The Last Supper.

Judas seeks to betray Jesus.

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover: The time is significant, because at Passover Jerusalem was also crowded with Messiah-expecting multitudes.

Because it was a major feast, many of the people who had heard and seen Jesus in the region of Galilee were in Jerusalem. They generally had respect and great expectation for Jesus and His ministry.

For they feared the people: The chief priests and the scribes did not fear God, but they did fear the people. They were not afraid to kill the Son of God; they just had to find a politically smart way to do it.

 Satan entered Judas: Satan prompted and perhaps even guided Judas in his crime. This does not diminish Judas’ personal responsibility because none of this was done against the will of Judas, but with it. This shows that the real enemy of Jesus was Satan, even more than Judas was an enemy.

Many have wondered about the motives of Judas; some have even said that he might have had a noble motive, such as wanting to put Jesus in circumstances where He had to show Himself as Messiah. The Bible indicates no such praiseworthy intention.

 Judas, surnamed Iscariot: The name Iscariot may mean that he was from Kerioth, a city in southern Judea. This would make Judas the only Judean among the other disciples, who were all Galileans. Some wonder if Judas resented the leadership of the Galilean fishermen among the disciples, and finally had enough of it. Others think the name Iscariot is linked to the word sicarius, meaning “assassin” – a connection to the Jewish zealots who carried out underground warfare against the Roman occupiers.

It may well be that Judas followed Jesus from selfish motives, expecting to receive a position of great status and prestige when Jesus came triumphantly to Jerusalem as Messiah. When Jesus came and it was evident that He was not going to be the kind of Messiah Judas had hoped for, he may have lashed out against Jesus and opened this door to Satan out of spite. Jesus didn’t give Judas what his selfish heart wanted, so Judas felt his ties to Jesus were broken. In essence, Judas may have said, “You betrayed me by not being the kind of Messiah I wanted. So I will betray You.”

They were glad, and agreed to give him money: Matthew 26:14-16 says that Judas asked them, What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you? This shows that Judas approached them and asked for a price. This points to the motivation of simple greed.

One may also think about Satan’s motive. The death of Jesus on the cross was the great defeat of Satan; why did the devil steer things towards that course? Yet, Satan is not all-knowing; perhaps he did not know how these events would turn against him. Nevertheless, Satan knows the Bible, so he should have known.

A better explanation is the fact that Satan is not all-wise; even if he did know that the death of Jesus would crush his head (Genesis 3:15), his hatred got the best of him. Since Satan is the great deceiver, he has no doubt deceived himself and may actually believe that he could or can win over Jesus.

 So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him: God would use the wicked works of Judas to further His eternal plan. This was the appointed time for Jesus to go to the cross, but before Judas’ treachery the religious leaders did not intend to do it at the time out of a fear of the people.

Preparations for the Passover.

 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?” And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.” So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread: This must have been a very moving commemoration for Jesus. Passover remembers the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, which was the central act of redemption in the Old Testament. Jesus now provided a new center of redemption to be remembered by a new ceremonial meal.

“The phrase ‘the day of unleavened bread’ is a generic description of the week-long feast… It originally celebrated the beginning of harvest, but later was combined with Passover.” (Pate)

A man… carrying a pitcher: This was an unusual sight, because carrying a pitcher was typically a woman’s work, and generally men carried liquids in animal’s skin containers. This would be a distinctive sign to the disciples.

The Teacher says to you: The scene here implies secrecy, and Jesus had good reason to quietly make arrangements for Passover. He didn’t want Judas to betray Him before He could give a final talk to the disciples.

 Eat the Passover with My disciples: The mention of Passover brings up complicated issues of the precise calendar chronology of these events. The main complicating issue is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke present this meal Jesus will have with His disciples as the Passover meal normally eaten with lamb which was sacrificed on the day of Passover with a great ceremony at the temple. Yet John seems to indicate that the meal took place before the Passover (John 13:1), and that Jesus was actually crucified on the Passover (John 18:28).

“Possibly the best explanation is that there were different calendars in use. Jesus died as the Passover victims were being slain according to the official calendar; but he had held the Passover with his followers the previous evening, according to an unofficial calendar.” (Morris)

A similar solution is suggested by Adam Clarke: “It is a common opinion that our Lord ate the Passover some hours before the Jews ate it; for the Jews, according to custom, ate theirs at the end of the fourteenth day, but Christ ate his the preceding even, which was the beginning of the same sixth day, or Friday; the Jews begin their day at sunsetting, we at midnight. Thus Christ ate the Passover on the same day with the Jews, but not on the same hour.”

None of the synoptic gospels mention a lamb at the Passover meal. This may be because they could not obtain one before the official day of Passover. In addition, Jesus may have wanted it this way, to emphasize the idea that He was the Passover sacrifice.

