LUKE 22:1 – 46: THE LAST SUPPER

© Rosemary Bardsley 2025

Chapters 22 to 24 are mostly historical narrative reporting the final events – Judas’ arrangement to betray Jesus, the last supper, Jesus’ prayer, Jesus’ arrest, Peter’s denial, the trials, the crucifixion and burial, and the resurrection and post-resurrection appearances. We will look at Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial in the next study.

A. THE LAST SUPPER – Luke 22:7 – 38

The original instructions for the feast of Unleavened Bread/Passover are found in Exodus 12 and summarized in Leviticus 23:4 – 8.

The annual Passover feast commemorated two historic events that occurred on the night of the original Passover: (1) the angel of death passed over the Israelite homes when he saw the blood of a perfect lamb applied to their doorways; (2) God brought the Israelite slaves out of Egypt. A two-fold redemption occurred on that one night: redemption of the firstborn from death, and redemption of the Israelites from slavery.

This ritual was an annual reminder of God’s historical redemptive action. But, as Jesus indicated when he celebrated the Passover with his disciples, it was also a predictive symbol of his death:

The Passover bread symbolized his physical body which was killed. The Passover cup symbolized his shed blood. The entire ritual pointed ahead to a far greater redemption: he, the perfect human, died so that those who believe in him can be set free from spiritual death (separation from God) and from spiritual slavery (bondage to sin and Satan).

Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 22:15 ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’ This was the final predictive Passover – the final death of an animal substitute to obtain the forgiveness of sins necessary to secure the life of others. When we study the Scriptures we realize that this death, the death of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), existed as a reality in God’s mind before the first Passover lambs were slain in Exodus; and even before that (Revelation 13:8). When Jesus said that he had been eagerly desired to eat this final Passover, that longing, that saving plan of the triune God, had been in place before the world began (1Peter 1:18 – 20). And now, on this very day, Jesus would suffer: he would die as our substitute, the one real substitute of whom all previous substitutes were mere shadows.

There is also another aspect of what Jesus said here that takes us back into the history of God’s dealings with Israel. In Luke 22:20 called the cup ‘the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’. The concept of ‘covenant’ permeates the Old Testament, where we read of covenants with Noah, Abraham (Isaac & Jacob), and David. We also read of the covenant established at Sinai. But all of these covenants are secondary and servants to the ultimate covenant for which they all prepared the way. The prophets called this ‘a new covenant’ (Jeremiah 31:31 - 34), an ‘everlasting covenant’ (Isaiah 55:3; Ezekiel 37:26), a ‘covenant of peace’. This covenant, Jesus says, is ‘in my blood’ – the blood that he knew would be shed before the next sunset. The new covenant, anticipated by and fulfilling all previous covenants, is about to be established.

Read Luke 22:7 – 20. Answer these questions:
What do you think Jesus meant by ‘the kingdom of God’ in verses16 & 17?

According to Jesus in verse 19, why do we eat the bread in a Communion service?

According to verse 20, what does the cup remind us of?

How do you regard the Lord’s Supper/Holy Communion – as a formal ritual duty? Or as a powerful reminder of the love and grace of our Saviour?

Judas was still at the table when Jesus instituted Holy Communion and gave it to his disciples, and Jesus knew that he was about to betray him. What does this say to churches that tell Christians not to take Communion if there is sin in their hearts?

Is Holy Communion a message of grace to sinners, or a privilege for the ‘righteous’? Explain your answer.

A.1 The kingdom of God – 22:16, 17
In Jesus’ two references to ‘the kingdom of God’ he is talking about something still future. We have seen several times in Luke that, although the kingdom is present wherever Jesus is, and wherever his gospel is preached, and although the kingdom can be entered in this present era, and is already ours in this present era, there is a significant future aspect of the ‘kingdom’.

The consensus of opinion is that Jesus is here referring to the final, future kingdom of God, that is, to the new heavens and new earth, the eternal state in which there is permanent, face-to-face fellowship with God. Matthew reports that Jesus said ‘I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom’ (Matthew 26:29).

Hendriksen paraphrases Matthew’s statement: ‘”until in the kingdom of my Father ... I shall enter into everlasting, festive fellowship with you.”’ He comments: ‘then both Passover and eucharist will reach their fruition. ... We see, therefore, that communion not only points back to what Jesus Christ has done for us but also forward to what he is still going to mean for us. “Drinking new wine in my Father’s kingdom” in all probability must be interpreted as a symbol for the glorious reunion and never-ending festivities awaiting the children of God in the hereafter. ’ (p911f, The Gospel of Matthew, Baker, 1973).

Leon Morris comments on Matthew: ‘Jesus is looking forward to the end of this world system and the setting up of the perfect kingdom of God. Then, and not till then, he will have table fellowship with the little group. The words mark a solemn farewell to the familiar intercourse they had been having during the time of Jesus’ ministry here on earth, but also are a sure indication that at some unspecified time in the future that fellowship will be renewed.’ (p662, The Gospel According to Matthew, IVP, 1992.

Paul, perhaps with these words of Jesus in mind, teaches us that when we partake of communion we ‘proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’ – 1Corinthians 11:26.

But access to that kingdom, to all aspects of the kingdom both present and future, is only available because of the death that Jesus is about to suffer. In his death God’s plan of salvation, set in place before the creation of the world, is about to be brought to its completion. Without this sin-bearing death no one is qualified to inherit the kingdom; without this death we remain under the dominion of Satan. (See Colossians 1:12 – 14; 2:13 - 15)

B. THE DISCIPLES’ FAILURES – Luke 22:23 – 46

B.1The first failure –Luke 22:1 - 6
We will look more fully at Judas and his failure in the next study. His biggest and definitive failure was his failure to believe that Jesus Christ was the One he claimed to be, and that Jesus’ words not only about himself, but about the nature of his kingdom, were true. His failure was an expression of his unbelief.

