Jesus sent His two disciples, John and Peter, on the way to Jerusalem to prepare the Passover supper for Him and all His disciples. The supper was to be held in a house in Jerusalem.
Jesus had instructed John and Peter before they left, “As soon as you reach the city, you will see a man carrying a pitcher of water. You have to follow him to his house. On reaching the house, you must ask the owner about the room he has prepared for Me for the Passover supper.”
Later when all preparations were complete, Jesus and His disciples met in the house. After all had taken their seats, Jesus said, “This is the last meal that I am eating with you all present here.”
As was the tradition in those times, before the supper commenced, Jesus had stood up to wash the feet of all the guests. It was surprising for the disciples, as normally the servants did all this.
Peter was horrified when he saw his Master perform such a lowly task. When his turn came, he loudly exclaimed, “I cannot let You wash my feet!” “You will not understand right now. If you do not let me wash your feet then you cannot truly belong to me!” said Jesus.
“I have understood, Master. Wash my feet; in fact, wash all of me!” Peter said humbly. Jesus replied, “It is not needed as you are clean; but not all who are present here are clean.” Jesus knew that someone would betray him soon.
Jesus broke the bread, blessed it and passed it around. While doing this, He said that it was His body, being given up for them. Then He raised his cup of wine, blessed it and passed it around. He said that it was His blood, which would be shed for them. “Share all this to remember me,” He said.
Judas the disciple looked after the funds meant for the simple needs of Jesus’ disciples and to help the poor. It was known that he had helped himself from these funds. Satan had indeed entered his heart. Judas had become greedy
Judas had struck a deal with the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council. He knew that they wanted Jesus arrested. He had agreed to meet them after the supper in order to give them information about Jesus. In return, they had agreed to pay him thirty silver coins.
When Jesus announced that someone was about to betray Him, John asked Him who he was. Jesus said that it would be the person to whom He was going to give the bread next. Then He gave the bread to Judas, telling him to do what he had to! Judas taking the bread quietly left the supper. The other disciples thought that he had gone to give some funds to the poor.
After the supper, Jesus went with His disciples to a quiet garden, called Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives. He wanted to pray, so He went inside with Peter, James and John, leaving the others waiting outside. As He entered, Jesus told the three of them to keep watch while He prayed.
Jesus prayed to God to take away His suffering. As He stepped outside after the prayers, He saw that John, Peter and James had fallen asleep. He woke them up and said, “Wake up! My hour has come. I shall be betrayed soon. My betrayer is on his way!”
Judas knew that Jesus would be at the Gethsemane with His disciples. So, he reached there with some armed soldiers and priests. He whispered to one of them, “The man I would go and kiss will be Jesus. You must arrest Him at once!”
Judas then walked to the place where Jesus was standing. He kissed Jesus on the cheek. Jesus looked at him sadly and remarked that He was surprised that He should be betrayed by a kiss. On Judas’ signal the soldiers seized Jesus.
Peter took out his sword in anger and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus said to him, “Simon, you must not do that. Those who live by the sword, often die by it!” He then healed the man’s ear and walked over to His captors.
The rest of the disciples, scared by what was taking place, left Jesus and ran away to avoid getting arrested. The armed soldiers tied Jesus’ wrists and quietly led Him away
