125. The Last Passover Meal 
and the Institution of the Lord’s Supper

Luke 22:15–23

(Matthew 26, 20-29. Mark. 14, 17-25. John 13:21-35)

Jesus then held the Passover meal with his disciples, ate the Passover lamb with them and then, according to the custom of the time, as the father of the house, passed the cup around the circle of disciples after he himself had drunk from it. He testified that he would not eat this lamb again until it was fulfilled in the Kingdom of God, in the completed Kingdom of God, and that he would not drink of the fruit of the vine again until the Kingdom of God came. The Passover meal, which the Jews celebrated in remembrance of the redemption from Egypt, also prophesied of the final, eternal redemption, the joyful meal of eternity, when the Lord would feed his people with the heavenly manna and lead them to drink with delight as from a stream. Christ now wanted to surrender himself to the slaughter block as the true Passover lamb and thereby open up the joys of eternal life to sinners. That was why he had so fervently desired to eat this final Passover lamb with his disciples because this meal was to lead up to his suffering and death. As the Savior of sinners, he burned with desire to obtain salvation for sinners.

During the meal, Jesus again pointed to his betrayer, as he had done during the washing of the feet. Matthew and Mark relate this affair about and with Judas before the account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Luke recounts it afterward. In all probability, the first two evangelists have maintained the chronological order here. For they said: “While they were eating,” namely Jesus and the twelve,—and then follows the discussion about the traitor. They are clearly referring to the Passover meal, and this was concluded when Jesus instituted the New Testament covenant meal. But even if this event, which ended with Judas’ departure, took place after the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and Judas thus also took part in the meal, one must by no means draw the conclusion that it is permissible to administer the sacrament to obviously unworthy communicants; for Judas’ apostasy, his wickedness, was still hidden from the other disciples at that time, and Judas had not yet committed the betrayal. While they were eating, Jesus said: “Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at each other in dismay and asked one after the other: “Lord, is it I?” Every disciple of the Lord still has reason to be suspicious of himself and to test himself to see whether he stands in the faith.

Jesus continued: “He who dips his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.” At the Passover meal, according to later custom, a large bowl was set out with a porridge made from dates, figs, etc., which had a brick-colored appearance, in memory of the brick-making in Egypt. The guests dipped pieces of unleavened bread into this porridge and brought it to their mouths. Since the other disciples also dipped into this bowl, the traitor was not yet clearly identified with this remark. The Lord wanted to emphasize that someone who eats from the same bowl with him will betray him. And at the same time he cried out woe to this man, saying that it would be better for him if he had never been born. The Son of Man is indeed going to death according to God’s counsel and will, and the Scripture is also fulfilled through the betrayal. But this does not diminish the responsibility and guilt of the man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed. All evil is from man, in no way from God, and man must atone for what he has done, even if God then also makes the evil that man does serve his purposes. Now Simon Peter beckoned to the disciple who was leaning against the Lord—evidently John—who was to inquire who it was of whom Jesus spoke, and the latter asked, pressing himself close to Jesus’ breast: “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered in a way that only John understood: “It is he to whom I dip the morsel and give it.” And he dipped a morsel of bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot (Jn 13:23–26). Now Judas asked with a bold face: “Is it I, Rabbi?” And Jesus replied: “You say so” (Mt 26:25). Thus Judas was unmasked. “After the bite, Satan entered into him” (Jn 13:27). This had already happened before, when he concluded his deal with the high priests. Now, after he had so shamefully despised Jesus’ last warning and threat, Satan took hold of him all the more firmly, and the judgment of hardening was sealed. Jesus spoke one more word to his betrayer: “What you are going to do, do quickly.” That very night, Jesus’ fate was to be fulfilled. It is understandable that the other disciples did not understand this mysterious word and thought that Jesus had only told Judas to buy a sacrifice for the festival or to give something to the poor. Even if they now knew what to think and expect from Judas, the agreement he had made with the high council was still hidden from them. Judas immediately went out into the night to carry out his devilish plan. And Jesus testified again to his disciples that the hour of his transfiguration, his glorification, had come, and commanded them to love one another as he had loved them (Jn 13:28–35).

And now another meal followed the Old Testament Passover meal. Before his departure, the Lord left the fruit of his suffering to his disciples in a precious testament and instituted the New Testament covenant meal. As they were eating, while they were still at the table, or, as Luke states more precisely, after the Passover meal, Jesus took the bread that was left over from the Passover, consecrated it with a prayer of thanks, broke it so that each disciple received a piece, and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take, eat, this is my body,” or, explaining this expression even more closely: “This is my body, which is given for you,” or: “which is broken for you” (1 Cor 11:24). As he went around the circle of disciples, he used now this formula, now that. But whatever words he chose, the meaning was always the same. Then he also took the cup from which he had already drunk with his disciples at the Passover meal, gave thanks, gave it to them, and said: “Take and drink of it, all of you; this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.” or: “the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” So what the Lord has in his hands and distributes, what the disciples take and eat, the bread, is the body of Christ, which he gives unto death, broken and slaughtered on the cross. The cup, the wine in the cup, which the disciples drink, is the blood of Christ, which he sheds on the tree of the cross, through which the new covenant is established, in which the new covenant has power and permanence. Christ offers his body and sheds his blood for his disciples, for many, to atone for their sins, for the forgiveness of sins. Thus, through the consumption of his body and blood, the forgiveness of sins is confirmed and sealed for the disciples. When distributing the bread and the cup, the Lord adds: “Do this in remembrance of me!”, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me!” And so the disciples of Jesus, the Christians, follow this way and thereby proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes; the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is an actual memorial of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. And we Christians confess and believe that the Sacrament of the Altar is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under which bread and wine we Christians eat and drink, instituted by Christ himself. The interpretations of the enthusiasts and papists, such as that the bread only means the body and the wine the blood of Christ, or that the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ, fail in the face of the clear text of Scripture. Of course, reason must give way here, it cannot understand how Jesus, when he stood before his disciples in visible form, could give them his body and blood to eat and drink, and how the exalted Christ, who is in heaven, should be physically present everywhere on earth with his body and blood wherever this meal is celebrated according to his institution. But Christ’s word is clear and true, and we also know from Scripture that the body of Jesus, the vessel of the Godhead, had another, higher, supernatural mode of being in addition to its limited form of existence, even in the days of his lowliness (Jn 3:13), and that the exalted Christ is not physically enclosed in heaven, but as God and man, also in his body, fulfills everything (Eph 1:23). So we take our reason captive to the obedience of Scripture and do not ponder, but rather thank our Lord for the great blessing of this sacrament of his. From this we draw ever new certainty of the forgiveness of our sins. By guaranteeing us the grace of God, the sacrament serves to strengthen our faith. Just as the first Passover meal strengthened the Israelites for the journey that lay ahead of them, through the desert to Canaan, so the Lord’s Supper is a viaticum for the children of the New Covenant during their earthly pilgrimage. And at the same time, like the Passover meal, it points us to the goal of the journey, to the meal of eternity, when the Lord will drink with us anew from the fruit of the vine in the kingdom of his Father (Mt 26:29).