Luke 22:14-22, 39-46, 63-65

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Dean, School of Christian Studies, University of Mobile

HE VOLUNTARILY SUFFERED: BE GRATEFUL

Luke 22:14−22, 39−46, 63−65

Last Supper (14−22)
At the house where His disciples had prepared the Passover, Jesus indicated His driving desire to hold this meal before He suffered, i.e. the cross. He would not, He said, eat the Passover again until He celebrated it in the final kingdom of God. While Jesus preached that the kingdom of God had come when He came and was present in a real but limited form, He also taught that in its final and full form the kingdom of God was yet to come. 

A normal Passover meal included four cups of wine, each recalling a phrase from Exodus 6:6–7a. Generally the meal ran as follows.

• Blessing of the first cup of wine, i.e. thanking God for it, ritual washing of hands and a prayer.
• Eating bitter herbs dipped in charosheth (apple sauce seasoned with spices). 
• Serving the meal: unleavened bread, bitter herbs, greens, stewed fruit and roast lamb, each symbolizing details of the first Passover.
• Drinking the first cup of wine, “I will bring you out” (Ex. 6:6a).
• Retelling the story of Passover by the head of the group in response to the question by the youngest son: “Why is this night different from all other nights?”
• Drinking the second cup of wine, “I will free you from being slaves to them” (Ex. 6:6b).
• Chanting Psalm 113–114, known as “the little hallel” or “the little praise.”  
• Offering a blessing, followed by eating the meal.
• Ending with a prayer of thanks. 
• Drinking the third cup of wine, “I will redeem you” (Ex. 6:6c).
• Drinking the fourth cup of wine, “I will take you to me for a people” (Ex. 6:7a). 
• Chanting Psalm 115–118, “the great hallel,” or “the great praise,” to conclude.

Luke mentioned two cups of wine, one on either side of the bread. Jesus probably instituted the Lord’s Supper between the third and fourth cups at the end of the Passover meal just before the final song. At the end, He promised He would not drink again of the “fruit of the vine” until the arrival of full Kingdom glory.

“This is my body” surely means “This represents my body.” When Jesus spoke these words and gave the bread, His body was still whole. The language must be symbolic. Disciples eat bread at the Lord’s Supper to remember Jesus’ body “given for” them. 

In His death, Jesus established “the new covenant.” Moses took the blood of sacrifice and threw half of it on the altar and half on the people to seal God’s old covenant with them (Ex. 24:8). But that covenant did not mention the forgiveness of sins the “new covenant” (Jer. 31:34) offered. “My blood” means “my death.” Forgiveness comes only through Jesus’ sacrificial death. The cup of the Lord’s Supper does not contain the literal blood of Jesus but its contents stand for the sacrificial death of Jesus that sealed God’s new agreement with mankind through Christ.

Gethsemane Prayer (39−46)
Kneeling a few yards from His disciples Jesus prayed. The “cup” was not just suffering but the cup of God’s wrath on sin that Jesus had to drain on behalf of sinners (cf. Isa. 51:22, the “chalice of his anger,” NASB). Nonetheless, Jesus wanted the will of God more than He wanted to escape suffering and death.

Jesus did not sweat blood. The text says no more than that Jesus was under such intense emotional stress that He dripped sweat “like great drops of blood” from a wound. 

Prelude to the Cross (63−65)
Once the authorities took Jesus they subjected Him to three religious trials (before Annas, before Caiaphas and some of his cronies and before a quorum of the Sanhedrin) and then to three Roman trials (before Pilate, before Herod Antipas and then before Pilate again). Luke did not mention the first religious trials but noted the abuse His captors heaped on Jesus.