But the other eleven believed, as Peter confessed on their behalf on two reported occasions – Luke 9:20 and John 6:68, 69. Their failures here in Luke 22 were neither fatal nor final.

B.2 The second failure – Luke 22:23 – 30
When Jesus told them that one of the twelve was about to betray him, the disciples started discussing which of them it might be. That seems to have led to a bit of bragging which resulted in a dispute about who was greatest.

We have already seen that Jesus’ teaching and example outlaws our human quest for power and position. And even here at the last Passover, according to John, we see Jesus demonstrating the servant heart.

What do these verses say about this?
Luke 9:46 – 48:

Luke 18:15 – 17:

John 13:2 – 17:

Luke 22:25 – 26:

Luke 22:27:

There is ultimate greatness for these faithful apostles, but it is not in this world; it is in an as yet future kingdom (Luke 22:28 – 30).

B.3 The third failure – Luke 22:23 – 30
The third failure pre-dated, and probably was the reason behind, their discussion of personal greatness. This is their failure to actually listen to what Jesus had just told them. He had, by means of the Passover ritual, mentioned his impending suffering and death, including a sense of divine purpose in that suffering and death.

How did Jesus communicate his awareness of God’s purpose?
22:15:

22:16:

22:17:

22:19:

22:20:

22:21:

22:22:

But what he said did not immediately impact them; all they could think about was their own personal desire for greatness.

B.4 The fourth failure – Luke 22:31 – 34
Peter’s up-coming failure is predicted by Jesus. We will look at his failure in the next study.

B.5 The fifth failure – Luke 22:39 – 46
By the time Jesus is praying on the Mount of Olives it seems that the disciples have come to some awareness that Jesus is leaving them – that he is in fact going to suffer horrendously and be killed. Luke tells us that they went to sleep while Jesus was praying ‘exhausted from sorrow’ – verse 45. Luke reports this only once; other gospel writers tell us it happened three times (Matthew 26:36 – 46; Mark 14:32 – 42).

From John’s gospel we know that after Jesus had instituted Communion and after Judas had left them, he taught them all that is contained in John 13:31 – 38 and John 14 to 16 and then prayed John 17. These chapters contain several references to his approaching death and his return to the Father. And Jesus knew that their hearts were troubled (see John 14:1, 27). It was only after all of that that Jesus and the eleven apostles went to the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, where he prayed and the apostles slept.

C. JESUS

Luke 22 gives us some insights into the person of Jesus, and helps us to understand who he is and what that means.

C.1 His divine knowledge
It is clear that Jesus knows things that no mere human being knows.

Read Luke 22:8 – 46. What did Jesus know that others did not and could not know?
Verse 10 – 12:

Verses 15 – 20:

Verse21, 22:

Verse 29, 30:

Verse 31 - 34:

Verse 37:

Verses 40, 46:

Jesus knew both the insignificant detail of our comings and goings, and the grand macro reality of God’s eternal plan, and all things in between. He also knows our hearts – whether there is true faith there or not, and how vulnerable we are to temptation.

C.2 His changed instructions
In verse 35 Jesus refers back to the apostles’ original mission trip in his name (see Luke 9:1 – 6), when he had given them certain instructions. Now, in verse 36, he changes his instructions to completely the opposite. Previously it seems that they went on the mission trip without any physical means of support; but the changed instructions include the means of physical support and protection.

Immediately after these changed instructions Jesus quotes from Isaiah 53:12 ‘he was numbered with the transgressors’, and says that that is about to be fulfilled: he, the one who was recently welcomed into Jerusalem by an adoring crowd (Luke 19:28 – 40), would soon be the object of the crowd’s scorn and mockery. The apostles of a perceived ‘transgressor’ would not enjoy the same welcome and popularity as they had previously as disciples of a miracle-working prophet. The change of his status would mean a change in theirs.

C.3 His prayer
We have seen in previous chapters of Luke that Jesus was committed to going to Jerusalem, with the knowledge, indeed the intention, of there, on this Passover day, dying as a sacrifice of atonement in fulfilment of the eternal purpose of God, set in place before the creation of the world. We have seen this in section A above when we looked at the Last Supper.

How does Jesus see his death as ‘fulfilment’?
Verses 15, 16:

Verse 20:

Verse 22:

Verse 37:

But although he knows that his death has been decreed by God before the world began, and he came to fulfil that purpose, he still shrinks from it. Although he knows that he will go through with it, yet he wishes there was some other way.

Consider how Jesus, being fully human and fully God, would feel:
The physical pain:

The degradation of such a death:

The mockery that he would experience from the time he was arrested to the time he died:

Peter’s denial:

Rejection by those he came to save (the rejection of his love):

The load of our sin and guilt upon him:

The Father’s rejection:

The punishment/penalty of our sin:

C.4 His final instruction to the apostles
Jesus, feeling the pressure of what he knew was about to happen to him, knew also that these eleven apostles would soon also experience something of what he himself would suffer. Knowing himself the pressure of the temptation to give in and give up on God’s agenda, he knew that these men would likewise feel like giving up. So he said to them, before he prayed ‘pray that you will not fall into temptation’ (verse 40), and then afterwards, ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation’ (verse 46). Notice the difference in these two instructions – the first is ‘pray that you will not’ and the second ‘pray so that you will not’ fall into temptation. The first is what they were to pray, the second is why they were to pray.

The temptation above all temptations, the pressure above all pressures, will be for them the temptation/pressure to stop believing in Jesus Christ.