Many people are confused as to whether Jesus actually ate the Passover meal during the Last Supper. Some say He did, while others suggest that it was just a normal meal. The best way to answer this question is to go back and discover exactly what date and time the Passover was supposed to be kept.
The Hebrew word for evening is ‘rev’ and it means ‘mixture,’ it’s a mixture of day and night and it refers to the time when the sun is no longer visible but the light from the sun is still visible. In other words, it’s what we would call sunset or twilight.
When it came to the Day of Atonement for example we read the words ‘from evening to evening’ and we read that the tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. We read that, that day begins at sunset (evening) on the ninth, until the sunset of the tenth day, Leviticus 23:27-32.
When we read Leviticus 23:5, we find the word ‘twilight’ and in Numbers 9:2-3, we read the words ‘twilight’ and appointed time’. We see that on the fourteenth day at twilight or sunset is the Passover, which means at the evening ending the fourteenth day, is when you keep the Passover. The Jews were to keep the Passover at the ‘appointed time’, Numbers 9:2-3. This obviously means that they weren’t supposed to do it any other day and if they kept the Passover on the evening of the thirteenth they would be disobeying God’s command.
Passover is the meal which begins the feast of unleavened bread, Leviticus 23:5-8, and notice the unleavened bread is to be eaten for seven days, Leviticus 23:6, not eight days. If the Jews ate the Passover on the evening beginning of the fourteenth, this means on the evening of the thirteenth they would be eating unleavened bread for eight days.
Also notice what the Jews had to do with the lamb. They were to keep the lamb until the fourteenth day and then kill it at twilight, Exodus 12:6. If they killed the lamb on the evening ending the thirteenth, then this means they kept it only for three days. And so, to kill the lamb on the fourteenth day at twilight, means to kill it at the end of the fourteenth day, that is day 4.
Now let’s fast forward to the Last Supper. When we read Matthew 26:17, Mark 14:12, and Luke 22:7, we see that this event took place on the day that the Passover lamb must be killed. This means it was the fourteenth day of the first month, which is in line with what we read in Exodus 12:6 / Numbers 9:2-3.
Concerning this meal, notice what Jesus told his disciples, He said, ‘I will keep the Passover’, Matthew 26:18, and He said, ‘I may eat the Passover’, Mark 14:14. So Jesus clearly intended to eat the Passover with His disciples. He tells His disciples to ‘go and prepare the Passover that we may eat’, Luke 22:8, and He tells them to follow a man who enters his house and ask, ‘where I may eat the Passover with my disciples,’ Luke 22:11. This is exactly what His disciples did, they went and prepared the room for the Passover meal, Matthew 26:19 / Mark 14:16 / Luke 22:13. Once again, we see that Jesus clearly intended to eat the Passover with His disciples in this man’s house.
When they were in the man’s house, they sat down and notice it was evening, Matthew 26:20-21 / Mark 14:17-18 / Luke 22:14-15. This was the right time to eat the Passover meal as we noted earlier, Numbers 9:2-3. Notice Jesus says He eagerly desires to eat THIS Passover with you, Luke 22:14-15.
The reason many people get confused as to whether Jesus celebrated the Passover is because of what John says in His Gospel. John writes, ‘then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover,’ John 18:28.
Notice they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. This appears to contradict the other Gospel writers because it suggests that Jesus is going to be crucified on the day before the Passover meal. In other words, how can Jesus have eaten the Passover meal if the time for eating the Passover meal hasn’t arrived yet?
The answer to this question is fairly straight forward when we remember that the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread is referred to as Passover. We see this in the Old Testament, where Ezekiel refers to the Passover as a feast of seven days, Ezekiel 45:21, and we see this in the New Testament, Luke 22:1.
When we keep this in mind, John 18:28, becomes clearer. The priests didn’t want to defile themselves at any point during the feast of Passover because they would be eating sacrifices every night. According to Numbers 28:16-24, they offered sacrifices to God every day, for the entire seven days of the feast.
Jesus clearly asks the disciples to prepare a place for them to eat the Passover meal and we see that Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples. Since He ate the meal, this also means that He would have eaten unleavened bread, Exodus 12:18-20, not leavened bread as some suggest.
Jesus ate Passover with His disciples on Thursday fourteenth at evening, Leviticus 23:5 / Numbers 9:2-3 / Matthew 26:20-21 / Mark 14:17-18 / Luke 22:14-15. The priests came together, ‘straightaway, in the morning,’ Mark 15:1, thus Friday. He was crucified on Friday fifteenth and buried before sunset, Mark 15:42-43.
The women rested on the Sabbath on Saturday sixteenth, Luke 23:56. The women retuned on Sunday seventeenth early in the morning to find the empty tomb because Jesus had risen from the grave, Matthew 27:62-28-1 / Luke 23:51-24:1 / Mark 16:1-2 / John 19:42-20:21.