I recently watched a video presentation produced by Vision Video, called The Last Supper. The words of the Bible characters and the people in the clips of modern-day Jerusalem are not the focus. There is narration in the background. The costumes of the Bible characters appear pretty authentic, and the settings were real. This production is not particularly high tech, but I believe it is an effective tool for seeing what Passover was and is like.

Passover is a very important Jewish festival that was instituted by God, to remind the Jews that He spared them from a plague killing all the firstborn of Egypt by having them spread the blood of a sacrificial lamb on their doorposts. As the angel of death came through, it would “pass over” the Jewish homes with blood on the doorpost.
Then Pharaoh decided to allow the Jews to flee from Egyptian slavery, and God miraculously parted the Red Sea just long enough for the Jews to cross in safety. The Red Sea then washed over Pharaoh’s chariots in pursuit of them, after Pharaoh changed his mind once again.

The video gives some interesting perspectives of the Passover festival and Jesus’ participation in it. Preparations began an entire month ahead. The Jews in Israel were required to travel to Jerusalem for the celebration. When Jesus and His disciples attended the festival, it would have taken them five or six days to get there on foot. The population of Jerusalem increased about ten-fold during the festival.
The Romans no doubt feared an uprising, with so many Jews in one place, The presence of Roman soldiers was greatly increased during that time.

The video states that when Jesus sent Peter and John to let a fellow believer know that He needed a room in which to celebrate the Passover feast with His twelve disciples, it was quite a favor to ask. Preparing the lavish Passover food for an extra 13 people was a big task. One of the highlights of the Passover feast was a beautiful array of stuffed dried fruit.

The video demonstrates how the ancient Jews made unleavened bread. It reminded me of giant tortillas. The Samaritans have continued the custom of sacrificing lambs, and a filming of it is shown. Viewers unaccustomed to such things may be tempted to close their eyes when they show the killing of a lamb and the skinning of it, but children accustomed to it are there watching with no visible reaction. It’s intriguing to see how they place the slain lambs on skewers and go through a ritual of plunging all the lambs in a firepit simultaneously. The pit is sealed up in a surprising way, during the roasting process.

The Passover feast is a joyful celebration. The video shows us that the disciples were probably laughing and talking on the night of the last feast Jesus celebrated with them. Then suddenly the evening turned serious. Jesus broke the news that one of them was about to betray Him. That night Jesus turned the Passover feast into a new custom of commemorating His death on the cross to pay for our sins—which we now call “Communion.” The celebration of the Passover lambs’ blood that saved the Jews from a deadly plague was replaced by the remembrance of the blood of “ ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ ” (John 1:29 [NIV]), saving all those who believe from eternal spiritual death.

I believe this presentation would be very appropriate to watch on Good Friday. It lasts about 60 minutes. It can help us feel what it was like that night when Jesus lifted up the cup, as recorded in Luke 22:20, and said “ ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’ ” [NIV]

Below is a trailer of the video, and under that is the entire video uploaded by Vision Video.
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