Luke 22:1 Study Bible: Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the Passover, drew near.

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Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,

Now
The word "Now" serves as a transitional marker, indicating a shift in the narrative. It connects the preceding events with what is about to unfold, emphasizing the immediacy and continuity of the Gospel account. In the Greek, the word used is "δέ" (de), which often functions to introduce a new section or thought, suggesting that the events are part of a divinely orchestrated plan.

the Feast of Unleavened Bread
This phrase refers to a significant Jewish festival that commemorates the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, as described in Exodus 12. The Greek term "ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν ἀζύμων" (hē heortē tōn azymōn) highlights the importance of this feast, which lasts seven days and involves the removal of leaven from homes. Leaven, or yeast, symbolizes sin and corruption, and its removal signifies purification and holiness. This feast is a time of reflection and preparation, reminding believers of God's deliverance and faithfulness.

called the Passover
The Passover, or "πάσχα" (pascha) in Greek, is the central event of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It commemorates the night when the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, sparing them from the plague of the firstborn (Exodus 12:13). The Passover lamb, whose blood was used to mark the doorposts, prefigures Christ, the Lamb of God, whose sacrifice brings salvation. This connection underscores the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in the New Testament narrative.

was approaching
The phrase "was approaching" indicates the nearness of the feast, both in time and significance. The Greek word "ἤγγιζεν" (ēngizen) conveys a sense of anticipation and urgency. This timing is crucial, as it sets the stage for the events of Jesus' passion, aligning with God's sovereign timeline. The approaching feast serves as a backdrop for the unfolding of God's redemptive plan through Christ's death and resurrection.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Feast of Unleavened Bread
A Jewish festival lasting seven days, during which no leavened bread is eaten. It commemorates the Israelites' exodus from Egypt and their hasty departure, which did not allow time for their bread to rise.

2. Passover
A significant Jewish festival that marks the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. It involves the sacrifice of a lamb and the application of its blood on the doorposts, symbolizing God's deliverance.

3. Jerusalem
The city where these events are taking place. It is the spiritual and cultural center for the Jewish people and the location of the Temple.

4. Jesus
Although not mentioned directly in this verse, He is the central figure in the surrounding account. His impending crucifixion is foreshadowed by the Passover, as He is the ultimate Passover Lamb.

5. Jewish Leaders
The religious authorities who are plotting against Jesus during this time, seeking to arrest and kill Him.

Teaching Points

Understanding the Passover's Significance
Recognize the deep historical and spiritual significance of the Passover as a foreshadowing of Christ's sacrifice. Just as the blood of the lamb protected the Israelites, Jesus' blood covers and redeems us.

Jesus as the Fulfillment of Prophecy
Reflect on how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecies and symbols, serving as the ultimate Passover Lamb who delivers us from sin and death.

The Importance of Remembrance
Just as the Israelites were commanded to remember their deliverance, Christians are called to remember Christ's sacrifice through communion, which parallels the Passover meal.

God's Sovereignty in Timing
Consider how God's timing is perfect, as Jesus' crucifixion coincides with the Passover, underscoring His divine plan for redemption.

Preparation for Spiritual Events
Just as the Jews prepared for the Passover, we should prepare our hearts for spiritual events and encounters with God, ensuring we are ready to receive His grace and truth.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover deepen our understanding of Jesus' role as the Lamb of God?

2. In what ways can we see God's sovereignty and perfect timing in the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion?

3. How can the practice of remembering the Passover inform our observance of communion today?

4. What are some practical ways we can prepare our hearts for spiritual events, similar to how the Jews prepared for the Passover?

5. How do the connections between the Old Testament Passover and Jesus' sacrifice enhance our appreciation of the New Testament teachings?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Exodus 12
Provides the background for the Passover, detailing the original event and its significance for the Israelites.

1 Corinthians 5:7
Paul refers to Christ as our Passover lamb, drawing a direct connection between Jesus and the sacrificial lamb of the Passover.

John 1:29
John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the "Lamb of God," highlighting His role in taking away the sins of the world.

Matthew 26:17-19
Describes Jesus' preparation for the Passover meal with His disciples, emphasizing His awareness and fulfillment of the Passover symbolism.

