AS TUESDAY, Nisan 11, draws to a close, Jesus finishes teaching the apostles on the Mount of Olives. What a busy, strenuous day it has been! Now, perhaps while returning to Bethany for the night, he tells his apostles: “You know that two days from now the passover occurs, and the Son of man is to be delivered up to be impaled.”

Jesus apparently spends the following day, Wednesday, Nisan 12, in quiet retirement with his apostles. On the day before, he had rebuked the religious leaders publicly, and he realizes that they are seeking to kill him. So on Wednesday he does not openly show himself, since he does not want anything to interfere with his celebrating the Passover with his apostles the following evening.

Nisan 13 begins at sundown Wednesday. Jesus arrived from Jericho on Friday, so this is the sixth and final night that he spends in Bethany. The next day, Thursday, final preparations will need to be made for the Passover, which commences at sundown. That is when the Passover lamb must be slaughtered and then roasted whole. Where will they celebrate the feast, and who will make the preparations?

Jesus has not provided such details, perhaps to prevent Judas from informing the chief priests so that they might apprehend Jesus during the Passover celebration. But now, probably early Thursday afternoon, Jesus dispatches Peter and John from Bethany, saying: “Go and get the passover ready for us to eat.”