Thursday: Gardens and Dinners

Hi there!  Happy Last Supper Day!  Or Passover meal day!  Or Thursday!!

Hope you are all doing well!

On with Passion Week:

On this Thursday about 2000 years ago:

The Lord’s Supper

 ¹² On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

 ¹³ So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴ Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵ He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

 ¹⁶ The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

 ¹⁷ When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. ¹⁸ While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

 ¹⁹ They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely not I?”

   ²⁰ “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. ²¹ The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

 ²² While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

 ²³ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.

   ²⁴ “This is my blood of the^[b] covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. ²⁵ “I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”

 ²⁶ When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Gethsemane

 ³² They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” ³³ He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ³⁴ “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

 ³⁵ Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ³⁶ “Abba,^[e] Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

 ³⁷ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? ³⁸Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

 ³⁹ Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. ⁴⁰ When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

 ⁴¹ Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴² Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

**Please note that part of what takes place here in the Garden happens also on Friday, considering the Jewish day starts as the sun sets.**

At the very beginning of the Last Supper passage, Jesus tells two of his disciples to go and find a man carrying a jar of water and follow him to the house he enters.  This man is probably the servant of the one whose house he goes to, considering it says "his master's house".  Another interesting thing about this is that I always thought that the women of the household went to get water from the fountain, but this specifically says a man.  Just a thought.  Also, the whole "go and you'll see this and that and follow him here and ask to have a room for passover meal this evening" thing is kinda REALLY trusting this guy and not just thinking that "He's a lunatic, let's go eat with our friends and families".  Because I might just be thinking that.  Although, after being with Jesus that long, you must know to just do what he says.  And the room was all ready prepared and ready.  Am I missing something here, or is that just a God thing?  Then to arrive and be eating the meal...... and there is no passover lamb on the table.  This is like no ham or turkey on the table for Thanksgiving!  But the lamb isn't on the table, because it's sitting at the table.  On top of that,  Jesus says, "Oh yeah, one of you is going to betray me."  And they cannot believe it, and all think "It's not me, right Jesus?".  You are thinking: i've followed this man, given up my family and friends and  old lifestyle and now I'm going to betray him?  There is no way.... It just makes me wonder how Judas felt at that point in time and what he was thinking.  It also said they were saddened by this fact as they asked if it was them or not.  If it says "they" were saddened, does it mean that Judas was sad?  I really don't know.  But I do think its great that they were all saddened at this fact.  Of course, it could have been the fact that "it would be better for that man if he had not been born".  Then take this as my body and this as my blood had to be kinda weird if he's talking about him dying.  They know by now that he is going to die, but I still think it would be a little weird if my teacher gave me some bread and said, "Eat it, its my body."  But the customs were different back then and not 21st century.   

Then in the garden of Gethsemane, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." and, "Abba, Father, everything is possible for you.  Take this cup from me.  Yet not what I will, but what you will."  That last quote is a life quote, meaning I want to live by it-  Not what I will, but what you will.  Wow, especially considering the circumstances that he is going through.  And while he's pouring his heart, the disciples are sleeping.  Seriously??? He's about to die the most horrible death anyone will ever see and your sleeping?  That also means that if the disciples were sleeping, I'd be snoring hard.  But it is still hard to see both sides of the story and believe that they would do that.

And I know this amazing story leaves you hanging with the betrayal line, but I suppose you will have to wait until tomorrow to hear the rest of the story. (Unless you happen to have heard the story or have a Bible and be able to read it...)  But I will be a story spoiler and tell you has a very good ending.

Way better than the Hunger Games :)

Till tomorrow.........