TEXT [Commentary]

4. The Last Supper (14:12-26; cf. Matt 26:17-30; Luke 22:7-20; John 13:21-30)

12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”

13 So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 15 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 As they were at the table[*] eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.”

19 Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”

20 He replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man[*] must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

22 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”

23 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant[*] between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. 25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”

26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

NOTES

14:12 Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal? Mark notes that this conversation took place on the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This description reflects the fact that Passover and Unleavened Bread (which followed it immediately) were treated as one holiday season (so Josephus War 5.99). So the day is Passover night-day, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed. For the details of a Passover meal, see m. Pesahim 10:1-7; other elements of procuring the sacrifice are in m. Pesahim 1:1-3.

14:13 a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. This key instruction communicated Jesus’ awareness of events. He knew where the meal would be held and how the disciples could meet the person who would arrange it.

14:14 The Teacher asks. The second key instruction was about the owner of the room. All that would be needed was to indicate that “the Teacher” had a need and the room would be provided. It was there that they would eat the Passover meal.

14:15 to a large room. Since this “large upper room” was already prepared for the meal, it appears that Jesus had already planned for the meal to be in this place.

14:16 So the two disciples went . . . and found everything just as Jesus had said. Jesus was very aware of what was taking place. The disciples prepared the meal in this room.

14:17 In the evening. Mark makes it clear that this was an evening meal like a Passover meal (Exod 12:8). Normal meals started earlier. If this was a Passover meal, it would have four courses/cups and last until almost midnight (see m. Pesahim 10:1-6, 9; Lane 1974:501-502). The four cups occur (1) with the preliminary course to bless the Passover day, (2) after an explaination of Passover and the singing of some of the Hallel psalms [Pss 113–118], (3) following the meal of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs, and (4) following the concluding portion of the Hallel (Bock 1996:1722-1723). It is not clear which cup exactly is meant given that only one cup is mentioned in Matthew and Mark (while Luke mentions two). However, an early cup is likely with the bread being a part of the third course.

14:19 Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?” The disciples understood; in distress, each inquired if it might be he. A narrative gap that the reading urges us to fill is what it must have been like for Judas, as each one around the room asked the question. The question is asked in Gr. with an interrogative that expects a negative reply. Each of them was seeking assurance that he was not the one.

14:20 It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. Jesus indicated that the candidate was one of those around him, sharing his bowl. The Passover meal had a common bowl, probably the one in which the sauce for the bitter herbs was placed (Cranfield 1959:424).

14:21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. Divine design and human accountability come together here. The Gr. says that the Son of Man “goes as it is written of him,” a theme introduced earlier in Mark (8:31; 9:12). The NLT’s “how terrible” concretely conveys the meaning of the “woe” Jesus uttered about the fate of his betrayer (on “woe,” see EDNT 540). The mention of Scripture in connection with Jesus’ inevitable death echoes texts like Luke 24:43-47 and 1 Cor 15:1-3.

14:23 he took a cup of wine. It is not clear which cup of the meal this was, but the purpose of the third cup was to praise God for bringing salvation to his people, so it is a possible candidate according to Lane (1974:506). Others argue that it was an earlier cup, assuming that the bread was a part of the meal after the second cup. Both views assume that a Passover meal was being celebrated. It is hard to know which cup is meant. Luke indicates that Jesus had multiple cups but refused to drink after this cup was taken, leaving his final cup of the meal untouched. France (2002:569) sees this as possible.

14:24 This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. The NLT has a good explanatory rendering of the Gr., which reads, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many.” “The many” are those who believe in Jesus. Evans (2001:386-387) suggests precedent for such thinking in Judaism from 4 Macc 1:11b; 17:21b-22; 18:3-4; 2 Macc 7:33, 37-38; Testament of Moses 9:6b–10:1; Liber antiquitatum biblicarum 18:5; and other Jewish texts. He also notes (2001:390-391) how the breaking of the bread could suggest the hope of the Messiah; a portion of the unleavened bread eaten at Passover was known as the afikomen in reference to “the one who comes” (i.e. the Messiah). This symbolism, if it has such a background, would soften the image of eating the body and drinking the blood.

14:26 they sang a hymn. The Hallel psalms (Pss 113–118; Lane 1974:501-502) were sung at the Passover meal. As Jesus and his disciples proceeded to the Mount of Olives, they were singing these praises to God. Jesus’ death would be painful, but God could be praised for what was about to occur.

COMMENTARY [Text]

There is a problem of chronology between the Synoptic Gospels and John’s Gospel. Mark is clear that this was a Passover meal, while John suggests that the Passover lambs were sacrificed the next afternoon when Jesus was crucified (John 13:1; 18:28; 19:14, 31, 42). Various solutions to the problem have been proposed. (1) It is possible that John was discussing the sacrifices of the Passover season that were offered during the week (so argues Lane 1974:497-498). If this is correct, then both Gospels are right but are referring to different sacrifices of that holiday season. (2) Evans (2001:370-372) favors Jesus eating a solemn meal that still had a Passover feel by its being proximate to the Passover, while opting for John’s chronology. (3) France (2002:559-562) argues that Mark and John are both correct in that Jesus presented the meal as if it were a Passover meal and that Mark was calculating days in a sunset to sunset mode, so that the sacrifice was made after sunset on the same night it was consumed and on the same day as the bulk of sacrifices for the Passover from the next afternoon. It is hard to be sure which view is correct, although France’s view may have the most merit.

