Peter and John left Bethany, and went on to Jerusalem. Entering the city, they eagerly looked at the passersby up and down each street until at last they saw a man carrying a large jar of water on his shoulders.

Peter nudged John, and John, startled, saw the same thing, the two of them falling into cadence behind the man, a discreet distance away.

Twice, in the jostling throngs, they almost lost him, but finally succeeded in following him into a narrow side street, where he stopped to bang on a large door. Peter and John got close enough so that, when the door opened, they looked beyond the man and asked the servant at the door, "Could we see the master of the house, please. It's important!"

They repeated the statement as Jesus had instructed them, and were surprised to see the master of the house tell them happily, "Come in, come in. Yes, I've been expecting you!" Peter and John were led through the interior courtyard, through the kitchen at the rear, and up a flight of stairs to a large upper room where they saw tables and furniture easily able to accommodate Jesus and His disciples.

Why did this man expect Peter and John? Had, an angel previously delivered the message? There is no record of it. Had Jesus Himself made arrangements a full year earlier, telling the man that He would send His disciples with such a message on the afternoon of the thirteenth? There is no way of knowing.

For about a month now the entire city had been in preparation for this most important of feasts. Bridges were repaired, walls whitewashed, sidewalks and drains repaired and replaced, decorative friezes painted, as the whole city took on an expectant, exciting pace.

Thousands of lambs were brought in from all of the countryside, and ceremonial preparations were underway in all homes for days in advance.

The priests would select lambs "without blemish" out of the herds on the tenth day (about three days before Jesus sent Peter and John into Jerusalem to find their guest chambers) to be brought into the slaughtering places in the cities.

The candlelight searches were made through the nooks and crannies of homes for leavening, and the scrubbing and washing of utensils, pots and pans, the careful cleansing of silverware, the collection of the bitter herbs and baking of unleavened cakes were busily taking place throughout the city.

Citizens noted, with some chagrin, that the Roman legion always sent additional concentrations of troops, both to remain within the city and to bivouac in the nearby countryside, for they always expected the possibility of an insurrection at this season, when perhaps somewhere between one-and-a-half and two million people would be thronging Jerusalem and its immediate environs for the Passover. (Ancient writers such as Josephus indicate the population of Jerusalem during the Passover season to be from one to three million, though recent scholarship suggests this number could be exaggerated.)

Whose home was this where Jesus planned to take His last supper?

The Bible does not say, but there may be reason to speculate it could have been the home of Nicodemus, or the home of young John Mark's father, or a large home rented for the purpose of the Passover by Joseph of Arimathaea, a very wealthy man who provided the tomb wherein Jesus was buried, and who actually helped carry the body there.

In any event, Peter and John remained there for a time, making sure all of the required rites for preparation of the Passover had been completed, that there was ample tableware and seating, and that other provisions had been made for the exact number that Jesus would bring to this special Passover supper.

The servants couldn't understand it. The whole house was thrown into an immediate uproar. Even though the master of the home had tried to insure that all was in readiness, the household help couldn’t understand why in the world they were doing this one day earlier.

For, notice carefully, Jesus intended sitting down to a Paschal lamb supper about 20 to 21 hours before all of the other Jewish homes would be doing the thing!

Jesus intended eating the Passover supper early!

This truly was to be, then, a special "supper" later referred to by the Apostle Paul as "the Lord's supper," and was taken before the Jewish Passover! (See John 13:1.)

After sunset that evening, it was the beginning of the fourteenth of Nisan, the day when the Israelites had been commanded to eat the Passover "between the two evenings."

Jesus’ mind was almost continually fixed on that "other dimension" now, and a great heaviness began to settle upon Him. Still, it was mixed with the deepest sense of fulfillment, and even personal satisfaction and warmth toward His disciples. Jesus knew how much He really loved them, and how much spiritual information He wanted to convey to their minds during His last hours on this earth, so that they themselves could give the greatest witness possible at a later time.

