Now on the first [day] of [the feast of] unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
The day for the Passover has come. The disciples come to the Lord with a practical question: where should they get the meal ready? Behind that ordinary errand stands a date God had fixed long before. It also shows a Master arranging the last hours before His death, down to the room.
The priests had their own timetable. It broke against a date God had set in the law long before.
The day and hour for the Passover were not for man to choose. God had said, "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover." This was in the blessed Lord's mind when He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Israel's leaders knew nothing of God's ways. They hated God's Son, and unbelief had blinded them. They said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people" (Matt. 26:1-5). But God carried out His plans despite the chief priests, scribes and elders of the people. At the appointed hour the holy victim was slain. His precious blood was shed, and redemption was accomplished.
Some have argued that Jesus kept His Passover a day early. The words of this verse answer that.
It is already the first day of Unleavened Bread. That settles it: He did not keep the Passover before the appointed time, as many have thought. Matthew, Mark and Luke all agree about the day, and Mark and Luke add that it was the day when they killed the Passover lamb.
Only hours stood between that meal and the cross.
Of course the Jewish day began at 6.00 p.m. They kept the Passover that evening, and in the morning, by 9 o'clock, the Lord was on the cross.
The disciples ask where to prepare. The answer shows One walking toward death with every circumstance still in His hand.
It was One who, though He was going to die, still went there with royal, divine rights; He had not forfeited His place as Messiah, though going to suffer as Son of Man on the cross. He therefore takes possession as the Master, and the owner of the house at once agrees to His claim. All was before His eyes. He could have turned all others as He bowed this man's heart. But how then should the Scriptures have been fulfilled, and sin blotted out, and God glorified? It was necessary, therefore, that He should go to the cross, not as any victim of necessity, but as One whose will was only to do the will of His Father.
Matthew does not name the disciples who came. The other Gospel writers do, and one of them keeps quiet about his own part.
Matthew informs us (Matt. 26:17-19) that the disciples asked the Lord where they should prepare for Him to eat, and He told them, but none are named. Mark, in relating the same event (Mark 14:12-16), says, "He sent two of His disciples." Luke supplies their names: "So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it'" (Luke 22:8). John had shared this sweet service with Peter. With his usual reserve, hiding himself as always, he makes no mention of preparing the supper, though he had a hand in it. Instead he records a touching fact, and he is the only Gospel writer who does: before they ate, the blessed Lord Himself washed their feet, dirtied no doubt in this very service.
This was the last time the feast was kept before it found its meaning.
So far, it was the last Passover kept in line with the mind of God... By the Lord's death the Passover received its fulfilment, as by the coming of the Holy Spirit the feast of weeks received its fulfilment. The blood of the Passover lamb pictured the blood of Christ. He, as our Passover, has been sacrificed (1 Cor. 5:7). But the Passover was not then fulfilled. So the Lord partook of it. He desired to do it.
Unleavened bread and the Passover lamb belonged together, and that pairing still makes a demand.
The feast of unleavened bread was bound up with the Passover, as every Israelite knew... There might be new forms of evil besides those of old habits and associations. But just as the Jew had to shut out all leaven, so the Christian has a solemn call to deal with evil in every form, sparing none.
- Appointed — God fixed the date in the law. The priests wanted to avoid the festival, but His hour stood.
- On time — the verse's own time marker shows that Jesus kept the Passover on the day the law set, not a day early.
- Arranged — He was going to death, yet He claimed the room with royal rights. He was no victim of necessity, but a Son doing His Father's will.
- Prepared — Matthew leaves the disciples unnamed. Mark counts two, Luke names Peter and John, and John tells only how the Lord washed their feet.
- Fulfilled — the last true Passover, kept by the Lamb it pictured. Those who feed on Him must clear out every leaven.
And he said, Go into the city unto such a one, and say to him, The Teacher says, My time is near, I will keep the passover in thy house with my disciples.
The disciples had asked where to get the Passover meal ready. Jesus answers by sending them to a man He does not name, with a message that calls the hour "My time" and announces a plan rather than asking a favour.
The phrase "My time is at hand" is not about the calendar. The same wording runs through the Lord's life. It marks a timetable fixed by God, not by events.
When the Lord spoke of the time (kairos) being fulfilled, He seems to have meant His own public appearance in Galilee as the Servant-Prophet, at a moment set in advance by Jehovah who sent Him. He used a similar expression elsewhere. It shows how perfectly His life was directed from above, and in no way the result of unexpected events… So for everything in the life of the incarnate Son there was an appointed time.
Earlier attempts on His life had come to nothing. Now He announces that the moment has arrived.
He Himself gives the orders and shows Himself as Lord all the way through. Once more He announces that His suffering is near — "My time is at hand." What a moment that was! They had tried before to take His life. That was impossible. Now the time is near, His time, when the King was to lay down His life.