Sermons

The Lonely Christ	Alexander Maclaren	Luke 22:1
The Conspiracy Against Christ	W. Burkitt	Luke 22:1-2
The Last Passover of Our Lord	R.M. Edgar	Luke 22:1-23

People

Jesus, John, Judas, Peter, Simon

Places

Gethsemane, Jerusalem

Topics

Approaching, Bread, Drew, Feast, Festival, Meanwhile, Nigh, Passover, Unleavened

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Luke 22:1

7406 Passover

Luke 22:1-2

     5817   conspiracies
     5948   shrewdness
     6186   evil scheming

Library

February 2 Morning
Oh that thou wouldest keep me from evil.--I CHR. 4:10. Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.--The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. The Lord shall preserve thee from …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 28. "Not My Will, but Thine" (Luke xxii. 42).
"Not my will, but Thine" (Luke xxii. 42). He who once suffered in Gethsemane will be our strength and our victory, too. We may fear, we may also sink, but let us not be dismayed, and we shall yet praise Him, and look back from a finished course, and say, "Not one word hath failed of all that the Lord hath spoken." But in order to do this, we must, like Him, meet the conflict, not with a defiant, but with a submissive spirit. He had to say, "Not My will, but Thine be done"; but in saying it, He gained …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

A Great Fall and a Great Recovery
'But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.' --Luke xxii. 32. Our Lord has just been speaking words of large and cordial praise of the steadfastness with which His friends had continued with Him in His temptations, and it is the very contrast between that continuance and the prevision of the cowardly desertion of the Apostle which occasioned the abrupt transition to this solemn appeal to him, which indicates how the forecast pained Christ's …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Cross the victory and Defeat of Darkness
'This is your hour, and the power of darkness.' --Luke xxii. 53. The darkness was the right time for so dark a deed. The surface meaning of these pathetic and far-reaching words of our Lord's in the garden to His captors is to point the correspondence between the season and the act. As He has just said, 'He had been daily with them in the Temple,' but in the blaze of the noontide they laid no hands upon Him. They found a congenial hour in the midnight. But the words go a great deal deeper than allusive …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Christ's Look
'And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.' --Luke xxii. 61. All four Evangelists tell the story of Peter's threefold denial and swift repentance, but we owe the knowledge of this look of Christ's to Luke only. The other Evangelists connect the sudden change in the denier with his hearing the cock crow only, but according to Luke there were two causes co-operating to bring about that sudden repentance, for, he says, 'Immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned and looked …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Lonely Christ
'Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations'--LUKE xxii 28. We wonder at the disciples when we read of the unseemly strife for precedence which jars on the tender solemnities of the Last Supper. We think them strangely unsympathetic and selfish; and so they were. But do not let us be too hard on them, nor forget that there was a very natural reason for the close connection which is found in the gospels between our Lord's announcements of His sufferings and this eager dispute as to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Parting Promises and Warnings
'And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. 25. And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 26. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 27. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as He …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Christ's Ideal of a Monarch
'And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 26. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.'--LUKE xxii. 25-26. [Footnote: Preached on the occasion of the death of Queen Victoria.] There have been sovereigns of England whose death was a relief. There have been others who were mourned with a certain tepid and decorous …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Gethsemane
'And He came out, and went, as He was wont, to the mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him. 40. And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 41. And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42. Saying, Father, If Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done. 43. And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44. And, being in an agony, He …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

In the High Priest's Palace
'Then took they Him, and led Him, and brought Him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off. 55. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. 56. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with Him. 57. And he denied Him, saying, Woman, I know Him not. 58. And, after a little while, another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Lord's Supper
'Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. 8. And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. 9. And they said unto Him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? 10. And He said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. 11. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Duty of Constant Communion J. W.
"Do this in remembrance of me." Luke 22:19. It is no wonder that men who have no fear of God should never think of doing this. But it is strange that it should be neglected by any that do fear God, and desire to save their souls; And yet nothing is more common. One reason why many neglect it is, they are so much afraid of "eating and drinking unworthily," that they never think how much greater the danger is when they do not eat or drink it at all. That I may do what I can to bring these well-meaning …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Gethsemane
"And all the unknown joys he gives, Were bought with agonies unknown." Since it would not be possible for any believer, however experienced, to know for himself all that our Lord endured in the place of the olivepress, when he was crushed beneath the upper and the nether mill-stone of mental suffering and hellish malice, it is clearly far beyond the preacher's capacity to set it forth to you. Jesus himself must give you access to the wonders of Gethsemane: as for me, I can but invite you to enter …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

