Due to the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the whole world knows the phrase “the Last Supper”, although neither of the evangelists used it to refer to this event.
I suggest taking a closer look at the last earthly days of Jesus Christ in order to understand better why Leonardo titled his timeless work precisely this.
One of the key characters in those days was the disciple of Jesus, Judas Iscariot, whose name has been used synonymously with betrayal ever since. Here are a few words about this unfortunate man, whom the Lord Himself called a terrible name “the son of perdition”.
Judas was the only Jew among the Disciples of Christ. All the rest were Galileans. Jesus came from Galilee as well. As we know, the Jews of Judea considered Galileans inferior, because the cities of Galilee were full of pagans, with whom Galilean Jews mixed, to some extent, and as a result, Jews of Judea considered Galileans “impure”. Remember how sincerely Nathanael spoke to Philip about this: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46) Nazareth is one of the cities in Galilee.
Apparently, this fact gave Judas Iscariot a sense of inner superiority over the other disciples. Perhaps Judas expected Jesus Christ to give him, the only purebred Jew of Judea, special attention and trust. We can only imagine how outraged and indignant Judas was deep inside, when among other disciples Christ singled out Peter, James and John. It was them He took to especially important and honorable (in the eyes of people) events such as raising of Jairus’ daughter, the Transfiguration, etc
I think the feeling of envy and deprivation eventually paved the way for poisonous seeds of the devil and led Judas to the idea of betraying his Teacher. It seems that on that memorable Easter night, when Judas came out of the room and hurried to the temple, the meeting had already been arranged.
The events of those days, described in sufficient detail by the evangelists, provide the overall picture of what was happening that week. We can see that ominous clouds were gathering over our Lord’s head.
The last straw that made high priests and Pharisees run out of patience was the resurrection of Lazarus. On this occasion, they called an extraordinary Sanhedrin meeting solely devoted to the question: “What are we accomplishing?” … “Here is this Man performing many signs.” (John 11:47)
The high priest Caiaphas, who presided over this council, spoke up, trying to bring everyone to the decision to kill Jesus. “You know nothing at all!” – he begins from afar. “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” – this is how he ends his speech. These arguments were enough for the like-minded people, so from that day on they plotted to take Jesus’ life. (John 11:47-53)
After this meeting, where they decided to kill Lazarus as well, Jesus was officially wanted: “But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest Him.” (John 11:52)
Through the ministers and temple police, through the network of subordinate synagogues, and through the help of indefatigable zealots of the Law (such as Saul), the high priests announced the secret Sanhedrin decision: anyone who knows where Jesus is should immediately report it to the capture center, located in the main Jerusalem temple.
They may have offered a monetary reward. We can assume this knowing that Judas got money immediately after he concluded the betrayal agreement. Whatever the case, they started looking for Jesus on all fronts.
These climatic days are characterized by especially strong manifestation of God’s power in Jesus’ actions on the one hand, and the increased rising of evil forces on the other hand. By resurrecting Lazarus, Jesus testified that He is the One who gives Life. It was clear evidence of God’s power. Angry Jews could no longer slander that Jesus was working miracles by the power of the devil.
The Triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerusalem was an absolutely accurate fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah’s writing about the Messiah. And then an unprecedented thing happened: in a thunderous voice God the Father spoke from heaven to all the people. (John 12:28) All this was known to Jewish commanders, Pharisees and high priests, but strange as it may seem, these facts pushed them to even greater resistance.
At that moment things started to move fast. Messages about the Messiah came from everywhere. Accompanied by enthusiastic applause, He entered
Jerusalem, He was seen in the temple, some well-known experts on the Law of Moses and the fatherly traditions spoke to Him, trying to trip Him up with questions about the Scriptures. But all to no avail. Ashamed and annoyed they had to leave to the laughter and utter enjoyment of common people.
“What are we accomplishing?” – the Pharisees said to one another. “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!” (John 12:19)
Meanwhile, temple ministers inform the high priests that there’s a man who wants to meet them. Having seen him, they were dumbfounded. They all recognized Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, who had been constantly following Him for three years.
No one expected such a twist. What are they going to do with this man? What does he want there? Should they arrest him and make him reveal the current location of Jesus? What’s the purpose of his coming here? Perhaps, his Teacher came up with some kind of an ingenious trap in order to completely embarrass them in the eyes of all people. Dozens of similar questions flashed through their shocked minds.
Enjoying the effect produced by his arrival, Judas was the first to break the silence and speak. “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.” (Luke 22:3-6)
It’s difficult to describe all the delight and enthusiasm of the high priests, not concealing their pleasure, when they heard that Judas was ready to betray his Teacher. How lucky is that? They couldn’t dream of such a twist.
The evangelists Luke and Mark write that Judas arranged with the high priests that he would help them arrest the Teacher for a certain reward even before the disciples gathered for the Easter supper. The problem was that they didn’t want to arrest Christ in the temple for the fear of people, who considered Him a prophet.
And then they came up with an evil plan to catch Jesus and the Disciples somewhere away from people. In this regard, the traditional Easter supper was a perfect time to arrest Him. Everyone would be home, eating Easter lamb, so the arrest wouldn’t attract unwanted witnesses.
They had already prepared everything necessary for His capture. Judas knew that the Teacher, who strictly obeyed the Law of Moses, would certainly have the Easter supper, but where?
This question burned him with the fire of impatience. Listening to conversations and trying to keep up with the Teacher, with every fiber of his soul Judas tried to gain the trust of the high priests and authorities. He nearly fainted with joy, when he finally heard how Jesus instructed Peter and John to prepare the room for the Easter supper.
Inside he was under a great deal of pressure. But he was to be deeply disappointed. Christ called Peter and John and told them something Judas could never have imagined. From this conversation he understood that it was impossible to find out where they were going to have the supper. Thus, despite all efforts, the plan to arrest Jesus during the supper couldn’t be fulfilled.
Christ sent Peter and John (again those Galileans) to prepare a room for the Easter celebration. But how? Through Divine Providence the Lord saw all the pathetic human philosophies of Judas and his false friends. It didn’t bother Him anymore, for He knew why He had come to this world. Jesus wanted to spend these last hours in peace, surrounded by His disciples. That’s why He sent Peter and John, so that even if someone heard what He was saying, they wouldn’t be able to figure out the location.
This episode was described in detail by the evangelists Mark and Luke: “So He sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs…” (Mark 14:13-15)
The realization that nothing worked out the way he planned with his new “friends” burned Judas with a fire of shame and annoyance. He knew everything was prepared for the arrest. A lot of respectable religious leaders, teachers of the Law, elders, high priests, warriors and ministers gathered in the temple waiting for his signal. How horrible! How will he look them in the eyes?
These thoughts were haunting him and, sitting in the upper room among the disciples, Judas was frantically looking for a way out of this situation. When he heard that after the Passover everybody was going to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was so impatient, he couldn’t sit still, trying to think of a suitable excuse to run to the temple and warn the plotters about the changes.
That’s why, having heard the Teacher’s words: “What you are doing, do quickly”, Judas understood that there was no point in hiding anymore, because the Lord directly called him a traitor. Then he stood up and immediately left them.
Christ, knowing that nobody would disturb their Easter supper anymore, spent it in peace and quiet. He gave His last instructions to the disciples, made His last prayer with them, gave them the New Commandment, and taught His last lesson of serving each other by washing their feet.
Since then, to honor this amazing event, all peoples have called this evening “The Last Supper”.
