Matthew 26:20-22: When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. Now as they were eating, He said, Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, Lord is it I?
The word "evening" reminds us that the Passover was to be celebrated at night. In Exodus 12, the people were all secure in their homes with the blood on the doorposts as the angel of death passed over them. It was night. Night time is often scarry. When we wake up sick in the night, we think for the rest of the night when will that doctor's office anser their phones, when will there be daylight. We feel better in the day. The night is frightful and the disciples were not immune to that fright especially as Jesus began to unfold to them what would soon be happening.
The fresco done on a cafeteria wall in Florence by Leonardo da Vinci sets is set to these verses. Jesus has just given that announcement that one of them will betray Him, and they are asking: "Is it I?" I never tire of looking at that great piece of art, and the depth of spiritual enlightenment of one passage of Scripture that is given. How marvelous it would be if every scene in the Bible was captured on canvass (or stucco) like "The Last Supper."
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, 50 years ago, a youthful Attorney General Robert Kennedy was having dinner in the cabinet room with just one other person, a good friend from Massachusetts. The friend and Presidential advisor was overwhelmed by what they had been talking about. Each of them had been given a ticket to the bomb shelter under the White House--some of the higher ranking members were given two passes (one for the wife). Others would have to go home and tell their wives that they would just have to die in the attack that was looming that night. The man stared as Bob Kennedy munched down piece after piece of chicken and finally said: Bob, you are eating like this is the Last Supper. Young Kennedy's response: Perhaps it is.
Do you catch the emotion that Jesus and the disciples had as the end approached. This was it. This is The Last Supper. None of them would ever be the same again. One of them would be in the torments of hell within the day. And they sat, questioning each other, and questioning themselves as to who would do the deed. Judas just gave up on the dream. He most likely wanted a political messiah that would banish the Romans. Jesus needed to be eliminated, or it would get worse since He offered no resistance to Rome. Satan confused and misled Judas to betray the Savior. Thankfully today we look back after the Cross and have no fear that we would ever be in a position to do that. Yet, when we do not stand for the principles of the Word of God, when we do not trust the Lord with our lives, our hopes, our dreams, we are really betraying all that He has offered us. Declare yourself unashamedly for Christ. Prove it by worshipping Him in
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