Slices
Prepare
‘Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me’ (Psalm 41:9). Reflect on these words as you read today’s passage.
Bible passage
The Last Supper
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?’
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, ‘Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, “The Teacher asks: where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.’
16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me – one who is eating with me.’
19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, ‘Surely you don’t mean me?’
20 ‘It is one of the Twelve,’ he replied, ‘one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.’
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them. 25 ‘Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Explore
Eating, for most, is one of the great pleasures in life. It is a great way to share of ourselves with someone else – not simply in providing nourishing food, but ourselves in conversation and to get to know others.
Our verses note that the disciples were ‘reclining at the table eating’ (v 18), when Jesus comes out with his extraordinary notice of betrayal. Pressed, Jesus says it will be the ‘one who dips bread into the bowl with me’ (v 20). Being any of them, it is significant that Jesus does not name the betrayer. He has no need as he lays out the consequences before him, almost as a warning.
And yet, ‘While they were eating...’ (v 22). The meal continues. Despite his betrayer being present Jesus turns no one away and everyone still eats at his table. All of them knew they fell short of Jesus’ godly standards. The betrayer could have been any one of them, and yet Jesus continues to allow them to eat with him.
What encouragement for us, asked to remember the Lord Jesus in broken bread and wine! Even sinners are welcome at the Lord’s table.
Respond
Do I ever fear Jesus’ rejection? ‘Lord Jesus, help me never to be afraid to come and share my life with you, as you share yourself with me. Amen.’
Deeper Bible study
Reflect on the meaning of the Lord’s Supper for you.
Just as at his symbolic entrance to Jerusalem,1 so now Jesus sends two disciples to prepare the Passover meal. It seems that Jesus had contacts in Jerusalem and there were unnamed people there who would have recognised him as their Master. The Passover setting places the meal in the continuity of Jewish history, but it goes beyond that. The Exodus was God’s great work of redemption for the Jewish people. It established them as his people and revealed an active, powerful God. The work of Christ on the cross is the new Exodus, as he leads his people out of the captivity of sin into a new life with him. It is now not just for Israel, but for ‘many’ (v 24).
In his words to the disciples, Jesus looks forward. He speaks of the bread as his body without further explanation, but the wine is clearly designated as his blood of the covenant. This is the new covenant about which Jeremiah had spoken.2 The Exodus covenant was ratified by the Israelites being sprinkled with the blood of sacrifice,3 but the Christian believer in the saving work of Jesus will partake in his death by eating bread and drinking wine. Jesus looks forward to the consummation of all things and to drinking new wine at the great feast of rejoicing when the whole harvest is safely home.
We may picture Jesus and his disciples singing a hymn – probably the second part of the Hallel, Psalms 105–108 – and reflecting on the words as they walk to Gethsemane. At some point Judas will have slipped away. The whole symbolism of the meal and the words spoken by Jesus about the one handing him over have had no effect. What brings life to others brings death to Judas. He remains an awful warning to all.
Read at least one of the psalms that make up the Hallel and reflect on Jesus singing them at this time.
1 Mark 11:2 2 Jer 31:31–34 3 Exod 24:8
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Deuteronomy 33,34; Romans 9
Pray for Scripture Union
Development worker Helen Franklin asks us to pray for the follow-on to the Higher mission in north Wales. Local churches were running groups for each school that was involved, but of course these have had to stop. Pray for creative solutions to continue that contact, and thank God that nothing physical stops him meeting with every person.
