Luke 22:1-6

Destiny in Jerusalem – 1

Integrity Perfected

 

The Son of Man Betrayed into Human Hands

 

Luke 22:1-6  -  Priests and Judas Plot to Kill Jesus

1 The feast of Unleavened Bread, also called the Passover, was drawing close.

The two feasts – Unleavened Bread and Passover - were connected. 

The festival of Unleavened Bread lasted for a whole week. As the title suggests, all leaven was removed from Jewish homes, and bread was eaten unleavened for the whole week. Leaven was regarded as a corrupting agent, bordering on the “unclean”, even though it made bread tastier.


 The Festivals of Unleavened Bread and Passover

Unleavened Bread. The festival seems to have originally been a harvest festival, and was a way of thanking God and of making the harvest sacred to God. From a very early date the festival began on the same day that Passover was celebrated: the fifteenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, the month of Nisan.

Passover. The Feast of Passover celebrated God’s liberation of Israel from Egypt. It was likewise celebrated on the evening of the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan. In Jerusalem during the afternoon of the fourteenth (earlier the same day by Western reckoning since by Jewish custom days started with sunset) a yearling lamb was killed in the temple. It was then taken home, roasted and eaten within the family circle.

The two feasts became connected in practice. The use of unleavened bread was explained by the observation that it would have been more suitable to sustain their forefathers on their imminent flight (leavened bread that would quickly have gone stale).


Jesus seemed to have deliberately timed his arrival in Jerusalem some days prior to the Passover. It was Jewish custom for pilgrims to come to Jerusalem for the celebration, and crowds of people would have been waiting around with little to do. The crowd’s presence had provided Jesus with an opportunity for further teaching.

In the Church’s mind Jesus chose the Passover so that the feast might throw light on the meaning of his death.

2 The chief priests and scribes were scheming
how they could kill him,
because they feared the people.

Luke had indicated repeatedly how Jesus’ honour and popular acclaim had continued to grow through his series of encounters with the Jewish authorities. He had mentioned how the chief priests, elders and scribes had looked for an opportunity to eliminate Jesus, but feared that the people might stone them. They needed to act cautiously and arrest him secretly.

3 Satan had entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.
4 He left the group
and consulted with the chief priests and temple police
how he might hand him over to them.
5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money.
6 He agreed and looked for the right opportunity
to hand him over
without the crowd becoming aware.

In the culture a person’s uncharacteristic behaviour was usually attributed to the external influence of demons. In this case, Luke made the point that it was none less than Satan who entered into Judas, one of the Twelve.

The devil had engaged earlier with Jesus, in the desert encounter after Jesus’ baptism. Then Luke had commented: having finished every kind of temptation, the Devil withdrew un tip the appropriate time [4.1]. The decisive showdown was about to occur. Satan would test Jesus to the limits of his strength.

The events about to unfold at the historical level echoed into the deep recesses of humanity’s destiny. This would be the critical struggle between the cosmic forces of good and evil.

Those charged with Jesus’ arrest, the temple police, needed somehow to find Jesus when no crowds were present. For that they needed to know his movements and time their arrest accordingly. Betrayal by one of the in-group provided the perfect solution.

As Luke recounted the story, Judas did not ask for money, but was prepared to accept it when it was offered. For Luke his motivation was not greed. It was something else.

Next >> Luke 22:7-13