Feast of Remembrance

The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is also called Passover, was approaching. The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the people’s reaction. (Luke 22:1–2 NLT)

On His last night with His disciples, Jesus celebrated the Passover as devout Jews had been doing for centuries. Appropriately, He used that feast of remembrance to turn their attention to His own approaching death.

Picture Jesus and His disciples reclining in a casual circle around a low table, facing each other and eating the Passover meal. Those men had eaten that meal all their lives, much as Americans have eaten Thanksgiving meals.

The disciples had no idea how significant this gathering would be. They were barely paying attention, eating, and talking among themselves. Sometimes these men could be downright contentious, and this was one of those times. They even argued over who would be the greatest in the kingdom.

Many folks today view the Twelve as immortal saints of the faith—our spiritual forefathers—but that night, they had no concept of what lay ahead: that Jesus would leave them and go to the cross, and their faith would be tested as never before in the fires of persecution.

If we could only gain a sense of what that moment must have been like for those twelve, suddenly disoriented disciples. Today, we have at our fingertips the four gospels and the other books of the Bible, as well as centuries of teaching and writings, to help us put this event into perspective. But there are occasions when we need to relax in the simplicity of faith and quietly meditate on the upper room, where Jesus broke the brittle, flat bread and told His disciples to eat it, reminding them that it was a symbol—a tangible picture—of His body that would soon be given on their behalf.


When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
—ISAAC WATTS

 

Charles R. Swindoll Tweet This

Adapted by Insight for Living staff from The Darkness and the Dawn by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

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