Matthew 26: take, eat; this is my body

Two days before the Passover

The chief priests and elders gather at the palace of Caiaphas and plot to take Jesus by subtlety, but not during the feast, for fear of the people. Meanwhile, at Bethany, a woman pours very precious ointment from an alabaster box on Jesus's head. The disciples call it a waste; Jesus says she has prepared him for burial and that wherever the gospel is preached, her deed will be told. Right after this, Judas goes to the chief priests and agrees to betray him for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave in Exodus 21.

What does “Take, eat; this is my body” mean?

At evening Jesus sits down with the twelve for the Passover. While they eat, he announces that one of them will betray him, and each asks, Lord, is it I? It is the moment Leonardo da Vinci chose for his Last Supper in Milan.

Then, in verse 26, Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, gives it to the disciples and says, Take, eat; this is my body. He takes the cup and says it is his blood of the new testament, shed for many for the remission of sins. The Passover already retold the story of a lamb, a sparing and a liberation; Jesus gives the meal a new center in himself.

Christians have long held different understandings of these words. Catholics speak of transubstantiation, the Orthodox of a mystery, Lutherans of Christ's real presence, and many Reformed, Baptist and evangelical churches of a spiritual presence or a memorial. All of them repeat these words at the Lord's table, and many children hear them at their First Communion.

From the table to the garden

After singing a hymn, the group goes out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus predicts that all will stumble and that Peter will deny him three times. In Gethsemane he takes Peter, James and John aside, is sorrowful even unto death, and prays three times for the cup to pass. He finds them sleeping and says, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Judas arrives with a crowd and a kiss. A disciple strikes the servant of the high priest, and Jesus answers that all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. All the disciples flee. Before Caiaphas, Jesus is condemned for blasphemy, while in the courtyard Peter denies him three times. The cock crows, and Peter goes out and weeps bitterly. A Last Supper print lettered with verse 26 fits a dining room, a First Communion or a church kitchen.