The Last Supper

The Last Supper Matthew 26: 17-30

The Bible Story

  17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” 

19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. 20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 

29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

The Breakdown Taken from Sunday-school-center.com  

Jesus had His last supper on earth with His disciples because He loved them very much.  Jesus loves us very much too.  We remember and think about people we love. During the Last Supper Jesus had with His disciples, He asked them to remember Him. Actually, He asked them to remember Him in a special way. Jesus gave them a sort of picture to remember Him by.

The picture He gave them wasn’t taken with a camera and it wasn’t drawn on a piece of paper or painted on a canvas. The picture Jesus gave them was one of bread and wine. (Can you imagine a picture drawn with bread and wine? That’s silly! You can’t have much of a picture if you drew it with a piece of bread… That just wouldn’t work!)

We call the picture… The Lord’s Supper. Jesus is the Lord and so it is His Supper. In the Lord’s Supper there is bread and wine (or grape juice!) These help “paint”(in our minds) a picture of what Jesus did for us! Jesus said the bread was His body, which was broken for us. Jesus said the wine was His blood, which was shed for us. The bread and the wine stand for what Jesus did on the cross for us.

The picture, of the Lord’s Supper, helps us to remember what Jesus did for us! When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we are to remember Jesus and what He did for us on the cross!

The Lesson:

When people want to remember something, they keep it close by, look at it often, put it somewhere where they will see it. That's the idea of a memorial (picture). We don't want to forget something, so we remind ourselves of it often. This is what Jesus wants us to do with Him. Remember Him and his sacrifice for us. This is why we celebrate communion with bread and wine (grape juice).