The Passover and the Lord’s Supper
In a theological work published, among many other charges against the Holy Scriptures, we are told that Matthew, Mark and Luke made a “mistake” in assuming that “the Lord’s supper was the Passover feast”; that “the two were regarded as identical”; and also that our Lord “had desired to eat the Passover with them, but He did not eat it.” There is nothing new in these charges, though they are very far from the truth.
1. On turning to the gospels, we find that Matthew, Mark, and Luke, each, according to the line of things given him by the Spirit, supplies us with particulars as to the eating of the Passover. John usually takes the divine side, and enters little into Jewish circumstances. His gospel is founded on their rejection of the Messiah, as stated in the beginning, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”
With regard to the Passover, Matthew says that our Lord sent some of His disciples into the city to make ready the Passover. They said unto Jesus, “Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the Passover? And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, the Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house with My disciples .... and they made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat,” (Matt. 26).
Mark’s account is the sending forth of two of His disciples into the city, much in the same way. They were to say to the goodman of the house, “Where is the guest-chamber where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?.... and they made ready the Passover. And in the evening, He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat,” (Mark 14).
Luke gives the same account as to the furnished room. He tells us that the two disciples sent were Peter and John. They were to say, “Where is the guest-chamber where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?... and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22).
Thus far the account of these three Evangelists is entirely about the Passover. Where, then, is the mistake? Where is there the smallest evidence, that up to the actual eating of the Passover the disciples had an idea of its being anything but the Passover feast?
Where, then, are the writers’ mistakes? Where is there the faintest intimation that the Passover and Lord’s Supper were assumed by these inspired writers to be identical? How appalling are such rash charges, and how calculated to promote infidelity, and to bring the Holy Scriptures into contempt!
2. We have just seen that the Lord desired to eat the Passover with His disciples; that He sent Peter and John to procure a room where He might eat the Passover with His disciples; that at the appointed hour He and the twelve sat down, and as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, “I will not eat any more thereof.” Referring to Judas, He also said, “He that eateth bread with Me”. Can there be a doubt, then, that our Lord did eat the Passover? How very serious for any one without a shadow of proof to say, “He did not eat of it”!
The fact is, that the Passover having been eaten by our Lord with His disciples according to Jehovah’s mind, for the last time on earth, before the kingdom comes, in the immediate anticipation of His rejection as Messiah, and His death as a Sacrifice for sin, His resurrection and ascension, He institutes another thing which was not a Jewish feast, but a Christian ordinance, and of very different import. Though they both set forth to faith the Savior’s death and blood-shedding, the Passover was a memorial of the blood of the paschal lamb in Egypt, sheltering from judgment; but in the Lord’s Supper, the wine is to faith the memorial of the blood of Christ which speaks to the believer of remission of sins, and of his being perfected forever by that one offering (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 10:2-20). The blood of Christ assures us of redemption accomplished, sins purged, conscience purged, and the worshipper purged, thus having boldness to enter into the holiest. It would, therefore, be impossible for those who received God’s testimony to the eternal efficacy of “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” to regard the Passover and the Lord’s Supper as identical. It is then impossible that Matthew, Mark, and Luke could have assumed that “the Lord’s Supper was the Passover feast.”
As to the Supper being instituted, Matthew says, “As they were eating;” Mark, “As they did eat.” Luke gives a fuller account of the details of the Passover feast, and adds that our Lord said, in reference to eating it, “I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” After this, “He took bread [a loaf], and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.” Mark says, “shed for many.” and Matthew, “shed for many for the remission of sins.” We ask, then, was there anything like this in the Passover feast? Is it not clear that it was at the close of the eating of the Passover that our Lord instituted His supper? It is well, however, to remember, that since then our Lord has spoken from heaven about His Supper; and as, by His rejection by the nation, the kingdom is in abeyance, He has taught us that, “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death TILL HE COME” (1 Cor. 11:23-26). We need scarcely add, that His “coming” for His saints will be before His “appearing and His kingdom.”
(Continued).