"And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him. And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover."
In the first portion of today's lesson, Judas goes to the high priest to betray Jesus.
The rest of the lesson deals with Jesus and His Apostles preparing for the Passover meal.
The Passover meal is today commonly referred to as "The Last Supper", "The Lord's Supper", or "Holy Communion", and in some instances, just "Communion".
All those labels simply refer to what is supposed to be an observance representative of the the Passover ritual that God commanded the Hebrew people to observe just prior to the exodus from Egyptian captivity.
God commanded the Hebrew people to observe the Passover forever, "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever." (Exodus 12:14---The whole story of the Passover can found in Exodus 12.)
The blood from the sacrificed lamb or goat was to be placed on the outside of the doors of the Hebrew people so that the death angel, who passed through Egypt killing all of the firstborn that night, would literally pass by those inside the blood marked houses.
This "Lord's supper", or "Communion" practice continues today among the vast majority of "Christian" denominations even thought the ritual was never commanded to be observed by Christ's Church.
NOTE: Tomorrows lesson will cover more of the reasons why some still observe the "Lord's Supper" ritual and why Jesus never intended it to be observed by Christians.~
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