The Last Supper: This Is My Body
Month 11: The Cross & the Empty Tomb · Bible Story
Today's Scripture
Read together: Luke 22:14-20
14 When the hour had come, Jesus reclined at the table with His apostles. 15 And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering. 16 For I tell you that I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And 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.” 20 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.
Memory Verse
“Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.””— Matthew 26:39 (BSB)memorize this week
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Luke 6-8
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Jesus chooses the Twelve, teaches the crowds, and stills a storm.)The Heart of It
A new month begins. The road now turns toward the cross. On the night before He died, Jesus sat down with His friends to keep the Passover. For hundreds of years, this special meal had helped God's people remember something. It remembered how God rescued Israel out of Egypt with the blood of a lamb. But on this night, Jesus quietly took that old story and made it new. He took the bread, broke it, and said, "This is My body which is given for you" (). Then He took the cup and called it "the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you" (v. 20). He was telling them, ahead of time, exactly what was about to happen. His own body would be broken. His own blood would be poured out. This time the rescue would not be for one nation. It would be for the whole world, to set us free from the slavery of sin.
Notice the tenderness in it. Jesus knew what the next day held. He knew about the betrayal, the beating, and the nails. And yet His thoughts were full of them, and full of us. "I have desired with fervent desire to eat this Passover with you" (v. 15). He did not stumble into the cross by accident. He walked toward it on purpose. And the very first thing He did was give His friends a meal to remember Him by. To this day, when we take the bread and cup, we are not earning anything. We are remembering a love that gave everything. And we are saying, "Yes, Lord. I receive what You have done for me."
Around the Table
At His last special supper, Jesus shared bread and a cup with His friends. He said the bread was like His body. He said the cup was like His blood. He was giving them to make us clean and bring us home to God.
Let's do it: Break a piece of bread in half together and say, "Thank You, Jesus, for giving everything for me."
The Passover was an old meal. It helped God's people remember how He rescued them from Egypt. Jesus made the meal new. He used it to point to the bigger rescue He was about to do on the cross.
Let's talk: When we take the bread and cup at church, what are we remembering?
Jesus calls the cup "the new covenant in My blood." A covenant is a strong promise. This one was sealed with blood. It is God's promise to forgive everyone who comes to Him through Jesus.
Let's go deeper: Jesus knew the cross was only hours away. Yet He gave His friends a meal first. What does that tell you about the kind of love that took Him to the cross?
💬 Conversation Starter
Is there a meal your family eats that always reminds you of someone special, or something special?— Jesus gave us a meal to always remember Him.
🛡️ Defending the Faith
The Lord's Supper is one of the oldest practices of the church. Paul wrote down the very words of Jesus around AD 55 (). That was only about twenty years after that night. From the very start, Christians believed Jesus really said, "This is My body, given for you." And they have remembered it ever since.
For Dad · Go Deeper
It is worth pausing on the word covenant. The old covenant at Sinai was sealed when Moses sprinkled blood on the people (). Jeremiah had promised a new covenant: "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (). That new covenant is sealed in the blood of Christ. In our churches we hold the Lord's Supper as a precious ordinance and memorial. We remember Jesus' body and blood given for us. And by faith, through the Spirit, we truly meet with our living Lord at His table. Here is the searching part for a father. Your children learn reverence by watching yours. If you come to the Table distracted, or going through the motions, they will learn that this is just a ritual. But if they see you quieted, grateful, and examining your own heart (), they will learn that the cross is the most serious and most joyful fact in the world.
Draws on: Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
Let's Pray Together
"Father, thank You that on His last night, Jesus thought of us. His body was given. His blood was poured out. He did it to wash us clean and bring us home. Help our family treasure the cross. Help us never take Your love for granted. In Jesus' name, amen."
"This is My body, given for you." Jesus walked toward the cross on purpose, for me.