24

Preparation for the Cross
(Luke 21:37–22:13)

Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet. And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people. And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. They were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowd. Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.” They said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare it?” And He said to them, “When you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house that he enters. And you shall say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ And he will show you a large, furnished upper room; prepare it there.” And they left and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover. (21:37–22:13)

This passage marks a major point in Luke’s gospel, beginning its final and most significant section. That section, which covers the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the climax to which all that preceded it has been headed.

Since the cross is the high point of redemptive history, everything that came before it looked forward to it; everything that comes after it looks back to it. The apostle Paul proclaimed the centrality of the cross when he wrote to the Corinthian believers, “We preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23), and “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (2:2). Apart from Christ’s death and resurrection there would be no forgiveness of sin, no salvation, and no hope of heaven.

The glory of the cross is foreshadowed in the death of the first animal, slain by God to make coverings for Adam and Eve, the acceptable sacrifice Abel offered to God, the ark that delivered Noah and his family from the divine destruction of the world, the sacrifice of the ram that became a substitute for Isaac on Mount Moriah, and the Passover lambs in Egypt, whose blood was applied to the doorposts and the cross-piece so that the angel of death would pass by and not slaughter the firstborn. All the countless sacrifices offered in obedience to the Old Testament law pointed to the final sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the cross is also prefigured by the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, to which people could look and be delivered from death. The cross and the redemption provided there is also typified by Boaz, the kinsman redeemer.

From the outset, the Old Testament clearly revealed that the soul that sins will pay with death and that the only hope of escaping eternal death and punishment is the forgiveness of God. God is willing and by nature a forgiver (Ex. 34:6–7), but in turn requires an acceptable sacrifice to bear the punishment for the sinner’s iniquities. It is clear throughout the Old Testament, however, that there was never an animal sacrifice sufficient to satisfy God’s wrath and divine justice (Heb. 10:1–2, 11).

The people of Israel, daily offering symbolic sacrifices, hoped for a final, real sacrifice, which would atone for sin, satisfy divine justice, propitiate divine wrath, and end all sacrifices. Thus, it was a monumental moment in Israel’s history when John the Baptist identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29; cf. v. 36). He was the true sacrifice, of which all the Old Testament sacrifices were but shadows, pictures, figures, and symbols.

The New Testament also points to the cross. The central truth of the Gospels is the cross. The book of Acts records the preaching of the cross, specifically that Messiah had to suffer, be crucified, and rise again. The epistles expound the rich theological meaning of the Messiah’s death, and its application to believers’ salvation, sanctification, and glorification. Before the unfolding visions of His triumphant return to judge the world and establish His earthly kingdom, Revelation presents Jesus as the Lamb who was slain (5:6, 12; cf. 13:8).

Although with this passage the focus of Luke’s gospel shifts to the historical events of the cross and the resurrection, this is not the first time Luke records those realities. In 9:22 Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day,” while in verse 44 He added, “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” Later,

But as this passage opens, the long-awaited sacrifice is imminent. It was Wednesday evening of Passion Week, less than two days before the crucifixion of God’s Lamb. The preparation for the cross, already underway, involved five individuals or groups: the deity, the devout, the devil, the defector, and the disciples.

THE DEITY

Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet. And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. (21:37–22:1)

This portion is at once a concise summary of the last days of Jesus’ public ministry and a transition into the features of His death and resurrection.

Although He is not named or identified in any other way, God was providentially and purposefully at work behind the scenes. His divine timetable had reached its climax, and the other parties involved, both human and satanic, were moved to act under His sovereign power. Just as Jesus’ life had been controlled by the Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38; 8:29; 14:31; 15:10; 17:4), so also would His death come on God’s schedule. John’s gospel repeatedly declares that Jesus would not die until His hour—the hour predetermined by God—arrived (John 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1).

After finishing the discourse on His second coming, Jesus moved back to the conclusion of His first coming. The theme of the second coming was not completely dropped, however; He would return to it again in 22:16, 18, 29, 30, and 24:25–26. But the primary emphasis from this point forward was His death.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Jesus had, during the day, been teaching in the temple … and all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him. He did not stay overnight in the city, however, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet (the Mount of Olives). To remain in Jerusalem was too dangerous, as was staying in Bethany at the home of His friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. The Jewish authorities might have seized Him if they had been able to find Jesus away from the crowds, then held Him until after the Passover until the crowds had dispersed, and had Him executed (cf. Luke 19:47–48; 22:2).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was one of the three major feasts in Israel, along with Pentecost (called the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament) and the Feast of Booths (Deut. 16:16; 2 Chron. 8:13). It commemorated God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt, as described in the book of Exodus. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated from the fifteenth day to the twenty-first day of the Jewish month Nisan, which corresponds to April in the Western (Gregorian) calendar. The Passover, which commemorated the destroying angel’s (Ex. 12:23) passing over the Israelites’ houses because of the blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels (v. 22), was celebrated the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. Over time, the two terms came to be used interchangeably.