Matthew never names the host. The phrase "a certain man" hides him. Yet the message sent to him assumes he will understand what nobody else in the city did. The day it all happens also settles an old question about the meal.
"My time is at hand" seems to be spoken for the ear of a disciple. It is natural that the Lord should give such a person the privilege of hosting Him at a time like this. The fact that it is already the first day of unleavened bread settles it: He did not keep the passover before the appointed time, as many have thought.
The disciples ask a servant's question about where to prepare. The answer they carry into Jerusalem is not a request but an announcement.
Still, in the face of it all, the Lord keeps to His path of love and holy calm. When the disciples ask where He wants to eat the passover meal, He speaks as the conscious Messiah, however much men reject Him.
The owner of the house gives way at once. That raises a question: if the Lord could bend one heart like this, why not every heart?
He was going to die, yet He went there with royal, Divine rights. He had not lost His place as Messiah, though He was about to suffer as Son of man on the cross. So He takes possession as the Master, and the owner of the house agrees to His claim at once. Everything lay open before His eyes. He did not lack the power to work on the conscience and the affections of men. He could have turned all the others as He bowed this man's heart. But then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled, sin blotted out, and God glorified? So He had to go to the cross — not as any victim of necessity, but as One whose only will was to do the will of His Father.
He says "at your house" because He had none. That poverty never left Him short of what He needed.
The Lord Jesus had no home of His own, but He knew well how to put His hand on all that was needed for the service of God. The owner of the guest room was no doubt someone who knew Him and held Him in reverence. The disciples knew that their Master was enough. They tried nothing on their own; they looked to Him for direction and acted on it. So the One who had nowhere to lay His head had no lack of a suitable place for the last meeting with His own.
- Time. Nothing in the Lord's life was accidental. Every stage had a moment "set in advance by Jehovah who sent Him," and this one He names aloud.
- Title. The word carried to the house is "The Teacher says." He speaks as the conscious Messiah, however far men go in rejecting Him.
- Table. He aims the message at a believing ear. The privilege of hosting Him falls to a disciple whose name we never learn.
- Choice. He goes to the cross "not as any victim of necessity," but as the One whose only will was His Father's will.
- Provision. The One with nowhere to lay His head still knew how to put His hand on all that was needed. His own only had to look to Him and obey.
And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover.
This verse is one quiet line: the disciples did what the Lord told them, and the meal was ready. Yet commentators see in it the Lord's rights as Messiah still in full force. Within a day the true Lamb of God would die on the cross.
In verse 17 the disciples asked a question. Verse 19 says they acted on the answer. The message they carried into the city was a claim, not a plea.
The disciples come (v. 17) to ask the Lord where they should prepare the passover, and He told them to go to a certain house in the city. Here we see the authority of the Messiah — "The Master says." So they carried out His instructions and prepared the passover.
The claim came from One who was on His way to the cross.
He was going to die, yet He went there with royal, divine rights. He had not lost His place as Messiah, though He was going to suffer as Son of Man on the cross. He therefore takes possession as the Master, and the good man of the house at once agrees to His claim. All was before His eyes. There was no lack of power to act upon the conscience and affections of men.
Matthew tells this more briefly than Mark or Luke. He leaves out the directions for finding the man.
All through, we see how fully He is Master of all circumstances, and it is clear that the disciples are meant to feel this. If He is going down the steep decline to Calvary, it is of His own free choice, and He is still the King who does so. "My time is at hand" was surely spoken for the ear of a disciple. It is natural that the Lord should give such a man the privilege of hosting Him at a time like this. That it is already the first day of unleavened bread is decisive that He did not anticipate the appointed time for the passover, as many have thought.
Some read John's Gospel as contradicting this timing. The same writer holds that it does not.
Matthew says only "the disciples." The other Gospel writers fill in the names. John adds something no one else records.
Matthew tells us (Matt. 26:17-19) that the disciples asked the Lord where they should prepare for Him to eat, and He told them, but none are named. Mark, relating the same event (Mark 14:12-16), says, "he sent two of his disciples." Luke supplies their names... John had shared this sweet service with Peter. In his usual self-effacing way, he says nothing about preparing the supper, though he had had a hand in it. Instead he records a touching fact that no other writer records: before they ate, the blessed Lord Himself washed their feet, soiled no doubt in this very service.
The disciples did not know where to prepare. The Lord did.
God always has ready whatever His work needs. It had been so with the owners of the donkey at Bethphage. Now, with the upper room in Jerusalem, the Lord again knew where to find the man who would provide what He needed. Probably, as with those at Bethphage, the man was a secret disciple, though clearly unknown as such to the apostles up to then. His name is never mentioned.
What the two disciples set on that table had centuries of history behind it.
