1Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,
2and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they feared the people.
3Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve.
The Last Night
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, Luke 22:1 · Berean Standard Bible
The Passover festival is approaching — the celebration remembering how God freed His people from slavery in Egypt. And it's in this exact setting that Jesus will give His life.
The timing is deeply meaningful. The festival about God rescuing His people through a sacrificed lamb becomes the backdrop for the ultimate rescue through Jesus.
Luke sets the stage with quiet significance, letting you feel the weight of what's about to happen during this sacred time.
Every year, Jewish families gathered to remember the night God set them free. Now, during this very celebration, Jesus — the true Passover Lamb — is about to offer the ultimate sacrifice. The old story is about to be fulfilled in the most personal way possible.
Luke identifies the heortē tōn azymōn (Feast of Unleavened Bread) with Passover, reflecting common first-century usage where the two feasts were treated as one continuous celebration lasting seven days.
The Passover setting is theologically crucial — Jesus, the ultimate Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), approaches His sacrifice during the very festival commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egypt.
Luke sets the scene as narrator, establishing the liturgical calendar context for the Passion events about to unfold.
The timing is no coincidence. As Israel prepared to remember their liberation from slavery in Egypt through the blood of a lamb, the true Lamb of God moved toward His own sacrificial death that would accomplish an even greater deliverance.
1Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,
2and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they feared the people.
3Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve.
Read all of Luke 22 — The upper room, a betrayer's kiss, a servant's ear, and Peter's denial by firelight. The longest night in history begins.
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