On Thursday night, Jesus would eat the Passover meal with His disciples and, while eating, transform it into the new memorial—the Lord’s Supper (cf. chapter 25 of this volume). Instead of commemorating the deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt, the Lord’s Supper celebrates the infinitely greater deliverance from the bondage and guilt of sin through the Savior’s death.

Despite the claims of unbelieving skeptics and critics, Christ’s death was not an unplanned, unexpected, unfortunate event. He was not a misguided martyr, a well-intentioned spiritual visionary whose ideals were ahead of His time. Neither was He a delusionary madman who wrongly believed He was God, nor a failed political revolutionary. All such blasphemous notions are false, for several reasons.

First, Jesus predicted His death and resurrection. In Mark 8:31 “He began to teach [the disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Later “He was teaching His disciples and telling them, ‘The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later’” (Mark 9:31). On the final journey to Jerusalem Jesus

After the resurrection, Jesus rebuked the two disciples on the road to Emmaus for being “foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary,” He chided them, “for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:25–26). At the empty tomb the two angels asked the women,

Even the Jewish leaders, His bitter enemies, affirmed that Jesus had made those predictions. “Sir,” they said to Pilate, “we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again’” (Matt. 27:63).

Second, Jesus had absolute authority and power over His life. In John 10:17–18 He said, “I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” Overestimating his own importance Pilate said to Jesus, “Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” (John 19:10). “You would have no authority over Me,” Jesus replied, “unless it had been given you from above” (v. 11).

Third, the numerous attempts to kill Jesus before it was God’s time for Him to die all failed. Before He was born the paranoid sociopath Herod the Great tried to eliminate the child-king of the Jews of whom the magi had spoken, fearing He might be a rival to his throne. Uncertain of the newborn king’s identity, Herod brutally ordered the slaughter of all the boys two and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16). Though the slaughter was accomplished, Jesus had been taken safely to Egypt by Joseph and Mary (vv. 13–15). Outraged when in a sermon He offended their spiritual pride by describing them as spiritually poor, blind, captive, and oppressed (Luke 4:18), the very people of His hometown synagogue in Nazareth tried to kill Jesus by throwing Him off a cliff (vv. 28–29). “But passing through their midst, He went His way” (v. 30). Throughout Christ’s ministry the Jewish religious leaders sought unsuccessfully to take His life (Matt. 26:3–4; Mark 3:6; Luke 19:47; John 7:1, 25; 11:53), so much so that people began referring to Him as “the man whom they are seeking to kill” (John 7:25).

At the divinely decreed time, however, Jesus would die as it had been determined (Luke 22:22)—not by the will of men, but “by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). He was God’s chosen sacrificial Lamb, who was led to the slaughter on God’s schedule, and did not open His mouth in protest (Isa. 53:7; cf. Acts 8:32–35). He was the “lamb unblemished and spotless … foreknown before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:19–20). He is “the Lamb that was slain,” and worthy “to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).

From the human viewpoint, the death of Christ was an horrific injustice. No human victim has ever been perfectly innocent and sinless as Christ was. Yet both men and God punished Him for sins He did not commit. On the Jews’ part, He was falsely accused of blasphemy, but from God’s perspective He was executed to truly bear the sins of His people—none of whom deserve it. He “died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18), “for the demonstration … of [God’s] righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

This was a sacrifice infinitely greater than any other. Jesus was not killed because the plan went wrong, or the revolution failed. He did not die simply because of human hate or human injustice, nor because God acted unjustly or could not prevent it. What might appear to be an act of injustice or impotence on the part of God is in reality an act of divine power and justice motivated by pure love and grace. Christ’s death was God’s provision for the redemption of sinners, and no one who rejects that truth can be saved from judgment.

THE DEVOUT

The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people. (22:2)

The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders who collectively made up the religious leadership of Israel are frequently mentioned together (cf. Luke 9:22; 22:66; Matt. 27:41; Mark 14:43; 15:1). They were, in their own estimation, the most devoutly religious of all the Jewish people (cf. Matt. 23:1–7). The chief priests included the reigning high priest, Caiaphas, and the former high priest Annas, who still wielded significant influence behind the scenes. The chief priests also included the captain of the temple, who assisted the high priest, and other high-ranking priests. Most of them were Sadducees. The scribes (primarily Pharisees) were theologians who interpreted and taught the law of Moses and the rabbinic tradition. Members of the elders (family and tribal heads), the chief priests, and the scribes made up the Sanhedrin, the governing body (under the ultimate authority of the Romans) of Israel.

