and served as the historical origin for the Passover holiday. Since that first Passover night, Jewish people have kept the holiday annually throughout their generations, as God instructed them (Exodus 12:14). Every time Israel celebrates Passover and Unleavened Bread it is for the purpose or remembering how God set them free from the land of slavery (Deuteronomy 16:1, 3).