Luke 22:7 - Meaning and Application

What a hopeful scene we might have expected here. Christ had been doing much good by preaching in the temple during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasted seven days, and the people were eager to hear him early each morning. But that work was now interrupted. He must move on to another kind of work, and through that suffering he would do even more good, because neither Christ’s suffering days nor his church’s suffering days are empty days.

First, we see the preparations for Christ to eat the Passover with his disciples on the very day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb had to be killed according to the law (Luke 22:7). Christ lived under the law and kept its commands, especially the Passover. He did this to teach us to obey his gospel commands too, especially the Lord’s Supper, and not neglect them. It is likely he went to the temple to preach that morning, while he sent Peter and John another way into the city to prepare the Passover.

Those who have servants or helpers to do much of their ordinary work should not think that frees them to be idle. In fact, it should lead them to spend themselves more in spiritual duties or in service to others. Christ told the two disciples exactly where to go (Luke 22:9, Luke 22:10). They were to follow a man carrying a jar of water, and he would lead them to the house. Christ could have described the house directly, but he gave them this unusual sign to teach them to trust God’s guidance step by step.

They went without knowing where they were going or who they were following. When they reached the house, they were to ask the owner for a room (Luke 22:11), and he would gladly show them one (Luke 22:12). We are not told whether it was a friend’s house or a public place. Still, the disciples found the guide, the house, and the room exactly as Christ had said (Luke 22:13). Those who act on Christ’s word need not fear disappointment. They made everything ready for the Passover as they had been told (Luke 22:11).

Second, we see the Passover itself being kept according to the law. When the time came for supper, Jesus sat down, probably at the head of the table, with the twelve apostles, including Judas. Judas was not yet excluded, because a person may still keep up an outward show of religion even while his heart is full of evil. Until a sin becomes openly scandalous, such a person may still receive the outward privileges of that profession. Though Judas had already committed treason in his heart and by his actions, it was not yet public, so Christ let him sit with the others at the Passover.

Notice how Christ welcomed this Passover. He wanted to teach us to welcome the Lord’s Supper in the same way, with real desire (Luke 22:15). “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” He knew it was the opening to his suffering, but he still desired it because it served his Father’s glory and our rescue. He gladly did even this part of God’s will as Mediator, that is, as the one who stands between God and people. Should we be slow to serve him, when he was so ready to work for our salvation?

We also see his love for his disciples. He wanted to eat it with them so they could have some private time together, with no one else around. He was about to leave them, but he strongly desired to share this meal before he suffered, as though the comfort of that moment would help carry him through his suffering and make it easier to bear. The gospel Passover, received by faith with Jesus Christ, is a strong preparation for suffering, trials, and even death itself.

Christ also used this meal to say farewell to all Passovers. In doing so, he showed that the ceremonial law, the old system of outward religious rules, was reaching its end. The Passover was one of its earliest and most important parts (Luke 22:16). “I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” It was fulfilled when Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7). That sign and shadow then gave way, because the reality had come in God’s kingdom.

It was also fulfilled in the Lord’s Supper, a gospel ordinance in which the Passover found its meaning and completion. After the Spirit was poured out, the disciples often celebrated this meal, as we see in Acts 2:42 and Acts 2:46. They ate it, and Christ could be said to eat with them, because they had real spiritual fellowship with him in that ordinance. He is said to sup with them, and they with him (Revelation 3:20). Yet the full meaning of this meal will be seen in the kingdom of glory, when all God’s spiritual Israel will be freed from death and sin and brought into the promised land.

What he had said about the Passover lamb, he now says again about the Passover wine, the cup of blessing, or thanksgiving, which the whole company shared at the end of the meal. He took the cup, gave thanks for Israel’s rescue from Egypt and for the saving of their firstborn, and then said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves” (Luke 22:17). This is not said later about the sacramental cup, the cup of the new covenant in his blood. That cup was likely given to each person, so each one would apply it to his own soul. But the Passover cup was soon to be set aside, so Christ said, in effect, “Use it as you wish, for we will not need it again” (Luke 22:18). “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again, until the kingdom of God comes.” That is, he would not take part in that old sign again until the Spirit was given, and then they would remember in the Lord’s Supper a far greater rescue, of which both the deliverance from Egypt and the Passover itself were only pictures.

The kingdom of God was so near to being set up that they would soon need no more of the old feast. Christ’s death the next day would open the way.

Just as Christ gladly set aside the old legal feasts, which naturally ended with the Passover, for the gospel feasts, both spiritual and sacramental, so believers may do the same. When Christians are called to move from the church on earth, which is still fighting, to the church in heaven, which is victorious, they should gladly exchange even their spiritual meals, and much more their sacramental ones, for the eternal feast.

The Lord’s Supper was then instituted (Luke 22:19, 20). The Passover, and Israel’s rescue from Egypt, were only signs ahead of time, pointing to Christ, who would come and by his death deliver us from sin, death, and Satan’s rule. People would no longer say, in the highest sense, “The Lord lives, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,” because a far greater rescue would outshine that one. So the Lord’s Supper was given as a memorial of Christ who had already come and, by dying, delivered us. In that ordinance, his death is set before us in a special way.

Christ’s body, broken as a sacrifice for us, is remembered by the breaking of bread. The sacrifices under the law were called the bread of our God (Lev 21:6, 8, 17). Jesus said, “This is my body, which is given for you.” In the Supper, there is also a feast on that sacrifice, where we are meant to take it to ourselves and receive its comfort and benefit. This bread, given for us, is also given to us as food for our souls. Nothing is more nourishing or satisfying to the soul than the truth that Christ made atonement, which means satisfaction for sin’s guilt, and that we belong to that atonement. The bread was broken and given for us to satisfy the guilt of our sins, and it is broken and given to us to satisfy the desires of our souls. We do this in remembrance of what he did for us when he died, and also as a memorial of what we do when we join ourselves to him in an everlasting covenant, like the stone Joshua set up as a witness (Jos 24:27).

Christ’s blood, by which the atonement was made, is shown by the wine in the cup, for “the blood makes atonement for the soul” (Lev 17:11). That cup of wine is a sign of the New Testament, or new covenant, made with us. It remembers the price Christ paid to purchase that covenant, and it confirms the promises of the covenant, which are all “Yes” and “Amen” in him. This is meant to revive and refresh our souls, like wine that gladdens the heart.

When we remember the shedding of Christ’s blood, we must see it as shed for us. We needed it, we take hold of it, and we hope to benefit from it. “He loved me and gave himself for me.” And when we think about the New Testament, we must always look to the blood of Christ, because his blood gave the covenant life and gives us sure trust in all its promises. Without the blood of Christ, we would never have had the New Testament. And without the New Testament, we would never have understood the meaning of Christ’s blood shed for us.