Maundy Thursday, The Last Supper, Excerpts from Mark and John

“On this day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover Lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, ‘Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?’

So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: ‘As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At he house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with My disciples?’ He will take you up to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal. So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

In the evening Jesus returned with the twelve disciples. As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.’

Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, ‘Am I the one?’

He replied, ‘ It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays Him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born.’

As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘Take it, for this is My body.’

And He took the cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to the, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, ‘This is my blood which confirms the covenant between God and His people. It is poured out as as sacrifice for many. I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.’

Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Mark 14:12-26, NLT)

“Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave the wold and return to His father. He had loved His disciples during His ministry on earth, and now He loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given Him the authority over everything and that He had come from God and would return to God. So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin. He then began to wash the disciples feet, drying them with the towel He had around him.

When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said, to Him, ‘Lord are You going to wash my feet?’

Jesus replied, ‘You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.’

‘No,’ Peter replied, ‘you will never wash my feet!’

Jesus replied, ‘Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to Me.’

Simon Peter said, ‘Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet.

Jesus replied, ‘A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean, but not all of you. ‘ For Jesus knew who would betray Him. That is what He meant when He said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’

After washing their feed, He put on his robe again and sat down and asked, ‘Do you understand what I was doing?’ You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’, and you are right, because that’s what I am. An since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feed, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important thatn the one who sends the messenger. No that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” (John 13: 1-17,NLT)