Jesus eats the Passover with His disciples.

 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

 With fervent desire I have desired: This was a passionate moment for Jesus. It wasn’t so much that He was saying goodbye to His disciples, as much as now He arrived at the central reason why He came to man: to institute a new covenant with men, based on His own sacrifice. This was not the beginning of the end; it was the beginning of the beginning.

 He took the cup: In the following verses Luke tells us Jesus also took the cup after supper (Luke 22:20). It seems that Jesus took the cup both before and after the bread. According to the customs of a Passover dinner, this was nothing unusual – there were normally four different cups of wine ceremonially sipped during the meal.

 I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes: Jesus has not yet celebrated a Passover in heaven. He is waiting for all His people to be gathered to Him, then there will be a great supper, known as the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). This is the fulfillment in the kingdom of God Jesus longs for.

Jesus reinterprets Passover, instituting the New Covenant.

 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

 He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them: When the bread was lifted up at Passover, the head of the meal said: “This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let everyone who hungers come and eat; let everyone who is needy come and eat the Passover meal.” Everything eaten at the Passover meal had symbolic meaning. The bitter herbs recalled the bitterness of slavery; the salt water remembered the tears shed under Egypt’s oppression. The main course of the meal – a lamb freshly sacrificed for that particular household – did not symbolize anything connected to the agonies of Egypt. It was the sin-bearing sacrifice that allowed the judgment of God to pass over the household that believed.

The Passover created a nation; a slave mob was freed from Egypt and became a nation. This new Passover also creates a people; those united in Jesus Christ, remembering and trusting His sacrifice.

This is My body which is given for you… This cup is the new covenant in My blood: Jesus didn’t give the normal explanation of the meaning of each of the foods. He reinterpreted them in Himself, and the focus was no longer on the suffering of Israel in Egypt, but on the sin-bearing suffering of Jesus on their behalf.

“The words ‘this is my body’ had no place in the Passover ritual; and as an innovation, they must have had a stunning effect, an effect that would grow with the increased understanding gained after Easter.” (Carson)

This is how we remember what Jesus did for us. As we eat the bread, we should remember how Jesus was broken, pierced, and beaten with stripes for our redemption. As we drink the cup, we should remember that His blood, His life was poured out on Calvary for us.

This is how we fellowship with Jesus. Because His redemption has reconciled us to God, we can now sit down to a meal with Jesus, and enjoy each other’s company.

This is My body which is given for you… This cup is the new covenant in My blood: The precise understanding of these words from Jesus have been the source of great theological controversy among Christians.

The Roman Catholic Church holds the idea of transubstantiation, which teaches that the bread and the wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.

Martin Luther held the idea of consubstantiation, which teaches the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine, but by faith they are the same as Jesus’ actual body. Luther did not believe in the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but he did not go far from it.

John Calvin taught that Jesus’ presence in the bread and wine is real, but only spiritual, not physical. Zwingli taught that the bread and wine are significant symbols that represent the body and blood of Jesus. When the Swiss Reformers debated the issue with Martin Luther at Marburg, there was a huge contention. Luther insisted on some kind of physical presence because Jesus said, “this is My body.” He insisted over and over again, writing it on the velvet of the table, Hoc est corpus meum – “this is My body” in Latin. Zwingli replied, “Jesus also said I am the vine,” and “I am the door,” but we understand what He was saying. Luther replied, “I don’t know, but if Christ told me to eat dung I would do it knowing that it was good for me.” Luther was so strong on this because he saw it as an issue of believing Christ’s words; and because he thought Zwingli was compromising, he said he was of another spirit (andere geist).

Scripturally, we can understand that the bread and the cup are not mere symbols, but they are powerful pictures to partake of, to enter into, as we see the Lord’s Table as the new Passover.

“Let the papists and Lutherans say what they can, here must be two figures acknowledged in these words. The cup here is put for the wine in the cup; and the meaning of these words, this is my blood of the new testament, must be, this wine is the sign of the new covenant. Why they should not as readily acknowledge a figure in these words, This is my body, I cannot understand.” (Poole)

“What is certain is that Jesus bids us commemorate, not his birth, nor his life, nor his miracles, but his death.” (Carson)

This cup is the new covenant in my blood: Remarkably, Jesus announced the institution of a new covenant. No mere man could ever institute a new covenant between God and man, but Jesus is the God-man. He has the authority to establish a new covenant, sealed with blood, even as the old covenant was sealed with blood (Exodus 24:8).

The new covenant concerns an inner transformation that cleanses us from all sin: For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jeremiah 31:34). This transformation puts God’s Word and will in us: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). This covenant is all about a new, close relationship with God: I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jeremiah 31:33).

We can say that the blood of Jesus made the new covenant possible, and it also made it sure and reliable. It is confirmed with the life of God Himself.