The Story of Easter – Day #2
(Devotional by Pastor Ben)

This Passover is unlike any other these disciples have experienced. First, Jesus interrupts the meal by getting up and taking care of an evident need, one that the lowliest person in the room would typically attend to.

“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.’ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.”
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ He asked them. ‘You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”    (John 13:3-17)

This was not the only time Jesus set aside his robes of authority to take on the role of a servant. Read the account of the first time Jesus stepped down from His kingly identity for our sakes in Philippians 2:5-11.

After Jesus interrupts the Passover meal to demonstrate how His disciples should love each other, the meal is interrupted again, but this time for a very different reason.

“Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.’ His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ‘Ask him which one he means.’ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, ‘ Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, ‘What you are about to do, do quickly.’ As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.”    (John 13:21-30)

Once Judas leaves, Jesus changes the last part of the Passover meal by adding new meanings to the traditional elements of the meal. He uses the final piece of unleavened bread to foreshadow the fact that he is going to be “broken.” He uses the third cup of wine to signify that he is going to be “poured out.” He adds new instructions that change everything, for he is about to take humanity’s punishment for sin upon himself.

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”        (Matthew 26:26-29)

This is the moment that birthed a treasured and enduring Christian sacrament, explained in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Read this passage.