The Feast of Unleavened Bread, called Passover, was drawing near.[1] 2 The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to do away with him, because they were afraid of the people.
3 Then Satan entered into Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve. 4 He went away and talked with the chief priests and the temple officers about how he might hand Jesus over to them.[2] 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and began looking for a good moment to hand him over to them away from the crowd.
7 The day of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us so we can eat it.”
9 They asked him, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”
10 He told them, “Listen, when you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks you: Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 That man will show you a large upstairs room, already furnished. Prepare it there.”
13 They went and found everything just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
14 When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the messengers with him. 15 He said to them, “I have longed and longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” 20 He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new binding promise in my blood, poured out for you.[3]
21 “But look — the hand of the one handing me over is with me on this table. 22 The Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but how terrible for that man by whom he is handed over.”
23 They began to question one another about which of them could be the one about to do this.
24 An argument also broke out among them about which of them was considered the greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who hold power over them are called benefactors.[4] 26 But it must not be that way with you. Instead, the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater — the one reclining at the table, or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? Yet I am here among you as the one who serves.
28 “You are the ones who have stood by me through my trials. 29 And I am giving you a kingdom, just as my Father gave one to me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
31 “Simon, Simon, listen — Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and even to death.”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today before you have denied three times that you know me.”
35 Then he said to them, “When I sent you out without a money bag or a traveler’s sack or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they said.
36 He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money bag should take it, and the same with a sack. And whoever has no sword should sell his cloak and buy one. 37 For I tell you, this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was counted among the lawless.’ Yes, what is written about me is reaching its end.”[5]
38 They said, “Lord, look — here are two swords.”
“That is enough,” he told them.
39 Then he went out and made his way, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not enter into testing.”
41 He pulled away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.[6]
45 When he got up from prayer and went to the disciples, he found them sleeping, worn out from sorrow. 46 He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray, so you will not enter into testing.”
47 While he was still speaking, a crowd appeared. The man called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He came near to Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you handing over the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When those around him saw what was about to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” 50 And one of them struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his right ear.
51 Jesus responded, “Stop — no more of this.” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the temple officers, and the elders who had come against him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? 53 Day after day I was with you in the temple, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour — and the power of darkness.”
54 They seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance. 55 When they had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 A servant girl saw him sitting there in the firelight. She stared at him and said, “This man was with him too.”
57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.”
58 A little while later, someone else saw him and said, “You’re one of them too.”
Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
59 About an hour later, another man insisted, “Certainly this fellow was with him — he’s a Galilean.”
60 Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went outside and sobbed bitterly.
63 The men holding Jesus began mocking him and beating him. 64 They blindfolded him and kept demanding, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” 65 And they said many other blasphemous things against him.
66 When day came, the council of elders of the people — chief priests and scribes — gathered together. They brought him before their council[7] 67 and said, “If you are the Anointed One, tell us.”
He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe me. 68 And if I ask you a question, you will not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”
70 They all said, “So you are the Son of God?”
He said to them, “You say that I am.”
71 They said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it ourselves from his own mouth.”
Notes
Note 1. In the first century these were two linked observances rather than one. Passover fell on Nisan 14, when the lamb was slaughtered, and the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread began on Nisan 15. Because the Passover meal was eaten as the festival week opened, the two names came to be used almost interchangeably, as Luke does here. ↩
Note 2. The Greek word is stratēgoi, literally “captains.” These were officials in charge of the temple guard and its security, working under the chief priests to keep order in the sanctuary. They appear again in verse 52 among those who come out to arrest Jesus. ↩
Note 3. These words — from the middle of verse 19 through verse 20 — are missing from one Greek manuscript, Codex Bezae, and from several Old Latin copies. Every other Greek manuscript has them, including the early P75. Westcott and Hort judged the shorter text original and bracketed the words; the SBL text keeps them, bracketed in the Greek. ↩
Note 4. “Benefactor” (Greek Euergetes) was a real honorific claimed by Hellenistic kings — Ptolemy III of Egypt was known as Euergetes — and later echoed by Roman rulers. The title advertised a ruler’s generosity to his subjects. ↩
Note 5. This quotes Isaiah 53:12, part of the “Suffering Servant” passage describing one who is despised, wounded, and numbered with transgressors. Jewish tradition has commonly read the servant as the nation of Israel enduring suffering, while the Gospel writers apply the words to Jesus. ↩
Note 6. Verses 43–44 — the angel, and the sweat like drops of blood — are absent from several of the earliest manuscripts, among them P75 and Codex Vaticanus. Westcott–Hort and some other editions set them apart as a later addition; the SBL text keeps them here. ↩
Note 7. The council (Greek synedrion, the Sanhedrin) was the supreme Jewish legal body under Roman rule, traditionally numbering seventy-one members drawn from the chief priests, elders, and scribes. It normally convened in Jerusalem near the temple. ↩