Tonight, we continue our study of Luke’s Gospel with Luke 21:1-22:38. These readings give us Luke’s account of the institution of the Last Supper. You can join us any time on our journey.
The Last Supper: (vv.1-23)
Until now, Luke has not given his readers a calendar. He has not told us how long Jesus has been in Jerusalem, nor has he told us of Jesus’ plan to be in Jerusalem during the celebration of Passover. We do know that the Passover festival was one of the great pilgrimage festivals of Judaism before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD (about 37 years after the events of the Crucifixion). Passover is an eight-day festival celebrating Israelite liberation from slavery in Egypt. Ex. 12. The basic story is that God instructs the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb, to paint its blood on their doorway, and when the Destroy comes through Egypt to kill all the firstborn, it will skip the houses with the blood. Ex. 12:12-13.
The central focus of the celebration is the Passover meal, which consists of the lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. Ex. 12:8. (The more elaborate Jewish Seder meal only arose after the destruction of the Temple.) The purpose of the meal is to re-tell the story of liberation, particularly to your children. Ex. 12:24-27.
Jesus takes this Passover meal of liberation from slavery and turns it into a celebration of his sacrifice to obtain liberation from the slavery to sin. It is only in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus uses the language that he is instituting a “new covenant” (or “new testament” in the KJV), echoing the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-33. Jesus is creating something new. Like the Passover instructions in Exodus, Jesus is explicit that this meal should likewise be repeated to both remember and teach about the event (the Crucifixion). Unsurprisingly, Luke’s telling of the event is very similar to Paul’s teaching on the Last Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
The Last Supper marks the culmination of Jesus’s life and teachings. In this last teaching, he does not give his disciples a list of theological principles to memorize, but he gives them an action to follow and a meal to share. In the Last Supper, we have the complete summation of Jesus’s teachings about who he is and who we are to become. The Last Supper comes after Jesus’s teaching on the Apocalypse. It is this meal that marks the dawn of the New Age.
The Wayward Disciples: (vv.24-38)
In the final part of our reading this week, we can experience Jesus’s loneliness as he goes to the Cross. Imagine the scene. Jesus had been teaching in the Temple for days. He has just celebrated the holiest Jewish feast with his closest disciples and has transformed the meaning of that feast to point toward him and his upcoming sacrifice. He tells them that he will soon be betrayed. The disciples begin to question who that will be. This discussion, however, soon turns to the question (once again) as to who is the greatest. Jesus must again correct the disciples’ understanding and to further tell Peter that he will betray him.
In his final instructions to the disciples, he tells them that for their next missionary journey (unlike their first), they will need to be fully supplied because this time, they will only encounter hostility. Jesus sees what is going to happen, and he sees that his disciples still do not understand. He is alone.
SCHEDULE: Next week is the Good Friday account from Luke. On April 15 is our annual Christian Seder Dinner. All are welcome, including guests, but RSVP is required. Dinner is a traditional Mediterranean food of lamb and vegetables, and we use the Jewish Passover seder service as a framework for our Holy Week remembrance.
Dinner is at 6. The menu is soup, salad, and breadsticks. Discussion about 6:45. Hope to see you here!
Jerusalem is built as a city *
that is at unity with itself;
To which the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD, *
the assembly of Israel,
to praise the Name of the LORD.
For there are the thrones of judgment, *
the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: *
“May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:4-6