Sharing in Jesus' Last Meal

Matthew 26:17-30

The Passover with the Disciples

17 ¹⁸On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.” ¹⁹’ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

20 When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; ²¹and while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ ²²And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’ ²³He answered, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’ ²⁵Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Surely not I, Rabbi?’ He replied, ‘You have said so.’

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ ²⁷Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; ²⁸for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’

30 When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (NRSV)

Today is Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday -- the day in which we remember that last meal, which Jesus shared with his disciples. We don't know who was actually there at the meal -- was it just Jesus and the twelve or were there more with him. He gathered, according to text and tradition to observe the Passover Seder, the meal of liberation from slavery in Egypt.

With this meal we are invited to journey with Jesus to the cross and share in his death, to remember that death, as the foundation of a covenant between God and the people of God. It is a meal of forgiveness, a remembrance that in Christ we have been reconciled to our Creator.

This journey, however, does not end on the cross, for we look back from Easter's vantage point, knowing that when we gather at the Table, we dine with the one who set out this feast of remembrance. With Jesus sharing in Table with us, we walk in freedom and in grace.