This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome. Today is
Friday, March the 13th. If you are new to the
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Thank you so much for being here. Let's jump
into the word together today. Our reading takes
us to Luke 22. Now, if you are following along
and you're part of our church family, you know,
Luke 22 is what I'm going to be. preaching this
coming Sunday, Lord willing, and this is a big
chapter. It's huge. We've already read it once
this week. This is the second time this week.
We're going to look at it on Sunday, and then
we're going to talk about it again on Monday
on the podcast. But each of these times, hopefully
you're getting something a little bit different,
a little bit extra maybe. I was going through
this chapter again today, and something stood
out to me that I wanted to share a little bit.
It's not very long or not going to be a whole
lot, I don't think, in this episode today, but
I hope and pray you are reading along and that
you read the whole chapter. I want to just share
with you a couple things that stand out to me
at the beginning of the chapter today to give
us a little bit of maybe some background and
context so that whenever we read the full chapter,
you can see a little bit more of what's happened
and how it's been set up. So, without further
ado, let's jump into Luke chapter 22, beginning
at verse 1. I want to read the first two verses
and then we'll talk about them. Ready? Here we
go. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew near,
which is called the Passover. Now, a couple things
to note here. I believe it is very interesting
for us to see this scene take place at this specific
time. It says, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
It's called the Passover. I want to share with
you a little bit of Jewish culture, a little
bit of what's happened up to this point. There
are three main big, big festivals that were going
on in Jewish history. The first... was Passover,
the second was Pentecost, and the third was Tabernacles,
the Feast of Tabernacles. Here's what all of
those kind of stood for. The Passover was, we
know out of Exodus chapter 12, we read that this
week, the Passover was the moment that commemorates
or remembers when Israel was set free from Egypt
and from slavery. Then they were delivered out
of Egypt. Then 50 days later, they celebrate
Pentecost. Pentecost is the 50th day. Now, what
happened 50 days after they left Egypt? Something
really cool. The law showed up. Mount Sinai,
they were there and God brought the law. Very
powerful moment, very powerful thing. That was
50 days later. That's Pentecost. Then there was
the Festival of Tabernacles. Tabernacles meaning
it was commemorating, remembering how the Lord's
presence is with his people. So you've got whenever
we're freed from slavery, whenever we get the
holiness, how to live holy, and then his presence.
Those are the three main festivals. That's a
really wide view. There's a lot to be said about
each of them. But I hope and pray that maybe
that covers what we have to understand today.
So one of the things that we need to know. Passover
was the biggest Jewish festival by far. It was
a time when every Jewish man was supposed to
make his way to Jerusalem to celebrate. Now,
in the culture... Most of the time, this was
the biggest crowd that Jerusalem had. That means
a lot is going on. This is what the timeline
is in Luke 22. This is the moment. This is the
most crowded, the most packed it's going to be.
Why in the world would the chief priests and
the scribes think this is the best time to commit
a crime? Right? There's the most amount of witnesses.
There's the most amount of people all around.
This doesn't even make sense. The more I read
this today, I just kind of jumped out at me.
I thought, well, that's weird. Why in the world
would they do this on the busiest holiday? Like,
what's going on? and not to mention just those
chief priests and scribes. This is when a lot
of times, if you go back into history and you
look, a lot of Rome was the governing body in
Jerusalem at the time, and Rome would send their
high generals and their high leaders into Jerusalem
for this Passover. Why? Not because they wanted
to celebrate Passover, but because they wanted
to be there to make sure that the peace was kind
of kept because they didn't want a Jewish uprising
to try to overthrow Rome. It's when most of the
Jewish people were together in one place, so
they would a lot of times send people in extra
security, right? Extra eyes on what is going
on. So there's a lot happening in Jerusalem in
this moment. So don't think whenever we're reading
Scripture, oh, this is just like another normal
day. Now, this is the biggest day of the year.
There's the most amount of people. And the scripture
says in that verse number two, as he talks about,
they feared the people. So they were trying to
come up with a way. How can we get him? Because
all these people are starting to follow him.
We don't want any false messiahs to pop up, right?
We don't want any false leaders to follow. pop
up out of nowhere. This is a dangerous thing.
