The Story

The Lord kept the Passover with His disciples. You remember that the Passover was first kept on the night of leaving Egypt, and it was kept now in Jerusalem every spring. People came to it from all parts of the country and from other lands. Jerusalem was full of rejoicing. One thing the people did not know, that Judas Iscariot, one of the Lord's disciples, had gone to the chief priests, the enemies of the Lord. They gave him money, thirty pieces of silver, and he agreed to let them know of some time when they could take the Lord.

The day for the Passover came. It was Thursday. The Lord and the disciples were in Bethany, and the Lord sent Peter and John to find the place and to make things ready for the feast. As they went into the city a man would meet them carrying a jar of water. They were to follow him to the house and there they would be shown a large upper room. They went, and it was as the Lord had said; they found the house and the room. Then Peter and John made things ready for the feast, the lamb and unleavened bread and bitter herbs and wine. Before evening all was ready, and the Lord and the disciples came from Bethany and gathered about the table. The Lord sadly told the disciples that one of them would betray Him to His enemies. In the picture He has just told them, and they are asking, "Lord, is it I?" The Lord also told the disciples that they should keep the Holy Supper as the Christian Passover in remembrance of Him, and we still keep it in the churches. The feast closed with the singing of a Psalm.

What great feast did the Jews keep in Jerusalem each spring, at our Easter time? The Passover. Who can tell me about the first Passover, where it was kept and how they kept it? Can you tell me about the time when the Lord came with Mary and Joseph to the Passover? Years had gone by and the season had come when the Lord would keep the Passover for the last time with His disciples.

What was the little town on the Mount of Olives over the hill from Jerusalem where the Lord often stayed? Who lived there who made the Lord welcome at their house? For a few nights He had been there spending the days in teaching in the temple. Now it was Thursday, the Passover day. In the morning the Lord sent two of the disciples over the hill to Jerusalem, to make ready for the feast; they were Peter and John who had been friends and fished together on the Sea of Galilee before the Lord called them to be disciples. The Lord told them how they would find the house. They would see a man carrying a jar of water, perhaps from the spring in the Kidron valley, up the steep path and in through the city gate; they should follow him to the house where he went. They did so and found a large upper room furnished and prepared. The low table was there with places about it where they could recline; for that was the way they did in those days. Perhaps the bread for the feast was ready on the table, thin cakes made without leaven or raising. Other things may have been ready too, bitter herbs and a preserve of fruits, and wine. We think of the two disciples going themselves to the temple to sacrifice the lamb, handing the blood and the fat to the priests to be carried to the altar, and taking away the lamb to be roasted carefully for the feast. Before evening everything was ready.

Toward evening the Lord came by the path over the Mount of Olives from Bethany, and went with them to the table in the large upper room. The Passover was kept with the singing of Psalms, and the story of the coming out from Egypt was recalled. While they were still at the table the Lord passed them the cup of wine, and took bread and blessed and gave it to them, and said, "This do in remembrance of Me." He was teaching them how to keep, a new feast, the Holy Supper, instead of the Passover. It is the feast which is kept still in all the Christian churches in remembrance of the Lord, and is the holiest act of worship.

There was sadness too at the table, for the Lord warned the disciples that one of them should betray Him. We know who it was, but the other disciples did not yet know, and they were startled and troubled. And there was a dispute among them who should be greatest. There had been such disputes before, and the Lord had told them that he who is most like a little child is greatest in heaven. But how easily they forgot; and now the last time that they were all together with the Lord the same dispute came up again. Perhaps it arose as they were taking their places at the table: who should be the nearest to the Lord and who next. The Lord taught them again about true greatness, that it is not to rule over others, but to serve others as He did Himself. He went on and spoke to the disciples many tender, loving words as they sat at the table, and afterwards when they left the house and went out by night through the narrow street and the city gate toward the Mount of Olives.

1. What name was given to the feast of unleavened bread? What is unleavened bread? At what time of the year was this feast kept?

2. What disciples were sent to prepare for the last Passover? How did they find the house? What kind of a room was ready?

3. What did the Lord hand to the disciples while they were at the table? How is His charge still kept: "This do in remembrance of Me"?

4. What did the Lord tell the disciples at the table which made them sad and made them question among themselves?

5. What dispute was there among them? Who did the Lord tell them is greatest?

Spiritual Study

The Lord gave the bread and wine, and told us to take them in the Holy Supper. It is not merely because He wishes to feed our bodies, but because the natural food and drink represent spiritual things which our souls need. What are the food and drink of our souls? What do we need that our spiritual faculties may grow strong and beautiful? We need interesting thoughts to occupy our minds, and we need good, earnest, and happy affections. If all such things were taken away the soul would languish and die, for they are its food and drink; the good affections are its food and the true thoughts are its drink. The bread and wine of the Holy Supper represent the heavenly love and heavenly thought which we all need to receive from the Lord - His own flesh and blood. (E. 329, 340; T. 702-710)

Eating at the table with the Lord means receiving good affection and thought from Him. We need to do something to make ready, and the preparation which we need is pictured by the preparation made by the disciples for the feast Peter and John were sent to make ready. These two disciples stand for faculties in ourselves; they are the understanding and will, the thought and love, which must work together to make ready for the Lord. The disciples followed a jar of water and found the place where the feast should be kept. We learned what water represents, when we found John baptizing at the Jordan. It means the plain teaching of right and wrong, such as the Ten Commandments give us. We follow the jar of water when we learn the Commandments and make them the guide of our life. They bring us to the state in which we can receive heavenly things from the Lord. The place is called the large upper room. There are higher states of life and lower; the upper room is a holy heavenly state, something like that represented by the mountain where the Lord spoke the Blessings. We should come into such a state to the Lord. (T..722; A. 3147, 7442)

The Lord said, "Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations." We know how little the disciples had understood of the Lord's trials, but even their little sympathy was precious to Him. The words suggest that we are with the Lord in all temptations; we meet no evil which He did not meet and overcome for us. The battle is really His, and we are safe as we continue faithfully with Him.

As the result of continuing with Him in temptation the Lord's disciples will eat and drink at His table in His kingdom; they will receive from Him the good affections and true thoughts which make heaven. They will also sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Sitting on thrones suggests the power which the Lord will give to bring the whole life into order. The twelve tribes of Israel who occupied the different districts of the Holy Land represent all departments of a heavenly life. (Revelation 21:12, 14; R. 900, 903)

to next Lesson