Jesus’ Last Supper

Jesus’ Last Supper

Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; John 13

Dear families,

It’s common for big events to be accompanied by meals of celebration and remembrance. From Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts to Fourth of July cookouts, community meals can serve as memory-forming moments.

In Scripture, the Passover meal served a similar purpose. It was the annual retelling of Israel’s defining story: the night God passed over His people, delivered them from slavery, and continued to form them into His covenant nation. God designed Passover to be a remembrance that didn’t merely recall the past but drew its power forward into the present. Every lamb slain, every bitter herb tasted, every retold story was a declaration: We are the people God rescued.

For generations, Israelites passed down the purpose and practices of Passover. Jesus and His disciples would have eaten this meal in a particular way their entire lives. But during Holy Week, Jesus sat down at a Passover table to eat with the disciples and gave the meal an even deeper meaning.

When Jesus took the bread and said, “This is My body,” and about the cup, “This is My blood,” Jesus revealed that all along, the Passover lamb had been pointing to Him. Paul would later say, “Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Jesus had come to deliver His people, but this deliverance was not from Pharaoh but from sin—not from external oppression but internal bondage. The language Jesus used, “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins,” echoes the new covenant promises of Jeremiah 31, when God promised a new heart, a new relationship, and a new covenant written not on tablets of stone but on human hearts. 

This week, help kids see how the church celebrates the Lord’s Supper to remember that Jesus came to be the Passover Lamb we all need.

Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.