Matthew · New Testament · Matthew 26:17–30
The Last Supper
The Story
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus asking where He wanted them to prepare the Passover meal, and Jesus sent them into the city with precise and detailed instructions — revealing once again His complete foreknowledge of every detail of what was unfolding. When evening came Jesus reclined at the table with His twelve disciples, and in the middle of the meal made the stunning and sorrowful announcement that one of those sitting with Him — one who had dipped his hand into the same bowl — would betray Him. The disciples were deeply grieved and began asking one by one whether they were the one, and Jesus confirmed that it was the one who would dip bread with Him, adding the sobering declaration that it would have been better for that man if he had never been born. Judas himself then asked whether he was the one, and Jesus answered him quietly and directly — confirming that he had said it himself. Jesus then took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples — telling them that this was His body — and then took the cup, gave thanks, and passed it to them, declaring that this was His blood of the new covenant poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins, and that He would not drink of the fruit of the vine again until He drank it new with them in His Father's Kingdom. They then sang a hymn together and went out to the Mount of Olives — a moment of tender and heartbreaking beauty as Jesus moved with His disciples toward the darkest night any of them had ever faced.
The Message
The Last Supper transformed the ancient Passover meal — which commemorated Israel's deliverance from Egypt through the blood of a lamb — into the Lord's Supper, with Jesus revealing Himself as the true Passover Lamb whose body and blood would purchase forgiveness and establish a new and everlasting covenant between God and all who believe.