We know from later Jewish sources that the Paschal supper followed a rigorously exacting schedule, including specified Psalms and prayers, four cups of red wine per person (which would even require an individual who was too poor to afford it to sign notes for future labor), plus the question and session between father and son concerning the significance of the Passover in Egypt, and many other rites. Some sort of similar ceremony may have already been customary even at this time.

But Jesus’ supper was far different. After they had all taken their seats around the table, Jesus, having led them in prayer and asking God’s blessing on the food in a particularly moving manner, told them, "I have had the deepest desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Because I'm telling you, this is the last time I will eat it on this earth until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

The disciples were no doubt puzzled. They knew they were sitting down to a lamb supper with the bitter herbs, unleavened bread, the cups of wine; they knew that Jesus was particularly heavy and seemingly serious and saddened; and they no doubt expected that Jesus would be eating the regular Passover supper with them either here or in some other place the following evening. Therefore, all the disciples were quite surprised when He told them this was the last time He would eat of it until it was fulfilled in the kingdom of God!

Suddenly, wild hope leaped into their breasts. They, began to talk excitedly among themselves, believing that true to the Romans' apprehensions, Christ was finally going to seize upon the opportunity of the Passover on the following night to rally nearly one-and-a-half million people around Him (probably by an awesome series of miracles), simply overwhelm the Romans by force of numbers, and establish a new kingdom of Israel right then and there!

Peter probably hastily excused himself during part of the noisy discussion that followed Jesus' sober words, and rushed downstairs to the foyer where they had left their outer cloaks, and retrieved his cherished Roman shortsword he had bought in a bazaar during their visit to the Syrophoenician coast.

While he was at it, he rummaged through the disciples' personal effects and found another sword hanging on a peg beneath a cloak. Expectancy and determination boiling up within him, he climbed back up the stairs and slid the swords under the mat on which he was sitting and rejoined the conversation.

The talk had turned to the deeds that had been done.

Peter could see Judas was getting in his licks down the table, and it seemed that Bartholomew, James, Alphaeus’ son Thaddeus,andeven Simon the Canaanite were nodding agreement.

Peter had been disgusted several times in the past over James’ and John's constant discussions about who would "be the greatest" in the kingdom, and especially resented some of the interference of parents of some of the men, notably Zebedee's wife who had lobbied so heavily that "when Jesus came with His kingdom her boys ought to have the two top seats."

The talk swirled back and forth along the table, concentrating on certain qualities of character: who had been stronger in this or that confrontation, who had been used to cast out demons, who had attracted the largest crowds which had listened in this or that town during their earlier evangelistic campaign trips when Jesus had sent them out two by two. Finally, faces began to redden, voices raised a little, and a full-fledged argument seemed to be developing.

Jesus rapped for attention and said, "Now wait just a minute! You all know that the kings of Gentile nations exercise lordship over their subjects, and they that have authority over the people are usually called ‘benefactors.’" (He said this somewhat sarcastically, for the record of bestial brutalities by Gentile kings, even including the oft-told tale of Herod's assassination of the children at Jesus own birth, was well known.)

"But with you it will not be that way! He that is the greatest among you, let him become as if he were the youngest. And he that is the chief, as if he were a servant. For which is the greatest, he that sits at the table, partaking of the meat, or he that is doing the serving? Is it not he that is obviously sitting at his own table, partaking of his own meat? But I am in the midst of you as he that serves! But you right here are those special few that have continued with me in all of my temptations and trials; and I am appointing unto you a kingdom, just as my Father has appointed that kingdom unto me; that you will finally eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will all sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel!"

They didn't understand this statement though we in retrospect can easily understand it today.

Jesus was showing the futility of reasoning carnally, bickering over special favors, and striving to use political methods and influence to gain prominence.

