A meal of Jesus
The Last Supper
The table that became the cross · Luke 22:14-20
On the night before he died, sharing the Passover with his disciples, Jesus took bread, broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me' (Luke 22:19). He gathered the whole meaning of the cross into a meal his followers would keep forever.
The scene
What the table means
Of all the ways Jesus could have chosen to be remembered, he chose a meal. On his last night, hours from arrest and crucifixion, knowing one man at the table would betray him and the rest would scatter, he did not deliver a final lecture or leave a written manifesto. He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and passed it around, and said the words the Church has repeated at ten thousand tables ever since: 'This is my body which is given for you.' Then the cup: 'This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.'
He was interpreting his own death before it happened. The broken bread was his body, about to be broken; the poured wine was his blood, about to be poured out, and all of it 'for you.' He turned the oldest meal of his people, the Passover that remembered rescue from slavery, into the meal that would remember a greater rescue, from sin and death, bought at the price of himself. And he gave it to us not as an idea to think about but as a table to come to: this do in remembrance of me. He knew we would need something we could taste.
He could have left us a book. He left us a table, and said: this is my body, given for you.
The table is still set
Jesus is still the friend of sinners, still the host who welcomes the ones everyone else would seat at the back. You do not have to become presentable first; the whole point of every one of these meals is that he sat down with people before they had cleaned themselves up. The Living Bread is a quiet place to pull up a chair, read the Gospels, and pray, and discover that a place was set for you all along.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What happened at the Last Supper?
- On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples, took bread and wine, and said, 'This is my body which is given for you' and 'This cup is the new testament in my blood' (Luke 22:19-20). He interpreted his coming death and gave his followers a meal to keep in remembrance.
- What does the Last Supper mean?
- Jesus turned the Passover into a sign of his own sacrifice, the broken bread his body and the poured cup his blood, given 'for you.' It reveals the meaning of the cross as a rescue from sin and death, and established the meal Christians share as Communion or the Lord's Supper.