Jesus' Final Passover Is At Hand

AS TUESDAY, Nisan 11, draws to a close, Jesus finishes teaching the apostles on the Mount of Olives. What a busy, strenuous day it has been! Now, perhaps while returning to Bethany for the night, he tells his apostles: "You know that two days from now the passover occurs, and the Son of man is to be delivered up to be impaled."

Jesus apparently spends the following day, Wednesday, Nisan 12, in quiet retirement with his apostles. On the day before, he had rebuked the religious leaders publicly, and he realizes that they are seeking to kills him. So on Wednesday he does not openly show himself, since he does not want anything to interfere with his celebrating the Passover with his apostles the following evening.

In the meantime, the chief priests and the older men of the people have gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, Caiaphas. Smarting from Jesus' attack the previous day, they are making plans to seize him by crafty device and have him put to death. Yet they keep saying: "Not at the festival, in order that no uproar may arise among the people." They are in fear of the people, whose favor Jesus enjoys.

While the religious leaders are wickedly conspiring to kill Jesus, they receive a visitor. To their surprise, it is one of Jesus' own apostles, Judas Iscariot, the one into whom Satan has implanted the idea of betraying his Master! How pleased they are when Judas inquires: "What will you give me to betray him to you? They gladly agree to pay him 30 silver pieces, the price of a slave according to the Mosaic Law covenant. From then on, Judas seeks a good opportunity to betray Jesus to them without a crowd around.

Next time: Conclusion of Jesus ' Final Passover Is At Hand

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, 1991