Rather, He reminded them how, just prior to the meal, He Himself had helped set it out, had arranged this or that place setting, had gone willingly to the kitchen to carry some of the food to the upstairs room, as He had always done; pitching in with His own hands to do task work. Jesus never followed the examples of the aloof Pharisees and Sadducees who loved to posture and flaunt their importance while they allowed others to wait on them hand and foot.

Judas, in lively discussion with several of the disciples whom he had greatly influenced, was seated close enough to Jesus that he could hear snatches of conversation between Jesus, John, James and Peter from time to time.

His mind was tormenting him. Was this the time? How could he slip out? Was there any way he could bribe a servant? He knew Peter had secretly stashed away a couple of swords, but he didn't feel this would be enough to resist an armed guard, arriving quickly and without announcement. Judas thought he had better bide his time perhaps wait until the supper was over and maybe everyone would be asleep from the effects of the delicious meal and the few cups of wine.

But Judas used every opportunity during the lively discussion concerning rulership to get in telling blows about how he had saved them a great deal of money by his skillful financial transactions, and how much more popular he would prove to be with his deferential ways and especially his programs for the poor.

Judas seized what seemed to have been his best opportunity, with Jesus particularly preoccupied during the Passover to launch into one of his longest and most emotionally intense accusations of Jesus.

Jesus had gotten up several times, but this time He returned to the table carrying some brazen pots and pans. When He had accumulated enough of them, Jesus stood up from the table, and began to take off His inner layer of garments until He was stripped to the waist, wearing only His loincloth. He then took a large towel and wrapped it around Himself, poured water into a large brass basin, and, beginning with one of the men at the end of the table, laid heavy emphasis on His words of a few moments before, "I am in the midst of you as one that serves," literally acting out His part of a "servant" by, of all things, beginning to wash the disciples' feet!

Bemused, Judas watched Jesus wash the feet of Thaddeus and Simon the Canaanite. When Jesus came to Judas, he probably rolled his eyes, winked significantly at a couple of people nearby, grimacing in hopelessness, as Jesus, with His head and shoulders bowed, washed Judas's feet.

Finally, it was Peter's turn. And Peter blustered.

He said, "Lord, what in the world do you think you're doing—are you going to try to wash my feet?"

Jesus looked at him and said, "What I am doing now, you don’t understand, Peter, but you will understand afterward."

Peter couldn’t stand all of this "serving" any further and so he said, "You're never going to wash my feet!"

Jesus smiled and said, "Peter, if I don't wash your feet, you won't have anything to do with me whatever."

Peter said, "Lord, you go right ahead—and don't wash just my feet, but wash my hands and my head as well!" Jesus had to smile more broadly at this. "He that has had a bath does not need to wash anything but his feet, but is clean every bit. . ." And, looking at all of them, while still noticing the glittering eyes of Judas, Jesus turned his statement into a direct and pointed lesson by saying, "And you are clean"—then with a glance in Judas's direction— "but not all of you." "Because," John added, "He knew who should betray him, therefore he said, "You are not all clean."

Finally, He finished washing the feet of all twelve of them, replaced the basins, removed the water jars, swabbed up the remaining droplets of water with a towel, and, picking up His garments, got dressed.

He sat down again, then with voice rising above the hushed conversations he went on and said, "Do you know what I have done to you? You all refer to me as Master [teacher] and Lord and you say well, for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and your Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. Because I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done unto you! In plain point of fact, I am telling you, that a servant is not greater than his lord; neither one who is commissioned or sent greater than the one who commissions or sends him.

"If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them! And I'm not talking of every one of you; I know each of you that I have chosen, and that the scriptures must be fulfilled that say, "He that eats his bread with me lifted up his heel against me.’ [Compare with Psalm 41:9] It is absolutely true that he who receives whomever I send is doing the same thing as receiving me; and he who receives me will receive Him who sent me!"

Only moments later, Jesus said loudly enough for several of the disciples to hear, "I am telling you the truth that one of you right here at this table is going to betray me! His hand is partaking of the food right here at the table, and that hand is going to betray me! But I’ll tell you this, Woe be unto that man through whom I am betrayed!"

