The Passover has already been prepared under the Lord’s word, while Judas has already sought a hidden opportunity. Now Luke says, “When the hour had come.” Jesus sits down with the twelve apostles, and before bread is broken He speaks a sentence that still searches the Church: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
That hour is not a nostalgic farewell. The old feast of deliverance is gathered into His Passion, His covenant gift, and His kingdom. At the same table He will also name a betrayer. Love and warning sit together, because the Mystical Supper is Christ’s self-giving: His Body given, His Blood of the new covenant poured out, received in thanksgiving and repentance, and stretched toward the kingdom of God.
The Hour, the Desire, and the Kingdom (Luke 22:14-18)
14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
Luke begins with the hour. Rulers have plotted and Judas has bargained, yet Jesus sits down when the hour has come. He enters it knowingly. The Passion is not an accident that overtakes Him.
He also names His desire. “With fervent desire I have desired” is willing love, not reluctance and not a psychological theory of Christ’s emotions. He wants this Passover with His apostles before He suffers because this meal opens the mystery He is about to accomplish. The Cross is His gift of Himself.
The feast still remembers Israel’s deliverance, but Jesus immediately points forward: “until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God,” and again, “until the kingdom of God comes.” The meal stands between deliverance remembered and the kingdom awaited. He takes the cup, gives thanks, and tells them to divide it among themselves. Thanksgiving is already the shape of the hour. The fruit of the vine is shared now, and its joy is promised again when the kingdom comes. The old feast is not thrown away. It is fulfilled in Him.
Gems from the Fathers 💎: The Cross Freely Welcomed
St. John Chrysostom hears the Lord’s desire as comfort for His disciples: “the salvation of the world was to be brought about”.1 The meal approaches the Cross, and Christ approaches both with saving love. His desire makes clear that no plot has seized authorship of the hour.
Language insight: fervent desire and thanksgiving
Luke’s Greek intensifies the Lord’s words with a repeated desire: ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα (epithymia epethymēsa), “with desire I desired.” The stacking lets the reader hear more than calm acceptance. Christ enters the meal with ardent, voluntary love before suffering. In verses 17 and 19, εὐχαριστήσας (eucharistēsas), “having given thanks,” places thanksgiving before the Passion. The Eucharistic shape is joined to the Cross; the Lord gives thanks as He moves toward the gift of Himself.2
This Is My Body, the New Covenant in My Blood (Luke 22:19-20)
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
The verbs are simple and inexhaustible: He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it. The words that follow are not explained away. “This is My body which is given for you.” The body that will be given on the Cross is already given at the table. The gift is personal: for you.
The cup is named as covenant: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” Luke notes that this cup is taken “after supper,” a narrative sequence rather than a reconstructed meal order. The new covenant is not an idea only. It is given in Christ’s blood. The Lord’s Supper is joined to the Cross, to communion, and to the kingdom.
“Do this in remembrance of Me” is a command to the Church, not a thin private recollection of an absent teacher. The Church remembers by entering the saving gift Christ commanded: giving thanks, receiving His Body and Blood, and proclaiming His death until He comes.
The Church receives His words in faith: this is His Body given for us, the new covenant in His Blood, not a bare symbol of fellowship, and not a puzzle for crude speculation about mechanism. Orthodox faith begins with what He said and remains reverent before the mystery.
Gems from the Fathers 💎: The Life-Giving Gift
St. Cyril of Alexandria locates the Eucharist within Christ’s victory over corruption. The Word has made our mortal flesh His own; in Communion He gives us His life-giving Body and precious Blood. Cyril says that He “transforms them into the efficacy of His flesh”.3 We receive more than an encouragement to remember: we receive Christ, who is Life. The mystery is approached in faith, because His true word is trustworthy even where its manner exceeds our understanding.
St. John Chrysostom holds Eucharistic remembrance together with the one sacrifice: “Christ is one everywhere”.4 The Church does not multiply Christs or offer a different sacrifice. What she receives at the altar is the one saving offering of the Son, not another Calvary.
