As opposition mounts to Jesus’s ministry, Jesus decides to spend time privately with His closest disciples, sharing with them the most important occasion of the Jewish year, the Passover supper. During this meal, they remember God’s rescue of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. Like many other Jews, they have traveled to Jerusalem so that they can share the Passover meal within the walls of their holy city, in proximity to the Temple, the focus of their worship of God. Since they are staying at Bethany, just outside the city, they need to find a room in which to share the meal. Jesus sends Peter and John, two of His disciples, to make the arrangements for the feast. “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they ask (Luke 22:9). Jesus tells them that as they enter the city, they will find a man carrying a jar of water, quite an unusual sight in an age when this was considered to be a woman’s task. They are to follow him back to the house and say to the owner: “The Teacher asks: ‘Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’” (Luke 22:11). Jesus tells the two disciples that they will then be shown to a large upper room, where they can prepare for the meal.

Peter and John go to the city, and find everything just as Jesus has said. They buy all the elements that make the meal a reminder of their ancestors’ escape from Egypt: unleavened bread, roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and wine.

A Flemish miniature by Simon Bening (c.1525–30) shows Jesus preparing to wash the feet of His disciple Peter, an act normally performed by a servant.

The table is set

Later that day, Jesus and the rest of the disciples arrive at the room to share the meal. A low table is set, and Jesus and the disciples recline around it, in the customary way. Stone jars filled with water stand by the door, so that guests can wash their dusty feet before sitting down. Usually, this task is done for them by a servant, but to their surprise, the disciples watch as Jesus strips off His robe, ties a towel around His waist, and begins to wash their feet.

Peter is horrified: “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” he asks (John 13:6). In answer, Jesus tells the disciple that unless he allows his feet to be washed by Him, Peter will not be able to share the meal with Jesus, or all it symbolizes. Jesus is setting His disciples an example here, turning the usual expectations of greatness on their head. Jesus, their honored leader, is humbly serving them by washing their feet, an act that symbolizes a spiritual cleansing. All that Jesus is about to face in the next 24 hours can be understood as Him serving them in the ultimate way—His sacrifice will cleanse the stain of sin from their lives.

Preparing the disciples

As they eat bitter herbs and roasted lamb and remember God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, Jesus alludes to the significance of the occasion. “I have eagerly desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer,” He says (Luke 22:15), knowing that this will be the last meal with His disciples before His opponents lay hands on Him. As they share one of the traditional cups of wine around the table, Jesus notes with foreboding that He will not eat this meal with them again “until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:18). Just as the Israelites have shared a last meal in Egypt before their divinely ordained rescue and journey to freedom, so this is Jesus’s last meal before the events that will bring about a new freedom for the world in the kingdom of God. Taking the unleavened bread, Jesus lifts it up and thanks God for it, tears it apart, and then passes it to each of His disciples. “This is my body,” He says, “given for you; do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Then, pouring out another cup of wine, He raises it in blessing, and gives it to them to share around: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20).

Herod’s Jerusalem

A model of Herod’s Temple shows what it might have looked like. The Temple was 164 feet (50m) high and stood on the highest hill in Jerusalem.

Seeking to establish his reputation as Israel’s ruler despite his association with the Roman overlords, Herod the Great, King of Judea (37–4 BCE), decided to refurbish the Second Temple. He aimed to nearly double its overall footprint with a vast paved court, and this work was still ongoing during the time of Jesus. According to historian Flavius Josephus (c.37–100 CE), the Temple was “like a snow-clad mountain for all that was not gold was gleaming white.” Situated alongside the Temple walls was the Antonia Fortress, which Herod built to house the occupying armies. Other major sites included his palace, the Praetorium, and the home of the Roman governor.

Jerusalem’s population around this time is estimated at 40,000, though at festival times, pilgrims coming into the city to worship could increase that number to about 250,000. However, many of these visitors would not find accommodation in the city; instead, they would look for rooms in nearby villages—such as Bethany, where Jesus and His disciples stayed.

Foretelling His death

With the words, “This is my body” and “This is my blood,” Jesus brings a deeper significance to the Passover meal. He foretells that He will soon give Himself up for others, and during this last meal with His disciples, He warns them about the events that are about to unfold: Jesus’s arrest and trial, His crucifixion, and, after three days, His resurrection. The Gospels make it clear that these are not events that will befall Jesus unexpectedly; rather, they are part of God’s plan. They are integral to His new covenant with humanity, which will be sealed by the sacrifice of His only son.

Jesus has used the familiar Passover meal to teach His disciples about His impending death. Since Moses’s day, the lamb at the Passover meal had been a reminder of the blood of the lamb that the Israelites painted on the doorposts of their houses so that God’s angel would “pass over” their homes and only bring destruction to the Egyptian overlords. Now Jesus is offering Himself up as a new Passover lamb, a perfect lamb in accordance with God’s instructions to Moses. The goblet of wine symbolizing the blood of His sacrifice introduces the New Covenant—the promise of eternal life through Christ—foretold by Jeremiah (31:31–34).

Judas leaves

During the Passover meal, Jesus also explains to His disciples that one of them will betray Him to the authorities and trigger the events that will lead to His crucifixion. According to John, this too has been foretold: “This is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me’” (John 13:18).

As the evening goes on, one disciple fulfills this prophecy. Judas Iscariot makes his excuses and leaves, because he has made arrangements to betray Jesus later that night. The remaining disciples continue with their evening of food, drink, prayer, and storytelling, until, after a final hymn, they make their way to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.

Everlasting sacrament

Importantly, Jesus does not envisage His last supper as being a one-off occasion for His disciples. Just like the Passover meal, it will serve as a reminder to Jesus’s followers of the significance of His life and death. As the first Christians gather in the days following Jesus’s resurrection and ascension to heaven, they share this meal together, joyfully remembering that Jesus’s death has brought them life. Unlike Passover, which is celebrated once a year, the Last Supper will be shared more frequently, even weekly in some church traditions.

Today, the Last Supper remains a vital part of the life of the Church and is one of its “sacraments”—special activities that convey God’s profound truth through physical actions. There are many ways of celebrating the Last Supper; some are highly formal, while others are intimate and informal. In some traditions, the ritual is called “communion,” because it is a sharing with Jesus; in Catholicism, it is called “mass,” from the Latin words Ite, missa est, the dismissal, the concluding rite of the Eucharist during the medieval period.

What all forms of the Eucharist share is their connection to the meal that Jesus shared with His disciples that final night before His betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion. The Last Supper reveals the deeper significance of Jesus’s crucifixion and shows that He was well aware of His impending confrontation with the forces of evil and death. As Jesus says in John 10:18, He gives His life freely: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Judas Iscariot (fifth from left) leans back in shadow, his face turned away, in Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. This 19th-century copy of the painting is by Michael Kock.

See also: Covenants • The Passover • The Baptism of Jesus • The Crucifixion • The Day of Pentecost