A deadly hush fell over the crowd.

Judas’s face was sober. With widened eyes, he looked, with a combined pretense of shock and curiosity from one to another near him as if wondering which one of those other disciples could dare do such a thing.

A few tears sprang into a few eyes, and several of them were sorrowful.

Perhaps some few who had been influenced a great deal by Judas and had allowed themselves to criticize Jesus from time to time were suddenly conscience-stricken. Several of them had to take the opportunity to say, "Surely you don't think I would ever do a thing like that, do you, Jesus?" Jesus reaffirmed again, "It is one of you who is eating with me right out of this common bowl, who dips his bread in the dish and who will betray me. The Son of man will go through with all that is required and written of Him, so it is all predetermined; but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had simply never been born!" John had had a moment to express himself to Jesus, and in a particularly moving moment leaned over and placed his head on Jesus’ chest.

Peter thought John was whispering to Jesus, not recognizing that John was overcome with sympathy and compassion, or the emotion that he felt.

Peter crooked a finger at John and whispered in his ear, "Tell us, who is this he is speaking about?"

John leaned back a little further, and lifting his lips to Jesus’ ear, said, "Lord, who is it?"

Jesus said quietly, but with a searching look at His three closest disciples near Him, John, Peter and James, "It's the one to whom I'm going to give this sop."

Picking up a piece of the bread, Jesus dipped it in the common vessel, picking up slivers of roast lamb with its juice, and purposefully leaned far over and gave it to Judas Iscariot.

Judas noticed that John's face whitened with shock, and suddenly Judas felt his body convulse with both rage and guilt.

Judas was thunderstruck. He sneered, "I suppose you think it is I, don't you Rabbi?" Jesus said, "Well, you said it."

This final, public break was more than Judas’ tormented emotion could stand! His bitterness had grown in the recent days and weeks during the tortuous confrontations with the leadership in Jerusalem. And now, inside himself, his mind snapped and he lost all mental control.

While he probably couldn't really realize the enormity of the evil that was engulfing him, his hatred for Jesus became so fierce, so intense, that his normal reserves were destroyed.

Judas had become fair game for Satan the Devil!

Satan was always hovering near Judas in a constant attempt to get him to whisper in this or that ear, to influence this or that mind—all in order to bring about Jesus’ degradation and death by any means possible. Judas' mental collapse was Satan's golden opportunity. He immediately took complete possession of Judas' mind, brain and body, entering directly into him so that he completely controlled his every act, word and thought.

Jesus was still looking at Judas, and recognizing with His powerful perception of the spirit world that the glint in Judas's, eye had suddenly taken on a wild demonic glaze, He spoke even more to Satan than He did to Judas: "Get on with it; whatever you intend doing, you'd better do it quickly!"

The other disciples all heard Jesus words, to Judas—yet none understood. They probably supposed Jesus was giving Judas a special commission to go out and strike some special deal for a specific purpose. Perhaps Jesus had asked Judas to buy some extra provisions for the Passover. Judas, after all, was still the treasurer of the group; and Jesus had often told Judas to go buy things that they needed or had urged him to give an offering to some poor person. Therefore, there was no special uproar at the table when Judas hurriedly gathered his garments, got to his feet, and went clattering down the stairs.

And so, while Jesus was still talking in calm tones to His disciples, Judas was cursing, flinging stones, and kicking at things in his path as he determined to seek out the officials and bring them back to Jesus to have Him arrested!

Instantly, after Judas had departed, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him; and God will glorify him in himself." Jesus explained to them it was all going to come to a rapid head now, and began to urgently teach the disciples in a kindly but firm manner, words which seemed to recall for them the most striking example of Jesus’ teachings they had ever heard, that time when they had slogged, lungs gasping for breath and foot-weary up to the heights of that mountain near Capernaum so long ago when Jesus had told them, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

Jesus now said, "Little children, I'm only going to be with you for a short while longer and then you're going to seek me, and as I have told the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come, so now I am telling you, A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you love, one another in exactly that same way!

