We are currently looking at what Jesus said to His disciples during His earthly ministry. We will look at what Jesus said to the people Israel, to the religious leaders of Israel, to demons, to His Heavenly Father, from the Cross, and what He said after rising from the dead in future parts of our series.
In the last part of our series, we looked at how Jesus told His disciples about His coming suffering, rejection, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, in the weeks leading up to those events.
We move now to the words Jesus spoke privately to His disciples on the evening before He was betrayed and arrested.
The Last Supper
Jesus spoke many words in public during the last week before His crucifixion, but He saved some of His most powerful and insightful words to share with His disciples in private. This private time is often called The Last Supper because it was the Lord’s final meal with His disciples before His betrayal and arrest. The Gospel of John contains the most details from that time, so let’s look first at what we can learn from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Then, we’ll dive into John’s account.
Matthew and the Supper
Matthew was a Jew who collected taxes from other Jews for the Romans. That did not make him popular with Jews, to say the least. However, Jesus chose Matthew to be one of the Twelve apostles. That makes Matthew an ‘eyewitness’ to the events that unfolded in the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew may have even kept a written journal about those events and the things Jesus said. Matthew kept detailed journals for the Roman government concerning taxes that Jews owed the empire, so keeping a journal of the sayings of the Jewish Messiah would be well within Matthew’s training and interests.
We know much about the parables of Jesus from Matthew’s writings. Matthew, being Jewish and having a great interest in all things Jewish, also wrote some of the most extensive dialogue from Jesus concerning His famous ‘Sermon on the Mount, challenges from Jewish leaders, and events of the ‘end of the age’ when Jesus would come ‘in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory to judge the nations’ (Matthew chapters 24 and 25).
Though Matthew was not as detailed about the ‘last supper’ as his fellow apostle John, Matthew does give us much insight into what happened that day and evening (Matthew chapter 26). Matthew explained that on the ‘first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread’ the disciples asked Jesus ‘where’ He wanted them to prepare for the eating of the ‘Passover.’ Jesus told the disciples to go into Jerusalem to a certain man and say, ‘The Teacher says, ‘My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.’ The disciples did what Jesus directed them to do and they prepared the Passover.
Jesus sat down with the ‘twelve’ that evening and as they were eating He said this – “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples were ‘exceedingly sorrowful’ and began asking Jesus if He was talking about them. When Judas Iscariot asked if it was him, Jesus said, ‘You have said it.’ We know from other Gospel accounts that Judas left the supper at that point to betray Jesus to the chief priests.
Matthew then recorded Jesus blessing and breaking the bread, giving it to the disciples and saying, ‘Take eat; this is My body.’ Then Jesus took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’ After the disciples had finished eating the bread and drinking from the cup, they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
Along the way, Jesus told them that they would all ‘be made to stumble because of Me this night.’ He quoted from Isaiah – ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ Jesus then told them that after He had been ‘raised, He would go before them to Galilee. The Apostle Peter said that he would not stumble, but Jesus said that Peter would deny Him three times ‘before the rooster crows.’
When Jesus and the disciples arrived at a place called ‘Gethsemane,’ He told His disciples to pray there. He took Peter, James, and John to another location where He would pray. He told them that His ‘soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death,’ and asked the three apostles to stay and ‘watch’ with Him. He went a little farther, then prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.‘ Jesus returned to the three apostles and found them sleeping. He woke them and asked them to pray. Jesus returned to pray the same prayer to His Father two more times, and and returned to find the apostles sleeping two more times.
Jesus then told the apostles that ‘the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.’ While He was speaking, Judas Iscariot arrived with a ‘great multitude with swords and clubs.’ The ‘multitude’ came from the chief priests and elders of the people of Israel. Judas gave them a sign of who they were to arrest by saying, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!,’ and kissing Him. The crowd grabbed Jesus, but one of the apostles drew a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Here was Jesus’ response –
‘Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?
In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes –
Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.
The crowd arrested Jesus and ‘all the disciples forsook Him and fled.’
Mark and the Supper
John Mark is the writer of what we know as the Gospel of Mark. Mark was not an apostle and not an eyewitness to these events. However, he traveled for a short time with the Apostle Paul, and later became friends with the Apostle Peter. The Apostolic and Early Church Fathers wrote that Mark traveled with Peter for a time and wrote down many of the things he preached and taught about being with Jesus.