For many centuries the Passover had been kept, with more or less faithfulness. Now it would be kept in its full meaning for the last time. Within twenty-four hours its light grew pale in the shining of the One it pointed to, when the true Lamb of God died on the cross. It is a remarkable fact that at this last full keeping of the Passover, the One who set it up was there to share it... He ordered the Passover to be prepared, and He decided the very place where they should eat it. The time, the manner, the place, were all His appointment.
Matthew does not call the twelve apostles in this verse.
If I turn to Luke's account of the Supper, I find the twelve indeed spoken of there as "the twelve apostles" (Luke 22:14); but when I go to Matthew and to Mark (Matt. 26:19; Mark 14:16), I find them named simply "disciples," a name they share in common with all.
- His word. The two went out with a claim, not a plea — "The Master says" — and the owner of the house agreed at once.
- His choice. He is Master of all circumstances. He goes down to the cross by His own free choice, still the King.
- His timing. The time, the manner and the place were all His appointment, not the disciples'.
- His provision. God always has ready whatever His work needs; the man who gave the room is never even named.
- His fulfilment. They made ready the last Passover to carry its full meaning. Within a day the true Lamb of God died on the cross.
And when the evening was come he lay down at table with the twelve.
The Passover meal is ready. As the sun goes down, Jesus takes His place at the table with the twelve men He has trained. One of them has already sold Him. Commentators read this short verse for its hour, its setting, and above all for who sat there.
One writer traces the hour and the place back to God's own instructions, and fixes the moment on the clock.
If we turn to Deuteronomy 16, we have the spiritual instruction about the Passover — the month, the day, and the place. It was not to be in just any place. The instruction reads, "but at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make His name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt." So Jesus was at the place God had chosen for the Passover sacrifice. The month, the day, and the hour had come: the going down of the sun. The appointed hour had come. As for the chief priests and scribes, they were looking for a way to kill Him. They did not know that He was the true Passover Lamb. Thirteen people sat down together, within the number Jewish history says was allowed. It was our Thursday, about six o'clock, at sunset. By Jewish time, their Friday had just begun.
The posture behind "reclined at table" is that of guests at a feast, not people perched on chairs.
"And when the evening had come (v. 20), the time for eating the Passover, He reclined at table with the twelve."
One writer notes who shared that meal, and how soon the feast was overtaken.
For many centuries Israel had kept the Passover with more or less faithfulness. Now they would keep it in its full meaning for the last time. Within twenty-four hours its light grew pale in the shining of the reality it pictured, when the true Lamb of God died on the cross. Remarkably, at the last celebration of its full meaning, the One who set up the feast was there to share in it. He was the perfect, holy Man, the LORD's Fellow. He ordered the Passover to be prepared, and He decided the very place where they should eat it. The time, the manner, the place, were all His appointment.
"The twelve" is a title, not just a headcount. These were men chosen for a nearness no one else had.
The company was Jesus and the twelve. They were twelve distinguished men, but distinguished in a special way. He had called them out to be His apostles, His beloved followers and His witnesses. He chose them to see more of His face than anyone else in the world, and to hear more of His words than others. He brought them into scenes of closest intimacy.
The twelve at that table included the traitor. One writer states the fact plainly, then refuses the wrong conclusion drawn from it.
The record mentions Judas taking part in the feast and asking a question. Then, at the supper as well as at the Passover, our Lord says, "Behold, the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me on the table." We do not see how anyone can question that Judas was present at the supper. His character was known only to the Lord. His fellow apostles did not seem to suspect him. But to argue from this case that we ought to allow known evil at the Lord's table is simply wicked.
Another writer places that evening before the church existed.
Now the church — the body of Christ — is made up only of believers, members of Christ. When they gather together as such in His name to eat the Lord's Supper, it does not allow for the thought of unbelievers sharing in the supper among them... If Judas did share in it, it was before the church had any existence, and before certain features were later added to the supper through the apostle Paul.
Some argue that evening is the proper hour for the Lord's Supper. One writer replies that Scripture records the hour without commanding it.
It does not appear that the Lord has given us any direction about the hour of the day at which we should break bread. The inspired history tells us that the Supper was first instituted in the evening. (See Matt. 26:20)... But to us it makes no difference — it is quite an open question. If anyone lays down rules, they are going beyond the bounds of Scripture. The word is, "As often as you eat."
- Appointed — He fixed the month, the day, the hour and the house. The leaders plotting His death did not know the true Passover Lamb had already taken His seat.
- Last — this was the final Passover kept while it still pointed forward. Within a day the true Lamb died, and the picture faded.
- Chosen — "the twelve" saw more of His face and heard more of His words than anyone else alive.
- Betrayed — Judas sat inside that same circle, his hand on the table with Christ. Being close to Him is not the same as being His.
- Open — the evening hour is history, not law. Commentators warn against turning a recorded detail into a rule Scripture never gave.