2025 Lent Devotional – Day 38

Lent Devotional: Day 38
Preparing for Passover with Jesus!
Rev. Amol Parage

Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover meal.” … They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal. (Luke 22:8,13)

One day before His crucifixion, Jesus instructed Peter and John to go into Jerusalem and prepare for Passover. He told them about the house with an upper room in which they would gather that evening. They followed His instruction and located the upper room. That night Jesus taught His disciples new elements for the New Testament Passover service. Jesus set the example of love and service by washing His disciples’ feet. He told them to wash one another’s feet as He had done for them! Jesus knew everything that was about to happen, and despite the hatred and murderous intentions of the Jewish leaders, Jesus celebrated the Passover as scheduled, and offered Himself as the true and final Passover Lamb. Even as the disciples were preparing the room for the Passover, Jesus was preparing Himself for the Sacrifice.

In the Jewish calendar the Passover was immediately followed by the 7-day feast of unleavened bread; that is why the two are often referred to together. Day fourteen of the Jewish month of Nisan is the day of preparation for the Passover on which the lambs are slaughtered at twilight (Ex.12:5-6), and then roasted lamb was accompanied by unleavened bread that night.

According to custom, Christ and His apostles will begin the Passover meal with a prayer of thanksgiving over the first of four cups of wine. A course of herbs follows, along with the Passover Haggadah (recollection of the exodus events to remind them of the bitterness of their slavery in Egypt) and the singing of the first part of the Hallel (Psalm 113-114). At Passover, it was a reminder of the haste with which they departed from Egypt, dressed and ready to go on a moment’s notice (Ex.12:11). A second cup of wine begins the main course of lamb, after which is the third cup – the cup of blessing. After this was the prayer of thanksgiving, the rest of the Hallel (Psalm 115-118), and the fourth cup of wine of celebration. They were reminded about what they were saved from; and that they were no longer under that bitter yoke of slavery. They have now entered into God’s promised land and into the rest that He has promised.

The Last Supper is a Passover feast that was a perpetual memorial of God’s past deliverance. It is also, at the same time, an anticipation of God’s present deliverance and future deliverance for Israel. Yes, Jesus is the true Passover Lamb who sovereignly lays down His life, no one takes it from Him unwillingly (John 10:11–18). It is He who saves us from death and brings us out of slavery to sin into the freedom of the children of God. During this lent, let us prepare for Passover with Christ through genuine repentance of sins, a commitment to follow Him with all our heart and be a servant-leader like Him by washing each other’s feet. Let us praise Him for His great love and sacrifice on our behalf!