The chief priest and the scribes are saying,
we don't like this guy. We can't beat him. Anytime
we talk to him in public, he destroys us. Anytime
we try to get around him or even threaten him,
he's got all these followers that love him. How
can we do this? So they're beginning to seeking
a way. They're collaborating together and saying,
how can we put him to death? How can we get rid
of him? We've got to do this. But the people,
there is an uproar. We just can't do this. Well,
then the next couple of verses come. Let's read
the next few verses. Verse 3 says, Then Satan
entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was
one of the number of the twelve. He went away
and conferred with the chief priests and officers
how he might betray him to them. And they were
glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented
and sought an opportunity to betray him to them
in the absence of a crowd. Again, here's a moment
where Judas Iscariot, it says Satan entered him.
He allowed Satan to take control of his facilities,
right? He allowed Satan to enter him and do what
he wanted. And so in this moment, Judas goes
in. cuts a deal. The deal he cuts is, I will
give him to you without anybody seeing it. I
will do this in secret. Now, there's thousands
of questions that come to my mind. What is Judas
thinking? Why is he doing this? He has been a
faithful follower of Jesus. I use the term faithful
loosely. The reason I say he's been a follower
of Jesus, the other 11 disciples, whenever this
moment comes up a little bit later in the chapter
where Jesus says, one of you are going to betray
me, they all were asking, which one of us? Which
one of us? We've had conversation about who's
the greatest, but like, which one of us is going
to, somebody around this table is going to betray
you? What do you mean? What's going on? There's
no way. How would they not know? Oh, it's obviously
Judas, right? The disciples aren't cutting their
eyes over to the side and being like, we all
know who this is. It's the guy that's just hanging
on by a thread. No, no, no. Judas was in charge
of the money. He was the one that they trusted
with money. He was the one they trusted. maybe
the most in all this. This is a big deal. Judas
now is selling Jesus out. Why? It couldn't have
been just for the money. It couldn't have been
because it was only 30 pieces of silver. It's
not even that much. What was he doing? Maybe
he was guaranteed something. Maybe his expectations
weren't met. Maybe Jesus was not the Messiah
he was looking for. Maybe he was looking for
one that was going to just build this great kingdom,
overthrow Rome, and take over everything, and
Judas didn't. He knew he wasn't going to get
that now, so maybe he betrayed him because he
didn't like him. I don't know what it was. But
what I do know is the chief priests and the scribes
are trying to figure out a way. How do we kill
Jesus? And Judah says, I will bring him to you
in the absence of a crowd. Here is something
awesome that I did not even realize until I was
reading it just this week. The next thing that
happens is Jesus gets Peter and John, and they
say to him, hey, he wants to have the Passover
meal. He says, hey, it's time for us to have
the Passover. So they say, where do you want
to do it? And he says, here's what I want you
to do. I want you to go find a guy carrying water.
and I want you to follow him to his place and
then ask him the room that we're going to be
in. The only two disciples that knew where they
were going to have the Passover together was
Peter and John. The others didn't know. They
were going to meet him there. Why did Jesus do
that? Well, I think because Jesus knew what was
going on with Judas. Can you imagine Judas as
he's talking with these guys and he's made this
plan in place and he says, hey, I'm going to
deliver him to you. I know we're going to have
Passover tonight. Maybe I'll find out where we're
having it, and then I'll tell you and we can
ambush him there. Jesus doesn't even let Judas
know where they're having Passover. He doesn't
know until they're all walking there together.
Then is when Judas leaves the table a little
bit later, as we'll see in the chapter, that
he then goes to betray Jesus. I think it is absolutely
brilliant. I never put the two together. Like,
why would Jesus tell the two disciples, Peter
and John, hey, go find this guy. Didn't even
tell him, you know, he's carrying a water pot.
Can't miss him. They're like, okay. And then
follow him to his house and then say, hey, the
teacher wants to, where's the room for the teacher?
And then he'll take you to the room. Jesus doesn't
even say, here's the address. Here's how to get
there. And Jesus knew where it was, right? He
told these guys, I want you to follow this process
so that then you can come back and we'll all
go there together. He didn't tell all of the
disciples where they were going. I think Jesus
knows exactly what's going on and exactly what's
happening. And here's what I think is amazing.
Judas thought he had the upper hand. He's got
this council of people ready to go and get Jesus.
And Judas was close to Jesus and says, I'll deliver.
