One event, four witnesses
The Last Supper
On the night before His death Jesus shares the Passover with His disciples and institutes the bread and the cup. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record the institution; John, instead of the institution, records the washing of the disciples' feet.
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.”Matthew 26:26
“And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.”Mark 14:22
“And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.”Luke 22:14
The event
The event. On the first day of unleavened bread, Jesus sends disciples to prepare the Passover, and in the evening He sits down with the twelve. During the meal He takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to them, saying, "This is my body." Likewise He takes the cup, gives thanks, and gives it to them, saying it is His blood of the new testament, shed for many for the remission of sins, and He tells them He will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until He drinks it new in the kingdom of God. He foretells that one of them will betray Him, and the disciples are grieved and ask if it is they. In Luke and in Paul's account in First Corinthians, Jesus adds the words, "This do in remembrance of me." John's Gospel does not record the institution of the bread and cup; instead it recounts, at length, how Jesus rose from supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel, and washed the disciples' feet, teaching them by this humble act to serve one another, and giving the new commandment to love one another as He has loved them. The supper joins the memory of the Passover deliverance to the new covenant sealed in His own blood.
Read side by side: what is the same, what differs
Read side by side: what is the same, what differs. Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree that at the Passover meal Jesus took bread and the cup, gave thanks, and identified them with His body and His blood of the covenant, poured out for many. Matthew and Mark are very close in wording. Luke's account, together with Paul's in First Corinthians, adds the command, "This do in remembrance of me," and orders the cup somewhat differently, mentioning a cup before the bread as well as after; this reflects the several cups of the Passover meal rather than any contradiction. The striking difference is John. John records the events of that night at great length, the foot-washing, the betrayal foretold, the departure of Judas, and long discourses, but he does not narrate the institution of the bread and cup at all. Instead he alone gives the washing of the disciples' feet and the new commandment. This is not a contradiction but a difference of selection and purpose: John, writing later, could assume his readers knew the tradition of the Lord's Supper already well established in the church, and chose to preserve what the others omitted, the foot-washing and the farewell discourses. The Synoptics and John together give a fuller picture of that night than any one alone. The core, that Jesus gave Himself under the signs of bread and blood, and taught His own to love and serve, stands whole.
What it shows of Christ
What it shows of Christ. At the Last Supper Jesus reveals Himself as the true Passover, whose body is broken and blood poured out to establish a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins. He takes the ancient feast of deliverance from Egypt and fills it with new meaning centered on His own coming death, giving His disciples a way to remember and share in it until He comes. In the Synoptics He is the covenant-maker, sealing with His blood the promise of remission for many. In John He is the servant King who lays aside His garments to wash His disciples' feet, embodying the love He commands them to imitate, and giving the new commandment that they love one another as He has loved them. Luke and Paul's "do this in remembrance of me" reveals a Savior who provides for His people's ongoing communion with Him. Whether at the table or on His knees with the towel, Christ shows a love that gives itself wholly, first at supper and soon at the cross.
Questions people ask
Why does John not record the institution of the bread and the cup?
John, writing later, chose to preserve what the other Gospels omitted, especially the washing of the disciples' feet and the farewell discourses, likely assuming his readers already knew the well-established tradition of the Lord's Supper. This is a difference of selection and purpose, not a contradiction. The Synoptics and John together give a fuller account of that night than any one alone.
Why does Luke's account of the cup differ slightly from Matthew and Mark?
Luke, like Paul in First Corinthians, adds the words "This do in remembrance of me" and mentions a cup both before and after the bread. This reflects the several cups drunk during the Passover meal rather than any contradiction. The core, that Jesus identified the bread with His body and the cup with His covenant blood poured out for many, is shared by all three.