"So long as you do this, all men will know that you are my disciples. Your primary characteristic must be the love you show for one another!"

Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Simon, I'm telling you something; Satan the Devil has tried to get a hold of you, time and again, so he can sift you just like wheat; but I have been praying especially for you, that your faith will not fail! Even though I know all of you are going to be offended against me, because I remember what Zechariah wrote, 'I will smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered abroad.' But, nevertheless, after I am resurrected, I am going to precede you into Galilee."

Peter having already asked Jesus, "Lord, where are you going to go?" said, "Lord, even though everybody else at this table would leave you, I never would! I am ready to go to Jail with you, or to be killed!" Jesus said, "Really Peter? Are you really ready to lay down your life for me? I'm telling you the truth, that this very same night, before the cock crows two times, you are going to deny me three times!"

Peter raised his voice vehemently! Tears sprang into his eyes. mortified, furious, indignant, and at the same time filled with an urgency to convince Jesus of his sincerity, Peter wondered why in the world Jesus would be talking this way when Peter himself was ready for the breathtaking announcement that the time had come to go out into the streets of Jerusalem and begin proclaiming the news that the Messiah was taking over and setting up His government.

Peter felt his whole life’s calling disintegrating around his ankles. Searching wildly for what could possibly be behind Christ’s words, he said again at the top of his lungs with tears filling his eyes. "Lord, even if I've got to stand there and die beside you, I will never deny you!" His speech was so moving that all of the other disciples were nodding their heads, with tears in their own eyes, and were saying the same thing!

"You bet!" "Yes!" "That’s right" "Me, too!" all of them said.

Jesus interrupted, "When I sent you out without a bag or a wallet, or without even extra sandals for your trip, did you lack anything?" They answered, "No, nothing." "Well, I'm telling you now, if you have a valise, you'd better take it, and likewise a wallet. And whoever has none, had better sell his cloak and buy a sword. Because I'm telling you that this which is written must be fulfilled in me [compare Isa. 53:12—And he was reckoned among the transgressors"] so that everything which has been written of me will be completely fulfilled!"

That was more like it!

Now Jesus was making more sense, Peter thought. With alacrity, he reached under the mat, and pulled out the two swords. Several of the others had seen him bring them and, nodding their heads, backed up Peter when he said, "Lord, look! We've already got two swords!" Jesus said, "That is quite enough!"

Peter had carried the sword in its sheath around his belt as a utilitarian utensil for a long time. With it he had done everything from severing fruits and vegetables, trimming and cleaning them, butchering and skinning animals, or wiping or scraping the mud off his shoes. He had kept the sword exceedingly sharp, for its manifold uses kept the edge somewhat dulled if he didn't see to it constantly.

Then, a new phase of the supper seemed to develop.

They had all commenced to eat again, when Jesus took a loaf of the flat bread, began to break it, and again fulfilling His servant's task work, "blessed" (asked God's blessing on it in a brief prayer), broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take and eat of this, because this is my body which is given for you."

Jesus may have winced a little while completing the act of breaking the bread, for He knew that in only a few hours, His very flesh would be broken open in great wounds—that He would be fulfilling His role in this human life as a great sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins for those down through the ages who would believe in the symbol of "His body," broken through a vicious scourging and terrible wounds, as offered in sacrifice to fulfill the scripture, "by whose stripes are you healed" (I Pet. 2:24).

Later, He took the larger vessel of wine and poured it into individual cups, and after asking God's blessing, said, "Drink, all of you, because this cup is the New Covenant represented by my blood which is to be shed for many and which is poured out for you, for the remission of sins. Because I'm telling you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the day that I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Whenever you drink this cup, I want you to do it in remembrance of me, because whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you will be proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes again."