As you read Mark 14 and compare it with what Matthew wrote about the Supper you will find many similarities in general details. However, Mark added some specifics that Matthew did not. That’s not surprising since Matthew recorded what he remembered and Mark wrote what Peter remembered. As a career journalist, I can attest to talking with hundreds of eyewitnesses who remembered both the same general events and differing specific events.
Here is an example of how Mark relays information that includes both general similarities to Matthew, while also adding some specifics that Matthew did not include –
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?’ And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, ‘Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, ‘Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’ Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.’
This does not mean that one author is correct and the other is incorrect. They both referred to the same event. Mark added information about the killing of the ‘Passover lamb,’ and about meeting a man carrying a pitcher of water, then following him to the ‘master of the house.’ The information about the larger upper room being ‘furnished’ was also additional information from Mark.
One of the reasons that detectives, investigators, and journalists interview several people at an event is to get the fullest possible picture of what happened and what was said. You will find the remained of Mark’s account about the Supper to be similar to Matthew, but with some added details.
Luke and the Supper
Luke was like Mark in that he was not an apostle, nor was he an eyewitness to the Supper events. Also, Luke was Greek and not a Jew. Luke was a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul who had the opportunity to interview many of the people he wrote about in the Gospel of Luke and Book of Acts.
Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Luke 1:1-4
While much of the information Luke shares about the Supper is similar to Matthew and Mark, we do get a few more specifics. We learn that Jesus sent Peter and John to ‘prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.’ Matthew and Mark did not tell us the names of the disciples Jesus sent, but Luke does. The details of the event are correct with a little added information. That’s the kind of thing an investigator is interested in learning.
Another piece of information found in Luke, but not in Matthew and Mark, concerns a dispute that arose among the disciples during the Supper, ‘as to which of them should be considered the greatest.’ Jesus responded –
The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. ‘But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’
More information that helps understand what was going on that night, as well as adding to our knowledge about God’s Eternal plan for the Kingdom of Christ.
Another piece of information in Luke that was not recorded in Matthew and Mark concerns this –
And He said to them, ‘When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?’ So they said, ‘Nothing.’ Then He said to them, ‘But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.’ So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.’ And He said to them, ‘It is enough.’
Again, more information for the investigators.
We also learn in Luke that an angel appeared to Jesus as the Lord prayed in the garden. The angel appeared to ‘strengthen’ Him in His agony. We also learn that Christ’s ‘sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.’ General event the same. Jesus prayed in the garden. What Luke added were more specific details that help us understand what happened to Jesus as He prayed.
Luke also tells us that Jesus touched the ear of the high priest’s servant, the ear that one of the disciples cut off, and the ‘healed him.’ Again, another specific detail that added to the general event without changing it. We will learn the name of that disciple in John’s account of what happened on the night of the Supper.
Synoptic Gospels
The Gospel accounts written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the ‘Synoptic’ Gospels. The word ‘synoptic’ comes from the Greek sunoptikos, which means ‘a seeing together, able to see together, together sight.’ The three ‘synoptic Gospels’ share many events from a similar view, but as we’ve seen each Gospel account shares some added points as well.
Some scholars have attempted to point to a ‘conspiracy’ of sorts that Matthew, Mark, and Luke got together and compare notes so they’d tell the same story. However, that’s not what I see as a trained investigative journalists. I spent a lot of time training with police and private detectives who taught me how to spot a ‘conspiracy.’ When people ‘conspire’ to tell the same story, they tell the same story. The details are usually identical. The reason for that is so they don’t get caught in a lie to investigators by adding something that differed from what the other ‘conspirators’ were saying.
There are enough differences among the synoptic Gospels to point to a non-conspiratorial reporting of similar events. Of course the events would be similar. They were reporting on events that actually happened. Some of them either remembered or wrote down quotes from what Jesus said, so those quotes would be similar. There is nothing mysterious or sinister about the synoptic Gospels. They are historically accurate from the view of each writer based on their sources.
Next Time
As I mentioned earlier the Gospel of John contains the most details about that last Supper before Jesus was arrested, convicted, and killed. We will delve into some of the details that give us even more insight to the night in the next part of our special series, And Jesus Said.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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