ZPCBlog

About the author: Jennifer Cross is a 20-year member of ZPC and a current Deacon serving on the Community Assistance Ministry Team. She has also served in the past during VBS and as a Sunday School teacher.  Jennifer and her husband Pat have 3 adult children: Lauren, Mitch, and Lily.  Other hobbies include hiking, reading, and traveling with family and friends.

Luke 22: 14-28

The Last Supper

Jesus Eats the Passover with his Apostles

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

Conversations Around the Table

A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered.

He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.” The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

Devotional

In Luke 22: 14-38 we meet Jesus and his disciples in the upper room where Peter and John have prepared the Passover meal. Jesus served the bread and wine explaining that it symbolized his body to be broken and his blood which soon would be shed. “Do this in remembrance of me.” 

Jesus would become the Passover Lamb: the new covenant instituted through his death and resurrection. 

At the Last Supper, Jesus is not the guest, but rather the host. Jesus is the subject of all the events. “He took...He blessed...He broke...He gave.” Jesus came to be the servant.

I was thinking about this passage during a walk and was reminded of our friends who have a tradition of inviting guests to sign the bottom of their kitchen table.  The underside of this farmhouse table is covered with black marker signatures of family, friends, and neighbors. I imagine that night in the upper room, the Last Supper table was the same. A table where we are all invited to leave the duties of life, pull up a chair, sign our names and enter this sacred sacrament. Friends, neighbors, relatives, acquaintances. Even the ones who betray him.

Prayer

Dear God,
We are grateful that when the bread is broken, and the wine is poured that our burdens are lifted because it is you who serves us and gives us eternal hope. Thank you for your love and faithfulness. Thank you for your sacrifice and eternal life.
Amen

Share