When Jesus sat down with His disciples to say goodbye, He did so over a meal. It was both genuine and profound because meals (and lives) are meant to be shared.
I love a good meal so much that I’ve been known to plan day trips and vacations around places to eat. Some of my favorites include Hattie B’s in Nashville, O’Steen’s in St. Augustine, Mike Linnig’s in Louisville, and Tom’s Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville, Ohio. Chances are, if I’ve traveled to a place, I’ve researched, discovered, or found an off-the-wall spot worth trying, because meals are important and some of my favorite things to share with those I love the most.
Throughout my life, meals shared with friends, family, and even strangers have created moments worth sharing that lasted well beyond the table. I’m certain you can say the same. That’s not a coincidence.
The Last Supper of Jesus and His apostles became one of the foundations of the Christian community. In fact, it is the one meal that unites all Christianity to a common thought of reflection and respect, and it unites us to the body and blood of Jesus.
To understand how profound this meal truly was, we must appreciate the Passover itself. Exodus 12:1-28 describes how the Passover was established. A few key ideas come out of the passage:
- A lamb was to be chosen “without blemish” to be killed (see 12:1-6).
- Blood of the slain lamb was to be spread on the “two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it” (see 12:7-8).
- The meal (and gathering) was to last all night long (see 12:8-10).
- There are requirements for the attire of those eating (see 12:11).
- “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”1
The subsequent generations of Israel would reenact the blessing of God “passing over” their houses because it was never meant to be a single, solitary observance. It was designed to be a family and community gathering, where generations could sit together at a table and recount God’s faithfulness.
It looked back to God’s past deliverance while also looking forward to a time when God would provide once more.
To the Jewish people of yesterday (and today), it was more than just a meal. It was (and continues to be) a remembrance of what Yahweh had done (and is eventually going to do again).
The driving force behind that remembrance came from Exodus 13:8, which says, “You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’” Celebrating the Passover wasn’t just about a meal, it was about reminding future generations of all the Lord had done for the children of Israel.
That idea can still be seen today in the practices of modern-day Jewish descendants in 2026. Consider the following quote shared by Professor Yossi Turner in his article The Passover as a Key to Jewish Continuity: “The point is not that the Jews of later generations directly experience what their forefathers had already experienced at the time of the exodus. This would be impossible. But rather that the story of the exodus, as told by the previous generation must become so much a part of the later generation’s consciousness, that the later generation could not possibly conceive of itself, as it does, without recourse to the realization that its present existence and character is in some way the product of the fateful events that happened previously, and that are subsequently told and retold throughout the generations.”2
When Jesus chose to celebrate this particular feast with His disciples, He aligned His final meal with centuries of Israelite tradition, and that meal became the mechanism to show Yahweh’s plan was coming to fruition. The better Passover Lamb was about to be slain.
Nothing about this meal was accidental. Matthew 26:17-19 reveals the deliberate planning behind this gathering when it says, “Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?’”
By choosing Passover as the setting for His final meal, Jesus made a purposeful statement. This was the feast of deliverance, and He was about to put in motion the ultimate deliverance.
The parallel accounts in Mark 14:12-16 and Luke 22:7-13 describe the careful preparation of the setting. This meal wasn’t a public spectacle or a large assembly; it was the Twelve Apostles gathered to their Rabbi in a private space set apart for a sacred purpose.
That upper room became a sanctuary where Jesus spoke freely to those closest to Him.
The atmosphere in that room must have been complicated. Even though the Passover is a celebration, there must have been a sense of inevitability as Jesus prepared His disciples for what was coming. In that room, removed from the crowds and the demands of public ministry, Jesus created space for something vulnerable and deep. There, He washed their feet, shared a meal, and prepared them for the impending climax of Yahweh’s Will.
Matthew’s account describes Jesus sharing a loaf of unleavened bread and a cup of wine with the group. As they are told to “Eat, this is My body, (26:26) and “Drink, this is My blood,” (26:27), they are bound together forever with the saints who still gather each Sunday to partake of the Lord’s Supper.
Luke’s account adds the significant phrase to Jesus’ dialogue, “Do this in remembrance of me” (22:19). Those simple words created an ongoing practice that has shaped Christian community ever since. That practice is active and communal, and in their participation, Christians choose to not forget what was done for them. In that practice, everything centers on Jesus Himself; therefore, His sacrifice, His love, and our recollection of His sacrifice (see Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 4:10) have been a regular part of worship for almost two thousand years. It’s never gone out of style, it’s never lost its impact because it’s profound and powerful.
The Apostle Paul would later highlight that when he wrote, “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” in 1 Corinthians 11:26.
Every time believers gather to break bread and share the cup, they are transported back to the same upper room of ancient Jerusalem.
They join their brothers as Jesus says, “take, eat.” They connect to those who went before, those who sit alongside them, and those who one day will take their own seat at the table. All of that connection because a meal with the Lord and the act of “remembering Him” became a building block of the Christian community. As that meal created a connection between believers in the First Century, it continues across every continent where the Word of God is shared and lived today.
Ultimately, the command to remember isn’t just about looking back; it’s about forming our current community around the Lord’s sacrifice. It’s about sharing a feast with the Lord that will never end as long as His disciples gather to remember Him.
Throughout my life, one shared meal with my brothers and sisters in Christ has created moments worth sharing that lasted well beyond the table. If you’re a believer, I’m certain you can say the same.
That’s not a coincidence. That’s on purpose. Because meals bring people together.
Notes and Further Reading
- Scripture quotations are from The ESV (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright (c) 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved ↩︎
- Yossi Turner is professor of Jewish Thought and Philosophy (Emeritus). He received his MA and PhD from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is active in a number of academic and public forums interested in the advancement of Jewish education and culture in Israel and around the world. To read more, follow this link. ↩︎
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