Luke 22 explained: The Last Supper and the Arrest

The plot to betray (vv. 1-6)

Passover was the yearly festival remembering Israel's escape from slavery in Egypt, and Jerusalem was packed with pilgrims, so the leaders wanted to seize Jesus away from the crowds. Luke presents Judas agreeing to hand him over for money as more than greed: it is evil itself at work.

The last Passover meal (vv. 7-23)

At the meal that remembered God freeing Israel, Jesus gives the bread and cup a new meaning: his body given and his blood poured out to seal a new covenant, a binding agreement between God and people that an old prophet had promised. Christians still repeat this meal as communion, and Jesus says plainly that his betrayer is sitting at the same table.

Greatness and hard warnings (vv. 24-38)

Rulers of the day loved the flattering title Benefactor, but Jesus says his followers lead by serving, as he does, and he warns that Peter will be shaken like grain being sifted. His words about buying swords are puzzling, and many scholars read them as a picture of the danger ahead that the disciples took too literally.

Anguish in prayer (vv. 39-46)

The cup was an old image for suffering that must be drunk to the bottom, and Jesus asks to be spared it but yields to God's will. His sweat falling like drops of blood shows extreme distress, though some early copies of Luke do not include verses 43 and 44.

Arrest and Peter's denial (vv. 47-62)

Judas comes leading the arresting crowd and moves to greet Jesus with a kiss, a sign of closeness that makes the betrayal all the starker, and Jesus stops the fighting and heals the wounded servant. Peter then denies knowing him three times, as foretold, and weeps bitterly when Jesus turns and looks at him.

Mocked and questioned (vv. 63-71)

The guards blindfold and beat Jesus and taunt him to prove he is a prophet, and at dawn the council asks whether he is the Messiah, the promised king. His answer about sitting at God's right hand, a picture of sharing God's own authority, is taken as all the evidence they need.

Key verse: Luke 22:42

Where Christians differ

Christians genuinely differ over what Jesus meant when he called the bread his body and the cup the new covenant in his blood: whether the bread and wine truly become his body and blood, carry his real presence in some way, or are a symbolic act of remembrance.

Something to think about

Peter was completely sure he would never fail his friend, and a few hours later he did; what do you think we can really know about how we will act under pressure?