The Last Week · Day 5 of 8
Thursday: The Last Supper and Gethsemane
On Thursday evening Jesus keeps the Passover with the Twelve, washes their feet, and gives the bread and cup as His body and blood. He foretells His betrayal and Peter's denial, prays His great prayer of union, then goes to Gethsemane. There, in agony, He surrenders to the Father's will, and Judas arrives with an armed band. Jesus is arrested, and the disciples flee.
“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
What happened
As evening comes, Jesus sends disciples to prepare the Passover in a furnished upper room. During the meal, John records, He rises, girds Himself with a towel, and washes the disciples' feet, teaching that the servant is not greater than his Lord and that they must serve one another. He announces that one of them will betray Him. Taking bread, He gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it as His body, and the cup as His blood of the covenant shed for many for the remission of sins. He foretells that all will be offended and that Peter will deny Him three times before the cock crows. In John He prays that the Father would glorify Him, keep His own, and make them one as He and the Father are one. They sing a hymn and go to the Mount of Olives, to Gethsemane. There Jesus prays in deep sorrow that the cup might pass, yet yields to the Father's will, while the disciples sleep. Judas arrives with a multitude, betrays Him with a kiss, and Jesus is seized and forsaken.
What it means
This night gathers the whole gospel into a single evening. In the foot washing Jesus redefines greatness as self giving love and shows the pattern His cross will fulfill. In the bread and cup He gives His followers a way to receive and remember His death until He comes, binding a new covenant in His own blood. In His prayer He opens the intimacy of the Father and the Son and draws His people into it, praying for a unity that will testify to the world. Then in Gethsemane the meaning turns to cost. The One who commands others to trust the Father must Himself drink the cup of sorrow, and He does so freely, wrestling in prayer until His will is wholly given to the Father's. Love is proven not only in words at a table but in surrender in a garden.
How it points to Christ
In the upper room Jesus is host and servant, the Lord who kneels to wash feet and the Lamb whose body and blood are given for sinners. The Passover He keeps He also fulfills, for He is the Lamb whose death delivers His people from judgment. In Gethsemane He is the second Adam who, where the first grasped, surrenders, saying not my will but Thine. He takes the cup of wrath we deserved so that we might drink the cup of blessing. He is arrested and forsaken by His friends so that we might never be forsaken. Every act of this night is the Savior freely choosing the cross for love of the Father and of us.
Questions people ask
What happened at the Last Supper?
On Thursday evening Jesus kept the Passover with the Twelve. In John's account He washed their feet as an example of servant love. He gave bread as His body and the cup as His blood of the covenant, shed for the forgiveness of sins. He foretold His betrayal and Peter's denial, prayed for His disciples, and then went out to Gethsemane.
What happened in the Garden of Gethsemane?
After the supper Jesus went to Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives to pray. In deep sorrow He asked the Father that the cup of suffering might pass, yet surrendered to the Father's will. His disciples fell asleep. Then Judas arrived with an armed band, betrayed Him with a kiss, and Jesus was arrested while the disciples forsook Him and fled.
Why did Jesus wash the disciples' feet?
Jesus washed His disciples' feet to show the full measure of His love and to teach that greatness in His kingdom is servanthood. Though He was Lord and Master, He took the towel of a servant. He told them that if He served them so, they must serve one another, leaving a living pattern of the self giving love that would be perfected the next day at the cross.