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Heavenly City · 7. The last week

Banquet hall

Read it in the Bible: Luke 22:14–20

A long golden hall with a table set for a feast. On the night before he died, Jesus shared a last supper with his friends.

Read it
Luke 22:14–20 and John 13
Where
An upstairs room in Jerusalem
Key words
"Do this in remembrance of Me"
Real world
Passover, remembered every spring

Find it on the map

Part 24 of 35 The last supper

At Passover, Jesus shared a meal with his twelve apostles. During supper he got up, wrapped a towel around his waist and washed their dusty feet, the work of a servant. "I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you," he said (John 13:15).

Then "He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you'" (Luke 22:19–20).

He gave them a new command: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another" (John 13:34). Jesus knew that one of the twelve, Judas, was about to betray him.

The Last Supper, painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s on a wall in Milan, Italy. Photo: Leonardo da Vinci, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Imagined The hall

The table is so long you cannot see the end of it, with a seat for everyone and plenty for all.

The building on Mount Zion in Jerusalem where Christians remember the last supper. Its upstairs hall was built by Crusaders in the Middle Ages. Photo: שלמה רודד, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Real world Passover and the Lord's Supper

Passover is a spring festival that remembers how God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, more than a thousand years before Jesus. Christians remember the last supper by sharing bread and wine or grape juice, called Communion or the Lord's Supper. Around 1495 to 1498, Leonardo da Vinci painted a famous picture of the last supper on a wall in Milan, Italy.

Art In this artwork

The illustration shows a long golden hall with open arches and a long table set for a feast inside.

Look closer

  • Find the long table.
  • How many arches can you count?

Think about it

  1. Why do you think Jesus washed his friends' feet?
  2. What did Jesus ask his followers to remember?
  3. What does it look like to love others the way Jesus loves?

Key words

Apostle
One of the twelve friends Jesus chose and sent out.
Communion
Sharing bread and wine to remember Jesus's death.
Betray
To turn against a friend.

Sources

Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is in the public domain. The other facts on this page come from these sources:

  • The Bible, Gospel of Luke
  • The Bible, Gospel of John
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Passover"
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Last Supper", the painting by Leonardo da Vinci

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