As the meal begins, a powerful juxtaposition emerges. One of his own would betray Jesus, in an act of treachery designed to derail him. Jesus bluntly said, “One of you eating with me here will betray me” (14:18). Jesus knew what was taking place. The announcement adds a somber tone to the meal, making it clear to the disciples later that Jesus was not caught off guard and that he hadn’t made any attempt to stop what was taking place. Thus Jesus said, “For the Son of Man must die, as the Scripture declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him” (14:21). Divine design and human accountability come together here. There was a divine plan that the chosen judge must suffer first, but the one who betrayed him was responsible for his actions. Jesus said, “It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!” Here is a declaration of judgment. Judas had met the Lord, ministered at his side, and made a decision that Jesus was not who he claimed to be. To betray the Son of Man to whom God gives authority is the most calamitous error.

The scene then shifts to what is known as the “Last Supper.” “Jesus took some bread and blessed it . . . broke it . . . and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘Take it, for this is my body’ ” (14:22). Jesus made the meal into something about himself, which shows his personal authority. Especially if this is the Passover meal, it shows that Jesus could associate himself with the most sacred liturgical parts of Judaism and transform them. Even if the meal only evoked the Passover, the same point is implied (Hooker 1991:341). In the Passover meal, this would be the bread of affliction (Hooker 1991:340; but see discussion of 14:24 for another possible option for Passover background). Placed in a Passover context, this imagery would be very explicit. Jesus pointed to another time of suffering.

Jesus took the unleavened bread and symbolically associated it with his body. What had referred to the deliverance from Egypt now referred to a new deliverance (m. Pesahim 10:5). Their partaking of the bread identified them with Jesus and with what Jesus was about to do for them in his death. The idea here is not very different from John’s image of Jesus as the “bread of life” (John 6:16-59).

Then Jesus “took a cup of wine . . . gave thanks . . . gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, ‘This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many’ ” (14:23-24). Drinking the cup signified this relationship and associated it with the “pouring out” of Jesus’ very life as a sacrifice that established fresh covenantal grounds for relationship to God. The symbolic drinking of blood was a shocking image that indicated the unusual nature of the sacrifice. The “blood of the covenant” evokes Exodus 24:6 in a fresh way. The parallel in Luke 22:20 names this as the “new” covenant, with its provision of forgiveness and the law written “on their hearts,” the inner work of God through the Spirit (Jer 31:31-33). “Many” indicates that the work is not applied to all, but only to those who associate themselves with Jesus’ work by faith (evoking Isa 53:11-12; Mark 10:45).

At the end of the meal Jesus said, “I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God” (14:25). Here Jesus looked to the consummation that his death would provide. There would be a banquet celebration to recreate this meal in the Kingdom (Isa 25:6; Matt 8:11; Luke 14:15; Rev 19:9) and he looked forward to that day. The church’s celebration at the Lord’s Table also looks forward to that day, as we proclaim “the Lord’s death until he comes again” (1 Cor 11:26). There will be a period of great celebration when Jesus’ work is complete.

The Last Supper portrays the disciples’ connection with Jesus’ death. By partaking of bread and drinking the wine, the participants identified with Jesus’ death to the core of their being. Passover yields to Calvary as deliverance comes again. Those who realize it are born again into a relationship of divine forgiveness and enablement though the gift of the Spirit to indwell and empower the person to righteousness. That is what Jesus saw in the meal. As the book of Hebrews later puts it, it was for the joy set before him that he endured the shame of the cross (Heb 12:2). The meal celebrates the pain he took to get to the joy.

The church has debated how the symbolism of this sacred meal works. Do the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus in a mysterious transformation, as Roman Catholicism teaches (known as transubstanitiation)? Or, is the presence of Jesus somehow all around the elements without physically changing them as Luther argued (consubstantiation)? Or is the meal merely a symbolic memorial, with the language and ritual intended to picture Jesus’ work, as many other movements of the Reformation, such as that of Zwingli, argued (memorial view)? The text of this scene does not answer such questions but a view close to the second seems most likely: Both of the first two views argue that when Jesus said the bread and wine were his body and blood, he was using the language of liturgical mystery rather than mere symbolism, yet the idea of the elements becoming Christ seems too crass. It is clear that something makes this meal very sacred, yet the Old Testament prescribes acts that are rich in significant symbolism. What can be affirmed, regardless of the view taken, is that Jesus changed the liturgy of events tied to the Exodus and reimaged them to apply to himself. His presence at this sacred meal as the church regularly observes it is certain.