Go and prepare us the passover
Preparation for the Last Supper
Passover just at hand.
Day of preparation. The Lamb to be offered is Himself. “Go and prepare--get ready--for Me; let it be heart-preparation.”
1. This preparation was general. All Old Testament teachings, histories, prophecies, and events were a preparation for the death on the cross. “Go, prepare to meet Me around that table of commemoration.”
2. When, or at what time, concerned the disciples. Your time to prepare is now.
3. The character of this command. Imperative. “Go.” Now Grotius, who lived to be fifty before he made this preparation, said, “I have passed the whole of my life laboriously doing nothing.” Cast away your sins, your prayerlessness. “I have lost ten years; I give the rest to Jesus,” should be the resolution of youth.
4. You will need to carry nothing in there. The feast is prepared. (S. H.Tyng, D. D.)
Preparation for the Lord’s Supper
Part of the preparation for the Lord’s Supper consists in learning about Christ. Unless we know Him we cannot remember Him. If we know little about Him our remembrance of Him will be poor and shallow. Suppose you were asked to do something, to illuminate your house or to plant a tree, in remembrance of some one of whom you had never heard--Bocchoris, for instance--you might do it; but what sense would there be in your doing it? You know nothing about him. What you did would be a mere external and formal observance. If I told you that according to Manetho he was the only monarch belonging to the twenty-fourth dynasty of Egyptian kings, he would still be nothing more than a name to you. Was he a good king or a bad king? Did he build temples, pyramids, great public works, make canals, establish wise and beneficent laws, fight famous battles, contribute to the civilization and happiness of his people, or did he do nothing? Was his reign long and glorious? Was he remembered after his death with love and honour? Or was his memory execrated? You don’t know; I believe no one knows. His name stands in a list of ancient kings, that is all we can say, and to do anything in remembrance of him would be an unmeaning ceremony. Remembrance must be based on knowledge, and the richer our knowledge the more vivid is our remembrance. When there is to be any public celebration of a great man, when a statue is to be erected or a building opened in his honour, the newspapers tell us about his life, and about what he did for the country; and speeches are delivered to recall the grounds on which his memory deserves to be perpetuated. And so a large part of the proper preparation for the Lord’s Supper consists in learning all we can know about the Lord Jesus Christ. The four Gospels are the best preparation for the service. (R. W. Dale.)
The last passover
I. CHRIST’S DESIRE TO EAT THE PASSOVER. This in another place is expressed in the strongest terms (Luke 22:15). Now, this he might do for the following reasons:
1. It was the Lord’s passover, so called in Exodus 12:11.
2. Hereby he gave an undeniable proof, that He was made under the ceremonial as well as moral law.
3. This was His last passover, and had an immediate relation to His subsequent sufferings.
4. The company with which He was to eat the passover, and the gospel ordinance He was about to institute in its room, might increase the ardour of His desire. Hence those tender words: “I shall eat the passover with My disciples.”
II. Notice THE PLACE IN WHICH CHRIST WOULD EAT THIS PASSOVER. Not in Herod’s, or the High Priest’s palace; for He who took upon Him the form of a servant, did not affect state and grandeur. Not in the magnificent dwelling of a Roman officer, or Jewish ruler, where He might be attended with a numerous retinue of servants; He came not to be ministered to, but to minister. Now this may be considered as emblematical Ñ
1. Of the gospel Church.
2. It may resemble the renewed and sanctified heart. “Commune with your own heart” (Psalms 4:4). “Enter into your own chamber” (Hebrews) The furnished room may also resemble a heart endowed with all the gifts, and adorned with all the graces of the Spirit. (B. Beddome, M. A. )