Exegesis of Matthew 26:17-29: Passover and the Lord's Supper
As readers hit this foundational passage to the sacrament of Holy Communion, the ministry of Jesus is coming to a close. Matthew has presented the Messiah in an orderly fashion, not linearly like Mark and Luke, through five discourses — the sermon on the mount, the ten miracles, the establishment of the apostolic ministry, the kingdom parables, the life of the church, and the prophecy of the end times — and he has gone into great detail connecting Old Testament prophecy to the fulfillment by our Lord. Now, Matthew’s gospel is coming to its ultimate climax, when the man introduced as the one who saves (Mt 1:21) actually does it.
Matthew’s account of the betrayal by Judas and the institution of the Lord’s Supper are not significantly shorter than those in the other synoptics, but it has some noticeable differences. Matthew, unlike Mark and Luke, doesn’t worry about nuances like who the disciples should meet in the city and where they will eat the meal. Nor does he spend any more time illustrating how Jesus is a servant, like John did in the account of washing the disciples’ feet. Instead, Matthew remains focused on the authority of Jesus, just as he has through his entire gospel, further connecting our Lord to the true Israel and to the Torah. Jesus will issue imperatives to the disciples, declaring go, take, eat, and drink for the forgiveness of sins. First, though, Jesus will unveil the long prophesied new covenant (Jer 31:31-34) only to have the Jews once again turn away from him, forcing Our Lord to silently face unjust accusers.
Exegesis
17 — Τῇ δὲ πρώτῃ τῶν ἀζύμων — The Passover meal, which takes place during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is intimately connected to the Lord’s Supper. The meal, celebrated annually for a millenia and a half at this point, reminds Israelites of how the Lord passed over the doors of believers, sparing the lives of their firstborn sons; how the Lord delivered them from shackles and whips; and how the meal bonds and unifies their community as they break bread and share a cup. Similarly, the Lord is about to pass over their sin eternally (Jer 31:34), release all believers from their captivity in sin through the bread of life and one common cup of salvation that His firstborn son offers to redeem and unify the one true church.Unlike Luke’s account, which opens on Palm Sunday, Matthew leaps to midweek, to the fourteenth of Nisan for Passover preparations. Jesus and the disciples are set to eat the meal in the evening, on the fifteenth. In other words, Matthew shows us the Passover meal and the crucifixion actually take place on the same day, unlike modern Christian understandings with our celebrations of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, because the Jewish day runs begins at sunset.
18 — ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· ὑπάγετε εἰς τὴν πόλιν πρὸς τὸν δεῖνα — The most important words Matthew stresses here are what Jesus says and how he says them. With the imperative ὑπάγετε, Matthew continues to illustrate his theme of Jesus exercising divine authority. Matthew doesn’t tell us who the certain man is; Mark (14:13-14) and Luke (22:9-12) do. Frederick Dale Bruner, in his commentary on Matthew, finds significance in the lack of identity. “This nameless man in Jerusalem,” Bruner writes, “complements the nameless woman in Bethany; both provided hospitality for Jesus: the woman preparing him for burial; the man preparing him for the sacrament of his death.”
καὶ εἴπατε αὐτῷ· ὁ διδάσκαλος λέγει· ὁ καιρός μου ἐγγύς ἐστιν — This phrase is very reminiscent of Matt. 3:2 and 4:17, where we are first called to repentance, “for the kingdom of the heavens is drawing near.” Now his “time is at hand.” It’s not crystal clear whether καιρός is eschatological, but Matthew’s usage here is parallel to John 12:23 — “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
19 — ὡς συνέταξεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς — The authority of Jesus isn’t questioned, by the disciples in any case: They do exactly as he has directed (συνέταξεν) them (BDAG, 974).
20 — ἀνέκειτο μετὰ τῶν δώδεκα — As Jesus is set to unveil the new covenant, it is worth noting that the twelve disciples are reclining with Jesus at the table, just like the twelve tribes were represented at the ceremony of Moses (Ex 24). With these twelve, Jesus — the new Israel — will establish the new covenant.
21 — καὶ ἐσθιόντων αὐτῶν εἶπεν· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι εἷς ἐξ ὑμῶν παραδώσει με. — The particle ἐσθιόντων would best be rendered temporally, in which case it would add stress to the shocking revelation not only of what Jesus said but when he said it. The Passover meal, which is not just a celebration of a past event. For the Jews, Passover brings the past to the present as they connect themselves to the Lord’s salvation. Culturally, eating a meal with another person expresses special bond or intimacy between the parties, a sign of unity that explains why the Pharisees were taken aback when they saw Jesus dining with sinners (Mt 9:11). But this isn’t just a meal either; Passover is celebrated with family. And at this table, among family, Jesus is revealing that a traitor is among them.