Paul would later be inspired to write, "Whenever you eat this [broken] bread, and drink this cup, you are portraying the Lord's death until the time He returns.

"Whoever eats this [broken] bread, and drinks of this cup of the Lord without really discerning the deep meaning of it, thus taking of the symbols unworthily, will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

"But let a person examine himself, and then let him eat of that [broken] bread, and drink of the cup.

"Because he that eats or drinks unworthily is condemning himself by eating and drinking these symbols; not clearly seeing the Lord's body! It is for this precise reason many are weak and sickly among you, and that many have died!" (cf. I Cor. 11: 26-30).

Jesus knew His body was being offered in summation of all sacrifice; that every bullock, lamb, turtle dove or any other sacrifice was only a "schoolmaster" (Gal. 3:24) looking toward this one great sacrifice; the very body, in perfect physical condition, unblemished by any sin either in spiritual intent or through physical accident, and the blood of the Son of God!

By this institution of these New Testament symbols, Jesus was changing the character and the time of observance of the "Passover" for all Christians to observe hereafter. He was partaking of His own "supper" about 20 or so hours before the time of the Old Testament Passover, when the tens of thousands of families would be sitting down to their sacrificial roast lamb; and establishing new symbols which would look back to the reality of Christ’s sacrifice of His broken body and shed blood, rather than forward (through the slaughter of animals) to the need for such sacrifice for sins!

No wonder He spoke with such fervor, no wonder He was so deeply profound!

One can imagine that, humanly, Jesus so wanted His disciples to "get" what was about to happen to Him! When we're distraught, fearful, or terribly shaken, our most urgent human need is for those we love the most to understand! Jesus was reaching out during this supper for the compassion and the empathy of His closest and dearest friends. Perhaps John alone, who was chosen to write almost all that Jesus spoke, and who leaned over against His shoulder in an expression of deep compassion, really came close to feeling the heaviness that was on Jesus—and managed to communicate his understanding.

Again, the disciples were both elated and puzzled. It seemed He was contradicting Himself time after time. First, He would send the wildest hopes to fill their breasts with a statement which seemed to imply He was ready to rush out into the streets and begin His kingdom and then He kept talking of His imminent death!

A gloom settled over the room again.

Peter was shaking his head in sorrow, wondering when they were going to get on with it. Others were deeply troubled.

Jesus then began to say, "Don't let your hearts trouble you. You believe in God; I want you to believe also in me. in my Father’s house are many places and positions. If this were not true, I would have told you; because I go away to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you myself, that where I am at that time, you can be there also!"

"And the place to which I go, I have shown you the way!"

Thomas, one of the skeptics of the twelve, piped up, "Lord, we don't know where in the world you are going, and not knowing this, how can we know the way?"

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one can come unto the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also: And from now on you will come to know Him, because you have seen Him."

Philip responded, "Lord, show us the Father, and it will be sufficient."

Jesus retorted, "Have I been so long with you, Philip, and you still do not know me? He that has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say unto you I do not speak from my own self, but the Father who abides in me accomplishes His works through me! Believe me, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe me for the very works sake. And truthfully, I am telling you, he that believes on me, the works that I do, he can do also; and even greater works than these can he do, because I will go to the Father.

"And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask me anything in my name, that will I do!" These lengthy, moving, final instructions to His disciples recorded in John 14-17 contain not only some of the most important doctrinal essentials of Jesus’ teaching, but also graphic insight into His "other dimensional" awareness of precisely who He was, what He had come to accomplish, and where He was going.

This was the great God who had created the universe, trying to pack as much meaning into every word with His human disciples during these last moments on earth as He possibly could. This was the Son of man, the Son of God, a member of the Divine Family, having changed Himself into a tiny collection of human cells, growing to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem, and living human life as it had never been lived before for thirty-three and one-half years.

The final chapters were about to be written, His hour was coming, and He knew it.