While they were united in their hatred of Jesus, these groups had different motives for opposing Him. Caiaphas, the chief priests, and the Sadducees opposed Him on political and economic grounds. Caiaphas expressed their political concerns in John 11:47–50:

They feared that Jesus’ popularity might provoke a response by the Romans that would cause them to lose their privileged and tenuous positions under Rome’s tolerance, or even cause the forces of Caesar to destroy the entire nation. They also opposed Jesus for economic reasons. Caiaphas and his henchmen oversaw the merchandising on the temple grounds, and the Lord had twice attacked and disrupted their business interests (see the exposition of 19:45–48 in chapter 10 of this volume). The scribes and Pharisees, on the other hand, hated Jesus because of His relentless assault on their false, legalistic religious system, as well as His constant exposure of their hypocrisy.

Despite that hostility, the blame the Jews have borne over the centuries for Christ’s death is unconscionable. Some who call themselves Christians have derided and persecuted them as “Christ-killers.” But it was Jews in first-century Israel who wanted Jesus dead and blackmailed Pilate into executing Him. That provides no justifiable reason for unscrupulous people to persecute the entire Jewish race. To use what people in that generation did to Jesus as justification for hate crimes, pogroms, and holocausts against the Jewish people is anything but Christian. Such bigotry does not come from God, who loves and will one day redeem Israel (Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:25–27; Zech. 12:10–13:1; Rom. 11:26), and who pronounces a curse on those who curse Israel (Gen. 12:3). Nor does it characterize true Christians; it is anti-Christian and evil. It is true that the leaders and people of that era bore responsibility for Christ’s death, and if they did not repent and confess Him as Lord, they were judged by God for their rejection of the Son. But the same can be said for the Romans, and for every other person, Jew or Gentile, who rejects Jesus Christ. And ultimately, as noted above, Christ’s death was according to God’s plan (Isa. 53:10; Acts 2:23).

By this time the Jewish leaders were desperately seeking how they might put Jesus to death. But they could not arrest Him during the day for they were afraid of the people (cf. Matt. 26:5). Nor could they find Him at night, when He withdrew to the secluded area of the Mount of Olives. They needed an insider to betray Him and tip them off as to where they could locate Him away from the crowds. They were surprised and pleased when, prompted by Satan, one volunteered—Judas Iscariot.

THE DEVIL

And Satan entered into Judas (22:3a)

Whatever restraint Judas may have felt due to his association with Jesus no longer held him back. Satan entered into him and put it into his heart to betray the Lord (John 13:2). Like the religious leaders (John 8:44), he too was a child of the devil.

The question arises as to why Satan would want Judas to betray Jesus to those who sought His death, knowing that His death would accomplish God’s salvation plan. That Satan did not want Christ to die as a sacrifice for sin and thus “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) by rescuing sinners from his domain (Col. 1:13) is clear from the Lord’s rebuke of Peter for opposing His death (Matt. 16:22–23), and thus acting as a mouthpiece for Satan. In Gethsemane, Satan would again tempt Jesus to abandon God’s plan for His death. On the other hand, he hated the Savior and surely wished Him dead. As the most corrupt of all beings, it is not surprising that Satan’s rational powers are corrupt, causing him to think inconsistently.

Whatever may have motivated Satan, he acted as he did because he could not do anything other than what his wickedness longed for and, at the same time, what God willed (Luke 22:31; Job 1:12; 2:6). He willingly took the role in the death of Jesus that God had determined for him. This time was the “hour and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53).

THE DEFECTOR

who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. They were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowd. (22:3b–6)

Judas, who was called Iscariot, is history’s most notorious traitor. He had the incalculable privilege of belonging to the number of the twelve, the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived and walked with the Son of God daily for more than three years, heard His preaching and teaching, and witnessed the miraculous signs He performed—a privilege shared by only eleven other men. Yet shockingly, after all that he experienced with the Lord Jesus, Judas sold Him to His enemies for a mere thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12)—the price of a slave (Ex. 21:32).

Despite his significant role in Christ’s death, the New Testament says little about Judas’s background. His surname, Iscariot, suggests that he was from the village of Kerioth in the far southern region of Israel. That makes him the only one of the Twelve who was not from Galilee, making him and his family unfamiliar to the others. That fact may help explain why none of the other disciples had any reason to suspect that he was the betrayer (John 13:22). Jesus recognized Judas’s evil heart from the beginning (John 6:64, 70). The Synoptic Gospels describe him as the one who betrayed Christ (e.g., Matt. 10:4; 26:25; 27:3; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16); John notes that he was a thief (John 12:6), and Jesus called him a devil (John 6:70–71).