Normally, παραδώσει means to hand over or to deliver to prison, but the future indicative coupled with eating a meal connotes notoriety, elevating this word to betrayal. Jesus strengthens that definition further by coupling it with ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν — Truly, I say to you — a phrase he uses at least 31 times in Matthew, and which always adds weight to his words. Bruner marks the phrase εἷς ἐξ ὑμῶν as a word of law that is “intended to bring disciples under conviction and self-examination and so to prepare them for the right reception of the gospel,” that is the sacrament.
22-23 — μήτι ἐγώ εἰμι, κύριε; — Eleven disciples are horrified at what Jesus has just revealed. Their questions, one by one, are framed by significant words. First, they each are λυπούμενοι σφόδρα — “greatly grieved.” Second, they use μήτι, which invites a negative response and expresses confidence they will remain faithful. Finally, they address Jesus with the vocative case κύριε. Jesus is not just the master teacher; he is not just the one in authority; the disciples are, in fact, recognizing and confessing Jesus as divine Lord (BDAG 578). And they are cut to the heart by the news of God’s word.
Now contrast this with the response of Judas, the man reclining next to Jesus, close enough to be ὁ ἐμβάψας μετ’ ἐμοῦ — “the one having dipped with me.” In verse 25, Judas, who has already been paid 30 silver pieces (Matt. 26:14) to hand over Jesus to the Sanhedrin, replies μήτι ἐγώ εἰμι, ῥαββί; Chyrsostom saw theological significance in Matthew’s narrative pause before Judas’s question. In homily 81.1, Chyrsostom said Jesus, who had already washed the feet of the disciples (Jn 13:1-20), offered a “time for repentance” by not calling out the betrayer by name, and was “willing to allow all the others to be alarmed, just for the sake of redeeming this one.” Judas, of course, wasn’t redeemed; he killed himself. But even when he pressed the issue by calling his Lord ῥαββί instead, Jesus still only replied with the simple past, “You said.”
24 — ὁ μὲν υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὑπάγει καθὼς γέγραπται περὶ αὐτοῦ — Jesus brings scripture to life with the present tense of this verse — “the Son of Man is going just as it is written concerning him,” reminding us once again how active the scriptures are. Jesus could be referring to Psalm 41:9: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” Matthew, who focuses on prophecy throughout his gospel, also could be thinking of Daniel 7, Psalm 22, and Isaiah 53. In any case, the present tense here reinforces that Jesus is in control of the betrayal.
καλὸν ἦν αὐτῷ εἰ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος — For the same reason Jesus knows who his betrayer is, Matthew foretells that He knows the fate awaiting this man. As Bruner puts it in his commentary, “the worst thing a person can do is kill the son of God.” Yet by saying this, Jesus warns Judas he has another chance to repent.
26 — λαβὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἄρτον καὶ εὐλογήσας ἔκλασεν καὶ δοὺς τοῖς μαθηταῖς — “Jesus took bread and having blessed it, he broke it, and gave to the disciples, saying, “Take, eat, this is my body.”
Much has been written about the theological significance of these words. They are active, indicative, present tense words, and all of the New Testament writers universally repeat the phrasing of these words, unlike so many other examples in red-letter Bibles. “This is my body,” Mark says (14:22). “This is my body,” Luke says (22:19). “This is my body,” Paul says (1 Cor 11:24). Even the beloved disciple, John, who does not have this pericope in his gospel, affirms them: “I am the bread of life” (Jn 6:35).
The double aorist imperative λάβετε φάγετε speaks loudly, as they should. As Bruner puts it: “It will be a good day when the Reformation churches, heeding the Reformers, call all who have heard the Word each Sunday to respond to that Word then and there, with repentance and faith, by coming to the Supper.” With these words, Jesus is imploring us to receive his grace. He isn’t offering a representation or symbol; he is offering τὸ σῶμά μου. He doesn’t use the term σάρκα, nor does he say πτῶμα, so there is no defense for an unbeliever’s cry of cannibalism. Yet, the apostles would come to understand that Jesus was giving himself to the body of believers, feeding the world with life-giving Word, just as he did with real bread for 5,000 (Mt 14:13-21) and 4,000 (Mt 15:33-39). First, though, Jesus shares his body, which itself will be broken (ἔκλασεν) in just a few hours.
