The Last Supper, the garden and the denial: Jesus taken in Luke 22

The author of the third Gospel is not named in the text. The early church identified him as Luke, the physician and traveling companion of Paul (Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11), and the 'we' passages in Acts support a link to Paul. Some modern scholars question how closely he knew Paul but accept that he was a Gentile Christian who wrote after careful research (Luke 1:1-4) for a reader named Theophilus. The date is disputed: an early date around the early 60s AD rests on the way Acts ends, while most critical scholars date it between about AD 70 and 90.

The passion narrative is the part of Luke where scholars most debate his sources. The usual view is that Luke used Mark and reshaped it with other material. Some scholars think Luke had a second, independent passion tradition, because he omits some Markan scenes (the false witnesses, for example) and adds others (the sifting of Peter, the look at Peter, the healing of the servant's ear, Herod's hearing in the next chapter). Others explain these as Luke's own editing. Luke's emphases are consistent: Jesus is innocent, he goes to his death in obedience to God's plan, and he cares for his followers even in his own suffering.

The chapter is set at Passover in Jerusalem, in the last night and early morning of Jesus' life. Passover remembered the exodus from Egypt: each household ate a lamb in memory of the night when the LORD passed over Israel's houses (Exodus 12). The Gospels differ over how Jesus' last meal fits the timing of Passover. Matthew, Mark and Luke call it the Passover meal, while John 18:28 and 19:14 suggest that the Passover lambs were still to be eaten after Jesus was taken. Scholars have proposed different calendars in use, or that John's 'Passover' means the whole feast. The class does not settle the matter.

Luke 22 is historical narrative in the form of a passion account, and it is written to be read as a connected story. It has three parts, each marked by place: the upper room, the Mount of Olives and the high priest's house. In the upper room Jesus is the teacher and host. On the Mount of Olives he is the suffering man at prayer. In the high priest's house he is the prisoner questioned about his identity. What Jesus says at table (betrayal, denial, being numbered with transgressors) is carried out in the scenes that follow.

A second principle is to read the Supper in its Jewish setting. Jesus does not invent a new rite out of nothing. He takes the Passover meal, with its bread and cups, and gives some of its elements a new meaning in the light of his coming death. The words 'new covenant' point to Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the covenant sacrifices of Exodus 24:8. The Lord's Supper in the church grows out of this meal (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

Third, two passages have textual questions that the reader should know. Some early manuscripts omit part of 22:19 and all of 22:20, which would leave only one cup in the Supper. Most scholars now regard the longer text as original, since it appears in the great majority of manuscripts, including very early ones, and the shorter reading can be explained as an effort to remove the second cup. Verses 43 and 44, the angel and the sweat like drops of blood, are absent from several important early manuscripts and present in others. Scholars are divided, and some church writers of the second century knew the verses. The class builds no argument on these verses alone.

Verses 1–6

The feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, is near. The chief priests and scribes look for a way to put Jesus to death, because they fear the people. Satan enters Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. Judas goes to the chief priests and officers of the temple guard and agrees to hand Jesus over, in return for money, at a time when no crowd is present. Luke names Satan as the power behind the betrayal, as he will for Peter's testing in verse 31.

Verses 7–13

Jesus sends Peter and John to prepare the Passover. They will meet a man carrying a jar of water, a sight commentators note as unusual, and he will show them a large furnished upper room. They find everything as Jesus said.

Verses 14–20

Jesus says he has earnestly desired to eat this Passover with them before he suffers, and that he will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. In the longer text he takes a cup, gives thanks and tells them to share it, saying he will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom comes. Then he takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, calls it his body given for them and tells them to do this in remembrance of him. After supper he takes the cup and calls it the new covenant in his blood, poured out for them. The words 'given' and 'poured out' are the language of sacrifice. In Exodus 24:8 Moses sprinkled the blood of the covenant on the people, and in Jeremiah 31:31 God promised a new covenant with forgiveness of sins.

Verses 21–23

Jesus says the hand of the one who betrays him is with him on the table. The Son of Man goes as God has appointed, but woe to the man by whom he is betrayed. The disciples ask which of them it could be. Divine plan and human guilt are held together, as in Acts 2:23.

