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3/29 Reading Portions: Exodus 40; John 19; Proverbs 16; Philippians 3
John 19:31
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
PREPARATION
The day of Preparation was the final day prior to the Passover, which takes place at sundown, coincident with the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was a Feast of the LORD, according to the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus: a high day, a holy Sabbath unto YHVH God, regardless of what day it fell upon. The preparation was for the Passover meal, as well as for the entire week of eating bread without leaven— matzah. The Jews were to search throughout the house and remove all the leaven, called chametz, from within the home. Sadly, no matter how thorough the search, there was still leaven within the home; ‘twas contained in the sinful flesh of those in preparation, of those who ate the Passover, of those who observed the Unleavened Feast, Chag HaMatzoth. Joyfully, however, the sinless One who died upon the cross, who suffered the eternal fire of Yehovah’s wrath, whose shed blood was spilt upon Mount Calvary, was prepared before the foundation of the world to be the atoning Passover Lamb to take away the sinful leaven of your life and mine. The legs of those crucified that day were allowed to be broken to expedite death. It would have been an abomination to the Jews and for the land for the dead to hang accursed upon a tree at nightfall. Yet the Scripture records:
But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. John 19:33
There was no need because it fulfilled prophecy (Ex 12:46; Psa 34:20). Moreover, and most significantly, it was a sign of Christ’s sinlessness. When David penned the fifty-first Psalm after his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, in his repentance, the king expressed the depth of his grief, guilt, and pain of his sin in this way:
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Psalm 51:8
The Lord Jesus’ bones remained intact, because He is sinless and holy. Jesus is the Passover Lamb without spot or blemish. He is the Bread of Life without sin or leaven. Christ alone is the Preparation for holiness and life eternal. Hallelujah! What a Savior!