Scripture fulfilled: Exodus 24:8
And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.5
At Sinai, blood seals the covenant God makes with His people. Jesus names the cup through His own Blood. The covenant is not purchased by the disciple’s worthiness: the Lord Himself gives what establishes communion, and the disciple receives with repentance and faith.
Scripture fulfilled: Jeremiah 31:31 (Brenton Jeremiah 38:31)
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:6
Brenton numbers this promise as Jeremiah 38:31. The promise remains addressed to Israel and Juda. Christ fulfills Israel’s hope rather than discarding it, and His Blood opens the covenant gift to the nations.
Language insight: Body, remembrance, and covenant
Luke 22:19-20 gathers the covenant words tightly: σῶμα (sōma, body), ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν (hyper hymōn, for you), ἀνάμνησιν (anamnēsin, remembrance), καινὴ διαθήκη (kainē diathēkē, new covenant), αἵματι (haimati, blood), and ἐκχυννόμενον (ekchynnomenon, being poured out). The point is not vocabulary by itself. Luke repeats “for you” around the Body and Blood, so remembrance is the Church’s obedient, thankful reception of the covenant gift, while still remaining reverent before the mystery.7
The Betrayer’s Hand at the Table (Luke 22:21-23)
21 But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. 22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
23 Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.
The words come like a wound after the gift: “the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.” Judas is not far away. His hand is at the table where Christ gives Himself. Nearness to holy things can hide a divided heart.
Jesus holds together divine purpose and human responsibility. “The Son of Man goes as it has been determined,” but “woe to that man by whom He is betrayed.” That the Son of Man goes as it has been determined does not make betrayal innocent, inevitable, or authored by God as sin. Prophecy does not excuse the betrayer. The Passion is not chaos, and Judas is not a harmless role in a drama.
Luke names an individual betrayer; the verse cannot be turned into an ethnic accusation or a collective charge against the Jewish people. Jesus, the Twelve, the Passover, and Judas himself belong to Israel. The text calls each disciple to self-examination.
The apostles begin to question which of them could do this. Luke records the trembling of the table. This is not a moment for accusing others first. The safer question before the Mysteries is not, “Who is the betrayer among them?” but, “Lord, heal whatever in me can betray You while sitting near You.”
Christ’s warning is severe mercy: it calls for repentance, confession, reconciliation, and pastoral guidance, not despair, public scrutiny of another communicant, or a crushed conscience. The tender heart that fears approaching unworthily is not being driven from Christ. It is being called into the light, where confession and hope still meet.
Language insight: handing over and determined Passion
Luke calls Judas “the one handing [Him] over”: τοῦ παραδιδόντος (tou paradidontos). The same passage says the Son of Man goes κατὰ τὸ ὡρισμένον (kata to hōrismenon), according to what has been determined. Those two lines protect the pastoral balance: Christ’s Passion is not chaos, but the betrayer’s action remains real handing-over.8
The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪
The Covenant Thursday Liturgy reads the Supper in Matthew 26:20-29 and the apostolic teaching in 1 Corinthians 11:23-34. Christ’s gift and the apostle’s call to discerning reception belong together. The Church hears the covenant words at the threshold of the Cross, then learns to approach with faith, repentance, and love. Gratitude is neither casual familiarity nor terror of the merciful Lord.9
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
Receive Christ’s desire as the measure of the hour. If the Lord fervently desired this Passover before He suffered, the Eucharist is not a duty we grudgingly keep, nor a religious habit we can treat as optional when we are tired. Before liturgy, name the resistance honestly: distraction, resentment, delay, the wish to receive without being known. Ask Him to kindle a desire that matches His own, even if yours begins small.
Give thanks inside the suffering you did not choose. Jesus gives thanks at the table before the Cross. Thanksgiving here is not denial. It is trust that the Father’s will is not waste. In illness, family strain, parish conflict, or a work week that feels like a narrowing hour, practice the same first act: bless God, then take the next faithful step.