Verses 24–30

A dispute breaks out about which of them is the greatest. Jesus contrasts the kings of the Gentiles, who lord it over their subjects, with the way of the kingdom: the greatest among them must become like the youngest and the leader like the one who serves. He points to himself: he is among them as one who serves. He then confers a kingdom on those who have stood by him in his trials, so that they will eat and drink at his table in his kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Verses 31–34

Jesus addresses Simon twice: Satan has demanded to sift all of them like wheat (the 'you' is plural), but Jesus has prayed for Simon (singular) that his faith not fail, and when he has turned back he must strengthen his brothers. Peter protests that he will go with Jesus to prison and to death. Jesus says that before the rooster crows that day Peter will deny him three times.

Verses 35–38

Jesus reminds them of the earlier mission without purse or bag (9:1-6; 10:1-12) and now tells them to take a purse and a bag and to buy a sword. He says that Isaiah 53:12, 'He was numbered with the transgressors,' must be fulfilled in him. The disciples produce two swords, and he says that is enough. This is one of the hardest sayings in the Gospel. Most interpreters think it points to the hostility they will meet, not to armed resistance, since Jesus rebukes the use of the sword in the garden.

Verses 39–46

On the Mount of Olives Jesus tells the disciples to pray that they not enter into temptation. He withdraws about a stone's throw, kneels and asks the Father to take the cup from him if he is willing, but not his own will, only the Father's, to be done. He finds the disciples asleep from sorrow and tells them to rise and pray. Unlike Mark, Luke has Jesus pray once, not three times.

Verses 47–53

A crowd arrives led by Judas, who approaches to kiss Jesus. Jesus asks whether he betrays the Son of Man with a kiss. One of the disciples strikes the high priest's servant and cuts off his right ear. Jesus stops them, touches the ear and heals it, a detail only Luke gives. He tells those who came for him that this is their hour, and the power of darkness.

Verses 54–65

Peter follows at a distance into the courtyard of the high priest. A servant girl, then a man, then a third person insist that he was with Jesus, and Peter denies it each time. As the rooster crows the Lord turns and looks at Peter, and Peter remembers the word and goes out and weeps bitterly. The guards mock and beat Jesus.

Verses 66–71

At daybreak the council asks if he is the Christ. He says they would not believe him, but from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. They then ask whether he is the Son of God, and he answers that they themselves say it. They conclude that they need no further testimony. Luke's account has no false witnesses and no formal night trial.

The chapter holds together two truths that run through the whole Bible: God's sovereign plan and human responsibility. Jesus goes as God has appointed, yet the betrayer is responsible, as is Peter, and so are the leaders. The doctrine of atonement is introduced in the language of the Supper: Jesus' death is a sacrifice for others, and it establishes a covenant. The background includes the Passover lamb (Exodus 12), the covenant ceremony of Exodus 24:8 and the promise of Jeremiah 31:31-34. Paul draws the connection directly: Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7).

The chapter also teaches the nature of Christian leadership. In the kingdom the greatest serve, and Jesus is the model (compare Mark 10:45 and John 13:1-17). It teaches the reality of spiritual conflict, with Satan entering Judas and demanding to sift the disciples, and the priority of Jesus' prayer for his own, which Hebrews 7:25 and Romans 8:34 describe as continuing. Finally, it shows the humiliation of the Son. He prays in anguish, accepts the cup from the Father, and is mocked as a prophet by those who strike him (22:63-65), as the servant of Isaiah 50:6 gave his back to those who struck him.

Luke 22 shows who Jesus is by what he claims and what he accepts. He quotes Isaiah 53:12 of himself, so the suffering servant who is numbered with transgressors and bears the sin of many is Jesus. The words at the Supper link him to the Passover lamb, the covenant sacrifice and the promise of a new covenant: his body is given and his blood poured out. Paul and Peter develop the same connection (1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19), and Hebrews 9:15-22 explains his death as the sacrifice that establishes the new covenant.

Before the council, he links Daniel 7:13 and Psalm 110:1, the Son of Man who receives the kingdom and the Lord who sits at God's right hand. When they ask if he is the Son of God, his answer is a qualified yes: they themselves say it. The council hears this as a claim and treats it as grounds for a charge. The prayer in the garden shows the other side, a real man who dreads the cup and yet submits to the Father's will, which Hebrews 5:7-8 describes as learning obedience through suffering.