The Old Testament predicted Judas’s betrayal of Christ. In Psalm 41:9 David wrote prophetically, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” Psalm 55:12–14 also looks ahead to Messiah’s betrayal:

Zechariah, as noted above, predicted the paltry amount Judas would receive for his betrayal. Zechariah also noted that the money would be used to buy the Potter’s Field after Judas’s unsuccessful attempt to return it to the Jewish authorities:

The most chilling comment in Luke’s brief introduction of Judas is that he belonged to the number of the twelve—a truth mentioned by all four of the gospel writers (cf. 22:47; Matt. 26:14, 47; Mark 14:10; 14:43; John 6:71). Judas’s crime against privilege and opportunity is equaled only by Adam’s sin. But while Adam was redeemed, Judas was not.

Once Satan entered into the betrayer, the plan was set into motion. Judas went away, most likely that Wednesday night, and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Jesus to them. They, of course, were glad, since this was the answer to their dilemma of how to seize Jesus privately, and agreed to give Judas the money he sought. Matthew notes that Judas asked them, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” He was seeking some compensation for what he now regarded as three wasted years spent following Jesus. But the best deal he could negotiate was not a good one; thirty pieces of silver, as noted above, was an insignificant sum. Nevertheless Judas consented, taking what he could get, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowd.

THE DISCIPLES

Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.” They said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare it?” And He said to them, “When you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house that he enters. And you shall say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ And he will show you a large, furnished upper room; prepare it there.” And they left and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover. (22:7–13)

In verse 7, the scene shifts from Wednesday evening to Thursday, the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. The hour of Jesus’ death was near (Matt. 26:18). The Jewish leaders, Satan, and Judas were in action in preparation for the cross, in accordance with the purposes of God. Now it was time for the disciples to begin to act.

The design of God was that Jesus would die on Friday afternoon during the period between the two evenings (Ex. 12:6; “twilight” literally means “between the two evenings”). At that time (between approximately three in the afternoon and sunset) tens of thousands of lambs would be being sacrificed. Jesus would die then because He is, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:7, our Passover; “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

The Lord knew that Judas intended to betray Him (John 6:71), and that the Passover meal would be the perfect opportunity to do so. It would take place in the evening, at a time when few people would be outside in the streets, in a secluded location where He could be seized by the authorities without risking a riot. To thwart that plan, Jesus arranged for the Passover meal to be held in a secret location. Peter and John were sent on a clandestine mission to prepare the Passover; the Lord’s instructions to them contained no names or locations, so that Judas could not know in advance where Jesus and the Twelve would eat the Passover meal (since Peter and John evidently did not return) and thus could not tip off the Jewish leaders. And once the supper began, he would have had no plausible reason to leave until it was over.

Peter and John, along with James, constituted the innermost circle of the Twelve, the ones closest to Jesus. Perhaps James did not accompany them because according to tradition, no more than two men were permitted to bring each sacrificial animal to the temple. After the two disciples entered the city, they would meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Since carrying water was traditionally done by women, he would stand out. They were to follow him into the house that he entered and say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher says to you, ‘Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’” He would then show them a large, furnished upper room where they could prepare the Passover meal.

Preparing the Passover supper involved far more than taking the lamb to the temple to be slaughtered and then roasting it. Numerous other items had to be obtained, including unleavened bread, wine, bitter herbs, and the apples, dates, pomegranates, nuts, and sometimes sticks of cinnamon that made up the thick paste into which the unleavened bread was dipped.

The question arises as to how Jesus and the Twelve could have eaten the Passover supper on Thursday night when the Passover lambs were slain on Friday. I wrote the following concerning this issue in my commentary on the gospel of John:

Many people were involved in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ: the seemingly devout, but hypocritical, Jewish religious leaders, who rejected their Messiah and manipulated the Romans into executing Him; the fickle crowds, that enthusiastically welcomed Him as the Messiah at the triumphal entry, then turned on Him and screamed for His blood; Judas, who after being discipled by Jesus for three years became a traitor and betrayed Him; Satan, the malevolent, supremely sinister being who prompted Judas’s defection and betrayal; Pilate, the cowardly governor who disgraced the proud tradition of Roman justice by sentencing a man he had repeatedly declared innocent to death.

But ultimately, Jesus went to the cross because it was the “predetermined plan … of God … to do whatever [His] hand and [His] purpose predestined to occur” (Acts 2:23; 4:28; cf. Luke 22:22, 37; 24:44–46). The “things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He … fulfilled” (Acts 3:18; cf. 13:27; Matt. 26:24).