The Glory of His Celebration of the Lord's Supper

The Service of Christ · AD 30

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.

Matthew 20:28

Christ was the greatest servant to ever live, revealing the glory of God by His humble, sacrificial, joyful service to the undeserving. This unit walks through His final two days before His arrest on Thursday, April 6, AD 30 — anointed at Bethany while Judas conspired against Him, washing His disciples' feet in the upper room, and transforming the last Passover into the Lord's Supper of the new covenant.

Read: Mark 14:1–11; John 13:1–35; Matthew 26:26–30

Anointed at Bethany, Betrayed for Silver

On the Wednesday before His death, Christ was dining in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, whom He had healed. A woman came with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, broke the seal, and poured it over His head. The disciples were indignant, echoing Judas: “Why was the ointment wasted like that?” — for it was worth nearly a year's wages and could have been sold for the poor.

But the Lord defended her. She had not wasted anything; she had rightly judged the worth of her Savior. There would always be poor to help, He said, but He would not always be with them. She had done what she could, anointing His body beforehand for burial — and her deed would be told throughout the world in memory of her.

Hearing Christ praise the woman may have pushed Judas over the edge, and Satan entered him. He slipped away to the chief priests to sell his Master's head for thirty pieces of silver — less than half the value of that ointment. From that moment Judas watched for the chance to betray Him when the crowds were away.

She has done a beautiful thing to me… She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.

Mark 14:6, 8

The Servant King Washes Their Feet

On Thursday, the day the Passover lamb was sacrificed, Christ sent Peter and John into Jerusalem to prepare the meal in a large upper room. He knew He was the promised Passover Lamb being prepared by His Father for sacrifice. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now loved them to the very end.

Knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, Christ rose from supper, laid aside His garments, tied a towel around His waist, and began to wash His disciples' feet — the work of a servant or slave. What king would do such a thing? Yet this act displayed the depths of His humility and the height of His glory.

When He came to Peter, Peter protested, “You shall never wash my feet.” But Christ answered that cleansing dirty feet pictured a greater reality — the cleansing of dirty souls. “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” This is the essence of the gospel: it is not what we do for Christ but what Christ does for us that makes the difference.

If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

John 13:8

The Bread, the Cup, and the Betrayer

Troubled in spirit, Christ foretold that one who ate His bread would lift his heel against Him, fulfilling Psalm 41:9. “One of you will betray me,” He said, and each disciple, grieved, asked, “Is it I, Lord?” When John leaned back and asked who it was, Christ answered that it was the one to whom He would give the dipped morsel — and He handed it to Judas, who then left into the night to find the chief priests.

When darkness settled over Jerusalem, the hour had come. Christ told them He had earnestly desired to eat this Passover before He suffered. Knowing what He was about to do, He transformed the last Passover of the old covenant into the Lord's Supper of the new. He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them as His body; then He took the cup as His blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Take, eat; this is my body… Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 26:26–28

True Greatness Is Service

Even in the upper room, the disciples argued over which of them was the greatest. With patient love Christ corrected them, contrasting the kings of the Gentiles, who lord it over others, with His own way: the greatest must become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. He Himself was among them as the one who serves.

Christ taught that glory is found in humility. Having washed dirty feet, He was glorified, and God was glorified in Him. He was about to display that glory even more brilliantly — the Creator laying down His life for His enemies. Yet He assured the eleven that, because they had stayed with Him in His trials, He assigned to them a kingdom, that they might eat and drink at His table and sit on thrones.

This is the pattern of grace: Christ blesses our imperfect obedience because of His own perfect obedience. Whatever honor we receive in the age to come will come through the grace given us in His perfect service to God. After singing a hymn, they left the upper room and began walking toward the Mount of Olives.

Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves… But I am among you as the one who serves.

Luke 22:26–27

For Reflection

Down, down, down the Lord of Glory traveled in His humble service. There is none like Him. Such a heart of service is not found in any fictional deity, but it depicts the very nature of the one true God. He hid His divine majesty under the veil of flesh, took the form of a servant, and knelt to wash His disciples' feet — even while knowing that one would betray Him, another deny Him, and the rest abandon Him. Even knowing our sins, He still humbly serves us, for the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.