27 — καὶ λαβὼν ποτήριον καὶ εὐχαριστήσας ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· πίετε ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντες — “And after taking the cup and having given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink out of it all of you.’”
Again, the active, indicative, present tenses, with the imperative πίετε, are significant: The living words of Jesus are for everyone, then and now. This cup of thanksgiving is the base for our eucharist. Nearly one third of the thirty-seven New Testament references to the eucharist definitively point to communion. Eucharist, the Greek word for thanksgiving, is a combination of two words: εὖ, which means good or beneficial, and χάρις, which means beautiful and grace. How fitting that is it that the Lord blesses the cup of beneficial beauty and hands it to us, directing us with his third command at the table to “take, drink.” When Jesus hands us his ποτήριον, he isn’t just presenting a common cup. The ποτήριον is often associated with death, suffering (Is 51:17), and the matyrdom of a Christian (BDAG, 857).
28 — τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς διαθήκης τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκχυννόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν — Jews were most certainly repulsed by the thought of drinking blood (Gn 9:4; Lv 3:17, 7:26-27, 17:10-14, 19:26). To this day, these words cause consternation. But there is no indication the disciples are confused about what Jesus is offering. The deal between God and his people is being sealed, without our intervention. With the words “τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς διαθήκης,” Jesus is unmistakably connecting the past covenant at Sinai (Ex 24:8) to the new covenant. After the first Passover lamb was slain, the people marked their families as being redeemed. Now Jesus’s blood of the covenant extends to the masses (πολλῶν). In its most basic meaning, the word covenant (διαθήκης) means last will and testament. But in the covenants of God, God alone set the conditions (BDAG, 228), and the conditions here are simply to take and drink and receive the forgiveness of sins.
The Lord, who first spared Abraham’s firstborn son (Gn 22:14), will finally provide his only begotten son, shedding his blood to provide the forgiveness of sins once for all, freeing us from all obligation, guilt, and punishment, unlike the sacrifices established in Leviticus (4:7, 18, 25, 30, 34). In his book Matthew and the Margins, Warren Carter further links the word ἄφεσις to the year of jubilee, when the people were given complete rest. Carter found ἄφεσις was used at least fourteen times in Leviticus 25 to designate that special year.
29 — λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ πίω ἀπ’ ἄρτι ἐκ τούτου τοῦ γενήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης ὅταν αὐτὸ πίνω μεθ’ ὑμῶν καινὸν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου. — “I say to you, I absolutely will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.” Bruner observes three things here about the Lord’s Supper: 1) It’s in the past tense to the cross; 2) It’s in the present tense to the real presence of Jesus; and 3) It has a future tense: God is with us forever. The double negative οὐ μὴ sets this all up with the never, ever, absolutely not ... that is, until he comes again (Mt 24:30-31) to celebrate the Eucharist with us ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου.
Application
This is a remarkable text. Not only are these words like the rest of God’s living Scripture, stirring the hearts of men so that they hear, believe, and are saved, but they are efficacious Words that, when coupled with the breaking of bread and the pouring out of the cup, deliver tangible freedom and jubilation. Our Lord’s Word unites us with the dawn of time by unveiling the bread of life in a new way. Through this new table fellowship, God reconnects us to the story of Abraham taking his firstborn son to Mount Moriah, to the Passover and the exodus, to the bread from heaven in our wildernesses, to the Torah, to the Psalms. He also provides a deeper connection to Jesus who reminds us how man truly doesn’t live on bread alone but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4). Jesus presents us with the new fruit of the spirit, bound in His love, and poured into a new cup of salvation, one promising complete forgiveness of sins to all who hear his voice and drink from it. Even amid our betrayals and denials, our Lord continues inviting us back to the table, just like He did with the twelve tribes and the apostles. He affirms through his broken body that we now have an unbreakable covenant that eternally unites us with each other and Him in forgiveness. We should change the title of the Last Supper to the Last Passover. Jesus is coming again to feast with us again. He has promised.Bibliography
Bruner, Frederick Dale. Matthew: A Commentary; v. 2, The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990.Carter, Warren. Matthew and the Margins: A Socio-Political and Religious Reading. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, 2000.
Davies, W.D., and Allison, Dale C., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, V. 2. New York: T&T Clark Limited, 1988.
Simonetti, Manlio. Matthew 14-28: Ancient Christian commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2002.
Stallings, Joseph, Rediscovering Passover: A Complete Guide for Christians. San Jose, Calif.: Resource Publications, Inc., 1988.
This copy does not include my footnotes. I would be happy to provide you with a completely referenced copy of this paper.
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