The evening before Jesus was crucified He celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. It was the time for this feast and the feast of Unleavened Bread. So at this time the two feasts were considered as one event.During this time Jerusalem was filled with worshippers who came from great distances just to worship God in the temple. The Passover meal required the sacrifice of a lamb and the unleavened bread. Tradition at this time said that the meal should be eaten in groups of 10 to 20 and that yeast, the leaven, must be put out of the house three days prior to the Passover. Also their tradition would have the people eating the meal the evening of the day of Preparation or of Passover. The day of Preparation, the day before the actual Passover, was when everything was put in place.So the disciples asked Jesus where they were going to eat the meal. Jesus tells them to go into Jerusalem and they will see a man carrying a water jar and follow him to the house. Now this was usually the job of a woman, so this would be unusual. This may be an arrangement Jesus previously made with a follower (Mk. 14:12-16).Luke tells us that the disciples were arguing about who was going to be the greatest in Christ’s kingdom (Luke 22:26-28). John tells us that Jesus then gave a demonstration of leadership as service. So He got up and washed the disciples feet (John 13:2-5). Washing the feet of guests in a Jewish home was a common custom in Jesus’s day. But this task was always performed by one of the household servants, never by the master.Peter realizing that this wasn’t Jesus’ job, objected. Jesus said that if He did not wash his feet the Peter would not have a place with Him, and Peter responded then “wash my whole body!”Jesus surprised them when He announced that one of them would betray Him. They wondered which one would do something like that. Of course it was Judas and he left. After the dinner they sang a hymn and headed to the Mount of Olives, where the Garden of Gethsemane was located.As they walked through the temple area Jesus, when he told them that they all would desert Him. Then Peter said that he would never do that and Jesus said that he would deny Him three ...
