A Visit With Mrs. G

Guest (Female): Here we are.

Guest (Female): I hope she's home.

Guest (Male): Can I ring the bell?

Guest (Female): May I ring the bell?

Guest (Male): But I want to!

Guest (Male): Well, somebody better, or we'll miss our visit with Mrs. G.

Mrs. Kitty Griffiths: Hello! I'm glad to see you! I was listening for you. Come on in.

Guest (Male): How about some stories?

Mrs. Kitty Griffiths: Stories? Yes, I've got some specially for you.

The great day had dawned: Passover. If you were in Jerusalem for Passover—and every year tens of thousands of Jews came to Jerusalem for the feast—you had to take your carefully chosen, perfect lamb to be offered to God at the temple by a priest. Then the lamb was brought home to be barbecued for supper.

There would be salad, too—a special Passover salad. It was made of lettuce, dandelion leaves, mint, and sorrel. Bitter herbs, they were called, bitter to remind the Jews of the bitter slavery their forefathers had endured as slaves in Egypt. What an event the Passover celebrated: the pass over, when the angel of death had passed up and down the land of Egypt on that awful night long ago, and in the morning, the firstborn sons of the Egyptians lay dead.

But God had told the Israelites, His people, to put a lamb's blood on the doorposts and lintel of their houses, and He had said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." God kept His word; all the Israelites' firstborn sons were safe, and in the morning, Israel left Egypt for good and all, no longer slaves but free people.

And always now at Passover, hundreds of years later, the Jews prayed that Messiah would come. In fact, many people thought that the Messiah would appear on a Passover night. How Israel prayed that Messiah would come and free them from the hated Roman rule, just as Moses had freed their forefathers from Egyptian rule centuries before.

Passover was always special, but this year's Passover was very special indeed, as we shall see. This year, Jesus and all twelve of His disciples were in Jerusalem for Passover. Each day that week, they'd spent in the city where Jesus had taught in the temple, and at night they'd slept at Bethany, about two miles outside the city.

Now the great day had arrived for the special supper. "Master, where do you want us to get the Passover supper ready for you?" the disciples asked Jesus. Jesus picked out Peter and John and gave them instructions.

"Go into Jerusalem. You will meet a man carrying a jar of water. Follow him. At the house where he goes in, you go in too. Say to the owner of the house, 'The teacher says, "Where is my guest room where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?"' And he will show you a large upstairs room, all furnished and ready. That is the place where I want you to prepare our Passover supper."

So Peter and John went and did as Jesus told them. Now on other days, supper would be eaten in the late afternoon, but not on Passover. The Passover meal was not to begin until after sunset. And for Passover supper, everyone reclined at the table, resting on their left elbows while their right hands were free for eating.

This was to show that slave days were over, that they were free people who didn't have to hurry to eat their meal, nor did they have to be on the alert for fear of enemies attacking them. So they could eat lying down. Everything had a meaning at Passover. And so after sunset, Jesus and His twelve disciples took their places on couches round the table in the upstairs room.

Jesus introduced the solemn occasion. "I have wanted very much to have this Passover supper with you before I suffer," He said to His men. "I tell you, I won't eat it again until Passover gets its full meaning in the Kingdom of God." Then Jesus took the cup of wine with which the Passover meal was supposed to begin.

He praised God for it, then He said to His disciples, "Take this and each of you have some, for I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, not until the Kingdom of God has come." Oh, wasn't this a special Passover? It was Jesus' last Passover before the Kingdom of God would come.

The Kingdom of God! The disciples had left everything for the Kingdom of God, and now it would soon be here. The disciples looked at each other excitedly. Soon they were busily chatting with each other about the thrilling times ahead. But what is this? Are they arguing? Quarreling? Yes, they are. Of all the times to be quarreling!

What can they be fussing about? Who's going to be the greatest? Haven't they discussed that before? But now they're at it again. Who's going to be the greatest when the Kingdom comes? Jesus said nothing but got up from the table and went over to the corner of the room. In the corner stood large stone jars of water.

If the disciples had stopped arguing and watched what Jesus was doing, they'd have seen Jesus take off His long robe and pick up the slave's towel which lay folded beside the water pots. They would have seen Him wrap the long towel around Himself, leaving one end free. Then they'd have heard water being poured from the great jar into a pitcher.

And then Jesus began to pour water over one of His disciples' feet as he lay on his couch. The disciples didn't know what to say as Jesus, girded with a slave's towel, worked His way around the group, washing each man's feet and drying them with the slave's towel. When Jesus came to Peter, Peter drew his feet up on his couch.

Peter would speak up if no one else did. "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Peter asked. Jesus replied, "Yes, what I am doing you don't understand at the moment, but you will understand later on." "Never," Peter exclaimed. "You shall never wash my feet!" And Peter drew his feet still further up on the couch so that Jesus couldn't get at them.

