The Last Supper

“This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” — Luke 22:19

It was the night of the Passover meal. All over Jerusalem, families were eating the Passover lamb, remembering the night God rescued His people from Egypt, when the blood on the doorposts kept them safe.

Jesus sat at the table with His twelve disciples. “I have really wanted to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” He told them.

While they were eating, Jesus said something that upset them all. “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray Me.”

The disciples were very sad. They looked at each other. “Surely not I, Lord?” each one said.

Judas Iscariot had already gone to the chief priests and agreed to hand Jesus over to them, for thirty silver coins. Now Judas got up and went out into the night.

Then Jesus took some bread. He gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. “This is My body, given for you,” He said. “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

After supper He took the cup of wine. “This cup is the new covenant in My blood,” He said, “which is poured out for you, for the forgiveness of sins.”

The disciples didn’t fully understand. But Jesus was telling them what was about to happen. His body would be broken. His blood would be poured out. Like the Passover lamb, He would die so that His people would be safe.

The bread and the wine would help them remember. And Christians all over the world still do this today. We call it Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. When we eat the bread and drink from the cup, we remember Jesus, who gave His body and His blood for us.

Then Jesus told Peter something sad. “Peter, before the rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you don’t know Me.”

“Lord,” said Peter, “I’m ready to go to prison with You, and even to die with You!”

But Jesus knew what would happen.

When they had sung a hymn together, they went out into the night, to the Mount of Olives.

The promise kept: Jesus is “our Passover lamb” (1 Corinthians 5:7). And when He spoke of “the new covenant”, He meant the promise God made through the prophet Jeremiah: “the days are coming ... when I will make a new covenant,” a promise to forgive sins and remember them no more (Hebrews 8:8; Jeremiah 31:34).

Read it in your Bible: Luke 22:7–23, 31–34; Matthew 26:17–30

Dear Jesus, thank you that you gave your body and your blood for me. Help me always to remember what you did for me. Amen.