Big Idea: It is at Passover time that Jesus is to die, and he is determined to have a last Passover meal with his disciples before his death occurrs.

Understanding the Text

In 21:37–38 Luke rounds off the account of Jesus’s teaching in the temple courtyard, which began at 20:1. With the mention of the Passover in 22:1 the long-anticipated climax of the story (see 9:22, 31, 44, 51; 13:31–35; 18:31–33) begins, as these verses relate the plotting of the Jerusalem authorities, the fateful decision of Judas Iscariot, and Jesus’s own preparations for a last Passover meal with his disciples. The Passover setting will underlie, and provide a theological context for, the events of the next few days. The protagonists of the drama of chapter 22 are here introduced; it will be an all-Jewish process,…