"Peter, unless I wash you, you cannot belong to me." Peter was stunned. Of course he wanted to be Jesus' disciple. "Lord," he said quickly, "in that case, don't stop at my feet. Wash my hands and my head as well!" And down came Peter's feet. Jesus poured water from the pitcher over Peter's feet as they now pointed outwards over the end of his couch.

Then Jesus dried them with the towel. Peter felt so refreshed. "Once you have been bathed, you need no further washing. You are clean all over. And you men are clean, though not all of you." Jesus finished going round the group of disciples and washing their feet. Then He set the pitcher back in the corner, put on His robe again, and took His place at the table.

The disciples were very quiet. Did some of them have red faces? "Do you understand what I have done for you?" Jesus asked them. "You call me Teacher and Master. That is quite proper; that is what I am. If I, your Teacher and Master, have washed your feet, then you must be ready to wash one another's feet also. I have given you an example to follow. You may know these things, but you will only be happy if you do them."

Did the disciples get the message this time? No more arguments about who would be the greatest; the greatest was the one who served the most. At last they could get on with the meal. The food was brought in. The meaning of Passover was discussed, psalms were sung, a second cup of wine was drunk.

Then it was time for the unleavened bread to be passed round and eaten. Jesus took the loaf of bread and praised God for it. All the disciples said, "Amen," as He finished His prayer. Then He divided the loaf so that each disciple received some. And as each disciple received a piece of the bread, Jesus said to them, "This represents my body which I am giving for you. Do this to remember me."

Yes, this was a special Passover: Jesus' last Passover before the Kingdom would come, but it was also Jesus' last Passover before He would suffer and die. He would give up His body for them. That was what He had just said. And so they began to eat the roast lamb. We may be sure the disciples had very little to say after hearing words like that.

But Jesus had another solemn announcement to make. "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one of you who is eating here with me." Now the disciples were distressed and alarmed. "Lord, is it I? Is it I? Is it I?" one after another said. Peter looked over to John, who was right next to Jesus, and motioned to him to ask Jesus who would do this terrible thing.

John turned his head around, leaning against Jesus as he did so, and he whispered, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus replied, "It is the one to whom I give this morsel when I have dipped it in the sauce." And Jesus took a morsel of the bitter Passover herbs, dipped it in the special sauce prepared for it, and handed it to Judas Iscariot.

Jesus spoke to Judas, "Hurry and do what you're about to do." Judas took the morsel, got up, and went out into the night. None of the other disciples had any idea what Judas was about to do. Since he looked after the bag with their money in it, some thought he might have had some extra shopping to do for the feast, or perhaps he was off to give something to the poor.

You were supposed to look after the poor at Passover. Anyway, he'd be back in a little while. Of course, the disciples did not know that Judas's money bag was heavier than usual; there were thirty extra coins in there tonight. And not even Judas knew that he was not going alone; an unseen visitor went with him all the way, right inside his heart. The Bible says so.

But the other disciples knew nothing of what Judas was about to do. Perhaps they hardly gave Judas a thought. After all, there was roast lamb to be eaten. When the meal was over, a third cup of wine was prepared. Jesus took the cup and praised God for it. All the disciples said, "Amen," as He finished His prayer.

Then it was time for the cup of wine to be passed to the disciples. And as each disciple took a drink from the cup, Jesus said to them, "This cup represents the new covenant made possible by my blood which I am shedding for the good of many." The disciples drank from the cup, and as they drank, Jesus' words were echoing in their minds. "I am shedding my blood for the good of many."

Jesus would shed His blood? Why, this was Passover when everyone remembered how lambs were slain in Egypt. The mark of the lamb's blood meant that death would not visit that house. That was how God rescued the Israelites from slavery. Would God use blood—Jesus' blood—to rescue people again?

And what did Jesus mean when He said there would be a new covenant? When their forefathers had left Egypt, they had gone to Mount Sinai, and the Lord had made a covenant with them there. He became their God, and they became God's special people. Would there be a new covenant and a new special people of God? The disciples didn't know. For them, it was still a mystery.

Guest (Male): Thank you for visiting Mrs. G today. God's Word, the Bible, has hundreds of stories, and you can find many of them retold by Mrs. G. When you visit our website at www.biblestoriesalive.org, you can download audio of these stories and also find them on CDs and in books.

You can also read copies of our newsletter or help us send Bible stories to the rest of the world free of charge. That address again is www.biblestoriesalive.org. Mrs. G's Bible stories are also available from Trans World Radio in several languages including Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish. Visit our website for more information at www.biblestoriesalive.org. Until next time...

Mrs. Kitty Griffiths: Goodbye and God bless.