The Last Supper – Easter Week
The “Last Supper” was held in Jerusalem during Jesus’ last week before His death and resurrection. Stephen March explains its significance.
The Last Supper and its Place in Holy Week
We are continuing through our look at the Passion week, or Holy week as it is sometimes called, the week leading up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this episode, we come to one of the more well-known events of this time, what we often refer to as “The Last Supper.” This has been the subject of many classical works of art, most notably one by perhaps one of the most well-recognized artists Leonardo Da Vinci. It’s also the introduction of one of the more recognizable symbols of Christianity, the bread and the wine.
In the Bible, this event is recorded in two ways. Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus on the meal itself, as well as on the preparation. John on the other hand, provides less detail on the meal itself, and more on the final teaching that Jesus gives to his disciples. In keeping with this pattern, we will do the same in this series, covering this important event over two installments.
The Preparation for the Last Supper
In this part, we will look at the preparation and the supper itself. To begin, we receive a little bit of early information as all three writers tell us that between the time of Jesus’ last teaching in Jerusalem and the when the Passover meal happens, Judas Iscariot had planned with the priests on how to betray Jesus, and hand him over to them. Matthew gives us additional details by telling us that Judas was paid thirty pieces of silver to do this. That is noteworthy, as again it fulfills prophesy.
The book of Zechariah gives us a picture in chapter 11 of the good shepherd, who comes to lead the people but instead is rejected by them, and then as a form of mockery is given a low wage of thirty pieces of silver. This price is also significant as it was a reference to the book of Exodus, where the replacement cost for accidently killing someone’s slave, was thirty pieces of silver. Jesus, the Son of God, was being betrayed by Judas for the price of a slave. Now for us reading the Bible today we have this information, but at that time none of the other disciples knew this had taken place.
Jesus Sent His Disciples to Prepare
When it came time for the Passover, Jesus again sent his disciples into the city to prepare the place where they would eat the meal together. Much like he did on the first day of the week, when he arrived at Jerusalem, he told them exactly what to look for and everything was as he said. They were able to find a guest room that was already furnished and ready for them.
Once there, we read in Luke that Jesus says to his disciples, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you, before I suffer.” There is so much going on in this scene. First, Jesus again tells his followers that he will suffer. He is referring to how he will be taken and handed over to the Romans to be crucified, but his disciples still don’t fully understand this. The significance with making this announcement now, is that they are celebrating the Passover, commemorating that time when God delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt. In that day a lamb was slain by the Israelites, and the doors of their homes marked with the lamb’s blood.
As the plague of death went through Egypt, killing all firstborn of men and animals, God said when He saw the blood he would pass over that house, and the people inside would be spared. Jesus was about to become another type of Passover lamb. His coming death would be payment for the sins of mankind, and any who believe in him, will have his blood payment applied to their sin, and God will spare them from destruction, from having to pay the penalty themselves. So, the celebration was one of mixed emotions that night for the Lord.
Judas and His Plan of Betrayal
We will remember that the disciples did not know about Judas and how he planned to betray Jesus. However, Jesus was fully aware. During the meal, he said to them “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” Naturally the disciples all question who it might be, even asking Jesus if it was themselves who might betray him. At one point Judas asks Jesus if it is him, and according to Matthew’s record, Jesus says “It is so.” It does seem that Judas asked him privately, as in John’s gospel when Jesus gives a sign to identify Judas as the betrayer, Judas then leaves, but no one knows why he leaves, and assumes that he went to get more supplies for the feast.
An Important Part of the Betrayal
Let’s look at that account from John, because it does reveal an important part of the betrayal. In John 13 Jesus is asked who it was that would betray him, and he answers, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” He then dips the bread and gives it to Judas and says to him “What you are going to do, do quickly.” There are many questions that could be asked here. If this question that was asked of Jesus was public, how did they not know? We can assume that it was asked discretely.
Why Did John not out Judas?
So then, why didn’t John out Judas right then and there? This is again unanswered in the Bible, perhaps John, the one who asked the question, recognized that Jesus wasn’t publicly or directly accusing Judas, so it was not his place to do so either. It could have also been that once Judas left, Jesus began a series of the most intimate teachings he gave to his followers, and they were all too focused on that. The morsel itself could have played a part. It was a tradition in Eastern cultures of the day for the host to give a morsel of bread as a symbol of special friendship.
Therefore, what Jesus did for Judas would have been perceived by the others a great honour. This also adds to the significance here, as Psalm 41, regarded as prophesy about the Messiah, says this in verse 9,
“Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”
We see again that everything that had been said in centuries past about the Christ, was being fulfilled in Jesus.
Jesus Teaching About the New Covenant
After this, Jesus took the bread again, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said to them.
“Take this and eat it. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Likewise, he took the wine and said,
“Drink this, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Here, Jesus is plainly revealing the purpose that he must suffer and die.
He has mentioned to them before that he would be killed, but now he is attaching a clear purpose to it, that his death would be a willing sacrifice of himself to pay the penalty of sin, so that many people could be forgiven. From the rest of scripture, we know that this forgiveness if offered to anyone who believes in Jesus, in who he is and what he did for us at the cross, and accepts his gift of salvation.
One of Two Ordinances
It also identifies for us, one of two ordinances that Jesus gave to the church, to those who would believe in him, which is to remember Jesus by coming together, and sharing bread and a cup. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, or showy, just a simple but precious time to bring to our minds and reflect on who Jesus is and what he has done for us. When you consider how much he did, and what it cost him, Jesus could have demanded so much more from us, but all he asked was for us to remember him in this simple way. 2,000 years later, billions of people in the world still meet together to remember the Lord Jesus Christ in the bread and the wine.
The sight and sound of Jesus teaching in the temple drew quite a response from the Jewish leaders of the day. What is your reponse? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.
Stephen March
Stephen March is the President of FBH International and HopeStreamRadio. He graduated from the Broadcasting Program at Niagara College in 2001, and has previously worked in television production and post-production.
Stephen lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, with his wife Corinne and their four children.
Read and hear more from Stephen March on his contributor’s page. Stephen currently has 5 Programs on HopeStreamRadio:
- Please Forgive Me
- Isolation Chronicles
- Faith By Hearing – The Twelve
- Bibles and Baseball
- Bible Tech Talk
More Podcasts Below:
More Blogs:
Palm Sunday, The Coming King, and the Last Week of Christ
Why Did Jesus Say “I Am the Bread of Life
Images courtesy of:
The Last Supper – Mironov
Judas and Jesus – Brooklyn Museum / FreeBibleimages.org.
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