The Betrayal
Without further preface, let us advance to the subject of our Lord's betrayal. First, concentrate your thoughts upon Jesus, the betrayed one; and when ye have lingered awhile there, solemnly gaze into the villanous countenance of Judas, the betrayer--he may prove a beacon to warn us against the sin which gendereth apostacy. I. LET US TARRY AWHILE, AND SEE OUR LORD UNGRATEFULLY AND DASTARDLY BETRAYED. It is appointed that he must die, but how shall he fall into the hands of his adversaries? Shall …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

5Th Day. Restraining Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."--LUKE xxii. 31, 32. Restraining Grace. What a scene does this unfold! Satan tempting--Jesus praying! Satan sifting--Jesus pleading! "The strong man assailing"--"the stronger than the strong" beating him back! Believer? here is the past history and present secret of thy safety in the midst of temptation. An interceding Saviour was at thy side, saying …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Peter's Repentance
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:61, 62). That was the turning-point in the history of Peter. Christ had said to him: "Thou canst not follow me now" (John 13:36). Peter was not in a fit state to follow Christ, because he had not been brought to an end of himself; he did not know himself, and he therefore could not follow …
Andrew Murray—Absolute Surrender

Carnal or Spiritual?
"And Peter went out and wept bitterly." -- Luke 22:62. These words indicate the turning point in the life of Peter, --a crisis. There is often a question about the life of holiness. Do you grow into it? Or do you come into it by a crisis suddenly? Peter has been growing for three years under the training of Christ, but he had grown terribly downward, for the end of his growing was, he denied Jesus. And then there came a crisis. After the crisis he was a changed man, and then he began to grow aright. …
Andrew Murray—The Deeper Christian Life

Penitence
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter . . . .and Peter went out, and wept bitterly."--LUKE xxii. 61, 62. EVERY man at some time in his life has fallen. Many have fallen many times; few, few times. And the more a man knows his life and watches its critical flow from day to day, the larger seems to grow the number of these falls, and the oftener reaches out to God his penitential prayer, "Turn yet again, O Lord!" We have all shuddered before this as we read the tale of Peter's guilt. Many a time …
Henry Drummond—The Ideal Life

The Last Supper
189. On Thursday Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem for the last time. Knowing the temper of the leaders, and the danger of arrest at any time, Jesus was particularly eager to eat the Passover with his disciples (Luke xxii. 15), and he sent two of them--Luke names them as Peter and John--to prepare for the supper. In a way which would give no information to such a one as Judas, he directed them carefully how to find the house where a friend would provide them the upper room that was needed …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

The Sinner Seriously Urged and Entreated to Accept of Salvation in this Way.
1. Since many who have been impressed with these things suffer the impression to wear off.--2. Strongly as the ease speaks for itself, sinners are to be entreated to accept this salvation.--3. Accordingly the reader is entreated--by the majesty and mercy of God.--4. By the dying love of our Lord Jesus Christ.--5. By the regard due to our fellow-creatures.--6. By the worth of his own immortal soul.--7. The matter is solemnly left with the reader, as before God. The sinner yielding to these entreaties, …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Twenty-Sixth Lesson. I have Prayed for Thee;'
I have prayed for thee;' Or, Christ the Intercessor. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.'--Luke xxii. 32. I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you.'--John xvi. 26. He ever liveth to make intercession.'--Heb. vii. 25. ALL growth in the spiritual life is connected with the clearer insight into what Jesus is to us. The more I realize that Christ must be all to me and in me, that all in Christ is indeed for me, the more I learn to live the real life of faith, which, …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

Otho, Bishop of Bamberg.
As a new Christian revival distinguished the close of the eleventh century, missionaries were then sent forth from the reinvigorated Church. We will sketch a portrait of one of these, to whom Pomerania owes its Christianity. It was Otho, bishop of Bamberg, who had already in his pastoral office distinguished himself by his fidelity and his self-sacrificing love. He gladly imposed abstinences on self, in order to be able to give more to the poor. All that was presented to him by princes and nobles …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

General Introduction
In this volume we have sought to present the view taken by Thomas Aquinas of the moral and spiritual world in which we live, and of the conditions of man's self-realization which are consequent upon it. The final end of man lies in God, through whom alone he is and lives, and by whose help alone he can attain his end. The teaching of Aquinas concerning the moral and spiritual order stands in sharp contrast to all views, ancient or modern, which cannot do justice to the difference between the divine …
Aquinas—Nature and Grace

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