The Last Supper

An upstairs room, lit by small oil lamps. Thirteen people around a low table. Jesus picks up a flat loaf of bread, gives thanks, and breaks it. The sound is soft. But it will echo for two thousand years.

It is the day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lambs are sacrificed. All over Jerusalem, families are getting ready for the great meal. Jesus sends Peter and John ahead. “Go and prepare the Passover for us.” “Where?” they ask. “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters, and ask the owner, Where is the guest room? He will show you a large upstairs room, already furnished. Get things ready there.” They go, and find everything just as Jesus told them.

When the hour comes, Jesus reclines at the table with his apostles. “I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” he says. He takes a cup, gives thanks, and says, “Take this and share it among you.” Then he takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to them. “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” After supper, he takes the cup again. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” The room is very still.

Then Jesus says something that cuts through the quiet. “But look, the hand of the one who will betray me is with me on the table.” The disciples look at one another. Who could it be? They begin asking among themselves which of them would ever do such a thing. And then, almost unbelievably, the conversation turns into an argument. Not about who might betray him. About which of them is the greatest.

Jesus doesn't shout at them. He teaches them. “The kings of the nations lord it over their people. But it is not to be like that with you. The greatest among you should become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves. Who is greater, the one at the table, or the one who serves? Isn't it the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Then he speaks kindly. “You have stood by me in my trials.” And he promises them a place in his kingdom, eating and drinking at his table.

Now Jesus turns to Peter. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Peter protests. “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” Jesus answers gently, but firmly. “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” Jesus already knows Peter will fall. And he has already prayed for him to get back up.

Then Jesus warns them that hard days are coming. When he first sent them out, they took no money bag or spare sandals, and they lacked nothing. Now things will be different. Scripture says he will be counted among the lawbreakers, and that is about to happen. The disciples hold up two swords. “Lord, look, here are two swords.” “That is enough,” Jesus replies. Christians have understood that short reply in different ways, but no one at that table yet grasps what the night will bring.

Passover was a meal of remembering. God told Israel in Exodus that the night he brought them out of Egypt would be a memorial, kept forever. The Mishnah, a collection of Jewish teaching written down around the year 200, describes Passover meals with at least four cups of wine, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Luke, interestingly, mentions two cups at Jesus' table, one before the bread and one after supper. So when Jesus said, Do this in remembrance of me, he was speaking at a meal that was already all about remembering.

The Last Supper. You'll find it in Luke chapter 22, verses 7 to 38. On his last night, the King of all things took the place of the one who serves. So here's the question to carry with you. Where could you be the one who serves this week?