I can do this for you. Judas doesn't even know
where they're having dinner tonight. He doesn't
even know where the restaurant is. And he thinks
he's in control. He thinks he's in charge. There's
a moment in Luke 22, Jesus even tells him, hey,
go do what you need to do. It's, I know what
you're doing. I know how you're doing it. Go
make it happen. In this moment, when they're
in this upper room, Jesus is washing their feet.
We can find that in other gospel accounts that
he does that there. There is a tradition in place
that the host of the Passover meal, the unleavened
bread meal, there's a tradition that that person
would then kiss everyone on the cheek before
they would get to the dinner table, which means
most likely Jesus has kissed each of his disciples
on the cheek before they have had dinner together.
Even Judas. Even Judas. And to think that Jesus
would do that, knowing what is already in place.
He still gave Judas a chance to repent, I think.
I think he's still giving Judas, now I know he
knew everything from the Old Testament, New Testament,
all that. But I think that there's a moment where
Jesus is showing, even to the very end, you know,
whenever the disciples start asking, who is it
that's going to betray him? Who is it that's
going to betray him? I could almost see Peter
reaching for his sword, right? Ain't nobody betraying
Jesus. I'm on it. I'm ready. Getting ready to
draw his sword, right? And you think, well, how
does that happen? We'll read a little bit later.
He does draw a sword, and he does slice an ear
off of a guy who I'm sure he was not just trying
to chop at his ear. I'm pretty sure he was going
for his head, and the guy just moved his head,
and the ear got chopped off. But in that moment,
I think Peter is so for Jesus, right? He's thinking,
who is it that's going to betray him? I will
take him out right now. Lord, you just nod at
the guy. You just cut your eyes at the one. and
I'll take care of him. Jesus still doesn't do
that. He still protects this man that's been
following him. As I read the scripture today
and as I'm encouraged today, there's a lot to
know about the scripture, a lot to trust in the
scripture. And here's what I will tell you as
my takeaway. This has been about the setup of
the Passover meal for the disciples and him instituting
the Lord's Supper as we know it today. There's
been a lot happen. Right. And a lot building
into these moments. And then when Jesus sits
his disciples down, he begins to share with them
he's going to suffer. He begins to share with
them the time is now. The time is right now.
It's about to happen. And it's going to happen
right before your eyes. I want us to always be
awake and alert and have our eyes open. I know
last week when we looked in Luke 21, Jesus was
giving us some. pictures of what will happen
in the end times, and he keeps telling us, stay
awake, stay alert. Even as busy as life gets,
as much is going on religiously, you know this
is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Do you
know what that means? There was this... call
in Exodus 12 that they were to get unleavened
bread. Why? Because leaven was the yeast, as
we understand today, and it was set in bread,
and it took it a while to rise. It took it a
while to spread through the whole bread loaf.
And the people that left Egypt in Exodus 12,
they had to leave with haste. That's why they
couldn't leaven their bread. That's why it had
to be unleavened bread because you could bake
it without having to wait. And so Jesus, God
was telling in Exodus 12, the Israelites as they
were leaving, get all the leaven out and you're
going to remove it from your house because it
has to take time to rise and you've got to move
quickly. When I'm ready to move, you move. And
that was a symbol of two things. One, moving
when God says to move, but two, removing the
things that spread. So removing the sin of Egypt.
out of your house. In this moment, this is what
is absolutely blowing my mind, the chief priests
and the scribes have all removed the leaven out
of their house, but they didn't remove the leaven
out of their hearts. Leaven was that spreading
agent. It was symbolized sin in the Old Testament
and the New. And Jesus is right here at Passover.
They've removed the leaven out of the upper room
in the house that they're going to prepare for
them to have the Passover together, to eat this
meal together. And I can't help but think those
people that went to betray and arrest Jesus had
all done the right religious things, but their
hearts were out of line. Today, I'm just going
to ask you this. Whatever is in your heart, whatever
is in your mind, whatever is in your life that
does not align with the Lord, remove it. Just
remove it. And don't remove it religiously. Remove
it genuinely. Genuinely. Allow the Lord to take
it out of your life and remove it, whatever that
may be. Because there's a lot that happens and
a lot that takes place in our life. And the best
experience we can have is without the leaven
of the world in our lives slowing us down and
keeping us out of what God wants us to be.