Come to the Body and Blood with faith that hears His words. “This is My body” and “the new covenant in My blood” are received, not reduced. If you have treated Communion as a symbol of belonging, or as a puzzle to master, return to the Lord’s declaration. Prepare by confession when sin is clinging, by reconciliation when a quarrel is still warm, and by prayer that you may receive the gift as gift.
Examine the heart without despair. Religious familiarity is the danger Luke sets beside the chalice: a hand can be on the table while the will is already elsewhere. Bring the hidden bargain into confession before it ripens. If you are afraid you have already failed, do not use Judas’s woe as a sentence against yourself. Use it as a call to come into the light while mercy is still speaking. Seek your father of confession. Make peace where you can. Then approach with hope, because the same Lord who names betrayal still gives Himself for you.
Look toward the kingdom from the table. The Supper is not only memory of Thursday night. Christ will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes, and the Church already tastes that promise. Let Communion train you to wait, to endure, and to love the people with whom you divide the cup.
Stand for a moment at that table. The hour has come. Bread is in His hands, and the cup of the new covenant is given for you. A betrayer’s hand is also there, and the apostles are already asking which of them it could be. Do not look first across the room. Look at the Lord who desired this Passover, who gives thanks, who gives Himself, and who still warns in order to save. Ask Him to receive you in repentance and to keep you in His kingdom.
Teaching Notes
The Hour, the Desire, and the Kingdom (Luke 22:14-18)
- Ask: What does Jesus’ fervent desire reveal about His Passion?
- Emphasize: Christ freely enters the hour. He desires our salvation and gives the fulfilled Passover.
- Watch for: Teaching the Passion as if Jesus is only overtaken by events, or using verse 15 to invent a psychology of Christ’s emotions.
- Connect: Tie the Passover to Exodus, the Cross, and the kingdom of God. Keep the shared cup of verses 17-18 and “after supper” in verse 20 as Luke’s sequence, not a reconstructed seder.
This Is My Body, the New Covenant in My Blood (Luke 22:19-20)
- Ask: What does Jesus say the bread and cup are?
- Emphasize: Orthodox sacramental faith begins with Christ’s words and remains reverent before the mystery.
- Watch for: Reducing the Eucharist to a bare symbol, or speculating beyond what the Church confesses.
- Connect: Bring in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 1 Corinthians 11:23-34, Jeremiah 31:31-34, and Hebrews 9:15-22.
The Betrayer’s Hand at the Table (Luke 22:21-23)
- Ask: Why is betrayal at the table such a serious warning?
- Emphasize: Nearness to holy things must become repentance and love, not religious familiarity.
- Watch for: Using Judas only to accuse others; treating him as an ethnic or collective accusation; using “as it has been determined” to excuse sin, teach fatalism, or imply that God authors sin; terrorizing tender consciences.
- Connect: Tie this section to confession, reconciliation, pastoral guidance, and preparation for Communion with hope.
Sources
Scripture is from NKJV.
Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX).
Greek text: SBL Greek New Testament, Luke; BibleHub verse-level interlinear.
Footnotes
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St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew, Homily LXXXI, on Matthew 26:17-18, ccel.org. ↩
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SBLGNT Luke 22:15, 22:17, and 22:19, Luke in Greek; BibleHub interlinear pages for Luke 22:15, Luke 22:17, and Luke 22:19. ↩
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St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Sermon CXLII, on Luke 22:17-22, tertullian.org. ↩
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St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews, Homily XVII, section 6, on Hebrews 9:24-26, ccel.org. ↩
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Brenton, English Septuagint, Exodus 24:8, ebible.org. ↩
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Brenton, English Septuagint, Jeremiah 31:31 (Brenton Jeremiah 38:31), ebible.org. ↩
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SBLGNT Luke 22:19-20, Luke in Greek; BibleHub interlinear pages for Luke 22:19 and Luke 22:20. ↩
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SBLGNT Luke 22:21-22, Luke in Greek; BibleHub interlinear pages for Luke 22:21 and Luke 22:22. ↩
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Coptic Reader, Holy Pascha, Thursday Day, Liturgy of the Word, Gospel Matthew 26:20-29; Pauline 1 Corinthians 11:23-34, copticreader.org. ↩